Posted by seeknsolace on June 4, 2004, at 5:43:39
In reply to Re: mind/brain, posted by Chairman_MAO on June 3, 2004, at 21:51:48
> The interest in spect scans was in re: linkadge's last post (although he said MRI, but I believe what he meant was SPECT, or fMRI).
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> I empathize with you, as I've always felt all my life that my CNS is broken. My life story is 99.44% the classic "inattentive ADD" life story. Without something like stimulants or desipramine--which thank God I stumbled upon because I'm now politically prohibited from taking stimulants due to a past drug problem--I cannot even come close to actualizing myself. There are psychological factors involved in my ADD strife as well, e.g. my lack of concentration becoming a self fulfilling prophecy. I do not understand why everyone seems to think that my position is untenable if I recognize that these disorders exist.
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> I feel you are "explaining away" the existence of mind. You are no doubt aware of the philosophical distinction between mind and brain; you probably know a hell of a lot more about philosophy of science than I do, anyway. There are correlates between mind and brain, but ultimately we do not live in the brain, we live in the mind. Moreover, one can make a cogent argument that we do not possess the epistemic tools necessary to apprehend the mind-brain link and bridge the so-called "explanatory gap".
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> Psychiatry means "healing the soul". I do not understand how a discipline that heals the soul could ever be considered part of neurobiology. No psychiatric disorder exists in a biological vacuum: Patients with major depression with successful antidepressant outcomes and those with successful psychotherapy outcomes are known to undergo the same neural changes. Are you sure all that's at work here in your suffering and recovery are the medications? Believe me, I am all too aware of how seductive it is to look for an explanation for one's suffering in neurotransmitters and receptors. There is obviously a neurobiological substrate to it; there is a neurobiological substrate to all consciousness! Saying that one's suffering is wholly rooted in neurobiology is, in my view, just as mistaken as those counselors who kept steering you away from it, for there is always mind, and there is always brain.
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So far these postings have been above my understanding but getting the grasp of it. One thing that hasnt been addressed but may merely be my own feelings and opinions.. cant ADD be caused by the individual's upbringing. Suffering from depression myself, I blame myself for my son's disposition. Maybe it was the lack of my parenting skills that catapulted him in being symptomatic of ADD. Tho the pdoc didnt say to me or my son "he is ADD". But explained to us how ritalin will help him, giving examples of an ADD person.Maybe its not strictly my fault. I can track hereditary depression back to my great grandma, everyone after her has been symptomatic of it.. it runs on both of my grandparents sides. But then again, looking back, maybe it was the parenting itself that caused the persons child to developed a depressed personality, hence passing it down to their child, but their own depression effecting their parenting skills.
So tough to say if it was the person or the disease. Or both. If I remember correctly, it only seems in the last ten years or so that the label of ADD has been frequently used.. it seems to be more prevelant in families that either are a single parent or families that have less then a quality standard of living/cohabitating.
I've worked with ADD children at the preschool level and their families so I have a little understanding but one glove doesnt fit everyone I know.
For me personally, I've noticed my son's decline at two seperate occassions, first when I had started working more frequently (always been a single parent), which was also a the time when he entered the school system and also more recently when his dad was imprisoned 5 yrs ago.. since then with passing time, he has become increasingly more difficult. Symptomatic of ADD. I feel my lack of being able to emotionally deal with him, but I still try my best, that my weaknesses added to his illness.
So with both he and I having a difficult upbringing as children, is it a disease of the brain or the disease of a social society that brought us where we are today?
poster:seeknsolace
thread:353129
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040602/msgs/353656.html