> Of course, to the extent that our modern psychopharmacological drugs
> can relieve suffering, they should not be denied to the rest of the
> world. The problem is that our biomedical advances are hard to
> separate from our particular cultural beliefs. It is difficult to
> distinguish, for example, the biomedical conception of schizophrenia —
> the idea that the disease exists within the biochemistry of the brain
> — from the more inchoate Western assumption that the self resides
> there as well. “Mental illness is feared and has such a stigma because
> it represents a reversal of what Western humans . . . have come to
> value as the essence of human nature,” McGruder concludes. “Because
> our culture so highly values . . . an illusion of self-control and
> control of circumstance, we become abject when contemplating mentation
> that seems more changeable, less restrained and less controllable,
> more open to outside influence, than we imagine our own to be.”
>
> [...]
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Who is the "we" becoming abject when contemplating plasticity, Schiz., Park.. Alz.?
The fear of neurological disease on the way to the grave is understandable, the stigma unjustifiable.
Mitochondriacs of the world, unite!
Ian