{"id":795,"date":"2010-10-04T12:44:50","date_gmt":"2010-10-04T16:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/?p=795"},"modified":"2010-10-04T21:00:11","modified_gmt":"2010-10-05T01:00:11","slug":"on-mania-depression-and-the-words-used-to-define-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/2010\/10\/04\/on-mania-depression-and-the-words-used-to-define-them\/","title":{"rendered":"On Mania, Depression, and the Words Used to Define Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the key elements for dealing with mania and depression in my opinion is how they are viewed.\u00a0 Both “mania” and “depression” are generic terms.\u00a0 That is, they are vague<\/em>, and they need interpretation in order to understand what they mean in a context or to another person.\u00a0 Interpreting the terms means simply putting them in other terms<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, in my opinion, there is a strong movement toward nearly exclusively putting these conditions into chemical<\/em> terms.\u00a0 That is, “mania” and “depression” get defined as “chemical imbalances,” a terminology that does shed some light on a component of the conditions in\u00a0a way.\u00a0 But settling to see these conditions in chemical terms overlooks other possible, perhaps more valid\u00a0ways of seeing these conditions and dealing with them.<\/p>\n

I do not like seeing these conditions in chemical terms.\u00a0 Myself, I prefer to see them in behavioral terms.\u00a0 That is, I define “mania” and “depression” as behavior<\/em>.\u00a0 By defining them as behavior, I look at the choices people make who experience the conditions.\u00a0 I evaluate the choices and make recommendations in light of the desire to diminish the conditions.\u00a0 Those who define the conditions chemically<\/em> look in different places and make different recommendations.\u00a0 They look at chemistry and prescribe chemistry.<\/p>\n

I take that approach as largely (though not totally) inappropriate.\u00a0 First off, “a chemical imbalance” is not a natural condition as much as it is a judgment<\/em> of what is or should be a normal chemical balance.\u00a0 An “emotional” person might be seen as imbalanced, and a less “emotional” person as balanced, but the less “emotional” person may fail at dramatic performance where the “emotional” person succeeds.\u00a0 That is, “balance” may be taken as an arbitrary, societal term used to accept or reject particular\u00a0observations.\u00a0 Then again, there may be a more\u00a0impartial take on the term within the realm of biochemistry, but\u00a0the word “balance” fails\u00a0an impartiality test, I would imagine.<\/p>\n

In seeing\u00a0mania and depression as behavior, I look at the behaviors that lead to the conditions.\u00a0 Very generally, the words “mania” and “depression” have to deal with self-impressions.\u00a0 If someone sees himself as lesser, he is depressed.\u00a0 If someone sees himself as greater, he is manic.\u00a0 Of course, these are highly simplistic observations for a complex condition, but they cut to the core of the conditions.\u00a0 Someone who puts himself down is a depressive sort, and someone who aggrandizes himself is a manic sort.<\/p>\n

Granted, the definitions of these conditions do not describe everyday\u00a0choices of putting oneself down or aggrandizing oneself.\u00a0 Saying “That was dumb of me” does not mean one is depressed in a problematic way, though such behavior, if it is genuine, is an indicator of minute depression of the person.\u00a0 Similarly, saying “I’m so smart” does not mean one is manic in a problematic way, though such behavior, if it is genuine, is an indicator of minute mania in a person.\u00a0 When do the problematic levels erupt?\u00a0 The answer is largely cultural<\/em>.\u00a0 If suicide is culturally rejected, then the behaviors are problematic when suicidal tendencies erupt.\u00a0 But the display of suicidal tendencies does not mean that mania or depression are problems.\u00a0 Instead, it is culture that sees them as problems.\u00a0 And not all cultures reject such displays.\u00a0 Neither mania nor depression is inherently right or wrong–they just “are,” just as going to the grocery “is,” or showering “is,” or feeling fine “is.”<\/p>\n

In seeing the conditions as behavior, the behaviors that lead to the conditions are addressed.\u00a0 It is not\u00a0parallel to think of the conditions as behavior but to address the behavior by medicating.\u00a0 Instead, it is parallel to address the behavior with behavior<\/em>.\u00a0 Take note:<\/p>\n

If I punch myself in the arm and create a bruise, you might say that the bruise is a chemical imbalance.\u00a0 The chemically-minded doctor would say that the bruise is “a chemical imbalance,” and then treat\u00a0my bruise.\u00a0 But the problem is more that I punched myself.\u00a0 If\u00a0I repeatedly punch myself, it is silly to keep treating\u00a0my bruises.\u00a0 Instead, you treat the behavior of punching my own arm.\u00a0 You get me out of the behavior that creates the chemical imbalance<\/em>.\u00a0 It is (often) behavior that stirs the chemical pot of mania and depression.<\/p>\n

And the behavior of aggrandizing oneself as in mania, or in derating oneself as in depression, is what stirs the chemical pot.\u00a0 Language is behavior.\u00a0 Talking is behavior.\u00a0 Thoughts about oneself are behavior.<\/em>\u00a0 These are not the same kinds of behavior as shooting a basketball in a hoop, or firing a gun, or kissing a girl.\u00a0 These are relatively “invisible” behaviors–“invisible” in the sense that we don’t typically see them as behaviors but see them as something else for whatever reason.\u00a0 Why do these behaviors stir our chemical pots?\u00a0 I don’t know.\u00a0 But so often they do.<\/p>\n

Sticks and stone may break my bones.\u00a0 Words may not break my bones, but they may break my psyche.\u00a0 If I speak as if I’m the best in the world, or as if I’m the worst in the world, and I do this repeatedly, such that I actually truly believe it, I may end up with the “chemical imbalances” that the chemically-minded see and wonder why about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the key elements for dealing with mania and depression in my opinion is how they are viewed.\u00a0 Both “mania” and “depression” are generic terms.\u00a0 That is, they are vague, and they need interpretation in order to understand what they mean in a context or to another person.\u00a0 Interpreting the terms means simply putting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[127,129,130,131,125,128,124,126,133,132],"class_list":["post-795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-semantics","tag-bipolar-disorder","tag-chemical-imbalance","tag-culture","tag-defintion","tag-depression","tag-generic-terms","tag-mania","tag-manic-depression","tag-terminology","tag-terms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":802,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions\/802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}