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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Sebastian Flyte on September 4, 2013, at 23:54:01
This a little vague, but:
Are there people who non-psychiatrists would think were crazy who psychiatrists wouldn't?
Is there a practical difference between being very different or unusual and being mentally ill?
I've even heard some disorders described as merely having some trait so many sd's from the mean.
Posted by sigismund on September 5, 2013, at 17:47:18
In reply to how psychiatrists use 'crazy', posted by Sebastian Flyte on September 4, 2013, at 23:54:01
I recall a young man lucidly describing to me how the central committee of the Chinese and USSR communist parties had electrodes in his brain monitoring thoughts on which the peace between these two countries depended. Clearly references from 40 years ago.
He seemed much saner than me......lucid, without 'problems', and with many other attributes valued by the young except when in their own possession (such as good looks).
With mixed feelings I decided he was crazy and I was not.
My psych dr described a man who believed himself to be God, advising this man to talk about this just with him.
Some people, with word salad, are clearly ill in some way or other. There could be anything happening there.
Back in the day, what is now seen as manic psychosis was often diagnosed as schizophrenia.
Posted by Sebastian Flyte on September 8, 2013, at 5:10:22
In reply to Re: how psychiatrists use 'crazy', posted by sigismund on September 5, 2013, at 17:47:18
I ask because I myself have some radical opinions. All of them are shared by many. I'm not a minority of one, but they may still be dismissed as crazy by the majority. Furthermore, holding these opinions has made life more difficult for me; I don't fit in. I have held these opinions since adolescence.
1. I believe, along with Denham Harmon and David Sinclair, that research in the biology of aging is criminally underfunded.
2. I believe that formal education is inefficient and obscenely overpriced. I've never benefited from classroom instruction. As a result I regard both uni admins and professors as criminals.
3. I believe that the use of grades and extracurriculars in elite uni admissions decisions as opposed to tests only, as the rest of the world does it, results in an American elite which is very pushy and relatively dumb.
Posted by sigismund on September 8, 2013, at 16:54:39
In reply to Re: how psychiatrists use 'crazy', posted by Sebastian Flyte on September 8, 2013, at 5:10:22
>3. I believe that the use of grades and extracurriculars in elite uni admissions decisions as opposed to tests only, as the rest of the world does it, results in an American elite which is very pushy and relatively dumb.
That hasn't stopped them in the 50 years I have been watching. I'm not sure of the causality, from grades and admissions to the pushy and dumb. I figured it was from the post WWII decision to occupy a particular place in the world. America is more provincial than I expected.
Posted by sigismund on September 11, 2013, at 0:45:13
In reply to Re: how psychiatrists use 'crazy', posted by Sebastian Flyte on September 8, 2013, at 5:10:22
You might like this bloke.
http://usm.maine.edu/phi/how-professor-jason-read-became-internet-meme
Posted by sebastian flyte on September 11, 2013, at 3:06:00
In reply to Re: how psychiatrists use 'crazy', posted by sigismund on September 11, 2013, at 0:45:13
yes. the talk of parasites and moochers is a bit simplistic to say the least.
in my country, the us, automation, outsourcing, and immigration means very simply that there is either no work or what work there is isn't really work.
qualified engineers in the us are < 2% of the workforce.
there is a minority of truly productive people <=20% of the workforce. the rest is just bs.
and in order to be productive one must be a lot smarter than average or mexican.
it's just going to get worse.
Posted by sigismund on September 11, 2013, at 16:34:50
In reply to Re: how psychiatrists use 'crazy', posted by sebastian flyte on September 11, 2013, at 3:06:00
That is the feeling of this time, that things will only get worse, or as I read here once 'Our generation is basically screwed'.
And if the science is right there will be angry people down the track wondering how it happened.
I was reading an account of Obama's first victory (when it was possible to be more hopeful) written by the man who had been our PMs speechwriter and he said of his acceptance speech that quite the best thing was knowing (hoping?) that we will not have to hear the sound of our own generation yet again. There is always McCain.
This is the end of the thread.
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