Posted by MisterB on August 4, 2000, at 0:22:48
In reply to A bit more on brain laterality..., posted by dj on July 30, 2000, at 14:45:41
Hemispheric laterality might be one of many structural features we exploit when we compartamentalize our selves in an effort to deal with stress. I don't personally cop to depression, though if I had to pass one of those depression tests i might still be in elementary shcool. I can say that I deal with conflicts - personal, social and cultural - and the terrible way I feel about these conflicts by compartmentalizing my self. I take some heat for using psuedonyms on this site, but in real life, many people know only a fraction of my extremely complex character. I can attest that compartmentalization works.
So far.
Sometimes.The treatments you mention seem to focus on deconstructing disadvantageous personality trait. My preference is to let them sleep till I find out what they are good for, then maybe they will either grow up or die on thier own. Somebody might occassionally try to block them from the web discussion, but I think they are worth more than that.
Interest in hemispheric compartamentalization seems to follow the trend of other neurophysiological findings, such as the way discoveries about developmental pscyhology, the mid-brain and the limbic system informed "inner child" ideas. As research into a particular area or system of the brain advances, clinical applications evolve that focus on that particular advance, often as if is the defining feature of personality.
One way to advance the understanding of bilateral compartmentlalization would involve P.E.T. scanning. Ideas about the modularity of the brain, first developed in brain injury studies, have advanced with the help of advanced imagery techniques. We could sit somebody in a P.E.T. or an M.R.I. and administer tests designed to elicit diverse aspect of their character and see what part of their brain starts getting more blood.
But easy answers about neuropsychology are often wrong answers. The human brain, being the most complex organ on earth, rivaling entire ecosystems in its complexity, is not easily explained in simple theories. W
poster:MisterB
thread:41763
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000729/msgs/42142.html