Thread: schizophrenia considered

Originally Posted by O'nus

I really wish I could post a video or records from a schizophrenic so you could see the people you say should not be judged to need help.
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If you go to that video that I think grasshoppa posted, there are some videos of schizophrenic on the side in related vids. I can't watch any now unfortunately, download limit almost exceeded

I'll post my post from that other thread in here also.

Originally Posted by tommo

Considering that other thread on the ability to be honest that turned into a schizophrenia related debate, i don't think it can be easily answered.



Yes, some people certainly need help. By cataplexic schizophrenics you mean they are unable to function right? So overcome by their emotions they basically stop function on a physical level? I'm guessing so.

Put this way I think maybe these people would not be able to function in any society. I know I said some schizophrenics could survive happily in shamanic cultures but whether these cataplexic ones could or not I'm not sure. Maybe they could before they got this bad? I mean it's not like they turned this way overnight. Most of the damage to brain function in 'mental illness' could be attributed to stress/fear. So as they got more and more scared of becoming insane, they adversely caused more damage to themselves.

Anyway, yes, we call these people insane. But what is sane? That is what we need to answer first. If sane is having the ability to interact with and perceive the world as majority of people do, then insane would be defined as not having this ability; thinking mostly of internal things and excluding the outside world for the most part.

I just want to clear this up because I'm not sure where we are going with this to be honest. It's a tough issue to discuss because nobody fully understands the human mind. I mean, who's to say that the so called cataplexic schizophrenics if left alone for a few days on a deserted island, even though dying within a few days, would not experience the most enlightening and amazing things that no 'sane' person could even begin to comprehend?

Why do we choose to 'help' these people when we don't really know what they are experiencing. Of course we shouldn't just let them suffer because they might be having the time of their lives, but I think we shouldn't assume we know what is best for them. Why do we always choose longevity over quality? Because that's how our society is. That's why a lot of teenagers are now doing drugs; to escape this type of thinking. One of the most amazing girls I've ever met is a big time drug user, she says 'live fast, die young'. Of course she wouldn't care if she lived to be 100, but she isn't wasting her time, she has fun as much as possible, and she would live every one of those days doing something she loved. I myself find it hard to accept because I want her here for longer.

If we want to help these 'insane' people live longer, more boring lives, then that is really insane.

We are born different and that makes us unique. Why not incorporate the way our brains function into our lives? I mean, people who are unbelievably good at maths could be deemed insane if it weren't for the fact that they are needed in certain jobs.
If maths wasn't a part of our society they would sit at home, which would probably be the streets, completing maths problems in their head or drawing them on walls with rocks because this is how they were made to function. If we then took them and 'rehabilitated' them, causing them to stop thinking about maths altogether. They would then be called sane.

In our society right now, we would call that action, insane.

Do you see what I'm getting at?