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Brain science and philosophy.

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• +1

  A reply on Talk: Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids

  Mar 6 2012: @Srinath Srinivasa.
  You say that a child rarely has enough experience to form their own unique opinion of complex issues. That may very well be true, but how much of children's lack of experience comes from the way our society is formed?
  I remember the endless frustration I experienced when I was a child when people would withhold information or simplify it, because they did not believe that a child like me could understand it, because I 'did not have enough experience'.
  How am I supposed to gather that experience when everything is trimmed down to suit my age? I still remember reading the 'children's Bible' where Jesus and his 'friends' (because disciples was apparently too hard to understand) went about performing all sorts of miracles. All the substance of the Bible had been sucked out of it 'so that we can understand it' (Something I think greatly contributed to the strong anti-religious sentiment among my age group). If you tried to read something complex, like the greek philosophers, the very idea that you could understand it was scoffed at.
  What I'm saying is that children aren't stupid and if you limit their experience to something they can already understand, then how can that child grow? Children should not be overprotected nor looked down on, but treated as equals, and then you may be surprised of how independent and original their conclusions may be.
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  A reply on Conversation: What can we do about the constant rise of depression and suicide in young adults?

  Oct 19 2011: I realize that, and I hoped that I made that clear in the end of my comment:
  "we cannot ignore the people that are in danger of committing suicide and we should do everything in our power to help them overcome the problems that are the real cause behind their drastic measures."
  I only wanted to point out the effect discussions about suicide can have on actual suicide rates.
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  A comment on Conversation: What can we do about the constant rise of depression and suicide in young adults?

  Oct 19 2011: On the subject of suicide. I have read that suicide is very much a cultural thing and can be spurred on by the culture around us. Suicides can come in waves. It does not appear to be a natural thing to do, since the idea must be brought in from elsewhere before suicides take place. A song can inspire suicide, a book, or the suicide of a famous person (these copycat suicides have been prevented by an immediate negative message from a person close to the victim).
  Suicide is more prevalent in cultures where it is considered brave and honorable and where it is considered "an escape" from the harshness of your reality. Suicide can be spurred on by the medias positive portrayal of a suicide story and dampened by a negative one. Suicide, therefore, is caused in part by our discussion of it. There is also something called "the suicide impulse" where a person can suddenly decide that he/she wants to commit suicide and within seconds attempts to, without necessarily being depressed or ever have given it much thought.
  There are also many people that are not serious about their suicide attempt, but are hoping to be found and saved before they die. This is a dangerous game and I believe feeds on our idea that suicide is the ultimate "cry for help" and expresses better than anything the anguish we are going through. I think there should not be a discussion of suicide in our society and if there is then a negative one, for this is one problem in which the solution does not lie in understanding it. This however is difficult and dangerous to do, for we cannot ignore the people that are in danger of committing suicide and we should do everything in our power to help them overcome the problems that are the real cause behind their drastic measures.

• A comment on Conversation: What can we do about the constant rise of depression and suicide in young adults?

  Oct 19 2011: Me and my friends that are battling with this also feel that the depression can stem from what we describe as "disconnection from reality". Young people today are simply pushed too hard from all directions. We rarely have time for ourselves. We are forced to school where we get such a workload that very few of us can make any time for anything else unless we skive off some of the work and even when we manage to make time we spend it on other activities that are riddled with information like meeting friends, watching TV, reading books, commenting on pages on the interned ... etc. There is no time to just sit down and pay attention to ourselves, to feel everything around us and everything within us. I think the reason depression has risen so much in comparison to the past is because we are over-stimulated from every angle and we no longer know how to escape. We think we are relaxing when we are, for example, just sitting on the sofa, watching TV, but though we may not exactly be "doing" anything it is still stimulating us. We just need to lear to slow down before we acquire ADD and become unable to. I find that after sitting around doing nothing, and not thinking too much and definitely not negative thoughts, I feel noticeably better and calmer for even two days afterwards. The problem is finding the time.

• A reply on Conversation: What can we do about the constant rise of depression and suicide in young adults?

  Oct 19 2011: I think you've got a very good point there, (though I don't know if sexuality is a major point for many people). I would like to point out though that the pressure to have sex and fall in love does not come only from your peers, but from society itself.
  I am asexual, meaning I have no interest in sex or sexual relationships, and so have felt this pressure very clearly. You can hardly find one movie that has no romance. The characters portrayed rarely find happiness unless they have fallen in love also, and shared a big, romantic kiss. Sex scenes are even appearing in family films nowadays, everywhere around you everybody is constantly obsessing about it, the government supports it, and the public generally expects everyone to get married, and perhaps have some kids. There is a strong stigma on being single. I didn't even know what asexual people were until about a year ago and didn't know what was "wrong" with me. I thought I was abnormal in some way, since simply, the idea of being happy without a romantic relationship is never put forward.
  People that live without love are labeled as lonely and sad. Described as not being "whole", not having found their other part, or "missing out on the greatest pleasure of life". One is bombarded with sentences like: "The reason for life is to fall in love." etc. I don't think people with normal sex drive realize what an enormous pressure is being put on everybody, and that also includes children and teenagers. This weighed heavily on me and still does, for now I worry if I can ever find a husband/wife that can love me platonically as I will him/her.
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  A reply on Conversation: What can we do about the constant rise of depression and suicide in young adults?

  Oct 19 2011: To Colleen Steen:
  I think your dismissal of Adriaans approach is unfounded. The fact that not everyone believes the same religious ideas as him does not mean that his words cannot be helpful or have an impact.
  One of the ways we used to be able to escape from some harsh truths from our belief in god and heaven and hell. Now everything is said to come from the individual.
  "It is only you that creates your thoughts" means that we are also responsible for those thoughts. We have only ourselves to blame, then for our depression. I think that people should be allowed to find relief through their beliefs wether they are accepted by everyone or not. The fact that we have something other than ourselves to hold responsible, and channeled in religion which is not harmful to anyone else, can be good for you, if not taken to extremes. It's that way with artists too, in the past people believed muses, spirits etc. visited them and gave them inspiration. So if their work was not good, it wasn't entirely their fault and they could let it go and continue their creative process. I think what Adriaan says can help some people, (even if his strong beliefs can be unhelpful or uncomfortable to others) and we should not immediately dismiss his contribution because of his beliefs. He does not present a way for us to cure religion but advice directly to those, whom it can touch, that are battling with depression.

• A comment on Conversation: What can we do about the constant rise of depression and suicide in young adults?

  Oct 19 2011: This is no small problem and there is no one solution to it.
  Depression can be linked to many different things, like situations in life. Yet I think some reasons are largely overlooked. Depression is not always the result of a difficult situation in life like social standing, lack of money, disability etc. but can be the results of simply the persons brain or genes.
  I, for example deal with depression, yet I have the most blessed life. If I had the option there would be nothing I would change, except perhaps have a bit more sun :) Depression can run in families and I believe I got it from my mothers side. My sister and me have both dealt with depression and my mother also, while she was alive, but not my father, and there is really nothing in my environment that causes it.
  I believe every person has a kind of base happiness level and that search for happiness that is so prevalent in our culture to today is doing more harm than good.
  I do not think that happiness should be set as a goal. There is no if you buy this you will be happier, if you didn't have this problem you would be happier. Rich people are often depressed even if they weren't so much before they acquired their wealth. And I think it's more this idea that is so dominant that there is some giant pot of happiness just waiting to be found. Happiness is more the journey it is the collection of a persons overall mood over a long period of time. Like snowflakes that fall from the sky collect on the earth to make a bedding. Do not wait for the giant football-sized hail-balls just stick your tongue out and enjoy the snowflakes.
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  A reply on Conversation: What can we do about the constant rise of depression and suicide in young adults?

  Oct 19 2011: Although his story is extremely inspiring and admirable and shows a great example of how a person can overcome depression no matter the circumstance, I do not think that stories like this will necessarily help teenagers dealing with depression.
  I am a teenager myself dealing with these problems, and have gone to numerous programs for youths like myself where we were told countless stories like this. And for a short while afterwards myself and others I spoke with felt better, inspired and as if we could conquer anything. But when time wore on depression settled again and as we remembered the stories they served not as a source of inspiration but as agony.
  "This guy has these horrible problems and yet he is happy and enjoying life, so why can't we be like that? What is it about us that makes us unable to sustain our enjoyment and general happiness?"
  There is of course nothing wrong with stories like this and I admire every individual who has overcome depression and difficult circumstances but they do not touch on this particular problem. Every person, young or old, dealing with depression has to be approached from a unique angle. There is no one solution that works for everyone.

• A reply on Talk: Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight

  Oct 19 2011: It is generally stated that the right side of the brain is the center of self and creativity and the left side of the brain the place of logic etc.. However normally the right side of the brain is connected to the left hand side of the body and the left side of the brain to the right hand side. So I don't know if you just misstated and you meant the right hand side as in the side of the brain which is located on the right/left hand side of the body or if you meant the side of the brain that is connected to the right/left side of the body, in which case your statement would be wrong. Whichever the case this is very unclear.
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  A comment on Talk: Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight

  Oct 18 2011: I also had some points Iwanted to put forward after reading many of the comments here.
  The first one is the debate on whether what Jill and others experienced was really reality and if such subjective experiences could be considered a part of reality.
  I wanted to point out that what we normally perceive as reality, that is objects, phenomena (light, sound) and such things is really all the brains doing. A cupboard is not really a cupboard unless viewed by the human brain. If a non-human entity were to perceive the cupboard he might not see that it was a cupboard or an object of any kind, but if a human somehow were able to perceive that beings perception of the object, not knowing beforehand that it was a cupboard and the being not knowing it was a cupboard, the human would still classify it as a cupboard, do I make sense at all here?
  What I'm trying to say is that you do not have to perceive the original object in order to have the same experience. Just like we can see a cupboard on a computer screen. What we're really seeing is just pixels but our brain constructs it into a cupboard and it's the same with reality. What we're really seeing are just particles. Objects are clusters of particles, sound is the vibration of particles.
  What we usually refer to as "reality" is the grid that our brain creates over these things to make sense of them. It is the same for us, but really that is out of practicality. How would we be able to function and continue existing if we did not process the world like this. Going through all the information would stop us dead before we began. I think that what Jill described is more that the part of her brain, that controlled this "make-sense-grid" broke down, and so she felt more the connection of the world around her, as she described "I didn't know where my hand ended and the outside world began." I think that should not be unbelievable to anyone.