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subjective phenomena
Nov. 26th, 2007 12:32 amMaybe I've been reading too much Freud lately/had my stuffed with Romantic philosophy from the honors classes/brainwashed by my psychology courses, but I increasingly find myself wondering what the heck *is* a nervous breakdown. In 19th and early 20th century literature, there are vague references to "institutions" and "nervous dispositions," although women tended to be the ones described with such afflictions. Even in anti-institutionalist works such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, you have such a motley crew of people afflicted with psychological "disorders" that it's hard to think of a definition of mental illness that isn't covered by the politically incorrect blanket statement of "is somehow distressing for others." Health in general requires some socially generated reference point by which we judge our internal state, so in a funny way we can't be healthy or sick without other people. There's probably some massive error of logic I've just committed, but being sick is addling my brains just a wee bit.
How is one able to classify if a person is catatonically unresponsive, as is the case with certain manifestations of schizophrenia (which is, in itself, problematic to classify in all of its varied manifestations)? I know, I know; look it up in the DSM-IV. I'll probably have to buy a copy of that for clinical psych next semester. We diagnose and classify mental illness by the external symptoms of behavior and by self-reports of internal states. But we diagnose and classify mental illness by the external symptoms of behavior and by self-reports of internal states; the whole idea of unresponsiveness as a response just boggles me because of that whole "if a dead man can do it, it's not behavior" rule.
Time for my 10th mug of green tea. I hope there isn't too much caffeine in this stuff, but I'm hoping that my massive insomnia can be put to good use for the last three weeks of the semester as coursework is going to be kicking my ass repeatedly. Whoever thought that take home finals made life less stressful is sorely, sorely mistaken when there's a paper for that same course due not too much earlier...
How is one able to classify if a person is catatonically unresponsive, as is the case with certain manifestations of schizophrenia (which is, in itself, problematic to classify in all of its varied manifestations)? I know, I know; look it up in the DSM-IV. I'll probably have to buy a copy of that for clinical psych next semester. We diagnose and classify mental illness by the external symptoms of behavior and by self-reports of internal states. But we diagnose and classify mental illness by the external symptoms of behavior and by self-reports of internal states; the whole idea of unresponsiveness as a response just boggles me because of that whole "if a dead man can do it, it's not behavior" rule.
Time for my 10th mug of green tea. I hope there isn't too much caffeine in this stuff, but I'm hoping that my massive insomnia can be put to good use for the last three weeks of the semester as coursework is going to be kicking my ass repeatedly. Whoever thought that take home finals made life less stressful is sorely, sorely mistaken when there's a paper for that same course due not too much earlier...
