Analysis Of Theodore Dalrymple And The Frivolity Of Evil

Theodore Dalrymple and The Frivolity of Evil ‘The Frivolity of Evil’ is an article written by retired psychiatrist, Theodore Dalrymple. Dalrymple has spent 14 years of his life working in the lower-class slum and prison hospitals in Birmingham, England. His exposure to the lower class in his work has given rise to his unique interested in ‘evil’ or as his title suggest, the lack of seriousness that is taken in regard to evil actions and its recent growth. Dalrymple has traveled all over the world and seen many a form of evil. His choice in choosing to do his work in a disadvantaged neighborhood in combination with the evil he’s seen around the world has given him very interesting insight. What is evil and why does it persist? Before his†¦show more content†¦His patient is young 21-year-old girl. She has three children from three different fathers. The first father impregnated her at the age of 16. He openly cheated on her and would beat her d uring his drunken rages. She left him and met her second child’s father. This man was an addict with a criminal history. He died in an accident while driving a stolen car. The father of her third told her to have his child or he would leave her. She lived with him and had his child. A week after giving birth he left her. She went to Dalrymple claiming to be depressed. Of the thousands of patients Dalrymple has had, only 2 or 3 have ever claimed to be unhappy, the rest all say that they are depressed. The word itself stands almost independent from the concept of ‘unhappiness’. Whether intentionally or not when someone says that they are unhappy they are taking responsibility for that unhappiness. Depression is a medical term so if we suggest we are depressed we are saying there is a chemical imbalance that is causing our misery and if given the correct therapy or medicine we can cure our depression. Dalrymple thinks this is a very defective view because in the cas e of his patient, the result of her unhappiness is the result of our poor life choices and not a chemical imbalance in the brain. I once heard that Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again but to expect different results. This reminds me of