Reid Daitzman, PhD, ABPP :
The Homo sapiens genome has changed 1% in the last 200,000 years. Still, our outstanding ability to “discriminate” nuances among the same species is extraordinary, creating the highs and lows of the Anthropocene or Human Age or the impact our species has on the planet and civilization.
People are people.
However, many do not think or act as if this is true, causing consternation, grievances, and conflict. If you are born a human being, and through political and moral actions, you have three rights: natural, human, and (now) psychological. All three rights must be in coexistence and synchronization for the contented life and optimal well-being. Natural rights entitle you to exist and survive. Human rights are more subtle, often a factor in political activity.
In practice, the violation of all rights causes psychological harm, which can be cured by enlightened societies through systems of justice. In theory, justice is an ethical, moral philosophy. In practice, most civil rights were established through “movements” and blood on the street.
What are the 68 new (and controversial) “Psychological Bill of Rights?”
Psychological Rights 1-12
You have the right to worship your own God. You have the right to be a secular humanist. You have the right to take it easy once in a while. You have the right to say, “No.” You have the right to say, “Yes.”
You have the right to work hard towards a worthy goal. You have the right to creative ambitions. You have the right to feel sorry for yourself.
You have the right to fail. You have the right to succeed. You have the right to be moody. You have the right to change your mind.
Psychological Rights 13-25
You have the right not to give a damn. You have the right to use your imagination. You have the right to be different. You have the right for others to know your opinion. You have the right to daydream.
You have the right to tune some people out. You have the right to change the world. You have the right to laugh.
You have a right to champion a cause. You have the right to choose your own friends and alliances. You have the right not to be jerked around. You have the right to ask for a raise. You have the right to live where you want.
Psychological Rights 26-41
You have the right to self-reliance. You have the right to change someone’s mind. You have the right to disagree with experts. You have the right to not be overly influenced by the times or a mob. You have the right to live offline.
You have the right to be sad. You have the right to be lazy. You have the right to be jealous. You have the right to mess up. You have the right to harbor grudges. You have the right to be anxious and depressed.
You have the right to be hostile and in rage.
You have the right not to care. You have a right to defend yourself. You have the right to demand from elected officials the execution of their oath of office.
Psychological Rights 42-53
You have the right to access knowledge. You have the right to be impatient. You have the right to be an iconoclast. You have the right to clean air, clean water, and safe food. You have a right to believe in and act upon the tenants of your moral conscience.
You have the right to live with dignity. You have the right to access excellent health care. You have the right to control your fate and destiny. You have the right to complain when not treated with respect.
You have the right to peace of mind. You have the right to privacy. You have the right to a good education at a fair price.
Psychological Rights 54-68
You have the right to express a need for pleasure. You have the right to be treated fairly and humanly. You have the right to express your opinions. You have the right to have a fulfilling relationship. You have the right to a sense of security.
You have the right to be loved and to love. You have the right to speak truth to power. You have the right to have the same access and opportunities as any other person. You have the right to cry and to suffer in pain.
You have the right to own your body. You have the right not to be bullied. You have the right to seek justice when wronged. You have additional rights not listed here. Either you understand these rights or suffer the consequences. You also have the right to question these rights. Your physical welfare and mental health depend upon it.
Being naive or uninformed about your psychological rights often culminates in abnormal psychology and self-defeating behavior.
Your rights are hierarchical. To have human rights, your natural rights and human rights must first be satisfied. The icing on this cake is psychological rights. A nation-state, geographical space, is a nation-state since the citizens generally agree on the validity of these rights. However, cyberspace is a dystopia since cross-cultural psychology competes with the local social constructs, cultures, and ways.
How remaining unaware of your psychological rights affects contentment.
Many psychological diagnoses culminate in a failure to know or to use these now codified psychological rights causing reactive depression or learned helplessness–not doing–since you anticipate a negative outcome. The therapist’s role is to change your mind about expectations and become free and autonomous, no easy task.
(Reid Daitzman is the author of over 40 scientific articles and presentations and the author of many professional book reviews in psychology).
