Scientists find new disease: motivational deficiency disorder
BMJ 2006; 332 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.332.7544.745-a (Published 30 March 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;332:745All rapid responses
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Dear BMJ –
On my day off (in order to reduce my PAs), I nearly couldn’t motivate
myself to reply to Ray Moynihan’s report from Sydney “Scientists find new
disease: motivational deficiency disorder”.
In the words of my other favourite journal; “Shurely some mistake Ed,
I think we should be told”.
Yours
Liz Sleight
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
This is an excellent April Fool's Day article. However, as a constant
sufferer from MoDeD it took me a full 24 hours to type these few words.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Moynihan's article is the apothiosis of arrogance in purporting to
have discovered a new disease - Motivational deficiency disorder. Not only
the syndrome but treatment strategies for its management are far from new.
The earliest "modern" intervention I can trace (within the standard
diurnal envelope - and apologies for the German) is of the use of
Sanatogen by the Imperial Kreigsmarine during the First World War. For
much of the war the capital ships of the German Navy were confined to
bases on the North Sea coast, only going to sea twice - once at the Battle
of Jutland (1916) and finally to surrender to the British Fleet.
Enforced confinement in limited space with long periods of inactivity
coupled with the need to move to a battle footing at short notice created
major physio-psychological problems which were said to exercise the minds
of senior naval personnel including Tirpitz, Scheer and Von Hipper.
In consultation with the extensive German chemical industry the idea
of amino acid supplementation to improve energy levels among the sailors
was tried - not dissimilar to the use of L tryptophan in depressive
disorder, promoted in the 1980's in the U.K. Sanatogen, a white powder
largely consiting of casein but with other protein products to be mixed
with milk was widely promoted. A proprietory medicine - it was widely
advertised for the use of German sailors as a "nerve tonic" - SANTAOGEN
FUR ALLES KRAFTSGUNSMITTEL!
Perhaps Leth Argos and colleagues should have done a somewhat more
historically based literature search.
I suspect they just couldn't be bothered.
Competing interests:
My grandma got me to try Sanatogen as a lazy teenager - it didn't work.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Are women too busy to respond to such an important article ( I am the
second to post so far?) or are they simply unmotivated? Is our lack of
motivation really a deep seated conviction that rising up and heading for
investment jobs in Sydney may be a waste of time and rather pointless.
I ask, what is the point of motivation? Does it exist in itself or
should it serve
a higher goal?. Or is motivation a western disease in itself? Perhaps this
entire
story is the modern day equivalent of Martha and Mary, and we know that
Martha was deemed wiser than her hyperactive overachieving sister.
I am happy to accept a large research grant to meditate on this
theme.
Competing interests:
My brother is a buddhist.
Competing interests: No competing interests
The spirit of scientific enquiry makes us pick up early signs of
newer diseases. As more data is pooled in by different researchers the
hypothesis gets either proven or dismissed. The human mind as well as the
human body has wide variation in its capabilities. While a range of
activities which are common to most people is accepted as normal, those
which are at the extreme ends of the Gaussian curve is taken as abnormal
and given names of disorders.
In this context one hopes that the new entity described by teh
authors will get further approval by other researchers. It would be proper
not to let such information leak to the lay press before the scientific
data is put to adequate cross-examination.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
A lot of the 'tards I deal with have this obvious deficiency. As do
my staff. In fact, I fully believe I am the only person in my company who
does any work at all.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
As a sufferer of MoDeD, I felt compelled to write about your article.
Then I decided, why bother? But I finally roused myself to take issue with
the estimates of the economic costs of the disorder. This ignores the
fact that MoDeD sufferers are responsible for an estimated 35% of
consumption of snack foods, 40% of viewing of all reality TV shows, and
45% of all purchases of popular music. In addition, MoDeD sufferers
produce 35% fewer green-house gasses due to their tendencies to stay at
home. A more comprehensive analysis of the full economic impact of MoDeD
should be done, preferrably by someone other than me.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
We actually identified this disease several years ago, but couldn't
be bothered following it up.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Readers and the authors of this article might enjoy visiting the
website of
Despair.Inc (www.despair.com). They offer motivational products and
posters
for pessimists, underachievers, and the chronically unsuccessful. A slow,
lazy
browse through their online catalogue is well worth the extra effort.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Apathy rules OK
This is an excellent joke! I have a friend who describes his religion
as "apathist" (creed: "We can't be bothered to work out if we are atheists
or agnostics.")
But, I do just worry that someone might take this seriously, after
all many human traits have become medicalised as "illnesses" in the past
twenty years, and in some cases the drugs to treat these conditions got
invented before the illnessses were patented: we are now in the land of
Victor Borges's old joke:
"My father invented a drug for which there was no illness, but
unfortunatley, my mother died of the side effects."
And wouldn't it suit the managers if staff could be jolted out of
genteel inactivity and into a frenzy of project planning, applications,
deadlines and report writing by a dose of indolebant, from that great
bastion of selfless, public-spirited altruism, the pharmaceutical
industry.
Rgds Alan O'Rourke
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests