|
Favorits •
Web Domain Directory •
ODP •
Annuaire FR •
Directorio ES •
Directory EN •
Diretório PT •
IT Katalog •
Czech Katalog •
Polski Katalog •
Maps •
Satellite Photos •
View Card
|
||
|
|
Psychology |
|
|
| ||
 |
On Dis-ease
We are all terminally ill. It is a matter of time before we all die. Aging and death remain almost as mysterious as ever. We feel awed and uncomfortable when we contemplate these twin afflictions. Indeed, the very word denoting illness contains its own best definition: dis-ease. A mental component of lack of well being must exist SUBJECTIVELY. The person must FEEL bad, must experience discomfiture for his condition to qualify as a disease. To this extent, we are justified in classifying all diseases as "spiritual" or "mental". Is there any other way of distinguishing health from sickness - a way that does NOT depend on the report that the patient provides regarding his subjective experience? Some diseases are manifest and others are latent or immanent. Genetic diseases can exist - unmanifested - for generations. This raises the philosophical problem or whether a potential disease IS a disease? Are AIDS and Haemophilia carriers - sick? Should they be treated, ethically speaking? They experience no dis-ease, they report no symptoms, no signs are evident. On what moral grounds can we commit them to treatment? On the grounds of the "greater benefit" is the common response. Carriers threaten others and must be isolated or otherwise neutered. The threat inherent in them must be eradicated. This is a dangerous moral precedent. All kinds of people threaten our well-being: unsettling ideologists, the mentally handicapped, many politicians. Why should we single out our physical well-being as worthy of a privileged moral status? Why is our mental well being, for instance, of less import? Moreover, the distinction between the psychic and the physical is hotly disputed, philosophically. The psychophysical problem is as intractable today as it ever was (if not more so). It is beyond doubt that the physical affects the mental and the other way around. This is what disciplines like psychiatry are all about. The ability to control "autonomous" bodily functions (such as heartbeat) and mental reactions to pathogens of the brain are proof of the artificialness of this distinction. It is a result of the reductionist view of nature as divisible and summable. The sum of the parts, alas, is not always the whole and there is no such thing as an infinite set of the rules of nature, only an asymptotic approximation of it. The distinction between the patient and the outside world is superfluous and wrong. The patient AND his environment are ONE and the same. Disease is a perturbation in the operation and management of the complex ecosystem known as patient-world. Humans absorb their environment and feed it in equal measures. This on-going interaction IS the patient. We cannot exist without the intake of water, air, visual stimuli and food. Our environment is defined by our actions and output, physical and mental. Thus, one must question the classical differentiation between "internal" and "external". Some illnesses are considered "endogenic" (=generated from the inside). Natural, "internal", causes - a heart defect, a biochemical imbalance, a genetic mutation, a metabolic process gone awry - cause disease. Aging and deformities also belong in this category. In contrast, problems of nurturance and environment - early childhood abuse, for instance, or malnutrition - are "external" and so are the "classical" pathogens (germs and viruses) and accidents. But this, again, is a counter-productive approach. Exogenic and Endogenic pathogenesis is inseparable. Mental states increase or decrease the susceptibility to externally induced disease. Talk therapy or abuse (external events) alter the biochemical balance of the brain. The inside constantly interacts with the outside and is so intertwined with it that all distinctions between them are artificial and misleading. The best example is, of course, medication: it is an external agent, it influences internal processes and it has a very strong mental correlate (=its efficacy is influenced by mental factors as in the placebo effect). The very nature of dysfunction and sickness is highly culture-dependent. Societal parameters dictate right and wrong in health (especially mental health). It is all a matter of statistics. Certain diseases are accepted in certain parts of the world as a fact of life or even a sign of distinction (e.g., the paranoid schizophrenic as chosen by the gods). If there is no dis-ease there is no disease. That the physical or mental state of a person CAN be different - does not imply that it MUST be different or even that it is desirable that it should be different. In an over-populated world, sterility might be the desirable thing - or even the occasional epidemic. There is no such thing as ABSOLUTE dysfunction. The body and the mind ALWAYS function. They adapt themselves to their environment and if the latter changes - they change. Personality disorders are the best possible responses to abuse. Cancer may be the best possible response to carcinogens. Aging and death are definitely the best possible response to over-population. Perhaps the point of view of the single patient is incommensurate with the point of view of his species - but this should not serve to obscure the issues and derail rational debate. As a result, it is logical to introduce the notion of "positive aberration". Certain hyper- or hypo- functioning can yield positive results and prove to be adaptive. The difference between positive and negative aberrations can never be "objective". Nature is morally-neutral and embodies no "values" or "preferences". It simply exists. WE, humans, introduce our value systems, prejudices and priorities into our activities, science included. It is better to be healthy, we say, because we feel better when we are healthy. Circularity aside - this is the only criterion that we can reasonably employ. If the patient feels good - it is not a disease, even if we all think it is. If the patient feels bad, ego-dystonic, unable to function - it is a disease, even when we all think it isn't. Needless to say that I am referring to that mythical creature, the fully informed patient. If someone is sick and knows no better (has never been healthy) - then his decision should be respected only after he is given the chance to experience health. All the attempts to introduce "objective" yardsticks of health are plagued and philosophically contaminated by the insertion of values, preferences and priorities into the formula - or by subjecting the formula to them altogether. One such attempt is to define health as "an increase in order or efficiency of processes" as contrasted with illness which is "a decrease in order (=increase of entropy) and in the efficiency of processes". While being factually disputable, this dyad also suffers from a series of implicit value-judgements. For instance, why should we prefer life over death? Order to entropy? Efficiency to inefficiency? Health and sickness are different states of affairs. Whether one is preferable to the other is a matter of the specific culture and society in which the question is posed. Health (and its lack) is determined by employing three "filters" as it were: 1) Is the body affected? 2) Is the person affected? (dis-ease, the bridge between "physical" and "mental illnesses) 3) Is society affected? In the case of mental health the third question is often formulated as "is it normal" (=is it statistically the norm of this particular society in this particular time)? We must re-humanize disease. By imposing upon issues of health the pretensions of the accurate sciences, we objectified the patient and the healer alike and utterly neglected that which cannot be quantified or measured - the human mind, the human spirit. About The Author Sam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" and the editor of mental health categories in The Open Directory, Suite101, and searcheurope.com. His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com Frequently asked questions regarding narcissism: http://samvak.tripod.com/faq1.html Narcissistic Personality Disorder on Suite101: http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/npd
MORE RESOURCES: |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Its Never Too Late First of all, a bit of background: A high school dropout, stay-at-home mom until the age of 40, I wasn't too motivated to learn. Then I read the following quote:"Old Bureaucrat, my comrade, it is not you who are to blame. The Diagnosis Myth Although I risk dissension by doing so, I must say something that I think many of us in the mental health community have acknowledged for quite some time: every single diagnosis of a mental disorder is fallible.Before I proceed, I should note the value of diagnoses. Key Solution Focus Interviewing Skills There are several key Solution Focus interviewing skills that are indispensable in moving individuals from problem focus to solution focus.Exploration Exploring the meaning helpee is giving to words, situation, experience. Nature VS Nurture - Theories of Personality in 21st Century Nature vs Nurture theories have wasted a lot of energy of human beings. Plato is considered first to realize that you are made of not only flesh but also an intellectual soul. Dredging the Truth To seek and find truth requires that we communicate within rather than without. When we communicate outside, with other people, truth is always watered down by differing perceptions, consensus, and compromise. The Attention Spanner After a long and patient wait in queue, you reached the post office counter. Just then, the peasant sauntered over and plunked himself in front of you. Waking Up in the Middle of a Good Dream When the brain is asleep and in REM dream mode it has distinct patterns not found in normal waking states. When people who are dreaming are hooked up to machines the REM mode of sleep is quite evident. Fairies and Mental Health Schizophrenics hallucinate alternate realities. People who claim to have been abducted by aliens are accused of having Fantasy Prone Personalities. Narcissism, Substance Abuse, and Reckless Behaviours Pathological narcissism is an addiction to Narcissistic Supply, the narcissist's drug of choice. It is, therefore, not surprising that other addictive and reckless behaviours - workaholism, alcoholism, drug abuse, pathological gambling, compulsory shopping, or reckless driving - piggyback on this primary dependence. HypoManiacs Often Misunderstood Are you a Hypomaniac? If you are you have some definite advantages over others. Hypomaniacs are often superstars in their fields, but they are often misunderstood by those who work so hard to profile personalities and put individuals into neat little boxes. Birds in the Room Alter Sleep Patterns of Humans Birds have always been considered good pets of modern day humans. It seems our living in close proximity may have given us a closer bond than we know. Time Out of Mind Let us first consider the role of time in our lives, then let us consider that role in terms of mental illness. Buddhists and Hindus, among others, propose that time does not actually exist. Achieving an Ambidextrous Mindset History lends us an ideal of ambidexterity: Leonardo da Vinci, Harry Truman and James Garfield were all known to be physically ambidextrous, but to what does that translate? In modern times, ambidexterity isn't a hot topic, but in fact, we are all - to a degree - ambidextrous.When we multi-task, juggle home and work, hold a phone conference and take notes simultaneously -- we are incorporating an ambidextrous mindset. Narcissistic Personality Disorder Tips FIVE DON'T DO'SHow to Avoid the Wrath of the NarcissistNever disagree with the narcissist or contradict himNever offer him any intimacyLook awed by whatever attribute matters to him (for instance: by his professional achievements or by his good looks, or by his success with women and so on)Never remind him of life out there and if you do, connect it somehow to his sense of grandiosityDo not make any comment, which might directly or indirectly impinge on his self-image, omnipotence, judgment, omniscience, skills, capabilities, professional record, or even omnipresence. Bad sentences start with: "I think you overlooked . What Is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a medical condition. It is caused by genetic factors that result in certain neurological differences. You, I and We Our life in society hovers around the concept of 'You-I- We'. The first stage is 'You-You' which is called 'dependent' stage. What are the 4 Brainwave Patterns and How Do They Effect Your Health WHAT ARE BRAINWAVES?Every moment of your life your brain is active. It is pulsing with electrical impulses; you heard that right, electricity! The electricity or electrical current generated by the brain can be measured with an electroencephalogram (EEG), which measures the frequency of the electrical current. Narcissistic Personality Disorder - Who is a Malignant Narcissist? QUESTION Number 1 - Who is a Narcissist?Dear Dr. Vaknin,I read the excerpts you placed on your web site with great interest. The Joan of Arc Complex Sometimes I think that I have a mental health problem and that at any minute the pharmaceutical companies are going to develop a cute little green star-shaped pill to cure me of my ailment. I call it my Joan of Arc Complex. Why Does It Seem That There Are More Children With ADHD Than Ever Before? Even though the percentage of people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is likely the same as in the past, there are three likely reasons why it seems that "there is more ADHD" than ever before: First, we become more aware of problems like this as parents than we were as a children. We have grown up now and we are more concerned about these issues since we have our own children.
|