If you watch Teen Mom online, than you’re probably aware that Farrah Abraham is not known for expressing herself in the most articulate fashion.
In fact, the Teen Mom everyone loves to hate is clearly a graduate of the Sarah Palin School of Rhetoric:
She uses words without understanding their meanings, mutters expressions that make sense only to her, and changes topics rapidly in an effort to move on before anyone can point that what she just said makes no sense.
Amazingly, however, Farrah is capable of occasional flashes of intellect.
By which we mean she sometimes uses words in an order that wouldn’t cause the average English teacher’s head to explode.
Farrah recently appeared on Dr. Drew’s podcast, and the medical-professional-turned-MTV-quack was effusive in his praise of Ms. Abraham’s eloquence and astuteness.
He even went so far as to concur with Farrah’s insights about her mother’s mental state.
Granted, Dr. Drew is about as much of a respected medical professional these days as doctors Dre, Pepper, and Who, but it’s still surprising to hear him publicly agree with a reality star’s diagnosis of a different reality star.
(We won’t even bother delving into the question of whether or not it’s ethical for Drew to do so.)
Drew began his prying into the psychological state of Debra Danielsen (who wasn’t there to defend herself, BTW) by buttering Farrah up with a few well-chosen compliments.
“Farrah you say some of the most profound stuff sometimes and I’m sorry that a lot of it doesn’t get on TV,” a fawning Drew told Farrah before basically announcing to the world he’s given up on being taken seriously by the medical community.
“I was just looking at your mom and have gotten to know her over the years too and I’m just worried there’s something psychiatrically going on there that’s not being properly managed. Am I on to something?” Drew asked.
(Yes, a doctor just asked Farrah Abraham if he’s “onto something” with his assessment of a third party.)
“I guess she dates a doctor so there that goes,” Farrah initially demurred.
I’m thinking there’s something really there that you’ve been pounding against your whole life and your mom isn’t aware it’s there and it’s of a psychiatric nature,” Drew persisted, before asking again:
“Am I on to something here?”
“That is what it is. That’s what I know now and I’m done with conversations and I’m done with fighting the uphill battle,” Farrah said, adding:
“I’ve researched so much about my mother that I think she has Asperger’s and has some other things.”
Asperger’s is a milder disorder on the autism spectrum. It can be difficult to diagnose, but that didn’t stop Drew from doing exactly that on a freakin’ podcast.
Believe it or not, Drew continued to goad Farrah from there, pushing her to play another game of armchair psychiatrist:
“What do you think besides Apserger’s? Because I agree with you,” he told Farrah.
Farrah says she “forgot the other stuff,” leading Drew to prompt her:
“I’m not her doctor but I’ve been concerned there’s something on the schizoaffective spectrum.”
Farrah and Drew go on to conclude that Debra is in need of serious psychiatric help, but neither goes so far as to point out that if that’s true, she probably shouldn’t be on a reality show.
Look, we’re not saying Deb deserves to win mother of the year, but as far as we know, she’s never, say, talked about her 8-year-old daughter’s future sex tape.
We don’t want to imply that Farrah is mentally ill, but we will say that her pathologizing someone else’s bizarre behavior is a serious pot-kettle situation.