The Mind is a Story Teller

It is interesting that I Google search Bipolar Communication Issues, and the first web site that pops up has the following topics that they are trying to treat with Seroquel. Depression, Bipolar Disorder, and Schizophrenia; Seroquel is a medication that is used in many applications, one such application is that it is used as an anti-psychotic. In this short article the claim is made that bipolar depression is much worse than a manic depressive state because it lasts much longer and the high’s are much more sever as well as the lows. According to the CDC approximately 9% of adults suffer from depression and 3.4% of adults suffer from extreme depression in the United States. The CDC also states that women are much more likely to report extreme depression over men. I know that we are making great strides in the area of depression when it comes to ways to treat including medications and therapy. In the reading this week I found it a little disturbing that Gottschell seems to almost glorify the sickness. Gottschell makes the connection between bipolar personalities with the brilliant mind of Stephen King. He also talk’s about the fictional character of Sherlock Holms and the brilliance that follows, I am not passing judgment, but it seemed to me bipolar disorder needs to be handled with a little more care. On the other hand there is “border line bipolar” here we have people who are diagnosed as bipolar and have manic episodes who in my opinion will believe anything that they are told. If they are told that the world is coming to an end, then the world is going to end. If they are told that everything is peachy they believe everything is peachy. Here is where the chemistry side of my major comes into play. For far to long people have become more and more dependent on pills. Yes chemists are coming up with better and better drugs, but in some case studies individuals that suffer from bipolar tendencies have been given placebo’s and the same results have been achieved in getting the patient better because they believe the medication is working. It is a hard PILL to swallow how dependent society has become on a magic pill that will take away all of our problems. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse over 2.5 million individuals will take prescription drugs for non medical reasons this year alone. America is facing an epidemic. As chemists I believe we have to find non addictive drugs that will be able to treat others who are sick. I also understand that bipolar personalities is many times due to a chemical imbalance that will also need to be addressed. I wish Gottschell would have painted a different picture in reference to bipolar disorders. http://www.seroquelxr.com/bipolar-disorder/what-is-bipolar-depression.aspx?source=SERC18536&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=manic%20depression&utm_content=General%20&utm_campaign=Unbranded%20Bipolar%20Depression&gclid=CJCOrMSk8bkCFe1AMgodvBYAMQ&gclsrc=aw.ds http://www.webmd.com/depression/news/20100930/how-many-in-united-states-are-depressed http://bipolardisorderdepressionanxiety.com/tag/chemistry/

Night Story

In reference to William Dement, “dreaming permits us to be quietly and safely insane”. I believe that dreams allow us to participate in activities that real life does not permit. Activities such as walking or running in my case, now this does not mean that just because I am running it is a good thing. I could be running for my life, away from some animal, running after one of my children that had just been abducted, or any sort of thing. This is what Dement meant by safely insane. Dreams do not often make sense, and often sound insane when you wake and express your dream to others, or even your internal commentary with yourself. More often than not dreams can be considered INSANE! My interpretations of Gottschall’s statement “trouble is the fat red thread that ties together the fantasies of pretend play, fiction, and dreams” Gottschall is making this statement that dreams mean something, that the activities of your day are reflected in what you may dream that evening. He makes this correlation with the dream he has about his daughter and her falling from a cliff. It is Gottschalls assessment that he needs to spend more time with his children and that the neglect he has shown them from ether reading a book, watching a “BIG GAME”, or neglecting his children is being displayed in his dreams as some horrifying act that he seams to be paralyzed physically and can only watch as the scene unfolds. The way these two statements relate to one another is that first of all we are talking about a dream state. Both refer to how each of us are affected by dreams only that Gottschall seems to hint that we may have more power over what we dream about because our dreams would reflect the experiences of the day or week. Dement does not make any reference as to why we dream about what we do, only that most of the time our dreams do not make scene and we are at no risk physically or mentally from our dreams, that our dreams are relatively safe. In a study conducted by Udini, Frank Nicanor Pascoe conducted tests on 18 subjects as to wether sharing the same dream with one another would bring a couple closer together and increase their ability to communicate with one another. “Most participants reported changes due to their shared dreaming experience, ranging from psychological and spiritual changes perceived in themselves and others, to altering their view of reality and in some cases behavior changes in their daily lives.”(Pascoe) This is very interesting; David Maurice, Ph.D. has challenged the beliefs and ideas of the past about REM sleep. Maurice states that he believes that Rapid Eye Movement is essential not for sleeping but that if the eye does not move in this way that the cornea will suffer damage while sleeping. "Without REM," Maurice told 21stC, "our corneas would starve and suffocate while we are asleep with our eyes closed."(Maurice) It is thinking like Dr. Maurice’s that challenge old ideas and usher in new theories to be tested. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/21stC/issue-3.4/breecher.html http://udini.proquest.com/view/shared-dreaming-and-communication-goid:847028488/

Hell is story friendly

I think it is interesting about Gottschell’s views and ideas of fiction and reality. Here are my thoughts in reference to fiction concerning biology/chemistry and the sciences. Lets take for example the movie Avatar, great show and for me really hit home. Because I have suffered a SCI and the actor in the film Jake Sully also suffered a SCI I found it amazing. I found myself acting and doing a lot of the same things that his character was doing. After entering into the avatar body the first thing that Jake does is wiggle his toes. How amazing would it be to be able to wiggle your toes after years? Next he stands up, and next he runs! He runs and jumps until he stops and realizes that he can feel the dirt beneath his feet, he runs his toes through the dirt digging them in and remembering what that felt like. I can tell you from experience that it is AMAZING that the writers were able to hit this on the head. Given the opportunity I see myself acting much the same way. After Jake is taken out of the avatar body and the reality of his paralysis sets back in he is once again frustrated with his condition. But that is fiction, and in the real world we have not yet found a cure for a SCI. I am hopeful that this will happen but the reality is that real life is not roses, does not always have a happy ending, and in a lot of cases is just plain cruel and makes no sense. Not speaking just for SCI’s but anyone who has experienced lose in their lives things such as cancer, death of a child, disease, etc. Many times these experiences do not make sense, do not seem fair, and seem to be more than we can bare. But in these instances is when we as a race seem to make the most progress. We find the fight to find a cure. We are compassionate and bond together to help. I say this because I have experienced this first hand. Although reality is not as glamorous as fiction and does not always have a happy ending as fiction does it is real. It is my hope that the brilliant minds of fiction will spark for those physicists, doctors, chemists to continue to motive them to find cures for cancer, SCI’s, and many other diseases and injuries. It is my belief that this will one day be reality and just like Jake Sully I will be able to wiggle my toes once again. I think it is completely false that Gottschell's opinion of those who read more fiction are more capable social operators than people wo do not. In fact in his book no more than a paragraph later he states that "these findings are self-evident". Just because Gottschell feels a certain way does not make it so! I do find it interesting that the firing of neurons to fictional stimulous may lead to something in the future with the regeneration of damaged neurons.All in all this week was an interesting read, something to think about as far as the connection of fiction and the firing of stimuli in individuals.In the begining of my injury I would sit infront of a scene with electrodes hooked to my legs. I would watch a screen for hours and ask my muscles to fire. Electrical feedback would tell me if my muscles were firing or if there were no activity at all. For hours at a time day after day watching a screen for bio-feedback. I can tell you from experience it works. Neuro-science is making huge progress in the recovery of SCI's and stroke patients.

The Riddle of Fiction

I believe that Gottschall like Dahl believes that the mind of fiction is much like a “dark wood” that Dahl refers to a as a mind of a child. Dahl is famous for writing children’s stories like Charlie and the Chocolate factory. After reading the chapter “The Riddle of Fiction” it is clear that we start at a very young age (12 months) living in a world of fiction. It is interesting that boys will separate themselves from girls, and girls likewise in their different worlds of fiction. Vivian Paley is quoted saying “Whatever is going on in this network of melodramas, the themes are vast and wondrous. Images of good and evil, birth and death, parent and child, move in and out of the real and the pretend. There is no small talk.” I would argue that story telling is not an adaptive trait rather a trait that we are born with. At such an early age we start in the world of make believe boys with their trucks and guns, and girls with their dolls pretending that they are mothers. It is interesting that Gottschall views this as a nature rather than nurture part of life. I agree with Gottschall’s assessment because we start at such a young age pretending and making up our own fictional stories. I would have to agree with Kessel when he says “fiction, like cocaine, is a drug.” More times than not fiction is much more entertaining than real life. When we hear the gossip, sex scandals, and scary fairytales, this is not part of our normal every day routine and therefore it boarders on fiction for most people that could not imagine themselves wrapped up in such a scandal. That is why we as a species are so interested in the tabloids, t.v. dramas, and stories of others lives, because to us we could not imagine that happening in our lives. As we play out those situations in our heads they become our fiction or story telling.