From: Stathis Papaioannou (stathisp@gmail.com)
Date: Sun Jul 06 2008 - 00:34:18 MDT
2008/7/6 Charles Hixson <charleshixsn@earthlink.net>:
> The thing is, just because YOU can see that someone is thinking incorrectly
> doesn't mean that THEY will see the same thing. Perhaps they will. I can
> tell that I need to lose weight, and so I must be thinking incorrectly about
> food, at least some of the time. Don't seem to be able to do anything about
> it. But if I could, and it was reasonably easy, I would. But an anorexic
> doesn't see that they have invalid values. Sometimes it's possible to teach
> them that they do, but they actually see themselves as fat while starving to
> death, so they don't WANT to change their minds.
Some anorexics can see that they are thinking irrationally, at least
some of the time. The same goes for those who are addicted to
substances, gambling, have anger management problems, and so on.
Rationalisation and denial come into play because there seems to be no
easy solution. Even many psychotic people who end up being treated
involuntarily have partial insight into their condition. So although
there may always be a hard core who choose to remain antisocial or
self-destructive, in the great majority of cases easy
self-modification should have a positive effect; perhaps enough of a
positive effect to make possible the sorts of societies that would be
otherwise dismissed as hopelessly utopian.
-- Stathis Papaioannou
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