I agree intolerance is a/the problem. It seems like in our culture any expression of ‘madness’ must be immediately clamped down. I don’t think it’s this way everywhere.
“I love my madness.
But like most loves it is trying to finish me off.”
That’s powerful. Something can be a tool but still a destructive one.
One of the metaphors I often hear nowadays is madness as a “dangerous gift”. Seems to capture a similar thought.
Thanks! I hadn’t read Wittgenstein’s take. I’ll have to look that up. I’m intrigued by this metaphor of depression as akin to soul-seasons. The image tempers the urge that people seem to have to immediately fight it, conquer it, eliminate it.
I’ve really been enjoying the work of Rosa Ritunnano, psychiatrist and philosopher, who does a lot of work on delusions in particular as sometimes carrying meaning, i.e, as not the sort of thing that always needs to be targeted https://t.co/JkjzsSHamK
Thanks for this interesting perspective! The French physician Philippe Pinel described madness as akin to fever, it was nature’s healing power. I’m not sure if that was always a good idea (or his idea that madness should always be allowed to “run its course”) but I think it’s an important and revealing metaphor.
Love this idea of how overemphasis on logic, followed by a reaction that overemphasizes emotion, followed by a reaction that overemphasizes logic…is kind of like breathing. Maybe it’s a collective form of breathing.
Sorry I’m just getting to this! I agree that as a rule, “more paradigms are better than few.” Some might say “but what about the demon possession paradigm?” Columbia psychiatry prof. Richard Gallagher is a Catholic and an exorcist who is convinced that it’s a valid paradigm, and that a *very small* number of his patients are struggling with literal demons. We don’t have to get into the truth of demons to conjecture that it might help some suffering patients, particularly those who share his faith.
I agree intolerance is a/the problem. It seems like in our culture any expression of ‘madness’ must be immediately clamped down. I don’t think it’s this way everywhere.
Report comment
“I love my madness.
But like most loves it is trying to finish me off.”
That’s powerful. Something can be a tool but still a destructive one.
One of the metaphors I often hear nowadays is madness as a “dangerous gift”. Seems to capture a similar thought.
Report comment
Thanks! I hadn’t read Wittgenstein’s take. I’ll have to look that up. I’m intrigued by this metaphor of depression as akin to soul-seasons. The image tempers the urge that people seem to have to immediately fight it, conquer it, eliminate it.
Report comment
I’ve really been enjoying the work of Rosa Ritunnano, psychiatrist and philosopher, who does a lot of work on delusions in particular as sometimes carrying meaning, i.e, as not the sort of thing that always needs to be targeted https://t.co/JkjzsSHamK
Report comment
Thanks for this interesting perspective! The French physician Philippe Pinel described madness as akin to fever, it was nature’s healing power. I’m not sure if that was always a good idea (or his idea that madness should always be allowed to “run its course”) but I think it’s an important and revealing metaphor.
Report comment
Love this idea of how overemphasis on logic, followed by a reaction that overemphasizes emotion, followed by a reaction that overemphasizes logic…is kind of like breathing. Maybe it’s a collective form of breathing.
Report comment
Sorry I’m just getting to this! I agree that as a rule, “more paradigms are better than few.” Some might say “but what about the demon possession paradigm?” Columbia psychiatry prof. Richard Gallagher is a Catholic and an exorcist who is convinced that it’s a valid paradigm, and that a *very small* number of his patients are struggling with literal demons. We don’t have to get into the truth of demons to conjecture that it might help some suffering patients, particularly those who share his faith.
Report comment