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Sep 06, 2011, 02:08 PM
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Member Since: Dec 2010
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Posts: 7,864
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Brain Disease or Psychospiritual Crisis?
The patients' quotes were selected by "60 Minutes" to demonstrate that so-called schizophrenia is a biochemical disease rather than a crisis of thinking, feeling, and meaning. Yet people with real brain disease--such as Alzheimer's, stroke, or a tumor--don't talk symbolically like these people do.
Instead of metaphors laced with meaning, brain-damaged people typically display memory difficulties as the first sign that their mind isn't working as well as it once did. They have trouble recalling recently learned things, like names, faces, telephone numbers, or lists. Later they may get confused and disoriented as they display what is called an organic brain syndrome. In fact--and this is very important--advanced degrees of brain disease render the individual unable to think in such abstract or metaphorical terms. The thought processes that get labeled schizophrenia require higher mental function and therefore a relatively intact brain. No matter how bizarre the ideas may seem, they necessitate symbolic and often abstract thinking. That's why lobotomy "works": the damage to the higher mental centers smashes the capacity to express existential pain and anguish. As we'll find out, it's also why the most potent psychiatric drugs and shock treatment have their effect.
Toxic Psychiatry, pp. 24-5
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