Posted by smokeymadison on December 22, 2004, at 22:38:08
In reply to Re: 1.3, posted by alexandra_k on December 22, 2004, at 17:42:28
i really don't think that it is a very far jump from very severe depression to the Cotard delusion. it takes a...what should i say...artistic? person to make the jump. i mean, someone who is so absorbed into what they are feeling at the moment that all else falls away. as far as necessary and sufficient conditions--you aren't going to be able to define them even for the same person. i have said that a delusion is a result of fragmentation of the rational mind. each part rationalizes what is reality separately. so within each person there are these revolving "chunks" at any given moment one "chunk" is the one most forward in the mind and the one doing the talking.
we all are fragmented to a certain extent. we all have certain thoughts that are diametrically opposed to one another. ok, so maybe people with BPD have more of these :) anyway, trying to determine the necessary and sufficient conditions for a certain kind of person to become delusional would not include the people who have delusional thoughts that are not at the forefront of their minds.
let me try it this way. you are trying to determine the necessary and suffient conditions that lead to a person uttering a delusional statement. i think that it would have to be a two step clause. first, the N and S conditions that a delusional thought is in the person's head. then, the N and S conditions that that thought is contained in the part of the person's consciousness that is speaking. i know that that isn't very neurobiologically oriented for ya but there it is.
SM
poster:smokeymadison
thread:432064
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/write/20041210/msgs/433134.html