self-knowledge

self-knowledge — No Comments
3
Sep 11

Imaginary Friends: Better Than Real Ones?

An different title can be, “Why are your imaginary friends are better than your real ones.” Ah, lets see why is that.

  • You can count that imaginary friends will be around when you need them. Imagine you broke up with your girlfriend/ boyfriend and feeling so alone. You decide to call your best friend. Not only is she not home, she is actually out with a new guy. She’s not picking up her cell. There is nothing that can make you feel worse than this. With your imaginary friend, all you have to do is talk. They’ll be there, listening. Or they could talk and you will listen. You get to choose who does the talking and who does the listening. This is perfect because most real people do not listen at all. All they do is wait until it’s their turn to speak.
  • They’ll never make you pay the bigger part of the check when you go out. And all this after we thought we had found the answer to the whole check thing by going Dutch. Sometimes you know people who are great in every respect, except for this. They’ll ask you out to a drink, proceed to order a three-course meal and then go Dutch. And all you had was that lousy little beer. Who says you can’t take your best imaginary friend out to dinner? Of course, the waiter may look at you weird. Don’t let him make you feel uncomfortable. How does he know he’s not the one who doesn’t exist?
  • Imaginary friends will never call you up crying in the middle of the night. Yes, you should be there for your friends. But should you be available ALL THE TIME? It’s one in the morning, and she calls. What could be so important? Her house burned down? So? It was insured, right? Can’t she just get another, what with the way real estate prices are dropping these days? Her dog died in the fire? That is so said, but… She doesn’t have where to sleep? Oh, well.

 

Why is it normal for children aged 3 – 4 to have imaginary friends and not for us adults? If you didn’t have one when you were a kid, what’s wrong with having one now? They say children learn to model interpersonal relationships through imaginary friends. Often, these children are the only children in the family, but sometimes they are the oldest. Having an imaginary friend does not mean the child is lonely. These children (and adults) are usually very creative and sensitive. Imaginary friends provide companionship, help them test out negative feelings and emotions like anger, hatred or fear, and allow them to sustain a private life at a time when they feel they have no control over anything.

There are thousands of movies about psychopathic killers who claim an imaginary person or other creature told them to commit their crimes. They are not lying. Auditory hallucinations are actually quite common in schizophrenia. These people do hear voices, but what they hear is their own internal voice. They do not recognize it as their own because of certain (not clearly determined as of yet) neurological deficiencies and because (yes) it is saying things that are scary and shocking to them. So, don’t do everything your imaginary friend tells you.

self-knowledge — No Comments
1
Sep 11

Dissatisfied People and the Z Code

Some twenty percent of all consultations on psychological wellbeing are related to anxiety about life.

The condition may be found under many names, but the most suitable one appears to be “dissatisfaction with life”. In psychiatric classifications, such cases are listed under the Z code. They reflect the tendency to over-rely on expert advice when it comes to conflicts and their aftermath. The condition is not some kind of mental disorder or pathology; however, over twenty percent of patients seek professional help because of it. The Z code has led to an even increasing number of visits to the general practitioner.

The reason is often related to indisposition or anxiety. In reality, people who suffer from it are not psychiatric patients, requiring expert attention. Their condition is classified in some of the following ways: stress, spring exhaustion, post-holiday syndrome, conflicts with one’s partner or colleagues… The physical symptoms they have cannot be categorized under some standard criteria, set for psychological conditions. A constantly increasing number of patients, who complain of psychological conditions, stress-related problems, and family issues, are now referred to psychiatric wards. Yet, they don’t have any symptoms of psychological disorders.

Note that “not everything that happens in life can be attributed to a psychological condition” points out the psychiatrist Enricke Baka Garcia. At the same time, “we have to take our psychological health very seriously”. Some problems, for example, are so complex that can lead to pathological conditions, if left untreated. Garcia considers that expert advice is necessary if the patient feels out of balance. The specialist assesses whether the client needs treatment.

One problem, however, is that Z code is hard to diagnose. Possible reasons are alienation, loneliness, inadequate communication… Enricke Aragones from the Hispanic Association for Family and Community Medicine warns “We act as if there is a pill for almost everything – something quick, safe, and effective. However, we cannot change our lifestyle even a tiny bit”.

Aragones points out that people have unrealistic expectations when it comes to scientific developments. We have turned healthcare into a product that helps correct this or that. Ideas of healthcare reflect the lifestyle in Europe and the US. People try to find quick solutions to conflicts and fail to deal with the real problems. We don’t leave problems to develop naturally, e.g. relationship problems, so we can’t see what is really wrong.

Moreover, we can’t control everything. We often deal with situations that are out of control. The right approach here is dialogue, listening to the other, etc.

Some people feel so vulnerable, however, that every problem looks insurmountable. Stress management is thus important.

Experts believe that people are quick to ask for medications, even if they don’t really need them. Developed societies have medicines for what not. And people resort to medications even when they are dissatisfied or can’t deal with a certain problem. Medications can’t really substitute family support, social networks, friends, and dealing with life on your own.

The psychologist Eudohia Gay summarized it well: “The world has changed but people didn’t follow pace”. When we deal with new situations, we panic rather than consider them completely normal.

self-knowledge — No Comments
1
Sep 11

Are There Parts of the Soul?

We all know that the human soul is unitary and cannot be divided into some composite parts. So, what kinds of “parts” do we talk about in here?

The working of the psyche can be observed in many different ways, each of them being some aspect of the soul or a so called spiritual power. We have consciousness, feelings, willpower, and imagination. All these are aspects of the unitary soul, tentatively referred to as its “parts”. Speaking of spiritual life, we can try an imaginary ‘decomposition’ of the soul and examine each of its aspects as well as how all of them relate to each other. Lets have a look at these aspects.

Upon birth, the soul is probably a “sphere” of unconscious impulses and instincts (the need of food, etc.). This sphere is where the life and energy of the small person is believed to be.

Gradually, the Ego of the child makes its way to the surface from the original “ocean” of unconsciousness. The newborn is overwhelmed by parents and everyone around; the world shows itself forcibly, transforming the unconscious aspect of the soul. As a result, the unconsciousness grows thinner and cracks. The ego of the child sneaks in and connects with the world (all “things”, parents, adults, rules, taboos, teachings, etc.)

There are two main composite parts of the soul: the unconsciousness (the Id) and the consciousness (the Ego). At the core of the Ego is the Super Ego. The latter is a product of social norms, rules, prohibitions, ideas about proper and improper conduct, and morale. The unconsciousness is different in that it has multiple layers.

 (By the observations of Pierre Daco) There are three It-s. It-1  reflects original life impulses and forms the bottom layer of the soul. It-2 represents our deeply held life views and common ideas of humanity (archetypes and symbols). It-3 stands for everything that we tried to wipe out or presumably forget: experiences, dissatisfaction, personal stories of grief, “forgotten” emotions and events, etc. The Super Ego censures these based on the rules of the society we are part of – the views of proper and improper, prohibitions, etc.  This is the upper layer of the psyche or what is consciously processed.

The “parts” of the psyche interact in a constant dynamic and complex interrelationship, resulting in a variety of experiences and emotions.

When people undergo psychoanalysis, they may discover this spiritual dynamic, the interaction between the Id, Ego, and Super Ego, and some deeply hidden inferiority complexes. They show up as symptoms at the conscious levels (what we complain of). We cannot explain them, they look as if coming from nowhere, and feel painful. But again, if there are really parts of the soul, do we really know what happens in there?

Newer Entries →