Posted by Bob on September 25, 1999, at 19:38:18
In reply to Re: This Thing Called Depression, posted by Noa on September 25, 1999, at 17:42:58
JM,
I like how concrete that metaphor is. Like you said, some "normals" just don't get it -- even when it's staring them in the face, out of the eyes of a loved one. Thank goodness we hear from so many family and friends of folks with brain disorders here who *do* see things clearly on this board as well. It helps me see that those "normals" who hold stereotypical, bigoted, and/or uninformed beliefs are far from "normal" themselves.Of course, *any* analogy or metaphor has its weak points -- that's why they're analogies and metaphors, and not factual descriptions of events.
The thing I would like to add is not to sell ourselves short. "Normal" shouldn't be our sole (soul?) goal. Certainly, our disorders limit us in certain ways, but I honestly feel that for many, if not all, of us there is some compensation. We all have our gifts. Virtuosity in just about any field is often paired with some disorder -- I doubt there's any way to measure accurately, but I'd bet there's a higher percentage of gifted people with brain disorders than the middle of the "Bell Curve" has.
And I don't just mean book smarts or IQ. There's a psychologist named Howard Gardener who talks about "multiple intelligences" -- linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, inter-personal, and intra-personal. If anything, the extent of self-examination and discussion we all spend on issues like what is normal? what is the self? what does it mean to be happy or sad? -- they all contribute to a heightened sense of intrapersonal intelligence ... right in the very area where our disorders hurt us the most.
Isn't it ironic?
Bob
poster:Bob
thread:12034
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990914/msgs/12043.html