I feel consequently I am Renee Descartes (1640)
It is a eye-catching summers day and you are walking in the countryside. In a clearing to your right you see a cherry tree, the red fruit peeping from under the lush green foliage. You walk up to it. You touch it, feeling the rough bark under your fingertips. You can hear the breeze rustling the leaves, and smell the odour of the fruit. You take a cherry and pop it in your mouth, savouring the sweet juice as it floods more than your tongue.
But does the cherry tree exist? You can see it, hear it, feel it, smell and taste its fruit but this is not adequate. You might possibly be hallucinating, or asleep and getting a particularly vivid dream. How would you know?
You wouldnt. All our expertise of the globe and reality is governed by our five senses (I leave aside any discussion of a sixth sense). These senses are our only connection with the globe outside our selves. A blind individual has no visual get in touch with with the outside globe somebody with a serious cold has little taste or olfactory get in touch with with the outside globe. And these senses are essentially biochemical machines developed to send material to our brain. For example, the eyes collect and concentrate reflected light onto the retina (at the back of the eye). Receptors in the retina convert this light into electrical impulses (this electricity is created by chemical substances in the receptors). These electrical impulses are then fired along a network of nerve cells to the brain. The brain, yet another really complex mass of interconnected nerve cells, analyses these impulses their strength, their rate, their pattern and frequency and generates an interna l picture based upon them. It is this brain-generated picture that we see. It is a similar case with the sensation of touch. Receptors in our skin are stimulated by physical get in touch with and generate electrical impulses that are sent to the brain what we feel is the outcome of the brains analysis of these impulses. And so on for taste, smell and hearing.
So the tree that we saw, felt, heard, smelled and tasted isnt in reality out there in the globe it is in our brains. Far more accurately, it is the brains image or impression of the tree constructed from the impulses it receives from our senses. Whenever our brain received this certain pattern of impulses from the senses, it would construct an image of a tree colour, shape, smell, taste, touch and sound regardless of whether or not a tree was in reality there.
There is little controversy in stating that our brains can be deceived. We can block the path of the electrical impulses as they pass from the sense receptors to the brain this is the case with nearby anaesthesia, where a patient can watch as his appendix is removed with no discomfort. Or we can interfere straight with the brains analysis of the sense impulses a drunken individual is aware that he has fallen more than, but it doesnt hurt (till the next day!). And we dont will need alcohol or drugs for this deception to occur at some point, most of us have believed, albeit briefly, that weve seen or heard or felt something that has turned out to not be there.
It was this sort of reasoning that led Descartes to query the really existence of a globe outside our selves. In light of contemporary science, Descartes is questioning the existence of a globe outside our brains (our bodily sensations such as feeling hungry or getting an aching leg are also mediated by our senses). In these terms, our personal bodies are viewed as as element of the outside globe. If all we see, hear, touch, feel and taste in the outside globe is but a representation in our brains, and this representation is based on material from our senses, and these senses can be deceived, then we can under no circumstances be confident that the outside globe exists. Descartes talked of the possibility of us becoming hypnotised by a demon who is tricking us into believing we are moving around in a globe with trees, homes, other persons and so on when in truth had been locked in a dungeon someplace. The film The Matrix gives a technological option.
So we cant know if the outside globe exists it could all be in our brains. But in that case can we know that something exists? Thankfully, yes. We can be confident our thoughts exist. How? Mainly because we feel them. There seems no way that we can be deceived about our thoughts existing in the really act of getting a thought, that thought exists. The thoughts might possibly be based on deceptive material from the senses, but they are nevertheless genuine, they nevertheless exist. It is hard to conceive of deceiving somebody into believing they have thoughts when, in truth, they dont. You will need to have thoughts to be deceived.
So we can safely say that our thoughts definitely exist! Descartes moved on from this rock of certainty and went on to prove the existence of the outside globe. Sadly, this further proof is hugely suspect and relies on the notion of a beneficent and all-potent God but then Descartes was writing on behalf of the Catholic Church! Most contemporary philosophers discount this extension of his theory, but they do nevertheless accept his earlier reasoning - I feel consequently I am has stood the test of time. If we are becoming pedantic, Descartes quote is better rendered as There are thoughts just due to the fact I expertise thoughts doesnt mean they are mine! But this isnt as memorable as the original.
So what has all this got to do with mental wellness? Effectively, if the outside globe doesnt exist as such and all we have is thoughts, then (potentially) the globe is what we feel it to be. Im not saying we can change items drastically. It would take a lot of work to build a thought-globe where trees can speak and persons fly by flapping their arms for this to be genuine one particular would have to interact continually and regularly with trees and persons as even though they could do these items. Rather, I am talking about how our thoughts and feelings can colour our expertise of the outside globe (I am making use of the terms thoughts and emotional feelings interchangeably right here). Depressed persons (i.e. persons with depressed or depressing thoughts!) expertise the globe differently to other people. They see colours much less vividly, food can seem tasteless and unpleasant, and harmless everyday conditions can seem threatening. They predict negative consequences from actions and events where other people see only benefit. A depressed persons globe is really totally different to a content persons, but to an observer they will seem one particular and the identical.
A individual with depressive thoughts who is hunting to get better has three courses of action open to him.
Firstly, he can accept the medical model of mental illness and depression. This model sees the brain (rightly) as a complex neurochemical structure, and postulates that depression and other psychological illnesses are due to defects or malfunctioning in this process. The brain, when examined anatomically, consists of millions of a range of cells, each and every of which is in turn composed of smaller sized structures. When these structures are examined in turn, they are found to consist of chemical substances (as does all physical matter). The medical model thus presumes that it is a defect or malfunctioning of these chemical substances that adversely influence the brains cells, major in turn to the malfunctioning of the brain and lastly a malfunctioning of thinking depression or whatever.
On this model, the course of action is clear appropriate the malfunctioning of the brain. This is carried out making use of drugs that enter the brain and interfere with the cells chemical structure and functioning. This all tends to make best sense. Sadly, there is a vast gulf in between the theory and the practise. Medical science just does not know adequate about the brain at present. There are quite a few totally different cell varieties, quite a few totally different chemical substances in and around these cells, and quite a few totally different interactions and connections in between each and every cell and the other people. No test has been created that shows which chemical substances/cells/connections are malfunctioning. The right that the scientists can do is make an educated guess as to these chemical substances/cells/connections seem likely to be defective, and decide on drugs that act on these. The initial guesses (based on drugs that had been found in the 19 50s - by accident!) are nevertheless the main concentrate of study at present. The outcome is predictable a substantial number of totally different drugs that function seem to function often and not at other people and have side effects (due to the fact they are also affecting perfectly wholesome cells). This is likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future.
A second course of action for the depressed individual is to change the outside globe i.e. their circumstances. This tends to make perfectly high-quality sense. If you are feeling depressed due to the fact you hate your job or your relationship, then change it. If you feel depressed due to the fact youre overweight, then diet program. Of course, this is rather flippant. If it had been that painless to do, persons would just do it. And it ought to be acknowledged that depression often saps the will and motivation to change just these sorts of conditions. Additional, many conditions can't be changed by our personal actions the loss of a loved one particular, poverty, ill wellness, war, famine and so on. The outside globe can be really resistant to change.
The third course of action takes a leaf out of Descartes book. We are what we feel a depressed individual is no much more and no much less than somebody with depressed thoughts. If they stopped getting depressed thoughts, then the depression disappears. It is conceivable for persons to be content, or at least content material, even in the direst of circumstances. Most of us have identified persons face up to unpleasant and distressing events with resilience and even cheerfulness. We say they are naturally content or are positive persons. One can also say that they feel content thoughts or feel positive thoughts.
Perhaps they had been born like that. Or perhaps they learnt to feel like that as they grew up (I think this is much more likely). Either way, even though, they appreciate life a lot much more than many of us. But this neednt be the case if we can learn to feel a little much more like them, learn to feel in a much more pleasant, positive way. It seems unlikely that depressed persons are born like that, just as it is unlikely that content persons are born like that. Even the wackiest psychiatrist will hesitate to diagnose a baby as depressed! Young babies cant feel as we do and they cant have depressed thoughts. As they grow, their thinking abilities develop under the influence of their parents, siblings and peers. Patterns of thought are created, means of thinking, with each and every individual getting their personal certain patterns, exceptional to them. By the time adulthood is reached, these patterns are likely to be ingrained in us, to the point where had been not e ven aware of them we automatically procedure conditions, events, and interactions with other people in terms of these thought patterns. The thoughts we in reality feel (and are aware of) are the results of this processing. Therefore, if this processing is set wrong (e.g. if it continually produces thoughts that are depressive), then psychological problems are likely to stick to.
This is the basic theory on which are based the cognitive therapies for psychological problems. With the prompting and guidance of the therapist, an individual is taught to examine his or her thinking patterns, looking for maladaptive and detrimental means of thinking. This is not an painless process the patterns are quite often automatic (like a habit) and the individual is likely to be unaware of them initially. An crucial process for the therapist is to elucidate these faulty patterns. These can then made explicit to the individual, and the first measures taken towards difficult these means of thinking. The aim of the cognitive therapies is to minimise or eliminate completely the identified faulty patterns, and for the individual to learn much more adaptive and helpful means of thinking in their spot. A productive therapy can change a persons life forever when a individual no longer automatically thinks depressive thoughts, they are insulated and protected from becomi ng depressed in the future. Karen practices NLP and CBT in Herts.
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