Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board
Voicelessness and Emotional Survival => Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board => Topic started by: Dr. Richard Grossman on December 19, 2010, 05:28:52 PM
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Hi everybody,
This is off topic but I thought you might be interested:
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/12/17/woman_who_suffered_brain_disease_knows_no_fear/
Feel sorry for her? Is she lucky? Hmmmmm....
The incident re: the man with the knife sure illustrates the adaptive value of fear--and here I was thinking of getting an amygdalectomy (!)
Richard
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Gulp. Definitely worth of study.
I wonder, can she empathise with people when they are afraid?
Are other emotions affected too?
The article is too short!
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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VRT-51PYH51-1&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F16%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f55ecd8b2b121d5b49b0e721da0d95bc&searchtype=a (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VRT-51PYH51-1&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F16%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=f55ecd8b2b121d5b49b0e721da0d95bc&searchtype=a)
Guest, you have to pay to get more than the abstract but it'll probably appear other places too. Heck, poor woman will wind up on Dateline, I'm sure.
I think she has a handicap that can be turned to a strength or that may have things to teach us. I understand how impractical it would be to live without the gift of fear, but I think many of us live with a subscription to fear we do not know how to cancel. Or that keeps turning up again and again even after writing the Direct Emotional Preference Service.
I would like to walk in her shoes for a while.
Hops
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I'm not sure what's happening is correctly described as a lack of fear. Seems more like a lack of common sense.
Even someone unafraid wouldn't risk dying pointlessly with a slit throat, unless they didn't have sense to come in out of the rain.
Fear of pain might prevent me from touching a hot stove, but absent that fear if my thought processes were functioning correctly otherwise I still wouldn't touch it to avoid tissue damage and infection, let alone the unpleasant pain.
Perhaps fear is an inseperable component of common sense.
mud
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Mud, that's a very good point. There IS a difference between fear and common sense. For example, I live in an area where there are a lot of rattlesnakes. I have an animal science degree, and know their behavior, therefore I do not fear them. However, I am well aware that a rattlesnake bite can be fatal, therefore, my knowledge of their behavior (and common sense) keeps me from doing something stupid that would result in a bite. Even without fear, common sense tells you what can harm you, and common sense tells to how to act appropriately in dangerous situations.
I guess the question in the case of this woman, is does she lack fear of pain and injury, or does she lack fear of dying. Common sense says that having your throat slit can cause death. If she does not fear death, then it makes sense. Otherwise, yes, it seems to be a lack of common sense.
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Hops, thanks for that. I don't fancy walking in her particular shoes - well maybe for a while just out of interest/curiosity, but not because I want to lose my fears that much!
Is 'common sense' a phrase for 'logic'?
Certainly willingly approaching the man when he asked her to, even though it was late and she was alone, and even though she thought he looked “drugged out" sounds like a huge lack of common sense / logic. What did she think might happen next? Are forward planning skills linked to fear (of what might happen)?
Kathy,
if someone held an angry rattlesnake within inches of your face, threatening to let it bite you, would you feel afraid? I understand that knowledge can lessen our fears, or make them more appropriate to the possible danger, but I don't think that knowledge in itself can stop us feeling fear when we're faced with danger.
I wonder if her children are particularly fearless?
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Kathy, if someone held an angry rattlesnake within inches of your face, threatening to let it bite you, would you feel afraid?
YES!
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Me too! :D
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and here I was thinking of getting an amygdalectomy (!)
there may be a bad joke in here somewhere about festive gifts / wish lists...?
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there may be a bad joke in here somewhere about festive gifts / wish lists...?
I was thinking that, but "All I want for Christmas is an amygdalectomy" is missing a certain je ne sais quois...
R.
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I was thinking of getting an amygdalectomy
Great idea!
Sign me up!
Maybe we can get a group rate for members of the VESMB.
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GS
<emoticon representing splutter/chuckle> :mrgreen: (He'll do!)
Dr G
Maybe, but it almost scans, and if you hum it enough in your head.....it becomes an 'Ohrwurm'......do try it..!
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One of those stray bits of info floated up into my brain that might suffice for calming an over-active amygdala:
tai chi (and probably meditation, yoga, running...) actually help exercise the parasympathetic nervous system (calm-regulating & well-being) and the connection to the brain...
... could be far-fetched, but it's harmless to try!
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I'm starting to wonder about myself. The neighbor next door turns out to be (very dangerous). It was not DV attempted murder it was a stabbing of an old woman (18) times for money. We were told by a law offical to stay clear of him.
For the last few months he has been asking everyone where I have been. He want's to tell me something. Then last week he told my friends husband
(he is delusional) that I have a b/f that comes over all the time and my other friend constantly flashes her body to him. He is nuts (alright).
What bother's me is I'm not afraid. Shouldn't I be? I'm more ..um...don't know? I guess I am more prepared for a conflict. This guy is so nuts to avoid him I have to change my (life). I mean move everything where he is (his side) to the other side. Walk different ways where he can't see me and eventually he will see me. There is only one way to get to my car. That is why I'm trying to avoid (I guess) conflict. I'm not sure I can.
It's the conflict I'm afraid of because I'm not afraid but this guy...Is out there! He jumped up when he heard my S telling his friend (he wasn't allowed to play his game today) yelling....That's right...your mother is strict...she's good....that is what I like about her....and where has she been....I wanted to tell her something.....WTF?
And then of course....the delusion's. It just won't stop.
Also he has this dog that is very dog aggressive. It will kill any animal (on sight). He told another neighbor that he GS lets the dog out to just run..be free..and run. He also walks the dog and then tell the dog to attack the stray cats to kill them because they go to the bathroom in his yard.
And I'm not afraid of him. Maybe because I know what he is capable of (which is anything)? And trust me I am fearfull of many things. I wouldn't walk down a dark alley. I woudn't approach someone in a park in the dark but I'm not afraid of him.
So I will move where I like to spend my time in the summer to the other side of my yard with the pool. I have teen's in the pool (girls) and he is such a *weirdo* that side has a 7ft fence and he can't see them. I am thinking about getting another (big dog) big protective will bite you and alert me (dog) maybe a trained dog.
I never lived like this before he moved in but it's time to prepare how I will (protect myself and my own) if he Nut's Up. But I'm not afraid. It's terrible but I have already sized him up (not much taller then I) and how I would take him down...(which you all know) to the groin and run like hell....
But he is a predator and delusional. He lives in (insane world) and there is nothing that he *fears*. The husbands don't scare him...You can't...he is nut's and delusional.
I wonder if his wife (sleep's with one eye open)?
Love
Deb
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Oh my gosh, Deb.
It pisses me off that Twinleyard with Friendlyrocks and so much delight in it is in any way darkened by a murderous neighbor.
This does not fit my view of
What
Is
Right or
What
Is
Debland.
Yup, a big rescued protective breed sounds good to me. Your lack of fear and your sense in recognizing his insantity (literal) sounds good to me too. So do tall fences.
But I'm pissed that Debland is dealing with Genghis Khahn next door.
Do you sense he's there for the long term? Any thoughts of moving away?
That's not FAIR.
I love your yard, I love Debland.
You do not deserve this (but I agree you're equal to it).
love,
Hops
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Hi Hops,
They just moved in last summer (the end). I doubt they will be moving anytime soon. Nor will I. This is (home to me) really home. It's a great community
with many good friends. People here don't just have BBQ's in their yards, we take the yard into the middle of the street, and we all do it.
In the summer a block can look like your at fair grounds. It is so comfortable here. It's home. We even made a walk way through the woods in the back of my house (with a bridge) lights that goes directly into my friends yard. So I guess we made our own (street) with plants and natural plants, stone critter statues and it's just so, comfy, which is the way I walk around the corner and the kids. It would be to hard for me to leave (now). For Super Bowl the TV is coming out into the street and they are going to make it like a Tail Gate Party... I can't even think about moving. I love it here. It's roots..ya know...even for the kids.
I laughed when you said Debland (lol). It still will be. I just get more use out of the back this year. I have been working on that side also.
Part of my fence 7ft on that side will be cut down to 4ft with a gate so my other good neighbor can get in, if needed.
Oh and ...I found in a (what to do to your yard) with a fence like I have ..If I put a long mirror against the fence it will open up the whole yard (an illusion) it will pick up all my plants on the other side (like it's an opening to another garden)...and let me see behind me (lol).
There is not much I can do about the neighbor but be aware! Hopefully he just sits and babbles his delusions And does not act on them.
Oh and my window's that face him...They now have Old Quilted Blankets (like the old days) that look really (homey) which I never thought of before and
became a bit uncomfortable that the blinds were not enough (although they are). Just me being freaked out. The other side of my house...is open.
I don't think there is much more that I can do about anything but be alert. And yes he pisses me off too, Hops. That is what I'm afraid of.
I will ignore him (his delusions) as long as he does not try to bring them into (reality). Then I will act. I don't like how he made the young girls feel last year (including my D).
But for now.....I'm alright.
Love
Deb
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Dr G and all
Have you got a thick amygdala?
http://news.google.co.uk/news/story?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-ContextMenu&q=University+College+London+Colin+Firth&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ncl=dHtht21wi2s317MlIeSx9RwlghEOM&ei=igwdTaOZJuSAhAe97YG3Dg&sa=X&oi=news_result&ct=more-results&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQqgIwAA
It's a search result page because for this one you probably need to choose your own news medium to suit your particular political leanings...
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Hey Deb -
maybe you're less afraid of him (than other things) because you KNOW what he is. You know he's dangerous and creepy and that he's totally wack. A dark alley is scarier - because of the unknowns. It might just be dark & empty... or well, who knows what lurks there?
Once something is recognized as dangerous, then the other parts of our brains (which control the flight/fight response) take over and help us problem solve and mitigate the danger. I love the way your brain picked out the mirror for your yard! Not only will it be decorative... it's a tool to give you advance warning... to keep him from sneaking up on you!! Super simple and super creative, Deb!
I'm real glad your local cops know about him, though.