Posted by Dinah on October 1, 2006, at 10:12:04
In reply to Re: psychosis as a choice? » Jost, posted by alexandra_k on October 1, 2006, at 4:51:33
That was written a long time before MRI's etc. Back when autism was considered to be caused by refrigerator moms.
Now they've got proof that the brains of schizophrenics are different than the brains of non-schizophrenics, that chronic depression alters the physical brain, etc.
They were probably doing the best with the information they had. But we've got more information now.
BTW, as someone with a long time involvement with multiple generations of dogs, I'd pretty much have to reject the hypothesis anyway. Dogs are capable of being anxious, depressed, euthymic, dysthmic, and any range of things that fall into mental illness. And it's utterly amazing how many of those things are genetic, down to small behavior anomalies. And it's not nurture either, because sometimes it goes father to puppy, and the puppy has never seen the father in its life.
What I've found is that many to most traits (illnesses if they're traits that prevent effective functioning) are genetic. But their expression (how they manifest themselves in actual behavior) in many cases has to do with environment. So in humans, I would imagine that some illnesses are congenital (genetic or otherwise), and that others are a result of an interplay of genetic or congenital factors and environment (per the research on attachment and neurobiology or per Linehan's model of the invalidating environment coupled with emotional lability).
Chosen? I don't believe so, and I can see how the assumption on the part of mental health professionals who may have never seen an MRI or SPECT scan could be hurtful. Thank heavens we've come a long way since then, although I'm not a huge fan of the mainstream biological reductionism of today either.
Is my experience anecdotal? Sure. But I think you'd be hard pressed to find an observant person who is familiar with multiple generations of dogs on both sides who would disagree.
A different species? Sure. And of course there are differences between dogs and humans. But they aren't completely different, and this is one area where I'd say they weren't.
poster:Dinah
thread:689710
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060926/msgs/690781.html