"Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. When applied to the 2004 U.S. Census residential population estimate for ages 18 and older, this figure translates to 57.7 million people. Even though
mental disorders are widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion — about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 — who suffer from a serious mental illness. In addition, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada for ages 15-44. Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time. Nearly half (45 percent) of those with any mental disorder meet criteria for 2 or more
disorders, with severity strongly related to comorbidity."
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/statisticsmenu.cfm
This is a excerpt from the National Institute for Mental Health's official website. It is an amazing statistic. Are we that flawed mentally? Perhaps the current state of our mental ability has not "evolved" to handle the constant access to basic survival needs. If you accept that evolution is a creditable model for the development of our species, then you'll know that the human consciousness is just an extension of our organism that has evolved throughout many years.
Awareness is found in all living things to some extent. For example: plants grow towards sunlight, roots grow deep to find water, the Venus fly-trap detects when an insect is within its grasp, and then reacts by quickly entrapping it. From the most basic, to the most complex, an organisms awareness and ability to react is essential to it survival.
Consciousness is when an organism has developed an intelligent awareness of its surroundings. The human consciousness is certainly the most advance example of awareness in any organism on earth. Its ability to avoid danger, manipulate its surroundings, provide food & sustenance are unmatched, yet still, it is only an extension of the organism. It is a tool employed by the organism to serve itself. You are a tool of your organism, or in other words your body is not meant to serve you, you are meant to serve it. That is your purpose, to find sustenance, avoid danger, reproduce and to learn from your environment to better serve your body. If you accept evolution, you must accept that.
So what does this have to do with mental health?
Within the past couple hundred years, many of our societies have went from hunters and gatherers to consumers that hunt for deals on jewelry and gather fast food value meals. This puts our precious consciousness completely out of its element. Our brain was wired in a time when meals had to be hunted, and not always found. When meals where planted and did not always grow. You might say its just a basic instinct to find food, and your right. If the human consciousness was a car, our instincts would be seated behind the wheel. The instinct to find sustenance, to feed ourselves, family or tribe was the primary drive behind our consciousness, and survival required constant effort. For many thousands of years this was one the main purposes of human consciousness.
Maybe you Fancy yourself a little bit more intelligent that someone from the Mesolithic era. (Roughly 20,000 years ago.) I assure you; if Mesolithic man were given the same resources as you in their education and childhood development, there would be little different. The technological world that you live in is just a house of cards stacked upon the backs of a few thousand innovators and inventors. Our ability to communicate and share our knowledge has allowed each generation to add to the long chain of knowledge while the common man reaps the benefits. Actually the metaphor of a chain is very realistic view of our everyday knowledge. The beginning of the chain is composed of innovators and inventors, link after link, each hanging on to their predecessors for many miles. Then at the bottom, in one unoriginal lump, dangles you and I with the rest of mankind.
Now take that Mesolithic mind that is hard wired to search for food and expend every one of its resources for survival and sustenance, then place it in the technological wonder that we live in. The technological age is only a recent addition to the chain of knowledge, thus lowering the rest of man into a totally foreign environment. The purpose of our consciousness not yet evolved to serve this change. Surrounded with the constant access to food and sustenance our minds malfunction and overindulge. Our instinct to expend all our effort on survival has changed, the previous "wiring" does not compute with our modern surroundings. The drive to eat manifests easily into an eating disorder, which i feel is the result of our human nature, in an environment that does not need such a drive to find food. Imaging Mesolithic man, suddenly surrounded by fast food and supermarkets, shelter easily obtainable, clothes available for purchase everywhere, shoes! Surely he would over-indulge.
Our consciousness no longer needs to devote all its resources into providing for its organism. Now the human consciousness has an overabundance of free time to think about whatever it wants to. Our minds dwell on foreign ideas, like happiness, expending all its energy and resources into caring about what other people think about its appearance. For a brain that is hard wired for survival, in an environment were survival is not a concern, neurotic behavior is common. When a organism is placed in an environment that is not in accordance with its instincts, the consciousness malfunctions. Similar behavior is found in hunting dogs, if they are denied the opportunity to fulfil their instinctive function, they become neurotic. A type of parrot called a macaw, is dependant on interaction and intellectual stimulation, if deprived it will develop a neurosis.
So here we are, millions of Americans, many of us never have to worry about when the next meal is coming, or how we will survive the winter. We are left to our own device, the extension of our organism called the consciousness. Recently freed from the bonds of survival, we become manic depressive, obsessive-compulsive, bi-polar and bulimic train wrecks.
mental disorders are widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion — about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 — who suffer from a serious mental illness. In addition, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada for ages 15-44. Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time. Nearly half (45 percent) of those with any mental disorder meet criteria for 2 or more
disorders, with severity strongly related to comorbidity."
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/statisticsmenu.cfm
This is a excerpt from the National Institute for Mental Health's official website. It is an amazing statistic. Are we that flawed mentally? Perhaps the current state of our mental ability has not "evolved" to handle the constant access to basic survival needs. If you accept that evolution is a creditable model for the development of our species, then you'll know that the human consciousness is just an extension of our organism that has evolved throughout many years.
Awareness is found in all living things to some extent. For example: plants grow towards sunlight, roots grow deep to find water, the Venus fly-trap detects when an insect is within its grasp, and then reacts by quickly entrapping it. From the most basic, to the most complex, an organisms awareness and ability to react is essential to it survival.
Consciousness is when an organism has developed an intelligent awareness of its surroundings. The human consciousness is certainly the most advance example of awareness in any organism on earth. Its ability to avoid danger, manipulate its surroundings, provide food & sustenance are unmatched, yet still, it is only an extension of the organism. It is a tool employed by the organism to serve itself. You are a tool of your organism, or in other words your body is not meant to serve you, you are meant to serve it. That is your purpose, to find sustenance, avoid danger, reproduce and to learn from your environment to better serve your body. If you accept evolution, you must accept that.
So what does this have to do with mental health?
Within the past couple hundred years, many of our societies have went from hunters and gatherers to consumers that hunt for deals on jewelry and gather fast food value meals. This puts our precious consciousness completely out of its element. Our brain was wired in a time when meals had to be hunted, and not always found. When meals where planted and did not always grow. You might say its just a basic instinct to find food, and your right. If the human consciousness was a car, our instincts would be seated behind the wheel. The instinct to find sustenance, to feed ourselves, family or tribe was the primary drive behind our consciousness, and survival required constant effort. For many thousands of years this was one the main purposes of human consciousness.
Maybe you Fancy yourself a little bit more intelligent that someone from the Mesolithic era. (Roughly 20,000 years ago.) I assure you; if Mesolithic man were given the same resources as you in their education and childhood development, there would be little different. The technological world that you live in is just a house of cards stacked upon the backs of a few thousand innovators and inventors. Our ability to communicate and share our knowledge has allowed each generation to add to the long chain of knowledge while the common man reaps the benefits. Actually the metaphor of a chain is very realistic view of our everyday knowledge. The beginning of the chain is composed of innovators and inventors, link after link, each hanging on to their predecessors for many miles. Then at the bottom, in one unoriginal lump, dangles you and I with the rest of mankind.
Now take that Mesolithic mind that is hard wired to search for food and expend every one of its resources for survival and sustenance, then place it in the technological wonder that we live in. The technological age is only a recent addition to the chain of knowledge, thus lowering the rest of man into a totally foreign environment. The purpose of our consciousness not yet evolved to serve this change. Surrounded with the constant access to food and sustenance our minds malfunction and overindulge. Our instinct to expend all our effort on survival has changed, the previous "wiring" does not compute with our modern surroundings. The drive to eat manifests easily into an eating disorder, which i feel is the result of our human nature, in an environment that does not need such a drive to find food. Imaging Mesolithic man, suddenly surrounded by fast food and supermarkets, shelter easily obtainable, clothes available for purchase everywhere, shoes! Surely he would over-indulge.
Our consciousness no longer needs to devote all its resources into providing for its organism. Now the human consciousness has an overabundance of free time to think about whatever it wants to. Our minds dwell on foreign ideas, like happiness, expending all its energy and resources into caring about what other people think about its appearance. For a brain that is hard wired for survival, in an environment were survival is not a concern, neurotic behavior is common. When a organism is placed in an environment that is not in accordance with its instincts, the consciousness malfunctions. Similar behavior is found in hunting dogs, if they are denied the opportunity to fulfil their instinctive function, they become neurotic. A type of parrot called a macaw, is dependant on interaction and intellectual stimulation, if deprived it will develop a neurosis.
So here we are, millions of Americans, many of us never have to worry about when the next meal is coming, or how we will survive the winter. We are left to our own device, the extension of our organism called the consciousness. Recently freed from the bonds of survival, we become manic depressive, obsessive-compulsive, bi-polar and bulimic train wrecks.
5 comments:
Hey Rev,
I can't help but wonder how many of those disorders are simply excuses for bad behavior. We used to call people who couldn't control themselves sexually permiscuous, now they have sex addiction. The emphesis is now on excusing bad behavior through science. I guess my point is; if someone is molested as a child, science tell us they are more likely to commit the same crime on someone else. By telling them that, and then branding it as a disorder, it gives the child a ready-made excuse which makes it even more likely to happen. And the cycle continues.I remember a time when if your mind wandered a lot you were considered creative, now you have ADHD.
HMMM. Interesting post.
Your dead on with the comparison to the Mesolithic Era. All anyone that disagrees has to do is read some old Greek literature to soon find out there were many people smarter than us or at least me.
However, some of your assertions about evolution re troubling. First you say "IF' you accept evolution as a credible model... IF?? If you don't then a rational conversation is not possible because it's based on nothing but emotional beliefs.
Anyways, you then state "That is your purpose, to find sustenance, avoid danger, reproduce and to learn from your environment to better serve your body. If you accept evolution, you must accept that." Not sure where you pulled this from. While evolution as the means of development is definitely true, the process of evolution is much less clear. This is one way religious fundamentalists attempt to discredit it.
For example, for a long time Darwin's theory of constant struggle/competition creates more refined species was accepted as truth for a long time. It is now widely discredited.
I tend to fall into the camp that believes humans sacrificed instinct for intelligence. The rapid development of the human brain demanded it. To cultivate the intelligence of the brain, an extended infancy was crucial. This means that humans must be socialized to behave a certain way. We have no instinct.
Survival methods, eating, hiding, fight or flight, is different than instincts. Humans have free will not instinct.
I think you confuse materialism for hunting gathering. Going back to your example of Mesolithic man, his entire time was not dedicated to hunting gathering. Socrates for example was dedicated to philosophy. The thing that makes humans great have nothing to do with survival, art, literature, music, philosophical arguments, etc...
Nevertheless, interesting hypothesis!
Roy
@ h.c:
Ya i agree totally, same street different name!
@ roy:
First you say "IF' you accept evolution as a credible model... IF??
Roy The use of "IF" was quite intentional, there are an large number of people who do not "accept" evolution, so by stating "IF you accept", hopefully I can avoid a big discussion on a contraversial topic, and maybe even folks who don't trust evolution can still take interest in my post.
In regard to the Mesolithic comparison, thanks for the kudos, but i think you did not realize that socrates did not live in Mesolithic times, Mesolithic era was from 20,000 b.c. to 5000 b.c., Socrates lived around 350 b.c.
If you accept evolution, you must accept that." Not sure where you pulled this from. While evolution as the means of development is definitely true, the process of evolution is much less clear.
I don't have any reference for this statement of mine. I'm not extremely informed on the mechanics of evolution theory. Still i stand by my statement that: if you accept evolution as a credible theory, you must accept that the human consciousness evolved.
There are only a handfull of practical purposes for having a consciousness, Two important ones would be to help an organism to survive and reproduce.
Survival methods, eating, hiding, fight or flight, is different than instincts. Humans have free will not instinct.
I think your dead wrong about instinct, first newborn babies have a instinct to suckle that is not taught, as well as an instinct to cry, natural instinctive curiosity, to learn and mimic.
Now thats just a start, IF you where placed in the wild apart from society, i assure you that animal like instintive behavior would take over. Fight or flight is the essance of instict, and i don't think there is any debating that we have such instincts.
Instincts are natural to our organism prior to outside influence, Just because we learn from our society does not mean that we have no instincts outside of what is taught. Most all animals learn from socializing, learning to hunt, where to migrate, where to eat, what to eat. These are things that are taught from parents to offspring. yet instincts are always present. I guarantee we are not much different instinctively.
Certainly we have benefited from our socialization in a way that that other animals cannot. Maybe our instincts have been dulled due to that fact. But they are still there.
Sorry if im misunderstanding you.
Thanks for your thoughts and comment.
Everybody has made some great points in this article. I like HC's idea that we use "addictions" as an excuse to overindulge in behaviors whether it's alcoholism, sexual, or other. I think it's true that our instincts are dulled in this society but the will to live could present itself if we were actually forced to survive. The people that are part of the genocide in the Sudan don't kill themselves from depression because their survival instincts are at an all time high and surviving is all that matters to them. They have many more reasons to be depressed than any of us here in America. Women over there are forced to watch their babies cut to pieces right in front of their eyes. Here in America girls commit suicide for reasons like, the boy she liked called her fat. Maybe it's because in America we have the endless advantages to accomplish whatever we want in life, and if we squander any opportunities away we feel like failures. But if WE fail we have the option to sit around the house and feel sorry for ourselves to the point of contemplating suicide. If someone from a third world country fails they will do whatever they need to do to survive until the next opportunity arises. I don't really think it's a matter of the survival instincts being "dulled" I think it's mainly just our attitudes as Americans. We live in a country were people are coddled, lied to, basically told everything that would keep them from having their feelings hurt. When they finally get a reality check and their world collapses around them some of them don't know how to deal and they resort to suicide, sex, drugs, violence, etc. But the truly strong ones are able to tap into their primal instincts and carve out a glorious life for themselves out of pure grit and perseverance.
I know this is not technically what your article was. You made your point through a scientific and philosophical view. I attacked from more of a social viewpoint. Oh well, I gotta stick with what I know. I can't hang with you boys in a discussion about dead philosophers and "eras"
Rev.
I will start with agreements. Yes, human consciousness did evolve. I completely agree with you on that point, my problem is your definition of the evolution process.
Now as for instincts. I'm not sure of your definition of "instincts." You mentioned crying, suckling, curiosity. That is being generous at best. We all breathe that does not make it an instinct.
I think a more accurate definition would be the dictionary definition.
"An inborn pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a species and is often a response to specific environmental stimuli"
Let me use an example. Not sure if you are a cat person, I happen to be so I will use them. You can adopt a newborn cat and completely remove it from any feline socialization process. Miraculously, the cat will still know how to hunt birds, lizards, whatever, just like other cats. It is their instinct to hunt the way they do.
If you took a human and placed him/her with cats this human would adopt characteristics of the cats. This is because we have free will and as you stated a highly evolved consciousness.
Humans do not have this inborn instinct. Yes we all breathe, eat and drink, but the methods of doing obtaining food (IE hunting) vary widely. Think, stones, fire, iron, nets, fishing rods, etc... There is no such thing as the human hunting method. We can adapt and change our style thereby perfecting our hunting techniques.
Similarly, while yes, most animals do have some form of socialization the process of socialization is not comparable to the 18 years of raising children.
There are scores of animals who have inborn "instincts" of flight patterns, swimming patterns, hunting patterns, etc... This is not true in humans.
Roy
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