A Mental Disease by Any Other Name

A Mental Disease by Any Other Name

"For Frank Russell, reinterpreting his schizophrenia as shamanism helped his symptoms."

Dick and his son tried a variety of treatments over 15 years, some more effective than others. Then, unexpectedly, the pair turned in a very different direction, beginning a journey that Dick now likens to a “torch-lit passageway through a long dark tunnel.” By sharing his story, he hopes to help others find this passageway—but he’s aware some of it sounds crazy. For instance: He now believes Frank might be a shaman.

Certain structures and regions in the brain are thought to be particularly important in constructing our sense of self. One is the meeting place between the two middle lobes of the brain: the temporal lobe, which translates sight and hearing into language, emotion, and memory, and the parietal lobe, which integrates all five senses to locate the body in space. This region, called the temporoparietal junction, or TPJ, assembles information from these and other lobes into a mental representation of one’s physical body, and its place in space and time. It also plays a role in what’s called theory of mind, the ability to recognize your thoughts and desires as your own and to understand that other people have mental states that are separate from yours.

"Certain structures and regions in the brain are thought to be particularly important in constructing our sense of self. One is the meeting place between the two middle lobes of the brain: the temporal lobe, which translates sight and hearing into language, emotion, and memory, and the parietal lobe, which integrates all five senses to locate the body in space. This region, called the temporoparietal junction, or TPJ, assembles information from these and other lobes into a mental representation of one’s physical body, and its place in space and time. It also plays a role in what’s called theory of mind, the ability to recognize your thoughts and desires as your own and to understand that other people have mental states that are separate from yours."

The spin put on this by the article writer of course like with most science journalists confuses correlation with causation and presumptuously assumes that the mind is generated by the brain. Don't ask this person how they explain deep NDEs for instance - they will almost certainly dismiss them as hallucinations of a dying brain.

The spin put on this by the article writer of course like with most science journalists confuses correlation with causation and presumptuously assumes that the mind is generated by the brain. Don't ask this person how they explain deep NDEs for instance - they will almost certainly dismiss them as hallucinations of a dying brain.

Hmmm I wonder about this. I feel to even get to put this sort of thing out there in the mainstream, beyond the confines of say Reality Sandwich, one has to "talk the talk".

I recall NDE articles that had to heavily lean in for the mind=brain side, or Hard Problem articles that say "well it's all probably materialism but...". And it is thanks in part to these sorts of articles that a larger awareness grew.

I suspect that with alternative therapies, especially as psychedelics enter the picture, the only way to get such treatments to the point insurance coverage is offered is to couch them in the terminology of the dominant paradigm. But when the patients return from their spirit journeys they will have more academically accepted literature regarding quantum biology, the Hard Problem, Information as Fundamental, the Simulation Hypothesis, and so on.

It's the convergence of academic work and societal trends that make me confident that the future belongs to proponents....just don't ask me to give a definitive time frame. :-)

Hmmm I wonder about this. I feel to even get to put this sort of thing out there in the mainstream, beyond the confines of say Reality Sandwich, one has to "talk the talk".

I recall NDE articles that had to heavily lean in for the mind=brain side, or Hard Problem articles that say "well it's all probably materialism but...". And it is thanks in part to these sorts of articles that a larger awareness grew.

I suspect that with alternative therapies, especially as psychedelics enter the picture, the only way to get such treatments to the point insurance coverage is offered is to couch them in the terminology of the dominant paradigm. But when the patients return from their spirit journeys they will have more academically accepted literature regarding quantum biology, the Hard Problem, Information as Fundamental, the Simulation Hypothesis, and so on.

It's the convergence of academic work and societal trends that make me confident that the future belongs to proponents....just don't ask me to give a definitive time frame. :-)

I agree, and I was really struck by how little conventional science seemed to contribute to explaining Frank, or treating him. In contrast, Malidoma recognised what was wrong, and seems to have helped him recover to a large degree.

I think the reporter explained the, somewhat incoherent, conventional ideas, but had a lot more sympathy for the shamanic explanation!

You certainly come up with a lot of fascinating links, Sci!