Radio Doug

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>>And I'll add that it's, um, interesting that someone who so
>>>frequently talks about his long battle with severe depression is 
>>>so hostile to any kind of psychoanalysis or even introspection. 
>>>Much more comforting to blame biochemistry; otherwise, you never 
>>>know what you might find within.
>>
>>You can't manage a chronic illness, be it a "mental" illness or 
>>otherwise, by blaming yourself.  Especially if you are clinically 
>>depressed, that's probably the last thing that you should do.
>
>Ugh, Yoshie, how is "psychoanalysis" or "introspection"  a form of 
>"blaming yourself"? Doug's reply bothered me only to the extent that 
>he minimizes the incredible difficulty, the pain and labor of 
>introspection -- of facing what seems at first an endless and 
>endlessly painful emptyness. I would hesitate to call anyone a wimp 
>for avoiding it. I spent three years on the couch but it was not the 
>result of valor or superior character; it was the result of the fact 
>that my life had become an unrelenting panic attack and that I was 
>in agonizing physical pain 24/7....with a newborn to care for. It 
>was suicide or introspection. That's how hard it is.
>
>Honestly,
>
>Joanna

I simply mentioned the question of blame because Doug wrote that it 
is "[m]uch comforting to blame biochemistry; otherwise, you never 
know what you might find within," suggesting that "blaming 
biochemistry" is taking "an easy way out," avoiding a "less 
comfortable" way of managing chronic illnesses.  I don't know why 
Doug thinks that biochemical explanations and solutions are "more 
comfortable" and less worthy than psychoanalysis and introspection. 
Suppose that he is right, though; then I'd ask, what's wrong with 
more comfortable ways of coping with chronic illnesses, provided that 
they work as well as or even better than psychoanalysis and 
introspection?  Other things being equal, I'd always prefer the 
easiest way.
-- 
Yoshie

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