As I was reading the link that you posted it made me think about not only what I have said above but I have given more thought about the experiment done by the doctor mentioned.

It was said that he wanted to see what would happen if a person was given a diagnosis of a shortened life, and how that would effect that persons state of mind.

I think that was an interesting experiment. If a person has a real sense of less time for life perhaps they stop internalizing so much and begin to view what they will miss about life. As young children face different external stimuli and are not versed on how to react I do believe they begin to internalize these different external experiences. Depending on what these experiences are a child who cannot bear the strain of internalizing it all, begins to find different ways of escaping whatever the external issues they cannot handle, or have not learned to handle.

As these children age and learn more, they can take the past and begin to internalize more, thus, they can feel extreme guilt, anger, deficiency, and even self punish in various ways. Though they do not really understand that they were never taught how to be safe, have trust, and view various experiences, the idea of trying to perform such tasks other than given daily tasks can cause depressive psychologal
processes.

I have seen and even read various posts that display emotional stress over the fact that while young they were deprived of feeling as a significant entity. To be seen and not heard or to have a specific kind of appearance or have to fit in to a parents expectation, rather than being allowed to develope their own identity. As this author has described, he wanted to become a writer, his parents felt that was an unacceptable goal and thus institutionalized him. This is a perfect example of denying a child to form an identity of their own. I have seen this myself in dealing with children and it is often done unintentionally by a parent's ignorance. But, it can lead to a child denying themselves for many years as was the case with Paulo. He did eventually find his way, but not without reservations and possibly feeling that he was going against the grain so to speak.

I wonder if the fact that by his travels and observing other societies etc. his own find of overcoming illness was infact finding a way to proceed with his orignal desire, finally writing and slowly being praised for his contributions. Thus allowing him to interalize his original desire that was considered a frivilous and unacceptable choice differently.

Children often display certain attributes when they are young. One child can spend hours playing with toy bulldozers and moving dirt around in a sand box. If that child were to be left to his own path of desire he may find a fruitful rewarding life as a person who does that for a living. However if he was told to stop doing that and made to do something else he may live out his whole life feeling denied and not truely realizing what was being denied. Yes, he may be able to perform a daily function within a certain guideline, putting on that pretend face, but while not in that atmosphere feel unfulfilled and confused in some way.

Open Eyes