[ExI] "Take a stress pill, Dave"

[painlord2k at libero.it]

Il 12/04/2009 5.26, Stathis Papaioannou ha scritto:

> Psychiatry distinguishes between (in the DSM-IV) "Axis I" disorders
> such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and "Axis II" or
> personality disorders. There are fundamental differences between the
> two.

Sure, but we don't know the causes of the two type of conditions.
Neither we know if they are linked to positive genetics traits 
(probably) in different habitats.
We know that ADD is positively linked with better outcomes in pastoral 
societies, where it is linked to worse outcomes in urban societies.

What we see are probably old adaptations that in the modern settings 
don't work very well.

> For example, personality disorders are stable throughout life and
> do not respond to the biological treatments we currently have, while
> Axis I disorders afflict people who were previously well, tend to lead
> to either progressive disability or severe episodic disability, and
> often do respond to biological treatments.

We can not treat people with over Axis II for their condition, but we 
can treat the symptoms so they don't handicap too much the life of the 
person affected.

> Better understanding of the
> brain may allow us to change peoples' personalities in future but we
> have to be very careful with how we use such technologies, since there
> would be a temptation for government or business to require everyone
> to be a docile, law-abiding citizen.

Docile, law abiding zombies.
This technology would be more disruptive than the nuclear weapons.
We could cure many people and screw many others and the society.
This remember me the movie with Sylvester Stallone (Demolition Man) 
where they can "fix" the psyche of people making them totally spineless, 
helpless but not good.

Mirco