[gary185]

Hi,
I wanted to start a new thread about symbolization because it's SO important to functioning people and a functioning society. As our society spirals into a situation where narcissism is becoming epidemic a lack of symbolization is the underlying reason.

It's a hard to understand tough deep thing and it took lots of years of toying with the concept before i sort of got it. So bear with me and all my mistakes and confused logic i will try to answer questions as we go.

basically every normal functioning adult has a center of function in their brain that can be thought of as making symbols or symbolic representations of things. Basically we try to make our symbols correspond as best we can to the real observable world but they can't, not fully anyway. Our ideas - thoughts - feelings - are just purposeful representations we make. Even the idea of who we are our core identity should be just another slightly flawed incomplete symbolic representation
of our real selves.

The disease of desymbolization is a form of arrested cognitive developement underlying narcissistic personality disorder.

When we are little our parents or other in tune care giver mirrors our feelings. You have seen it i'm sure. "Oh what the matter little johny or linda? or whoever. did you fall down and hit your knee and go boo boo"
Ok and when you hear the parent say it there is a touch of the parent representing the hurt feeling mixed with some other interesting twist like humor or irony or something. It's instinctual and all parents without disorders of the self do it.

hearing this the little child begins to cognise and process the painful feeling. And there is a new part of your brain actually forming at that moment. You begin forming the symbol making part of your frontal cortex and the wires and circuits that hook it in with your emotional centers.

people with NPD never formed this part of their brain thus they remain desymbolized.

I will try to continue the story in a few days.

[here today]

Hi, I'm new here but very interested in this topic. I saw your other posts, gary185. Sounds like you have a good understanding of the situation. Are you interested in continuing?