Maggie's Farm

Neither man nor life is perfectable. Indeed, it would be difficult to find agreement on "perfection" anyway.

Some people in the psychological health professions have an unspoken and even unacknowledged notion that, given proper therapy and/or proper medicines, we could all be brought to "normality" or "mental health." I term that "psycho-utopianism," and I hold the copyright for the term.

My view of all utopianisms is that they represent infantile wishes; that they are unrealistic dreams. Dreams of Eden. "If only..., this organization would run better." "If only we had..., we'd be happier." "If only the country would..., life would be better." "If only I were more motivated to (work out, make more money, get a better job, Etc.), I'd be happy."

In Psychoanalysis, we often use the term "normal neurotic" for those whose defenses and adaptations are in the normal range, ie not too dysfunctional and not too misery-creating. Most people are in that category. Psychoanalyst Dr. Joyce McDougall wrote a wonderful book in 1992, Plea For A Measure Of Abnormality, which addresses the topic.

I am not a therapeutic nihilist. I try to be a realist. Everybody has character flaws and weaknesses and immaturities, and always will regardless of the next miracle drug or the next whatever. The trick is to know oneself, to know one's strengths and weaknesses and flaws, same as it is to know the limits of external reality. A good life is a struggle with both.

It would not be difficult to preach on this topic at long and tedious length with the implications for how it applies to many or most human endeavors in the post-Eden world, but I'll save my ammunition for another time.

- From Sandel in The Atlantic (2004), The Case Against Perfection - What's wrong with designer children, bionic athletes, and genetic engineering.

- Ars Psychiatrica discusses the ailments of prosperity: The Age of Anomie?

- Yet another normal neurosis may get an "official" diagnosis: Internet Addiction - "What once was parody may soon be diagnosis." Same thing goes for "sex addiction" in my opinion. It's like shopaholics and chocaholics: from Oprah to DSM 5 in one easy step.

- If "Borderline Personality" is up to 10% of the population, is it really all that abnormal?

- One in five Californians say they need mental health care. Those are just the folks who want to deal with their "issues." Willingness to address one's "issues" is partly cultural.

Unrelated, but interesting: A Simulation Of What It’s Like To Experience Schizophrenic Symptoms.  h/t, Linkiest