Home Personal Psychology Clinical Psychology The Assumptive Worlds of Psychopathy VIII: Embracing Shame and Guilt—Unraveling the Stigma Surrounding Mental Illness

The Assumptive Worlds of Psychopathy VIII: Embracing Shame and Guilt—Unraveling the Stigma Surrounding Mental Illness

59 min read
0
0
79

Nagel assists us in yet another way regarding the world of construction. He writes about the meaning of words. The words “disease” and “disorder” are scary words with even scarier connotations. However, these are just words with meanings assigned to them. If that is the case, then who is to say that we can’t also change the meaning of words to fit ourselves. We can strip a word of all its fear and stigma. We can instead give it a meaning that better suits our unique issues and apply some optimism to the image surrounding words such as “disease” or “disorder”. Nagel indicates that one cannot understand a word by itself. Words must always be understood in their specific context. Thus, in order to understand a word, one needs to see or know its referent.

Putting the words “Mental Illness” or “Chronic Disease” together is pretty heavy, and some strong referents surround these words. Each of these are just separate words, but when you pair them together, they are definitely scary and overwhelming. Why can’t we change all the meanings, or even rearrange their order to better suit ourselves. We might even jumble up the words: Cryme Lidease? or Mntall Inlless? Not so scary now. Not so powerful now! Now it just seems silly and ridiculous.

Nagel also debates the merits of three different philosophical perspectives. The first is Dualism—meaning that the mind and body are entirely separate and interact with one another. The second philosophical perspective is Physicalism where the mind is embedded in the body. Nagel identifies the third perspective as the Dual Aspect Theory. The mind is physical, but the brain also has non-physical aspects. In order to have lived with and battled the physical and mental assault that disease can put on the mind and the body, we fully support the philosophy of Physicalism and all its virtues. While there might be some aspect of mind that is separate from body, the “battle ground” for addressing any disease is to be found in the intimate relationship between mind and body.

Pages 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Load More Related Articles
  • Is Hope the New Antibiotic for Physical Illness?

    Building on the concept of hope and moving forward to modern times, there are many neurosc…
Load More By Lewis And Munzer
Load More In Clinical Psychology

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Is Hope the New Antibiotic for Physical Illness?

Building on the concept of hope and moving forward to modern times, there are many neurosc…