Public Comment

I'm prefacing this week's feature with a disclaimer: This piece doesn't contain proven scientific fact, and it should not be used as a basis for how you deal with your or anyone's psychiatric condition or lack thereof. This is conjecture, or maybe it is an oversized anecdote. Here it is:

Certain kinds of life situations and environments can be damaging to some people. This could often be a separate issue from a psychiatric condition. The damage I speak of can show itself in some impairment in some types of functioning, but it doesn't change the brain malfunction that causes a psychiatric condition. 

For example, I experienced damage several years back, through being overextended with nonstop demands of an ill family member, and through not having enough peaceful breaktime intervals to recuperate. Consequently, I began to have a behavior problem where I would get angry more easily, causing what some people termed as "angry outbursts" in which I would raise my voice. And I couldn't get control over this problem for a great while, until I was able to do a deep relaxation and get at the root of the internal problem, one that resembled an "OS" malfunction. Under some circumstances, we can correct the damage. But it may take months or longer to do this. 

I find that going to some places is damaging. I avoid like it was The Great Plague, going to a particular overcrowded medical office in Concord, California, partly because they pack in patients in the waiting rooms like sardines in cans, and I can't help but be influenced by the concentration of sick people. It has an effect. Some readers could scoff at this observation, but I'll tell you this is for real. 

The human mind, at a guess, has code that makes it process sensory and internal information. We don't understand how our brains process information, and it is at a level far and above any AI we currently can build. We can work for centuries on AIs, and we have already worked at least a half century on them. (The first transistors were invented in 1948.) 

AI's have amazing capabilities. But at a guess, we haven't invented an AI that has consciousness. We haven't invented an AI that can feel pain, joy, grief and/or anger. And AI's most likely will never go on strike for better working conditions. The real point is, human beings very likely operate from code, like AI's do, but in humans, it is at a level we can't duplicate or comprehend. 

On the other hand, on Mother's Day of 2023, I went with family to a loud, crowded restaurant, and it was an overload situation. The damage was minimal if it existed at all. Perhaps I felt safe because these were the people with whom I grew up. Not all overload situations will necessarily cause ill effects. Maybe the perception of a situation being a threat to me, or not, is a factor. 

If people function from code, albeit highly flexible and advanced code, it follows that the code from which we function is vulnerable to errors, to "corruption" (in the computer sense), and to other damage. The human mind and brain have software that can be harmed. And we don't have the capability to just reboot. The human body and mind invariably try to heal, but we can't always accomplish that. 

Sensory overload can cause damage. Excessive trauma can cause damage. The damage isn't easily remedied. We are better off when we can anticipate and avoid damaging situations. If the same damaging situation is repeated, we could be damaged in a compound manner. We may or may not know it when we have sustained damage to the mind. 

Gut instinct could play a role in what we decide to do or not do. If you feel that doing something is a bad idea for you, it might be a better guide for you than pure reasoning. If people are pressuring you to do something that you don't want to do or can't do, this creates additional complexity for the scenario. 

People are designed to write our own code and revise our own code through numerous avenues. The systems by which this might happen are far from flawless. Thinking about past situations, past mistakes, and the errors we made, or the trespasses other people made, is one avenue among many. A person subject to psychosis can do "reality checking" and they can contemplate the realism of a delusional belief. To successfully do either, a basic stability must be established first. 

What I've said so far is less expert than the theoretical and is entirely unproven, and it is the musings of an individual, me, and I lack a scientific education. Therefore, what I've said so far is in the realm of conjecture. Yet I think about my mind, I observe it, and I've discovered many of the things that cause it to do worse or do better. 

If you believe that some things are damaging, and if they are reasonably avoidable, maybe you ought to avoid them. I can't deal with crowds or loud situations. I can't deal with a wild party atmosphere. I can deal with things when they are quiet and not demanding. That's why the writing activities that I do make sense for me. This is so whether it ends up paying a lot, a little, or not paying at all. I hope that I at least break even every year. 

A good dropping off point for the reader, this week, is the worthiness of spending time on a weekend or evening, reading for enjoyment. You don’t need to read literary masterpieces. You could read news pieces on your phone. You could read short fiction available online. Reading doesn't have to be another standard by which we judge ourselves. Yet, often reading is indulgent and it is potentially good for mental wellness.