Everyone's a Victim

Is there anything that can't be medicalized?

Many Angry Men: Psychotherapist Jed Diamond says excessive moodiness can be caused by something called irritable male syndrome. Now he’s trying to convince skeptics that the condition is real—and treatable. Millions of lines have been written about how women’s hormonal changes can cause mood swings. But what about when men get irritable and withdrawn? Psychotherapist Jed Diamond believes they could be suffering from IMS, a condition he says is affecting a growing number of men. No, it’s not a joke. The IMS term was coined by a Scottish researcher who found that rams became irritable, withdrawn and irrational when their testosterone levels plummeted. After visiting Scotland and reviewing the research, Diamond, author of the best-selling 1997 book “Male Menopause” (Sourcebooks), thought the syndrome might apply to humans as well. He analyzed data collected from more than 6,000 men and found that about half said they were stressed, gloomy or negative most or all of the time.

Maybe you're just having a bad day. Best comment/question from the interviewer?

But those were rams.

Treatment includes giving men more testosterone, to increase flagging levels. How many of us reallyt hink most men need more testosterone? The good news is that, just like in Cosmo, there's a quiz! How Cranky Are You? (I'll show you cranky ...)