Posted by Jakeman on July 12, 2005, at 20:52:07
In reply to Life is a chemical imbalance, posted by so on July 11, 2005, at 12:00:04
They featured a guy on the 60 minutes program the other night who developed Parkinson's at the same time he gained the ability to compose great works of classical music.
There are yogis who roam the streets of India getting their substanance from handouts. In this country those people would be labeled homeless and possibly insane.
In many tribal societies some of those who the west we would call schizophrenic are considered shamen.
My point I guess is that we in the industrialized west are overconcerned with the ideal of normalcy. No doubt that mental illness DOES CAUSE extreme pain, suicide. It has happened in my family. I just wish we could all could relax our views about what is correct. Perhaps being wrong in the head is very valuable. Perhaps if my uncle who killed himself in the 60's had todays medications he would still be alive. At the same time, if he did not feel condemned and ostracized maybe he could have lived with his depressions and delusions and flourished in his own way, hopefully with the the love and support of his family and community. But we are where we are.
Our psychiatrists and therapists are substitutes for something that's been lost. I don't blame them, they do they best they can.
Thanks for your all's posts. Great discussion.
warm regards ~Jake
poster:Jakeman
thread:525148
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050708/msgs/526910.html