Thursday, July 02, 2009
On Being Mad
'Unlocked: The Secrets of Schizophrenia' says The Independent. Well, er, in fact, no. The picture caption is the first clue that things aren't quite what they seem - 'A colour enhanced MRI image of the brain shows one of the theories into what may be the chemical basis of Schizophrenia.' Dear me, though I do like the idea of a picture of a theory. The story itself is a masterpiece of obfuscation but two things are clear: the 'secrets of schizophrenia' have not been unlocked and it's always difficult to spot the difference between medical statistics and Bernie Madoff's accounting practices. I don't, for example, know what '80 per cent of the total risk' means and I don't think Steve Connor does. But it is interesting that this is The Independent's splash. Mental illness is queasily fascinating and, I suspect, people want to be consoled by the news that it's all in the genes.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Why on earth would people be consoled that it's all in the genes. Surely that means there is damn all you can do about it. And I for one cannot be treating in that kind of defeatist attitude.
ReplyDeleteThat's just your Defiance Gene talking, Vince.
ReplyDeleteIs an Independent splash indicative of anything?
ReplyDeleteWhat have you got against schizophrenics, Bryan? Lucia Joyce such a sweet 'woman of letters' (she painted those raised caps for the first word of the first sentence of books. Couldn't get out a coherent sentence late in her illness, but could hang onto that one letter for dear life). Her dad, James, noted that Lucy had the same "fire in the brain" that made him a writer. It consumed her in its flames.
ReplyDeleteOf course much of mental illness is genetic, just as intelligence, eye color, and lots of other things are. But nurture can play its role, and perhaps a very easy life can prevent some people from activating the genes that will unhinge them.
Mental Ilness does not exist. It's their own damn fault for smoking cannabis and listening to the beatles, and should be breaking rocks in the outer Hebrides.
ReplyDeleteSchizophrenia has still kept mysteries
ReplyDelete