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Administrator
Administrator
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 Posted - 05/06/2007 : 16:18:50
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| Slide 12 |
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| Administrator
Administrator
15007 Posts
Gratitude: 3353
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Posted - 05/06/2007 : 21:42:44
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I would welcome your comments concerning this slide.
Lecture Notes
I would like to suggest a theory; namely that mania, depression and psychosis represent malfunctioning of recently evolved survival mechanisms.
- Mania occurs when the brain mistakenly activates the "manic hunting behavior" that our ancestors evolved a few hundred thousand years ago.
This "manic hunting behavior" allowed our ancient ancestors to pursue wounded game day and night for days or weeks until the wounded game fell with exhaustion.
Even today, aboriginal hunters in Northern Canada can track a wounded moose for days or weeks, and go with little sleep during a prolonged hunt. During the hunt, these hunters are filled with boundless energy and enthusiasm. The hunters pride themselves on their bravery and are willing to take great risks to ensure a successful hunt. At the conclusion of a successful hunt, the hunters generously share their food with others in camp, and there is a great celebration around the campfire.
All of the symptoms of modern day mania mimic this ancient "manic hunting behavior" (e.g., boundless energy and enthusiasm, decreased need for sleep, hyperactivity, reckless involvement in dangerous activities, generosity and celebration).
My contention is that evolution has hard-wired this ancient "manic hunting behavior" into our brains. It is a very old survival mechanism that can still be accidentally triggered. If brain injury or illness (or some other environmental factor) triggers this ancient hard-wired "manic hunting behavior" circuit in our brain; the modern psychiatric condition of mania results.
Treatment implications: Individuals who are entering mania must immediately stop any behavior that could further trigger this ancient "manic hunting behavior". Thus they must stop reckless romantic pursuits, gambling, going without sleep, or any other excessively driven pursuit. If these interventions prove ineffective; anti-manic medication may be life-saving.
Depression occurs when the brain mistakenly activates the "depressive waiting behavior" that our ancestors evolved a few hundred thousand years ago.
This "depressive waiting behavior" allowed our non-hunting ancient ancestors to wait for days or weeks in camp without food until the hunters returned with food.
Even today in Africa, when the men are away from home hunting or seeking employment, the women, children and elderly are left behind in their villages to often face starvation. When starving, those remaining in the village decrease their activity to "minimal survival levels" to conserve energy. The longer the men are away, the more sad and immobilized the starving villagers become.
All of the symptoms of modern day clinical depression mimic this ancient "depressive waiting behavior" (e.g., depressed mood, apathy, fatigue, decreased activity, decreased speech, decreased socialization, morbid or suicidal ideation, etc.).
My contention is that evolution has hard-wired this ancient "depressive waiting behavior" into our brains. It is a very old survival mechanism that can still be accidentally triggered. If brain injury or illness (or some other environmental factor) triggers this ancient hard-wired "depressive waiting behavior" circuit in our brain; the modern psychiatric condition of depression results.
Treatment implications: Individuals who are entering depression must stop any behavior that could further trigger this ancient "depressive waiting behavior". Thus they must become more active, stop waiting for others to "fix" the problem, "start doing good in order to feel good", regain hope (to counter suicidal ideation), help others (in order to restore self confidence), etc. If these interventions prove ineffective; mood-stabilizing or antidepressant medication may be life-saving.
Psychosis occurs when the "symbolic logic" parts of our brain break down. The "symbolic logic" parts of our brain only were created (or "re-wired") 40,000 years ago.
The "symbolic logic" parts of our brain are located primarily in our temporal and frontal lobes. Both of these lobes are easily injured by any head injury. It would appear that, in terms of evolution, our frontal and temporal lobes are still "under construction" and their functioning is very prone to injury or malfunction.
Treatment implications: Individuals who are entering psychosis are experiencing a serious malfunctioning of one of the most important parts of their brain. Thus psychosis is clearly a serious "brain disorder", and not merely a variant of normal psychological functioning. Before the psychotic individual can benefit from psychological and social therapies; their psychosis has to be medically treated. Thus often the use of antipsychotic medication proves to be life-saving.
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| EmergingArtist
Incredible Member (2000+ posts)
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Posted - 05/07/2007 : 14:56:51
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| This slide is over my head. (And/or I'm having trouble focusing). I shall have to return to it later on when my Seroquel has quelled some of my racing thoughts so I can focus. |
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| aquamarine
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Posted - 05/10/2007 : 10:26:35
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Your ideas about depression remind me of a paper I wrote a few years back. here's one of my paragraphs:
"When we become depressed, or ill, either mentally, or physically, we often retreat from social contact and stop doing the things that used to make us feel good. I do not believe we consciously do this. I suspect it is a protective behaviour, one that is preprogrammed deep inside our psyches, an evolutionary behaviour whose purpose is to help us survive.
When ill we become somewhat like an injured animal. We retreat when hurt to take care of, and to heal, ourselves. The problem is, for humans, social contact and participating in meaningful activities are important steps towards healing and well-being." (Aqua)
I agree Aqua,That is exactly what I think is happening. Great minds think alike? I'd love to hear your other thoughts on this topic Aqua; it appears your thoughts were years ahead of mine. Phil Long M.D.
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| e-pea
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Posted - 05/15/2007 : 04:58:10
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This is really interesting. I'm fascinated with human development over the years. So I have one burning question. What about jags? I can get on creative jags for days. Is that this same hunting instinct? I feel like i'm hunting when i in the middle of a jag. There is me, the path, the goal and little else.
if you don't eat your body thinks there is a famine on and won't let you sleep in order to give you chance to hunt nocturnally. I can't eat when i get upset and i read that somewhere. So good diet might help keep mania at bay.. because at least your body knows you don't have to hunt because your food is adequate.
Maybe we miss hunting? So we find things to calm that need like sex or shopping or drugs. Shopping is like a hunt. So are drugs. If you are' addicted to some substance, you could think you're going to die but when you realize you can get more of what you need, you suddenly get the energy to hunt it down. I kind of always saw sex as a hunt for men and shopping as hunting fr women.. but they reach the same goal. Shopping is a way to feel more attractive for a woman. We shop, then we wait in our plumes, feathers and paint to be chosen by a mate. a guy competes for and wins a girl, then he wants her to do all his shopping for him. that works out very nicely. lol not to soud sexist but it sort of makes sense..
one question.. does the waiting cause the depression or the depression put us in a state of waiting...? does that question make sense? When you were talking about the african families waiting for the hunters to come back you were saying the waiting and conservation of energy cause the depression. In our modern world with all it's modern comforts, which comes first? or is it individual specific? and in the case of depression and mania cycling, would one feel the hunt was over for the manic period to end? if so there are definitely specific triggers.. would that not even suggest then that people might be more likely to enter a state of depression as a result of something good happening? You reach a goal, the hunt is over, you slip into melancholia. i know personally there is nothing like reaching a goal to make you feel a little dissapointed.
"Sometimes rational decisions aren't sensible"  -Ian Stewart |
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| firebird
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
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Posted - 05/16/2007 : 14:58:48
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Its very enjoyable reading these posts. I especially noted your question e-pea 'do we miss hunting'. I think the answer is yes.
I admit I feel unease when reading the lecture Dr Long and I feel a sense of resistance to what you are proposing What was once a healthy survival strategy has become to be maladaptive behavior and is now deemed a disease!. Except when it appears in the few tribal peoples still in existence in our modern world. Our modern populations have become 'domesticated'. We have changed as we have changed our environment Our 'wildness"' is now a disease that needs pharmaceutical treatments. I am sorry, I must be a throw back or something because I like my wildness and I don't much like the modern world and I feel a deep longing for a more primitive life that I cannot explain. We have traded our abilities to get our own food for jobs. It feels like economic forces and the people who control them wish to shape us to better fit into the world they have shaped. I have worked in factories, endless night shifts on assembly lines, no windows, no plants, no decoration, only steel and gray walls. No power over the speed I worked, I was just a part of the process, an auto-mation. I used to joke and say I was one of the Borg, like in Star Trek. I can go along with some form of treatment for depression like more activity and antidepressants but sometimes feeling depressed can move us to action. As for mania, it can give the spark to life.
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| HST_RIP
Super Member (250+ posts)
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Posted - 05/16/2007 : 15:45:31
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Woah! Hang on there Bubba.
I have seen full blown mania and it is NOT a spark in a life it is something more akin to a comet that blazes and finally falls into nothingness. The correllation between the highs and lows of bi-polar disorder are well established and mania can be a painful, humiliating experience once things slow down and you observe the damage you have wrought upon yourself and others. I hope you don't mean mania adds zest to life, in much the same way that cocaine gives you that "pick me up' that you need at 3 in the afternoon.
I am ex-army, Infantry, jumper, pathfinder and recci platoon 3 RCR. I was taught how to hunt, stalk and yes kill people as quietly and as quickly as possible and it ALWAYS bothered me that there was a definite rush in the training, that feeling of being on the edge, predatory and dark-minded. There was a time when that sort of thing was necessary for the survival of the species, but there are so many exapmles that illustrate just how much trouble we get into when we mix the primal lust for violent confrontation with the modern world of politics, morality, religion and the fact that the world is growing ever smaller and we are being confronted with ideas, people, and an ethos that we disagree with. When you couple that with a culture that revers violence, the way of the gun and vendettas you have a recipe for disaster.
Fight or flight is necessary of course, but there is a REASON as to why we developed judgment, a frontal lobe and why the limbic part of the brain is the smallest part of it. I don't think of myself as violent, predatory or wild and the times when I was are the worst times of my life. The best times of my life conversely were the times when I sought reason, stillness, peace and absolution. There is an undeniable hunger in every human soul for quiet, a desire for rest and stability. Chaos is not the friend of any person, no matter what they say or with the bravado with which they say it, I have nver met a single person who choose chaos over peace.
Dr. Gonzo
Zeal in suspicion has no merit.
A blind judge doesn't serve the people.
More terrible than mistaking an enemy for a friend
is the haste to mistake a friend for an enemy.
--Yevgeny Yevtushenko 1956 |
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| firebird
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
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Posted - 05/16/2007 : 16:45:53
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HI Dr Gonzo, It was interesting reading your thoughts, God I hope Bubba's not a guys name because I am a woman. Sorry If I gave the impression when I used the word wildness I didn't mean savagery or violent, I meant more like having a bushman soul, being close to nature, taking only what you need ect. I know there Is nothing I can do about the world we live In, there must be something wrong with me because I don't fit In or maybe I have been left behind In evolutionary adaptation and the future world Is for the socializers negotiators politicians and all the other people people. I just know that If I had been forced to work In that factory I would have choose death. If I had been medicated then, they might of made a happy little robot out of me. It was thought a bout of mania I sold all my belongings car and motorbike and moved to a country across the Atlantic without having a clue what I was going to do for a job. All my workmates said I was crazy.
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| HST_RIP
Super Member (250+ posts)
579 Posts
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Posted - 05/16/2007 : 23:29:54
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Fire Bird:
There will always be room for discontent and malcontents. The idea of a world envisioned by Huxley or Orwell is enough to make me seriously consider the dirt nap for time immemorial. The wonderful thing about people is that there will always be boat rockers and I am of the opinion that a little revolution now and than is a good and healthy thing.
I am a product of the Mosh pit, of blood and bourbon and a huge middle finger at the middle position of anything. I believe in protest and I believe in screaming until your hoarse and making the bastards squirm, but I get off the train at violence, brutality and zealotry...I have absolutely no tolerance for intolerance and I am glad you clarified your point. Mine remains as always away from the head and into the soul.
Mahalo
Dr. Gonzo
Zeal in suspicion has no merit.
A blind judge doesn't serve the people.
More terrible than mistaking an enemy for a friend
is the haste to mistake a friend for an enemy.
--Yevgeny Yevtushenko 1956 |
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| Niney
Incredible Member (2000+ posts)
2393 Posts
Gratitude: 640
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Posted - 05/17/2007 : 09:37:59
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Dr. Long,
I find your theories extrememly interesting and will definitely ponder them further. When talking about depressions you said that the person should try to become more active, more social, etc. and if those stategies don't help, perhaps medication would then be appropriate. I tried for many months to do just that, however, it wasn't until I was on medication that worked for me that I was able to sustain any kind of activity for long enough to be of any benefit. So in my case the medication had to come first. I could manage very little until then.
Niney
"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."
Kahlil Gibran |
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| shawteey
Starting Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 11/02/2011 : 21:29:33
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tru dat aye
i loveee mee =) |
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| LindaWatson
Starting Member
3 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2012 : 03:52:31
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Thank you for sharing such an useful information.quote:
Originally posted by Administrator
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