Ours is a day filled with numerous abbreviations: In computer talk we have: RAM, KB, MB, GB, ISP, HTML, PHP, IE, Etc. In the recovery world: AA, CODA, SAA, etc. And in psychological circles: OCD, ADD, DID, etc.

I heard about a new one (at least it’s new to me) in an article by Otis Young. It’s IDD, and stands for Integrity Deficit Disorder (not to be confused with the medical term, IDD, which stands for Iodine Deficiency Disorder).

As Young put it, “A person who is afflicted with this disorder knows what’s right but doesn’t follow through and do what’s right. He or she makes a promise or commitment, and then fails to keep it. Thus when you meet a person with integrity deficit disorder, you’re never quite sure if you can trust that person or not.”²

IDD people make excuses for why they didn’t do what they said they were going to do. They fail to accept personal responsibility and blame the weather, circumstances and especially others for their failures and the problems they have. They are defensive and hide behind a mask of superficiality, saccharine sweetness, religiosity, negativism, and/or phoniness. They refuse to take a good hard look at themselves and are masters of self-deception. Many IDDs believe the lies they tell themselves.

IDD is not a mental illness. It is a choice—a sinful choice. As God’s word says, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please deliver me from the sin of IDD and help me to be a man/woman of integrity. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 4:17 (NIV).

2. Rev. Otis Young, “Integrity Deficit Disorder.”