Irritable Male Syndrome (IMS), or Just Being Me?

Plastic: Irritable Male Syndrome, Or Just Another Cranky Old Guy?

"The situation is familiar to thousands of women — her husband, a reasonable, sensitive man she's known for years, gets gradually harder and harder to live with, becoming unreasonable, petty, sarcastic and, yes, irritable. Some men will tell you that this is simply their reaction to their partner's behavior — indeed, the average descent into less-logical behavior in a woman has been long documented as the series of hormonal and other changes known as "menopause." But until recently, a similar explanation for this same behavior in men has not been available.

In 1997, Jed Diamond wrote Male Menopause, a surprise bestseller translated into 17 languages. In it, Diamond contended that declining testosterone levels accounted for much of midlife male cantankerousness. And now, he has extended that theory one step further, into the concept of Irritable Male Syndrome.

...

Diamond points to four major warning signs for the onset of IMS:

Criticism -- being more critical than normal.
Contempt -- strong dislike of anything around them.
Defensiveness -- claiming that it's never their fault, but someone else's.
Stonewalling -- ignoring his emotions, just sitting there looking angry, but denying that he is.

..."

You mean those "warning signs" aren't normal behavior... Oh...

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