Posted by Larry Hoover on November 27, 2003, at 8:28:33
In reply to Interesting article , posted by taylor18 on November 27, 2003, at 6:27:34
> Before reading this article, I had always thought to myself that the difference between the bipolar/schizophrenic and the genius, is that the genius can handle all the stimuli, information etc.
That seems to be a good part of the difference...
> They can process, store, create, combine etc. whereas a less able mind, as the researcher puts it, cannot handle it, and mental illness may result.
>
> http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/001684.html
>
> This theory seems to be pretty prevalent because it came up again in this book I was reading: The Origins of Genius: A Darwinian Perspective
>
> I would be very interested in researchers' attempts to create a unified theory on the relationship of genius and severe psychopathology.
>
> This is a very personal issue to me. Larry, Ron, anyone have anything else on this?What's missing from the explanations I've read is a consideration of the processes governing spontaneous generation of thoughts; the brain is both passively receiving stimuli, and actively creating stimuli. From an intra-cerebral perspective, different regions of the brain do not recognize any differences between external and internal stimuli; that is a cognition itself.
From my own experience, having had a manic-psychotic episode induced by SSRI medication, I have a little bit of insight. What got me through that was that I never lost the perspective that the multi-sensory hallucinations were just that. In other words, my meta-cognition allowed me to take an observer status. Had that failed......whoa, I shudder to think of it.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:284368
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20031122/msgs/284395.html