Hello, BarbaraTherese,
quote:** BarbaraTherese**
One mental health professional said that he saw my
situation as one of “intensity and sensitivity.”
Another professional said that my long suit, in
dealing with mental illness, was my intelligence.
Hmmm. I think you’re on to some substantial reality,
here, BarabaraTherese.
The odd thing is, when I’ve exchanged thoughts with
people who have the most serious of mental illnesses,
the more severe the illness, the more intelligent I
found those individuals.
Is it possible, that, like a piece of gold leaf in the
science experient one does in junior high school,
that the mentally ill are sensitized in way that
the Chronically Normal are not? That those unaffected,
cannot understand what the ‘reality’ is, for those
so sensitized?
Being ‘sensitized’ is, in a sense,* different* from being
‘sensitive.’ Many who do not suffer MI are truely
sensitive human beings. The difference, I think,
is that those not ill, can “tune out” certain realities,
while some of the mentally ill cannot.
It’s as if some who are mentally ill lack the “filters”
those unaffected have. Light, noise, movement,
facial expression, body language all register with
some of the mentally ill in a way that they do not
“register” with the ‘well.’
I also think that the mentally ill can make amazingly
fast “connections”. You state this as:
quote:** BarbaraTherese**
I see it as the following:
Sometimes, my mind “speeds up”, going 100 miles an
hour. Something in my brain is “broken.” It’s as if
it is an engine without a “govenor” on it, to control
speed. [Just my assessment, with no professional
training in psychology. More of an existential account
of the experience.]
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts, BarbaraTherese,
it got me “thinking.”
reen12