tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.comments2023-08-20T04:55:39.436-07:00Ars PsychiatricaNovalishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comBlogger1281125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-5217134015190309392012-01-26T08:38:37.476-08:002012-01-26T08:38:37.476-08:00Walden, chapter two: "...for a man is rich in...Walden, chapter two: "...for a man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone."Novalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-69540163416679054932012-01-26T05:42:21.652-08:002012-01-26T05:42:21.652-08:00one's wealth may be measured by how much one c...one's wealth may be measured by how much one can do without...<br />Did Thoreau say this, or do you cite his implicit message?<br />(I can't find it)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-52208640585857746032012-01-26T05:40:15.811-08:002012-01-26T05:40:15.811-08:00Is Joni an evil mother!?Is Joni an evil mother!?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-81141123161243475092012-01-26T05:07:00.567-08:002012-01-26T05:07:00.567-08:00Religion: that set of rules by which I know I'...Religion: that set of rules by which I know I'm ok...and you're not.<br />Isn't freedom from this the high calling?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-30423716757456335882012-01-26T05:00:56.867-08:002012-01-26T05:00:56.867-08:00Very interesting.
I am not sure about what, if any...Very interesting.<br />I am not sure about what, if any value, you ascribe to "phantom firings of a deluded nervous system". I would think these are quite valid and valuable, even if they are not expressed by "me", such as abstract artworks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-14464082308568057872012-01-18T06:13:48.221-08:002012-01-18T06:13:48.221-08:00Welcome back! Missed your musings.Welcome back! Missed your musings.#1 Cuznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-23678011005923897012011-11-02T23:35:29.956-07:002011-11-02T23:35:29.956-07:00"Needless to say, Cap also embodies American ..."Needless to say, Cap also embodies American exceptionalism as well as the absolute injunction to act morally"<br /><br />Agree. Captain America, since he carries the name of the "Americans" is the symbolism of America's valor and morality. Though, unlike the original Marvel character, the Captain America movie this year lacks something. Setting aside this,I really found Chris Evans as a handsome hunk, eh (giggle)..haha <br /><br />Cheers,<br />Peny@<a href="http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474980670491" rel="nofollow">What Nurses Could Do to Co-Workers in Preventing Workplace Violence</a>Nurse and Hospital Storieshttp://penrocks123.typepad.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-74470825367314182322011-09-12T17:34:04.255-07:002011-09-12T17:34:04.255-07:00That, m'dear, is exactly why when hearing abou...That, m'dear, is exactly why when hearing about the emphasis on STEM disciplines, I always ask, "What about the poets?"<br /><br />RossieAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-73386409823631400792011-07-29T09:29:14.507-07:002011-07-29T09:29:14.507-07:00Your post reminded me of a statement by C.S. Lewis...Your post reminded me of a statement by C.S. Lewis. Gave the example of being in a small, dark room with light shining through a hole in the wall. How you experience the light depends on whether you are IN the light looking back along its path or whether you are standing OUTSIDE the light looking at the beam itself. Both views are valid but very different.<br /><br />To extoll eccentricity as a virtue in itself makes little sense. But valuing eccentricity for its ability to provide an interesting and useful new point of view does.The Alienisthttp://thealienist.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-84904216179559322492011-07-26T16:28:56.652-07:002011-07-26T16:28:56.652-07:00Then you have good taste...I enjoyed the Marvel ve...Then you have good taste...I enjoyed the Marvel version of Thor as well--for a Norse deity, he was remarkably down to earth.Novalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-9629694003763466332011-07-26T07:14:17.734-07:002011-07-26T07:14:17.734-07:00He was my favorite as well!He was my favorite as well!#1cuznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-23863701237300402242011-06-29T14:27:21.528-07:002011-06-29T14:27:21.528-07:00Well argued...the claim that "I didn't do...Well argued...the claim that "I didn't do it, my brain did," is morally incoherent except in select circumstances. It is one thing if I have a grand mal seizure while driving and run someone over, but it is dangerous to extrapolate that to more ambiguous situations.<br /><br />Nature's abhorrence of a vacuum applies to personal identity as well. As you say, if identity is degraded from values and personal responsibility to tissues and neurotransmitters, the culture at hand will fill the gap. He who does not shape his own identity will have it shaped for him.Novalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-45127912638696154222011-06-29T13:03:38.931-07:002011-06-29T13:03:38.931-07:00I love this poem. It kind of turns existentialism...I love this poem. It kind of turns existentialism and terror management theory on its head.The Alienisthttp://thealienist.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-20450864279918604462011-06-29T13:01:38.955-07:002011-06-29T13:01:38.955-07:00Interesting post for an interesting article.
I ...Interesting post for an interesting article. <br /><br />I am always worried when the neuroscientists (or any other group) pretend that they have the single most relevant insight into the mind. In reality, when we use a single explanation of mental functioning, it is almost certainly deficient in many respects. Most importantly, at least with regard to this article, neuroscience has not been able to adequately address the idea of "agency."<br /><br />The reductionistic views of neuroscience (as well as other reductionistic views of the mind) remove man as an agent of his own behavior, thought, and emotion. And they do not base this on any proof of a lack of agency -- only proof that our choices are influenced by many more factors that we are consciously aware of. (Hardly a new finding. Read Freud.) <br /><br />Without a recognition of agency (as assumed in the article), certainly current law is meaningless. The alternative described, however, is worse. C.S. Lewis recognized that the medicalization of the law was a step toward the loss of human rights. The law currently recognizes the sane man as the agent of his activities and therefore imposes a (hopefully) reasonable punishment for illegal behavior. The man who has been judged "insane" is assumed not to have been the agent of his activities and can be "treated" for as long as it takes to control his behavior. In the absence of a recognized agent for the illegal activities, society takes the responsibility for the control of an individual's behaviors through psychological, medical, social control, or environmental control.<br /><br />Understand, I am not against neuroscience. I am a trained neuroscientist. I am against proposing legal and social systems based on a woefully incomplete conception of what it means to be human.<br /><br />Sorry for the rambling post. The topic brings up so many interesting lines of thought.The Alienisthttp://thealienist.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-83840985254028252282011-06-21T14:25:10.562-07:002011-06-21T14:25:10.562-07:00Right, I guess it was Pound who said that "Li...Right, I guess it was Pound who said that "Literature is news that stays news."Novalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-10036296253780416492011-06-21T14:24:22.179-07:002011-06-21T14:24:22.179-07:00Yes, another way of saying it is that in the face ...Yes, another way of saying it is that in the face of suffering, physicians are forced to be pragmatists, compelled to jerry-rig with whatever happens to be at hand...Novalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-40847094912480365902011-06-21T12:55:48.057-07:002011-06-21T12:55:48.057-07:00The main problem of the double-blind, randomized, ...The main problem of the double-blind, randomized, controlled trial is the fact that the physician and patient are given a tool (the drug or other intervention) but not allowed to use it correctly. If I prescribe an antidepressant, I know this tool, how to use it, and how it fits into my patient's life. In a drug trial, I am given some object (it could be a valuable tool or a useless piece of junk) and told to try and help someone with it.<br /><br />In some ways, this is like trying to get hammers approved for construction by blindfolding workers, randomly distributing tools, and telling them to build a house! You are unlikely to find the constructive powers of hammers in this way, but you will likely see their destructive capabilities.The Alienisthttp://thealienist.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-280420155681527222011-06-21T12:48:44.605-07:002011-06-21T12:48:44.605-07:00Nice. One reason we keep a huge library and still...Nice. One reason we keep a huge library and still haunt second hand booksales (despite actually using kindles and iPads more often day to day to read) is that public libraries have abandonned the canon and gone for lending statistics as criteria for keeping books (four members of the family have had part library jobs over the years and seen the transformation). This means that if you don't own something, you may not be able to get to it when you want to look something up.<br /><br />I read mostly non fiction because of residual Puritanism from relatives hammering into menhow ignorant I was and how frivolous novels were. And yet I love some novels. But in a kind of excerpted way. They are frustrating to reread because you k ow how they turn out. And yet non fiction becomes obsolete faster...cookbooks are safe. :). Poetry, tho I hate most all modern poets. Hmmmm. I tend to like things my friends have written.Retrieverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09036341287285545932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-65846403507315660522011-06-21T11:53:14.100-07:002011-06-21T11:53:14.100-07:00I enjoyed this post (and am pleasantly surprised t...I enjoyed this post (and am pleasantly surprised that you are still posting)! I thought you had gone.<br /><br />In wrestling with the value of fiction and non-fiction, I sometimes think of it like the difference between updating my CV and writing an autobiography. My CV never really seems to capture my life as I live it no matter how many facts I include. My autobiography, however, could begin to convey what it is like to live my life, but the other individuals involved in my life would likely dispute my subjective version of the "facts."<br /><br />I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction, but I read them for different reasons.The Alienisthttp://thealienist.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-21363470844442927182011-06-08T17:56:41.345-07:002011-06-08T17:56:41.345-07:00It has been seven years since my 20 year old son&#...It has been seven years since my 20 year old son's suicide. I have read every book on the market and some that were out of print. History of a Suicide is one of the very best that I have read. This book also references many of some of the very good books on suicide - Kay Redfield Jamison's, but also one of the first Books I read was "The Suicidal Mind" by Edwin Sheindman - who was a pioneer in the field of suicide prevention. He was the founder of The American Association of Suicidology". As in the History of Suicide, Shneidman did a psychological autopsy for me on my son. Jill Bialosky, the writer of History of a Suicide also asked Dr. Shneidman to do a psychological autopsy on her sister. Dr. Shneidman brought both of us much peace and understanding - I won't say closure, as there does not seem to be such a thing with death by suicide. I highly recommend this book to everyone!<br />WendyWendy McIntoshhttp://caleb.joseph.mcintosh.memory-of.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-58004703545943519292011-06-07T15:17:18.276-07:002011-06-07T15:17:18.276-07:00Sorry, it's "Good Old Neon."Sorry, it's "Good Old Neon."Novalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-71873268116757183272011-06-07T15:15:07.938-07:002011-06-07T15:15:07.938-07:00Suicide has been of surprisingly little interest t...Suicide has been of surprisingly little interest to mainstream philosophy. Off the top of my head, "Hamlet" is, among many other things, a dramatic disquisition on the subject. Jeffrey Eugenides's "The Virgin Suicides" was a magical realist take on the dilemma of the survivors. <br /><br />Kay Redfield Jamison's "Night Falls Fast" examined the unity-in-diversity of suicidal experience. David Foster Wallace's story (and grim harbinger) "Old Neon" may have captured the subjectivity of the suicide as well as any.Novalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-91093027377385137292011-06-07T10:26:42.512-07:002011-06-07T10:26:42.512-07:00Given Camus' notion that the only philosophica...Given Camus' notion that the only philosophical question (or paramount one) is whether or not to commit suicide, I was wondering if there is any good books on suicide with an existential perspective, if not explicitly at least implicitly? <br /><br />I read Durkheim's Suicide and was struck by how remote it was from the existential aspect of suicide and was therefore, wanting in a substantial way. Its place in the pantheon is misplaced, or so it seems to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-8115845396423152902011-06-07T04:42:25.070-07:002011-06-07T04:42:25.070-07:00Good to see you back here sharing miscellany again...Good to see you back here sharing miscellany again! As to the topic at hand, medications are useful in that they alleviate suffering enough that the patient can participate meaningfully in his or her psychotherapy. Overall, matters of the soul cannot be resolved chemically or behaviorally. <br /><br />Rossie // sloughing toward JunglinessAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-23668138192042544172011-06-06T04:00:20.983-07:002011-06-06T04:00:20.983-07:00Yes, in some quarters the charges against drugs ar...Yes, in some quarters the charges against drugs are dire; I did not say so as explicitly as you have, although I implied it in my reference to Whitaker (according to whom, presumably, there could be no justification for prescribing an antidepressant, ever).<br /><br />Perhaps it is most accurate to say that our diagnoses are relatively non-specific. When a single drug such as fluoxetine can treat major depression, dysthymia, bulimia, PTSD, social phobia, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, etc. it is obvious that there is overlap. One could say that SSRI's are "specific" for a broader construct such as high neuroticism.<br /><br />On a fine-grained level, psychotherapy is extremely specific--a good therapist's every facial expression, tone, and comment should be attuned to a particular patient's unique needs. However, on a theoretical level, the general endeavor to challenge dysfunctional cognitive schemas (for example) is no more specific than an SSRI inasmuch as it can be tailored to myriad diagnoses.Novalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.com