Getting out of our heads

[Rob]

When I look at headlines and other signifiers of popular culture, I can't help but notice a fascination with the human brain and how it works to determine our well being and prosperity. It feels like we've become so focused on mapping the chemical reactions in our brains that we are starting to lose sight of the broader meanings of love, imagination, God, and humanity. Such myopia is bound to lead to the kind of world which I remember Thomas Moore describing in a radio interview about marriage, during which he commented that by relying on science alone to answer our questions about life we will ultimately just beat each other up. Has Thomas written about this particular matter anywhere else. I'd love to read or listen if he has.

Rob

[Barque]

Hi Rob,
I thought you'd be interested in a New York Times article published today, headlined, "The Americanization of Mental Illness" by Ethan Waters. He describes the American influence on the diagnosis of mental illness in other cultural areas and how current U.S. approaches may have the opposite effects of intention. He writes, "We have for many years been busily engaged in a grand project of Americanizing the world’s understanding of mental health and illness. We may indeed be far along in homogenizing the way the world goes mad."

He states, "For more than a generation now, we in the West have aggressively spread our modern knowledge of mental illness around the world. We have done this in the name of science, believing that our approaches reveal the biological basis of psychic suffering and dispel prescientific myths and harmful stigma. There is now good evidence to suggest that in the process of teaching the rest of the world to think like us, we’ve been exporting our Western “symptom repertoire” as well. That is, we’ve been changing not only the treatments but also the expression of mental illness in other cultures. Indeed, a handful of mental-health disorders — depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anorexia among them — now appear to be spreading across cultures with the speed of contagious diseases. These symptom clusters are becoming the lingua franca of human suffering, replacing indigenous forms of mental illness."

Near the end of the article, Waters writes, "All cultures struggle with intractable mental illnesses with varying degrees of compassion and cruelty, equanimity and fear. Looking at ourselves through the eyes of those living in places where madness and psychological trauma are still embedded in complex religious and cultural narratives, however, we get a glimpse of ourselves as an increasingly insecure and fearful people. Some philosophers and psychiatrists have suggested that we are investing our great wealth in researching and treating mental illness — medicalizing ever larger swaths of human experience — because we have rather suddenly lost older belief systems that once gave meaning and context to mental suffering."

So much for scientific ethnocentrism.

[Rob]

Thank you so much! I'll read the article, which relates directly to my work. I interact with indigenous and other cultures every day. The issue of how to deal with illness and emotional turmoil is a constant struggle. I feel our staff is often too clinical, too Western, though they do try to respect the cultures of our students. So I will read this with great interest and possibly share it with my colleagues.

Rob

[Rob]

A very insightful article that has me wondering how to turn the work my colleagues and I do on its head. Hmm...

[Barque]

Hi Rob,
I read this article in the NewYork Times and thought of you: "Is There an Ecological Unconscious?" by Daniel B. Smith. It discusses ecopsychology and the mind -- nature connection. I'm enjoying two books that touch on shared interests, Walking in the Sacred Manner: Healers, Deamers, and Pipe Carriers; Medicine Women of the Plains Indians by Mark St. Pierre and Tilda Long Soldier and Re-visioning the Earth: A Guide to Opening the Channels between Mind and Nature by Paul Devereux. James Hillman seems to focus more on ecopsychology these days, wondering how people can be well in sick environments. Thomas Moore often writes about the restorative values of nature. Maybe shifts in psychology will help us to understand how Western approaches need to include our interconnections for sustaining life.

[Rob]

Thank you for thinking of me. The article sounds interesting. I recently received Hillman's Dream Animals in the mail. I ordered it after reading about it in an older (1995?) NYT article that featured Thomas Moore and James Hillman at a book signing/lecture event. The artist who created the book with Hillman (sorry, her name slips my mind at the moment) was also featured in the article. It was fun to read because it had quite a few snippets from Moore and Hillman that made them both very human in an industry and society that often likes to make gods of men and women who write books about life, spirituality, and "self-help".

I enjoyed watching the video of Thomas Moore at Marlboro. It was fun to listen to him say how he avoids being too clear with his image on amera slightly out of focus! I haven't finished watching the video, but it's a treat to have an hour of it for free!

Rob

[Barque]

Margot McLean illustrated Dream Animals. She is now Hillman's wife. I manged to watch the first 13 minutes of the Marlboro College talk. A dial-up connection is not conducive to sustained viewing. We'll celebrate Nov. 7 this year to honour Plato and conviviality.

[Rob]

That's great! Reading the interview, I knew those two would get married! Thank you for reminding me of the name. I've got the book right here beside me.

Yes, Nov. 7 is marked on the calendar!

Rob