Chapter 56: A Possible Cure and Prevention of Depression
Abstract: many of the common mental health problems and personality defects are caused by our childhood and lifestyle and can be helped by state of mind, nutrition and exercise with the placebo effect and proverbs to re-align the mind by reorganising the pathways in the mind/brain to establish a healthy convergence with modern life.
Proverbs are strange things, and strangely important because we learn them at school, but they seem to form a group or section that is not tied in with anything but just common usage. As mentioned before, they are simple general solutions to a range of attractors in our daily lives and are important because they raise the ‘level’ of the processing of our brain, perhaps in a similar way to programming languages versus machine code in computers. Bearing in mind that solutions by the mind and by the Mathematics of the Mind are the same in basic form and any solutions must be incomplete and approximate, then thinking with proverbs makes thinking easier and faster, but the solution must be judged against other criteria.
In other words, ‘why reinvent the wheel?’ in our thinking, but we have to be careful with the result. For example, ‘people that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, but what if the stones are pumice, a very light volcanic rock, then the advice is unnecessarily constrictive/restrictive? In the light of the above, it might be constructive to say that ‘pro-verb’ means standing in place of a verb or the doing of something, but, as above, that doing can be complicated and a proverb only works properly most of the time and more concepts may be needed for a specific situation. This shows that the structure of the Mathematics of the Mind is found in many places and is a general mathematics of concepts.
As an aside, the mathematics of concepts IS completely general and has to be used wherever measurement is used. The fifth dimension of entanglement/measurement IS the general mathematics of concepts because that is how entanglement/measurement works so as to keep the sum over the whole universe equal to 1 as is required in a probability space. So the fifth dimension could be called the mathematics of concepts/entanglement/measurement (CEM) and could be called god in the same way that there was a place for the god of Truth, derived previously, because Truth is a measurement, as it has to be recognised. CEM works with iteration because iteration is a measurement and allows Survival of the Fittest and still works when a mind/brain is used. CEM is found everywhere because it is part of the universe (world P) and so is found in world O, for example, organizations, the brain, language, mathematics, any measurement etc. As mentioned earlier, mathematics is a special case of CEM because it is exact and mathematical modelling is a step in between.
Proverbs are concepts that we often use and think of first and so could be called the ‘superhighways’ of the mind/brain and form a mental ‘structure’ that is a higher ‘level’, as mentioned above. I am mentioning this because it might provide an entry into the mind/brain that will allow us to ‘change’ our mind more easily. ‘Previously, I was out on a scientific limb in arguing that the “skills of depression” – the habits that make it so hard for us to recover – are essentially neural pathways that can be replaced by more effective ways of living. Now the new neuroscience has confirmed that is indeed what happens in the brain; old pathways wither when we stop our habits, to be replaced by new connections that are learned through changes in our behavior. We can change our own brains through focused attention and practice.’ (Undoing Depression, Richard O’Connor, p xii)
I’m setting up attractors, so I will have to jump around a little. We evolved, as stated previously with determination derived from ‘external’ sources of pain and predation and when the practice of protecting and nurturing offspring evolved, it required an ‘internalising’ of determination (third Law of Life). This corresponds to Survival of the Fittest (iteration) and a gradual change, as protecting and nurturing offspring increased to Survival of the Best (mind/brain, mathematics). In the modern world, determination is almost completely internalised and surfaces as determination to succeed in business, sport, career etc. with social security helping with children, the disabled etc.
This determination to succeed is the ‘key’ to measuring the Best, (leaving aside the question of social security for raising children, as mentioned previously) and it requires self-determination and the key to this is state of mind, nutrition and exercise for both body and mind, and it is apparent that this has been lacking as shown by the statistics that sixty percent of the adult population is overweight or obese in the developed countries. ‘Why do people persist in self-destructive behavior when they can see that it does them no good. Freud had to invent theories as elaborate and arcane as the death instinct to answer this question … All my experience tells me that there is a much simpler answer. People persist in self-destructive behavior because they don’t know how to do anything else’. (p 3)
This quotation is the rationale for this chapter because those with self-determination deserve the chance to overcome mental problems and there appears to be a way to do it and that is through the first quotation ‘old pathways wither when we stop our habits, to be replaced by new connections that are learned through changes in our behavior’ applied to the second quotation ‘because they don’t know how to do anything else’. Also, ‘untreated depression will damage the course of your life. Men with early onset (before age twenty-two) major depression are only half as likely to marry and form intimate relationships as men with late-onset (or no) depression. Women with early onset depression are only half as likely to obtain a college degree as their female counterparts, and their future annual earnings will be substantially lower. The real tragedy in mental health where there is so much we can’t help, depression is one thing that can usually be treated effectively and efficiently.’ (p 17)
Further, ‘depression is a disease both of the mind and of the body, the present and the past. In psychiatry now we have pitched battles going on between opposing camps, those who want to treat the brain and those who want to treat the mind – and those interested in the mind are losing the fight…. The family doctor, supported by the pharmaceutical industry, is likely to say, “Take this pill” … the mental health professional is likely to say “Let’s talk about it” … Both ways of thinking are true. Psychotherapy and medication both produce similar changes in brain functioning.’ (p 20)
At this point, I should point out that this chapter sets out another means of helping the mentally ill through a new method that does not use medication and uses a different technique of changing the mind/brain, that is somewhat similar to psychoanalysis. Perhaps this method is like a ‘life-coach’ that is designed to be affordable and ‘do-it-yourself’, to improve life in general, but not to replace psychotherapy for those that need it. Medication would act through the mechanism of the seventh sense by affecting neurotransmitters and this is not something that would be sought for the long-term.
I have to say that I have read very little of the book from which I have been quoting for a very good reason. Our minds are very ‘plastic’, as they had to be to cope with rapidly changing situations as hunter/gatherers moving over large territories. Our mind/brains also have, what I have called the seventh and eighth senses to bring the mind into similar thinking when the food changes and to ensure that essential nutrients are consumed, as described previously. In fact, so plastic is our mind that there are dangers in surfing pornography sites because there may be a ‘version’ of pornography that will ‘resonate’ and ‘draw you in’ to return to those sites and strengthen the importance of the connections in your brain to pornography in general.
This is highly dangerous to an individual in the modern world and may affect personality in ways that would not have occurred in the restricted world of the Palaeolithic. This is hardly surprising as there has been a reality change. The cause of this ‘seeking’ is, I believe consciousness/creativity that evolved in the larger organisms (along with lensed eyes, in the Cambrian) for the express purpose of directing the animal into new/different areas of food sources/habitat etc. So in our new reality we have to be careful to maintain strength of mind because it has been internalised compared to the external ‘drivers’ in the Palaeolithic. In fact, in modern life we have congregated groups of people such as ‘psychopaths make up about 1 percent of the overall population, but they’re thought to be the norm in prisons.’ (Change or Die, Alan Deutschman, p 6) So, we have to define what we want as a norm for the Selection of the Best (mind/brain, CEM).
I call this process, ‘drawing a line in the sand and don’t cross it’. This is simply putting in place a proverb that gives the mind/brain a quick decision. A simple example, that is extremely important in business and career is ‘complete honesty’. Any dishonesty will destroy your reputation and career and there is the temptation to become more dishonest until caught out. This is the preserve of religious instruction and family views and family actions. The ‘line in the sand’ is complete honesty, or don’t try drugs, or don’t try pornography sites and depends on strength of mind and the proverbs act as a ‘crutch’ as I have described, to help ‘bridge’ the reality change from the Palaeolithic to the modern. Basically, this is using organization (by using proverbs) to ‘focus’ the mind, perhaps in a similar way that a psychiatrist uses speech.
Let’s go back to birth, where the size of the brain is maximized, but with physical restrictions the connections are minimized to minimize size and to allow these connections to grow to record the world around them. The brain is, in my opinion, like probably all of our organs, a component because the logic and chemistry were laid down hundreds of millions of years ago. These two sentences suggest that personality and mental health have developed over our growing up period and depended on our family life. This has been mentioned before and a settled home life is the aim of Survival of the Best (mind/brain, CEM) to minimize mental trauma from poor home-life and reduce the necessity for police and jails.
This idea of a ‘clean slate’ is sensible because the offspring need the most up-to-date information before venturing out into the world on their own. Unfortunately for our minds, the constraints to the Palaeolithic mind have changed as the world has changed and people are losing the guidance of their parents as society is changing so rapidly. An example is that the teachings of our parents on cooking and what foods to eat has been lost and our eating habits have caused 60% of the adult population to become overweight or obese.
It could be that proverbs are a higher form of decision-making where the mind/brain has pre-determined appropriate responses to many of the day-to-day decisions in life. An example of a proverb ‘in the making’ is that we are told to eat vegetables that are ‘all the colours of the rainbow’, and this suggests maximum amounts and variety of phyto-nutrients. It is worrying that it takes time for proverbs to evolve and spread through the population, also, as mentioned before, if you want results in a particular area, you must look at the second Law of Life (state of mind, nutrition and exercise of body and mind) and cover all relevant related areas as well.
‘Judges send them to Delancy from the state prisons, where they belonged to gangs and perpetrated violence. They’re usually the third generation of their families who have known only poverty, crime, and drug addiction. They’ve never led lawful lives or even understood the values and ideals of lawful society. (p 6) These people (apparently) did not receive ‘proper’ instruction by their parents, but by default received instruction that led to crime. Survival of the Best (mind/brain, CEM) attempts to use the Best males that have been successful in life to aid females that are determined to have offspring and, by example, indoctrinate the children into a useful life, as evolution has shown.
We saw above, that depression was relatively easy to help, but why not look at the worst end of the spectrum? ‘The experts believe that many criminals can’t change because they’re “psychopaths” – they are unlike the rest of humanity because they aren’t burdened by conscience. They don’t have any empathy for others. They’re concerned only for themselves. In a word, they’re ruthless…. The experts admit that they really don’t know what causes psychopathy. They assume that some people are simply born that way’ (p 6) From above, I have suggested that the upbringing of the child ‘sets’ the state of the mind/brain.
What is Delancy? On the waterfront, taking up an entire city block … the Delancey Street Foundation is actually a residence where criminals live and work together. Most of them have been labeled as “psychopaths”…. Five hundred of them, blacks and Latinos together with self-proclaimed neo-Nazis, alone with one professional staffer, Dr. Mimi Silbert … the felons run the place themselves, without guards or supervisors of any kind…. Although most of them are illiterate when they first arrive, the ex-cons help one another earn their high school equivalency … while taxpayers spend $40,000 a year to support a single prison inmate, Delancy supports itself with profits from its businesses. It never takes money from the government…. After staying at Delancy for four years, most of the residents “graduate” and go out on their own into the greater society. Nearly 60 percent of the people who enter the program make it through and sustain productive lives on the outside.’ (p 7)
This is astounding! ‘Psychologists and criminologists have come to share the belief that most criminals can’t change their lives’ (p 5), and yet the Delancy example shows that even psychopaths can be rehabilitated by being given a second chance at a functional ‘family’ at Delancy and that is all that it is, a functional ‘family’. Unfortunately, the depressives (and others) are stuck with the up-bringing that they have had, and whilst we should endeavour to pursue the enlightened up-bringing aspired to in the Survival of the Best (mind/brain, CEM), is there something that can be done for (at least) the depressives, who are easier to help, as above?
From above, we were told that ‘the family doctor, supported by the pharmaceutical industry, is likely to say, “Take this pill” … the mental health professional is likely to say “Let’s talk about it” … Both ways of thinking are true’, but there is a third way as we have seen. We, as productive members of society don’t have the opportunity to go back to ‘family’ life as those at Delancy did, we don’t want to take medication and we can’t afford psychoanalysis, so we do it ourselves! Can we do it ourselves?
‘Jerome Frank ran the psychiatric outpatient clinic at the university hospital in the 1950s… his team wanted to learn what really worked in psychological therapy … classic approach , made famous by Sigmund Freud himself, where the patient meets with the therapist in intensive private sessions. The second method was group therapy … moderated by a professional. The third method was an even more experimental idea of “minimal” therapy with the patient meeting with a doctor for sessions that were unusually short (only half an hour) and infrequent (once every two weeks)… It turned out that all three kinds of therapy worked just as well.’ (p 19) ‘The common denominator, it turned out, was that going to therapy inspired a new sense of hope for the patients – the belief and expectation that they would overcome their troubles. (p 20)
So, it appears that any therapy provides the mind with an expectation of success and through the placebo effect, changes the brain itself by changing the balance of the pathways within the brain. The simplest method of thinking, that is in line with the current thinking of society, is to use proverbs unless obviously inappropriate. In other words, as our upbringing has been established, we can align ourselves with the rest of society through the proverbs that are in use in that society.
In the next chapter I will give a case-history of my dance partner to make the procedure clearer and to show how inter-connected is modern life as we have diverged from the constriction of the Palaeolithic. This plethora of attractors in the modern world means that it becomes more difficult to solve problems and often we are prisoners of this when we need to expand our thoughts. The definition of the Half-truth is an example of creating a reality and following this idea of continuity, the simplest attractor that should be considered is ‘what is the opposite to depression?’ and the answer is vitality.
I don’t want to know much about depression for the reasons given above, but I suspect that if I suggested that depressives might be helped by getting more vitality into their lives, they might become annoyed, but that is sensible and logical and must be considered as an attractor. “The true opposite of depression is not gaiety or absence of pain, but vitality: the freedom to experience spontaneous feelings.” (Undoing Depression, Richard O’Connor, p 36) Dancing has taken my dancing partner from the ‘disadvantaged’ a few years ago, to getting compliments from strangers at the clubs for her dancing and energy. Her story will bring together the above and show how it can be used in the modern world.
Conclusion: proverbs provide an accepted way to act and are a way into the mind/brain to engender the placebo effect and lift the spirits out of depression. We can do this as soon as we experience anxiety and before that anxiety deepens and we can re-train pathways to effect a cure. Self-medication should be cheaper, more timely, more frequent and more targeted than traditional methods.
Personality disturbances are the result of the mind’s method of coping with the world that it sees and knows, and the above method is a means of bringing the mind/personality back to an acceptable track that it should have got from a stable loving family upbringing.
Mental health and personality disturbances are, in the main, modern ‘diseases’ brought about by our modern complex reality and we can add them to cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease etc. that we need to overcome, or do we need to overcome them, because the Best will not have them nor need to worry about them?
Determination is crucial to any discussion, and as it was internalised, family life deviated and personalities ‘broadened’ and our lack of understanding of how to manage ourselves, mentally, has not kept pace. This chapter shows how, I believe, by not allowing unhealthy thoughts to dominate our thinking, we can turn our thinking into constructive directions by the use of proverbs, not psychiatry.
Furthermore, I repeat again that determination is the key, not only to help depression, but to select those who would be the Best. Seeking to help everyone is compassion, and we have seen that it is an addiction and must be handled ‘properly’, and in this case, it is simply that I am seeking to help those that aspire to the Best, not everyone.
darrylpenney 