Posted by seldomseen on September 15, 2009, at 19:38:20
In reply to Could this be a source of lack of motivation?, posted by psych chat on September 15, 2009, at 0:32:36
I would like to propose what might be considered a radical solution (especially coming from a scientist like myself). I would suggest giving up the theory, the desire to understand, draw logical conclusions and identifiy causality.
Understanding our emotions, our motivations and (as extensions from those) our behaviour from a completely rational point of view is, IMO a contradiction and is, also IMO, unlikely to yield productive results.
I think we experience ourselves more than understand ourselves. We learn to recognize patterns of behaviour, and can seek to find solutions to those. But unlike other fields of medicine, in psychiatry understanding the cause doesn't necessarily predict a cure.
However, I do not think psychiatry in any more or less fragmented than any other field of medicine. If one read extensively into the literature on hematology for example, one would come away much more confused than prior to the reading. Yet the blood will still clot, and immune function is maintained.
I think the conclusion that all of medicine is coming to is "the right treatment in the right patient". This is where the wisdom and the experience of good physicians comes into play in our recovery. Which doctor is the best? I say the one that makes you feel better.
Does this mean that sometime physicians can understand us better than we can understand ourselves? Perhaps, but there is a theory floating about somewhere that postulates that a system can not understand itself. This statement might be true.
Seldom.
poster:seldomseen
thread:917149
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20090907/msgs/917278.html