Discussion Do you believe you are mentally ill

[ShadowOfTheDay]

No. I am not aware of a single study ever done, that says suicide is always a symptom of mental illness. Our suicide policy is already based on the cult like notion life is always worth it. We do not need this to get worse. I do not need people like you telling me Blue is prettier than red, therefore I am ill.

I'm sorry. I'm really dumb, and usually I'm able to understand and appreciate your posts. But I have no idea what you're saying here. Again, I'm very dumb. Forgive, please.

 

[Kyrok]

I'm sorry. I'm really dumb, and usually I'm able to understand and appreciate your posts. But I have no idea what you're saying here. Again, I'm very dumb. Forgive, please.

I think the point is criticizing: if you don't agree with a subjective preference (blue/red), you're mentally ill.

I.e., continuing in life is a preference that not all share.

 

[FTL.Wanderer]

Hey, wanderer. I don't necessarily disagree with you, and I appreciate your POV, and the erudite way in which you have expressed yourself. Back to my original question, though, how are we supposed to look at suicidal behavior? Assuming the position of an outside, impartial observer (e. g. An extra-terrestrial), doesn't suicide look like a symptom of mental illness? I mean, how could killing oneself contribute to the propagation of one's genes (assuming this is the ultimate motivating force of life)?

To address your first question of how suicidal behavior should be perceived, I think this depends on the kind of mind doing the perception. Right now, that we know of, we're only aware of our own species' evaluation of suicide. But we are a particular animal with a particular genetic evolutionary, and therefore neurological and social, heritage. Part of that heritage seems to include a strong survival behavioral imperative that, possibly through gene pool selective pressures, has become generalized as a broad (across-cultures) moral precept--that being alive is better than being dead. Although there may be a biological grounds for this belief, it still remains only a belief. So I can't find any obligatory truth to a claim about the value of life or that being alive must be better than being dead. Which means I don't think there is any philosophical reason anyone has to conclude life is either good or bad and therefore that suicide is either good or bad.

I also think cultures should ask whether moral precepts are scientifically objective. If they aren't (like that being alive is a generally better state than being dead), and there is no strong, near-universal philosophical reason the precept should be generalizable (like proscriptions against pleasure-killing of other people), then the mere popularity of a belief (like "suicide is bad") ought not to be legitimized as a formal legal prohibition against others' freedoms to determine their own life course--including when and how to die.

You asked, "doesn't suicide look like a symptom of mental illness?" I find this question problematic. First, it assumes the truth of the phrase "mental illness" as perpetuated by the psychiatric and related professions. As argued, rigorous biological cause-effect evidence has not been forthcoming and both British and European authoritative psychological boards have, in acknowledgement of this, pushed for replacing words like "illness" (which implies a physiological cause) with words like "condition" (which implies a complex interaction of factors, including individual genetic constitution and particular social characteristics). So an intelligent non-human observer might, as you might if you saw heavy calluses on the hands of manual laborers, conclude that suicide is a particular choice related intimately to individuals' life experiences--not initially (as in initial cause) their pathophysiology. Such intelligent observers also might not be biased in their assessment of life-value and so might be no less disinclined to choosing suicide than many Westerners are to reproductive autonomy and abortion.

A quick comment on genetic reproduction. As I see it, this is, like solar radiation, merely a process particularly evolved minds ascribe value to. We recognize that the process of solar radiation is useful to us (agriculture, warming flesh and homes...) so we generally think it's good. Until it's not (increasing temperatures, heat stroke...) The same of reproduction (the children that bring emotional pleasure vs the negative effects of extreme population density...). There is no necessary association between a natural phenomenon (like genetic evolution or the perpetuation of one's own genes in a gene pool--which, mathematically, quickly becomes statistically insignificant due to Mendelian recombination) and a moral evaluation of the phenomenon, frequencies of opinions notwithstanding.

Sorry for a long answer, but I cannot find a single rigorous justification, either scientific or philosophical, for forcing other demonstrably generally competent adults from both drawing (and expressing) conclusions about their own life value and on acting on their conclusions in ways that don't directly and imminently harm others. As I and others have already expressed, no scientist or medical specialist has ever produced corroborable biomedical evidence that "mental illness" is generally caused by neuropathology. If this claim is false, others who hold the contrary perspective should be able to produce the supporting citations to the peer reviewed biomedical literature. In the many years I've been asking physicians, scientists, clinical psychologists, and other professional or university colleagues to provide this literature, no one ever has. Like most other scientists, I'm happy to revise--even recant--my perspective when the weight of high quality cause-effect evidence strongly supports the alternative hypothesis.

 

[bubbletea]

I believe I'm not the one in control of my life.
There is something inside me that is preventing me from getting what I want and it's been steering my life since childhood. Even if I know what I want, I would pick the latter option. I don't know why. I would have fits of rage and emotional outbursts that resemble someone being posessed. I look like I have the perfect life with a really sweet appearance and personality otherwise. But I struggle with the monster inside. I really love connecting with people and Im able to be really charming and have a lot of friends, and I'm really empathic to the point where other people's tragedies feel like my own but there's something really sadistic inside me that wants to manipulate, belittle, and hurt peoples feelings. I'm constantly struggling between two extremes and don't know who to listen to. One part of me will be so self sacrificial to the point where I would get taken advantage of and the other part will be so manipulative that I really end up hurting people's feelings.

 

[Beyondajoke]

Yes

Lol yeah me too, phillsophy of science discussions aside I've got to admit it. Or else in possession of a temperament that is far from what is necessary to function in today's society (or possibly any society).

I've just been looking at a Scientific American article "Is Killing Yourself Adaptive?" I haven't got the brainpower any more to outline what was contained therein but there is an argument about a biological basis for suicide based on genetic fitness (or lack thereof) and the need for the non-fit to make way (resources etc) for genetic kin.

Suicidality for some might be because the person is acting on biological urges that they're not even aware of... "just puppets on the invisible string of evolved behavioral algorithms, with neural systems responding to specific triggers". I'm not saying anything about anyone else but this does unfortunately resonate with me. And I suppose it's possible to not actually be "mentally ill" in this state, rather it's occurring on a different level altogether.

 

[Roy King]

Illness is the rule not the exception for the entire Humanity... So, yes, Suicide is the result of at least one kind of illness, being the majority of them congenital!

The idea of a generally healthy population is the biggest lie that the so called Diversity helped to create and disseminate in order to perpetuate the privileges of a minority!

Over 95% of the world's population has health problems, with over a third having more than five ailments - In The Lancet

 

[Lara Francis]

On the one hand, humans (like any other animal) are "programed" by evolution to seek pleasure over pain, and survival over annihilation.
As such, suicidality must be a symptom of a malfunctioning brain, right?

On the other hand, suicide seems a perfectly rational option in some cases--not to mention desirable.

Just curious what others think.

For sure. !

 

[ShadowOfTheDay]

Lol yeah me too, phillsophy of science discussions aside I've got to admit it. Or else in possession of a temperament that is far from what is necessary to function in today's society (or possibly any society).

I've just been looking at a Scientific American article "Is Killing Yourself Adaptive?" I haven't got the brainpower any more to outline what was contained therein but there is an argument about a biological basis for suicide based on genetic fitness (or lack thereof) and the need for the non-fit to make way (resources etc) for genetic kin.

Suicidality for some might be because the person is acting on biological urges that they're not even aware of... "just puppets on the invisible string of evolved behavioral algorithms, with neural systems responding to specific triggers". I'm not saying anything about anyone else but this does unfortunately resonate with me. And I suppose it's possible to not actually be "mentally ill" in this state, rather it's occurring on a different level altogether.

Yeah, I remember reading something recently (don't remember where) about how suicidality may have a genetic component, and that weaker siblings who kill themselves may in fact help to spread their genes by allowing more resources for the "healthier" members of their family.

 

[Camille Lejeune]

Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. People who kill themselves are not born suicidal, they believe that suicide is the only solution to their situation. Some may have an acquired capacity for suicide but that's not enough.

 

[Raggas]

I think I am. Medication has helped me feel better. I still feel rationally inclined towards suicide though.

 

[KiraLittleOwl]

I have been diagnosed with ADHD, OCD and my brain just doesn't work properly.
I cant learn skills, I am always stuck in my head, I have abnormal social anxiety since early childhood, my energy levels are extremely low, I am very sensitive and prone to trauma.
I am sure that my brain has not properly developed, I feel like a child in a body of adult.
Because of this issue with my brain I have failed everything.
I think of it as a development disorder rather a mental illness.
But because of my constant failing at everything I developed a couple of personality disorders too..

 

[bubbletea]

I have been diagnosed with ADHD, OCD and my brain just doesn't work properly.
I cant learn skills, I am always stuck in my head, I have abnormal social anxiety since early childhood, my energy levels are extremely low, I am very sensitive and prone to trauma.
I am sure that my brain has not properly developed, I feel like a child in a body of adult.
Because of this issue with my brain I have failed everything.
I think of it as a development disorder rather a mental illness.
But because of my constant failing at everything I developed a couple of personality disorders too..

I feel the same way- i feel like a child in the body of an adult.

 

[Armadillo]

Calling entire fields of science fake. There's plenty of evidence I just don't think the poster has been exposed to it. I don't want to tell you what you should think. That's the good thing about science it doesn't tell you what to think. It proves the truth to you ...

The problem is more complicated than "my psychiatrist told me I'm mentally ill so I believe him" or "there are no dysfunctional brains, it's all a bunch of crap".

200 years ago 95% of medicine was pretty much pseudoscientific, if you were ill you were better off staying home and hope to get better because going to a doctor was more likely than not going to make things worse.
We knew very little about the human body but, nontheless, we tried to fix it when it was "broken" with not so good results.
Now a lot of ilnesses are better understood and we can treat them effectively, wich is a good thing of course.

Giving insulin to a diabetic person is on a whole different level than prescribing an SSRI to a "depressed" (whatever that means in biological/neurological terms) person.

One is a medical approach to the problem. Giving chemicals to someone because "at least is slightly more effective than a sugar pill in treating a condition we don't understand and don't know if you really have" it's not medicine, like lobotomies were not medicine or the practice of bloodletting in roman times was not medicine.

It is not automatically useless or harmful, but it has little to nothing to do with science.

 

[Sickman75]

On the one hand, humans (like any other animal) are "programed" by evolution to seek pleasure over pain, and survival over annihilation.
As such, suicidality must be a symptom of a malfunctioning brain, right?

On the other hand, suicide seems a perfectly rational option in some cases--not to mention desirable.

Just curious what others think.

I'm 100© mentally Ill. I hate it. I hate every last milasecond of myself for being this way.

 

[Roy King]

On the one hand, humans (like any other animal) are "programed" by evolution to seek pleasure over pain, and survival over annihilation.
As such, suicidality must be a symptom of a malfunctioning brain, right?

On the other hand, suicide seems a perfectly rational option in some cases--not to mention desirable.

Just curious what others think.

When you say "programmed" you must realize that the Species itself is the program. It's over Species, not Organisms, that Evolution works on!

Darwin call it the Origin of Species and not the Origin of Organisms for a reason...!!

"The sexual impulse is an instinct, and like most instincts, it represents the will of the species, which creates the delusion in individuals that they are seeking their own good when in fact they are seeking the good of the species (the continued existences of individuals of its kind)" - Historical Dictionary of Schopenhauer's Philosophy By David E. Cartwright

 

[Never Free]

Yep! Those guys are still living in the dark ages.
Like the DSM manual. They develop an aberration of what a "normal" person is supposed be.
Then, anyone or anything that doesn't "fit" their definition of "normal" is called abnormal.
When in reality, they have no idea what should be considered normal and abnormal.
What what is most disconcerting is that they have no idea of how to fix anything.
They live in their own little world, and have no appreciation of your misery,
other than to tell you it will all get better if you just try.
Been there, done that.

I mentioned this in the chat. It's only getting more pervasive. I mean there getting wider, and wider. So much so that "neurotypical" is becoming obsolete. That is an oxymoron. Between ADHD, ASD, mood disorders, "Schizophrenia spectrum" they keep labeling "milder" versions. I mean as if Aspergers and HFA wasn't Dx enough. They had to add in Non verbal LD, and Semantic Pragmatic Language Disorder for "subtler" conditions. They for bipolar and depression wasn't wide enough. So BP 2 cyclothymia, and dysthymia, and all the anxiety disorders. People who are eccentric they cant fit into ASD, or psychosis they label Schitzotypal. Of course the ones who don't get better are often automatically BPD. Even though there's no root causes proven. I could go on.

 

[Hotsackage]

I have crippling ocd which makes feel like i have alzeimers. So yea

 

[I am ___________]

I believe the rest of the world is the ones that are actually mentally ill. I believe that we have our eyes open to the truth, depression, sadness, anger, regret..... these are all emotions. Mental illnesses are a made up concept so the pharmaceutical companies and retardopists can rack in the money and put you in a even worse state. For as long as you are here, the world will do whatever it takes to keep you here, and to keep profiting off of you.

 

[ProlongedSentence]

Right. I guess what has me confused is this: I have a tremendous respect for the medical profession and for those who choose it as a career. However, I'm frankly fed up with life and every psychologist/psychiatrist (there have been many) I've spoken to has treated me with the mentality that I'm not sane. I mean, for God's sake, I've been institutionalized several times for suicide attempts, and each time I was grouped alongside individuals who have legitimate, severe mentalk illness. Sorry for the rant.

Hello. This is a good thread topic. I am new here. This is my first post. On Topic: I do not believe I am mentally ill. I have been struggling since conception. Like a Gigantic Dagwood sandwich the trauma pilled on. I don't know how much of that I will share on here but I will say. NO. I do not believe I am mentally ill. Just came to the rational point where I realise enough is enough. No more. I am sure there are many varied beliefs here on the topic of "free will" VS predestination but in my case, I can not deny the clear truth that I have been cursed. How does one say that without droning on and on about their horrid existence since conception? Well. as I said I don't wanna go there any more - suffice to say - no one can convince me otherwise that my life was destined for repetitive horrors since conception and I just can't take it anymore. Who is to judge what one person can take when it comes to trauma and what another can no longer take? BTW I am not just some young kid saying that, whom may be able to climb out of the pit to perhaps overcome and live a life full of joy and purpose. I am nearing half a century. Yes I do believe in curses, judge for yourself if you wish to label me "insane" or mentally ill. One more thing. I also believe I can rationally say that I am absolutely sane and NOT mentally ill because I am completely sober and yes I believe of sound mind / well except for the trauma that I continue to battle / but I I haven't had a drink of alcohol(duh useta self medicate - that is a slow death) - I have been sober now for 4 years and 7 months. - Well. I think I have drone on enough. But I wanted to say, I love your Frog and Toad Avatar ShadowOfTheDay. Thank you for allowing me to respond. BTW - I to have tried almost every single "therapy" or medicine out there except for ECT and well, couldn't afford it even if I wanted to try it. Which I don't. It only bought Carrie Fisher an extra 12 years from me and she had it every 6 weeks just to counteract and combat the mind mush of the medications she was on. No Thank you.

 

[Roadkill]

I am VERY suicidal, but I don't think I am mentally ill at all... I am simply making a rational decision to choose suicide over homelessness... I am 57, and there is no way I could survive as an elderly homeless man.... if I don't end up homeless, I will probably not kill myself... but my financial problems are the root of all of my fears and anxieties

 

[ProlongedSentence]

I am VERY suicidal, but I don't think I am mentally ill at all... I am simply making a rational decision to choose suicide over homelessness... I am 57, and there is no way I could survive as an elderly homeless man.... if I don't end up homeless, I will probably not kill myself... but my financial problems are the root of all of my fears and anxieties

Your financial problems have lasted a year and three months since you became a member here? But you still have a roof over your head. Was it the financial problems that brought you to the bustop 1 year and three months ago or were there other things that brought you to this point?

 

[Memento Mori]

i went a very very wrong way and lost myself in bad routines and extreme depressions for over a decade, but other than that i'm not sure if i could say that i'm mentally ill. i feel like borderline+bipolar+ultimate depression+psychosis+mind term problems+100 phobies. i'm still capable of some good things/feelings, even WITHOUT drugs (holy moly)... so i'm not lunatic enough to call myself that. but if i would be lunatic i would go for drive bys at random ppl while driving with 5km/h on a deadly drug combination with some nice music and feeling alive and evil until some cops shoot me down lol. humanity induced so much hate in me, but not enough hate for that...yet forgiveness needs a lot of time while more shit continues to happen...well time to go to sleep fuck this

 

[ProlongedSentence]

i went a very very wrong way and lost myself in bad routines and extreme depressions for over a decade, but other than that i'm not sure if i could say that i'm mentally ill. i feel like borderline+bipolar+ultimate depression+psychosis+mind term problems+100 phobies. i'm still capable of some good things/feelings, even WITHOUT drugs (holy moly)... so i'm not lunatic enough to call myself that. but if i would be lunatic i would go for drive bys at random ppl while driving with 5km/h on a deadly drug combination with some nice music and feeling alive and evil until some cops shoot me down lol. humanity induced so much hate in me, but not enough hate for that...yet forgiveness needs a lot of time while more shit continues to happen...well time to go to sleep fuck this

Ha Ha Ha Well said, You could almost be speaking for me except I am not on meds and I would never ever consider putting others at risk whilst under the influance and NEVER ever behind a wheel so that being said. I must be rational. I don't want to hurt anyone else. I just want out. This is misery. If a pet were in this kind of misery and it could be verified. It would be humanely put down.

 

[Roadkill]

Your financial problems have lasted a year and three months since you became a member here? But you still have a roof over your head. Was it the financial problems that brought you to the bustop 1 year and three months ago or were there other things that brought you to this point?

It was strictly the financial problems that made me suicidal... I've always been a very happy person until the money problems started... the idea of becoming an elderly homeless man has made me so fearful and anxious.. I would rather be dead than end up homeless

 

[Memento Mori]

Ha Ha Ha Well said, You could almost be speaking for me except I am not on meds and I would never ever consider putting others at risk whilst under the influance and NEVER ever behind a wheel so that being said. I must be rational. I don't want to hurt anyone else. I just want out. This is misery. If a pet were in this kind of misery and it could be verified. It would be humanely put down.

so you wanna tell me that you never in your life ever fantasized about such things?

and if you didn't get it, i was talking about killing out of ultimate insanity and loss of control until getting shot down or driving against some tree by accident, not about driving around at some day in my life. so i don't get why you point up the fact that you would never do all of that ON MEDICATION (!!!) while you seem to know that i'm already talking about hard shit so stuff like taking benzos won't really make things worse anymore. that doesn't matter in that case lol, it's just added for fun, being high. i also think extremely depressional states can be as bad as benzos weed alcohol whatever when driving because it can influence your focus extremely if u have it 24/7. already seen that. i have no money so theres no logic in crashing a car, buying a weapon, etc..but imagining something random can make one happy sometimes when one sees the uglyness of many many ppl :) so i'm not speaking for you because of medication but because of the fact that you don't want to hurt anyone. my ctb has nothing to do with my feelings about this, i can live with my hate without turning mad to randoms for no reason, but if there's a reason then i'm gonna go for it. ppl here even tolerate rape because they don't want to get involved so they just walk away, no one cares about anything anymore so he can survive without feeling bad for anything because it's too much to feel on this place. if all ppl on earth die in the same moment then there would be no reason to be sad, no one to leave behind, no one feeling the need to cling on his life, we'd just go to a place more silent. and earth maybe recovers until the apes turn mad and find all our weapons lol


and i think it depends on the pet, humans have strange thoughts about animals. asians eat cats because their population is big as hell and they don't care, ppl here eat wild boars bc their population is big as hell... if it looks cute they might say "no! animals have rights too! you can't kill it because of suffering, it will get better some day! you're negative! look at his face awww"

 

[ProlongedSentence]

It was strictly the financial problems that made me suicidal... I've always been a very happy person until the money problems started... the idea of becoming an elderly homeless man has made me so fearful and anxious.. I would rather be dead than end up homeless

sigh
Are we allowed to post hope for someone here?
I understand what you are going through but IDK - if I had friends of any serious kind like the ones that were in LOTRs I could live poor and simply. But yeah. It is that fear of the unknown. You have no job maybe, and the prospects seem to have dwindled and you are at that precipice. Friends make all the difference but my bar is set high. There is no Fellowship of the dreaded heavy ring.

so you wanna tell me that you never in your life ever fantasized about such things?

and if you didn't get it, i was talking about killing out of ultimate insanity and loss of control until getting shot down or driving against some tree by accident, not about driving around at some day in my life. so i don't get why you point up the fact that you would never do all of that ON MEDICATION (!!!) while you seem to know that i'm already talking about hard shit so stuff like taking benzos won't really make things worse anymore. that doesn't matter in that case lol, it's just added for fun, being high. i also think extremely depressional states can be as bad as benzos weed alcohol whatever when driving because it can influence your focus extremely if u have it 24/7. already seen that. i have no money so theres no logic in crashing a car, buying a weapon, etc..but imagining something random can make one happy sometimes when one sees the uglyness of many many ppl :) so i'm not speaking for you because of medication but because of the fact that you don't want to hurt anyone. my ctb has nothing to do with my feelings about this, i can live with my hate without turning mad to randoms for no reason, but if there's a reason then i'm gonna go for it. ppl here even tolerate rape because they don't want to get involved so they just walk away, no one cares about anything anymore so he can survive without feeling bad for anything because it's too much to feel on this place. if all ppl on earth die in the same moment then there would be no reason to be sad, no one to leave behind, no one feeling the need to cling on his life, we'd just go to a place more silent. and earth maybe recovers until the apes turn mad and find all our weapons lol


and i think it depends on the pet, humans have strange thoughts about animals. asians eat cats because their population is big as hell and they don't care, ppl here eat wild boars bc their population is big as hell... if it looks cute they might say "no! animals have rights too! you can't kill it because of suffering, it will get better some day! you're negative! look at his face awww"

For me it is a matter of not putting anyone else in jeopardy.

 

[BlackDragonof1989]

Mentally ill my whole life but still often more rational than a lot of people who are 'healthy'.

That's the feeling, it's like some metaphysical paradox I'm too stubborn or dumb or fated to figure out.

so you wanna tell me that you never in your life ever fantasized about such things?

and if you didn't get it, i was talking about killing out of ultimate insanity and loss of control until getting shot down or driving against some tree by accident, not about driving around at some day in my life. so i don't get why you point up the fact that you would never do all of that ON MEDICATION (!!!) while you seem to know that i'm already talking about hard shit so stuff like taking benzos won't really make things worse anymore. that doesn't matter in that case lol, it's just added for fun, being high. i also think extremely depressional states can be as bad as benzos weed alcohol whatever when driving because it can influence your focus extremely if u have it 24/7. already seen that. i have no money so theres no logic in crashing a car, buying a weapon, etc..but imagining something random can make one happy sometimes when one sees the uglyness of many many ppl :) so i'm not speaking for you because of medication but because of the fact that you don't want to hurt anyone. my ctb has nothing to do with my feelings about this, i can live with my hate without turning mad to randoms for no reason, but if there's a reason then i'm gonna go for it. ppl here even tolerate rape because they don't want to get involved so they just walk away, no one cares about anything anymore so he can survive without feeling bad for anything because it's too much to feel on this place. if all ppl on earth die in the same moment then there would be no reason to be sad, no one to leave behind, no one feeling the need to cling on his life, we'd just go to a place more silent. and earth maybe recovers until the apes turn mad and find all our weapons lol


and i think it depends on the pet, humans have strange thoughts about animals. asians eat cats because their population is big as hell and they don't care, ppl here eat wild boars bc their population is big as hell... if it looks cute they might say "no! animals have rights too! you can't kill it because of suffering, it will get better some day! you're negative! look at his face awww"

Thank you for writing this tonight, it's like I'm in a haze but the misery loves company vibe feels very good right now I hope that doesn't come off wrong. Soul spirit hahaha animals <3

 

[FTL.Wanderer]

I believe the rest of the world is the ones that are actually mentally ill. I believe that we have our eyes open to the truth, depression, sadness, anger, regret..... these are all emotions. Mental illnesses are a made up concept so the pharmaceutical companies and retardopists can rack in the money and put you in a even worse state. For as long as you are here, the world will do whatever it takes to keep you here, and to keep profiting off of you.

I realize most people think there's something wrong with you for feeling as you do, but I agree with your sentiment. Why should it be "right" or "good" to feel a certain way about a piece of music or a poem or ... the experiences of life? And just because most people like Band X doesn't mean someone who doesn't is "wrong." That should be one of the most obvious conclusions. Life is full of pain and savagery--yes, some of us are preoccupied with that a lot more than others, but for good reasons. So what's wrong with, after having lived through wars or extreme violence..., concluding that life is for you a bad thing? No one anywhere--not religious leaders, not professional philosophers, not staunch humanists, not mental health professionals, not doctors, and certainly not average people full of their own opinions EVER answers this question for me in any remotely sound way. So we're "crazy" because we have a perspective of life most people don't like. How the hell did that ever become objectivity and sound reasoning (rhetorical)?

 

[elizabeth.luck]

Mentally ill. I've looked for many, many years for biomedical evidence in support of the neuropathology argument of "mental illness." After speaking with many specialists in the field and doing my best to read the literature in the discipline, I've never come upon any rigorous evidence in support of general biological causation for mental illness. And far too much of psychology (and psychiatry), including both research questions and designs, diagnostic criteria, and the way "illnesses" are defined, lacks precision and objectivity for me to have faith in the expansive mental health industry. But there's good evidence cognition changes with life experiences. And there's good evidence the way we build cultures tends to challenge instead of support mental health. It seems reasonable to me that some just won't have the capacity to acclimate to life's constant challenges while others would prefer not to experience life anymore. Calling such people "mentally ill" is disingenuous.

I don't believe I'm "mentally ill." I believe I'm responding to my environment and life circumstances in ways that are anticipatable and common for human animals. It just happens that life isn't "aware" and so has no interest in providing things like justice, legal access and equity, or security--things many modern people, at least, have been conditioned to yearn for. If there were, as I think there should be, a painless, non-intimidating, nearly instant, widely available and affordable euthanasia means (like state clinics...), I'd never have made it out of my early 20's. And I feel no shame whatsoever about that.

I love everything you write but especially this. Well said!

 

[ShadowOfTheDay]

When you say "programmed" you must realize that the Species itself is the program. It's over Species, not Organisms, that Evolution works on!

Darwin call it the Origin of Species and not the Origin of Organisms for a reason...!!

"The sexual impulse is an instinct, and like most instincts, it represents the will of the species, which creates the delusion in individuals that they are seeking their own good when in fact they are seeking the good of the species (the continued existences of individuals of its kind)" - Historical Dictionary of Schopenhauer's Philosophy By David E. Cartwright

I don't really understand how your point is relevant (but I am kind of slow). Also, I think most modern biologists would disagree with the idea that evolution works directly on Species:
"The fundamental unit of selection, and therefore of self-interest, is not the species, nor the group, nor even strictly the individual. It is the gene, the unit if heredity."--Dawkins, The Selfish Gene