Post by anopheles on Apr 14, 2017 16:12:03 GMT
This has interested me since my diagnosis.
I had to work around some issues and one of them was 'If i have so many impulsive thoughts, how can I tell which impulsive thoughts are really mine and is what I think I want what I really think I want and so which thoughts indicate the real me?' The relatively simple (in theory) answer was to let the first thoughts come and go as I have no control over them, but pay extra attention to the second thoughts but not to a point were you come to a stand still.
Still, in relation to the theory of mind, it's interesting to compare it with some known facts about how the brain works. For example, there is a test where volunteers are connected to a brain activity monitoring machine and asked to point at a symbol that appears randomly. The brain sends the signal some time before the conscious mind thinks it is making the decision. Much longer than, say, the pain reflex and although the time doesn't seem much (a fraction of a second) in 'brain time' that is an eternity.
Since a lot of us have trouble getting our unconscious and conscious minds on the same page, I thought this was interesting. Could it be as simple as a longer delay between unconscious and conscious decision making that allows unconnected thoughts to enter the 'decision making space'? Or, as in a condition like Alien Hand Syndrome, the different parts of the brain are not in sync or is the conscious mind is rebellious against the unconscious?
Another thing that came up was 'When do you become 'a bad person'? I may have mentioned this before (what with my memory I may have even made this thread before), I sometimes walk into my local bank and think about robbing it. Planning the caper in my head.
Does this make me a bad person? I talked it through with a counsellor and we came to the decision that, despite appearances, there is no malice in thought. Only malice in deeds. In other words, you are not a bank robber or 'a bad person' until you buy a balaclava and start sawing down the shotgun. Concerning malice in thought, the act of treating people badly is the malice, not the thought. We all have black crows flying over our fields occasionally, the trick is to not let them land.
Ah, it could be said; Bank Robbery is all well and good, but relatively trivial. What about bad thoughts about problematic sex or discriminatory thoughts and, at first glance, people could put them in a special catergory of bad thoughts... but you shouldn't. It's best not have those opinions, obviously, but unless you are acting on those discriminatory or problematic thoughts, then there is no harm, but in the worrying about them... This is not permission to think discriminatory thoughts are OK, as eventually those thoughts and attitudes will/are going to leak out of the hole in your face or turn into an act that is malicious, but the thoughts themselves are not intrinsically malicious. Otherwise we start putting things like time limits on them and they are arbitary. Time limits? Well, for example, thinking man who stood on your toe a moment ago is a clumsy fool is ok, but what about in ten minutes, an hour, three weeks?
Just some neuroatypical rambling, but it helps me get to sleep and now it can help you.
I had to work around some issues and one of them was 'If i have so many impulsive thoughts, how can I tell which impulsive thoughts are really mine and is what I think I want what I really think I want and so which thoughts indicate the real me?' The relatively simple (in theory) answer was to let the first thoughts come and go as I have no control over them, but pay extra attention to the second thoughts but not to a point were you come to a stand still.
Still, in relation to the theory of mind, it's interesting to compare it with some known facts about how the brain works. For example, there is a test where volunteers are connected to a brain activity monitoring machine and asked to point at a symbol that appears randomly. The brain sends the signal some time before the conscious mind thinks it is making the decision. Much longer than, say, the pain reflex and although the time doesn't seem much (a fraction of a second) in 'brain time' that is an eternity.
Since a lot of us have trouble getting our unconscious and conscious minds on the same page, I thought this was interesting. Could it be as simple as a longer delay between unconscious and conscious decision making that allows unconnected thoughts to enter the 'decision making space'? Or, as in a condition like Alien Hand Syndrome, the different parts of the brain are not in sync or is the conscious mind is rebellious against the unconscious?
Another thing that came up was 'When do you become 'a bad person'? I may have mentioned this before (what with my memory I may have even made this thread before), I sometimes walk into my local bank and think about robbing it. Planning the caper in my head.
Does this make me a bad person? I talked it through with a counsellor and we came to the decision that, despite appearances, there is no malice in thought. Only malice in deeds. In other words, you are not a bank robber or 'a bad person' until you buy a balaclava and start sawing down the shotgun. Concerning malice in thought, the act of treating people badly is the malice, not the thought. We all have black crows flying over our fields occasionally, the trick is to not let them land.
Ah, it could be said; Bank Robbery is all well and good, but relatively trivial. What about bad thoughts about problematic sex or discriminatory thoughts and, at first glance, people could put them in a special catergory of bad thoughts... but you shouldn't. It's best not have those opinions, obviously, but unless you are acting on those discriminatory or problematic thoughts, then there is no harm, but in the worrying about them... This is not permission to think discriminatory thoughts are OK, as eventually those thoughts and attitudes will/are going to leak out of the hole in your face or turn into an act that is malicious, but the thoughts themselves are not intrinsically malicious. Otherwise we start putting things like time limits on them and they are arbitary. Time limits? Well, for example, thinking man who stood on your toe a moment ago is a clumsy fool is ok, but what about in ten minutes, an hour, three weeks?
Just some neuroatypical rambling, but it helps me get to sleep and now it can help you.