My greatest passion is that for language. I love both the written and spoken word and am an aspiring writer. I am fluent in both English and French, and am making progess in Spanish and Italian.
Comments
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Jul 16 2012: Agreed, it is one thing to desire a release from difficulty, but it is another to regret the difficulties that have helped to form the people that we are today. Not very healthy on an emotional level. As much as I dislike being an anxious person, it kept me out of a lot of trouble as a teenager.
:)
Jul 15 2012: I suspect I'm misunderstanding your meaning. Are these questions perhaps rhetorical? Or is it your wish to point out the difficulty in finding a dividing line between the normal and the abnormal? I would certainly agree that the difference is not always clear, even when stringently defined. However, I do not believe that a stricter definition is needed to discuss this particular question.The thin line between health and illness on a mental level was rather the point.
Jul 15 2012: Unfortunately, what is normal and what is abnormal can only be determined by monitoring how the majority of the population behaves. So, normal by the measure of the social scientist.
Distress on the other hand is entirely subjective and can only be determined by reports by the individual in question.
Jul 15 2012: A condition with primarily mental symptoms which causes abnormal behaviour, significant distress for the individual, difficulty performing everyday tasks, and/or conflict with society and its rules.
Generally more than one of these factors should be present.
For the sake of the conversation, "anything listed in the most recent DSM" would be fine.
Jul 8 2012: Good evening to you,
I must admit, I was rather less interested in the feasability of a one-pill cure-all than I was in the reactions of others to the hypothetical situation of a no-strings attacted removal of everything that comes with mental illness, good or bad.
It would be highly advantageous for everyone if all the people in mental hospitals could be helped to the degree of independence and over-all wellness, but if we are siimply talking about removing all traits associated with mental illness, then the question is somewhat more complex.
What I am really wondering is whether we regret those traits, as individuals of as a society, that we would do away with them entirely if given the chance.
Jul 3 2012: Ha, yes, that was my understanding of her position as well. What a painful and terrible world, with more shadows and horror than can be borne. The shadows provide contrast and bring meaning to the light, but they are unbearable when there is no light to be found.
Jul 3 2012: No, we wouldn't, because that isn't the same thing at all. The conditions and mentalities we define as mental illness are not nearly as simple as physical impairment and disability. They have a wide range of severity, effects, and implications. Not all who are mentally ill suffer. Some are simply inconvenienced; some find only difficulty in the unbending ways of society's baises; still others are happy in their conditions despite their limitations and difficulties. This is not to discount those who suffer and would gladly take a miracle cure. However, the issue is made nebulous and murky for these reasons.
The reality of our current medications is indeed a sad one. The side affects of these medications are often unpleasant or even dangerous, and one must weigh one evil against another, trading symptoms for side-affects.
Jul 1 2012: Well, a brain with a capacity for understanding symbolic language and metaphoric language is necesarily one that is highly complex, so... Yes, the understanding of metaphors could be considered a useful adaption, particularly as it allows for easy, if unnuanced and occationally innaccurate, communcation of complex ideas.
That being said, it isn't so much more advanced and less advanced when it comes to evolution. It's really more useful and less useful.
Jul 1 2012: I do not view autistics as defective. I would agree that we are differently adapted.
I did not say that we do not understand, I said that we have trouble understanding. It really isn't the same thing.
I would ask that an attempt be made to at least understand what my argument is before offering a rebuttal.
Again, I have studied evolutionary psychology.
As to autistic individuals being differently adapted, no matter how many times this argument is given, my mind cannot be changed because I DO NOT DISAGREE ON THAT POINT.
TEDCred score: +1.30 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.
A reply on Conversation: If one's mental illness could be cured by a single pill, would you choose to do so?
:)
A reply on Conversation: If one's mental illness could be cured by a single pill, would you choose to do so?
A reply on Conversation: If one's mental illness could be cured by a single pill, would you choose to do so?
Distress on the other hand is entirely subjective and can only be determined by reports by the individual in question.
A reply on Conversation: If one's mental illness could be cured by a single pill, would you choose to do so?
Generally more than one of these factors should be present.
For the sake of the conversation, "anything listed in the most recent DSM" would be fine.
A reply on Conversation: If one's mental illness could be cured by a single pill, would you choose to do so?
A reply on Conversation: If one's mental illness could be cured by a single pill, would you choose to do so?
I must admit, I was rather less interested in the feasability of a one-pill cure-all than I was in the reactions of others to the hypothetical situation of a no-strings attacted removal of everything that comes with mental illness, good or bad.
It would be highly advantageous for everyone if all the people in mental hospitals could be helped to the degree of independence and over-all wellness, but if we are siimply talking about removing all traits associated with mental illness, then the question is somewhat more complex.
What I am really wondering is whether we regret those traits, as individuals of as a society, that we would do away with them entirely if given the chance.
A reply on Conversation: If one's mental illness could be cured by a single pill, would you choose to do so?
A reply on Conversation: If one's mental illness could be cured by a single pill, would you choose to do so?
The reality of our current medications is indeed a sad one. The side affects of these medications are often unpleasant or even dangerous, and one must weigh one evil against another, trading symptoms for side-affects.
A reply on Conversation: The Intense World Theory and early intervention
That being said, it isn't so much more advanced and less advanced when it comes to evolution. It's really more useful and less useful.
A reply on Conversation: The Intense World Theory and early intervention
I did not say that we do not understand, I said that we have trouble understanding. It really isn't the same thing.
I would ask that an attempt be made to at least understand what my argument is before offering a rebuttal.
Again, I have studied evolutionary psychology.
As to autistic individuals being differently adapted, no matter how many times this argument is given, my mind cannot be changed because I DO NOT DISAGREE ON THAT POINT.