Posted by Noa on September 27, 1999, at 18:07:35
In reply to Re: Normal is Sick?, posted by Bob on September 27, 1999, at 17:13:41
I love the philosophical discussions.
As for the accuracy of the depressed vs. the "normal", think about people with anxiety disorders...Most people are deluded about the risks of everyday life. Each time we get into our cars, if we were to ponder what might happen to us on the road, we might become paralyzed and be unable to go anywhere. We have to delude ourselves in order to function. The anxious person is not seeing a distorted reality, but is just more open to perceiving the dangers in life than are most folks, because it is just too overwhelming to let ourselves be open to our fears all the time.
As for mind vs. brain...good questions. I don't think it has to be an either/or thing when it comes to the etiology of mental disorders. There is hardware (the brain, our physiological, genetic selves) and software (our experience, learning, etc.) It is complicated. For some of us, the dysfunction lies more prominently in the hardware problems and for others of us, more prominently in the software problems. Hardware problems can be of factory origin, or due to defects caused by injuries along the way. Software problems can be due to inherently bad programming, or a bad fit between the hardware and the programs, etc.
Ponder yet another metaphor and keep the discussion going....
poster:Noa
thread:12034
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990914/msgs/12149.html