Posted by Adam on September 27, 1999, at 20:20:14
In reply to Getting really philosophical--I love it, posted by Noa on September 27, 1999, at 18:07:35
I think a point people often miss, and I'm not sure why, but it is at the heart of the percieved
mind/brain dichotomy, is that there is no real difference between "software" and "hardware" when
you are talking about the human brain. There can be endogenous problems, but experience does
nothing less than alter the structure of the brain at some level, and, ulike a program, you can't
just "reboot" when things go awry. The changes are lasting, and maybe permanent, which is why childhood
experiences matter at all in the etiology of depression. To what extent the endogenous and exogenous
factors contribute, of course, is still the big question.From my own personal experience (n=1, FWIW), I would imagine that genetics play a major role. I have a
feeling that a predisposition coupled with some rather unfortunate childhood experiences have caused
what has been manifested to be manifested. I'm quite convinced that had my childhood been different/
less rife with difficulties, my depression would not have been as severe as it has been, but perhaps
I would have been somewhat depressive even under the best of circumstances. I'd like to think that
hard work/therapy can address some aspects of the problem, you know, compensation for some of the
bad programming, and that medications can help with the rest.
> I love the philosophical discussions.
>
> As for the accuracy of the depressed vs. the "normal", think about people with anxiety disorders...Most people are deluded about the risks of everyday life. Each time we get into our cars, if we were to ponder what might happen to us on the road, we might become paralyzed and be unable to go anywhere. We have to delude ourselves in order to function. The anxious person is not seeing a distorted reality, but is just more open to perceiving the dangers in life than are most folks, because it is just too overwhelming to let ourselves be open to our fears all the time.
>
> As for mind vs. brain...good questions. I don't think it has to be an either/or thing when it comes to the etiology of mental disorders. There is hardware (the brain, our physiological, genetic selves) and software (our experience, learning, etc.) It is complicated. For some of us, the dysfunction lies more prominently in the hardware problems and for others of us, more prominently in the software problems. Hardware problems can be of factory origin, or due to defects caused by injuries along the way. Software problems can be due to inherently bad programming, or a bad fit between the hardware and the programs, etc.
>
> Ponder yet another metaphor and keep the discussion going....
poster:Adam
thread:12034
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990914/msgs/12154.html