# Awesome Neuroscience Book



## resonantblue (Mar 15, 2011)

I'm in the middle of reading the recently published book _Incognito_ by David Eagleman and I find it uplifting. He does not discuss DP/DR directly but I have learned so much about our most recent understanding of the brain and how it operates and have found much comfort in the information. Sure, at times it is disquieting to realize how much of our experience is centred on subconscious processes which are entirely inaccessible to our conscious minds but on the other hand it has taken away some of the superstitious fears and anxieties which stem from my DP- that I am dreaming, that I am not real, that I am dead, etc. I'm sure many of you have those. I feel like this book has "grounded" me somewhat in the notion that my brain is a super-complex "computer" of sorts, which is currently undergoing some processing errors. Anyway, I recommend the book. It also got me wondering if DP isn't perhaps related to a time perception disorder. Eagleman's theory is that schizophrenia may primarily be a time perception disorder in which the patient stops perceiving time as a flow of causally linked events, which includes their own thoughts (which come to be perceived as strange "voices").
Is it possible that DP too is also a malfunction in our time perception? Something like a prolonged deja-vu?


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## kate_edwin (Aug 9, 2009)

Dissociation makes you less aware of everything including time, it can make it seem slower or faster or non existant, don't have any info on this guys "time perception disorder" theory


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## York (Feb 26, 2008)

In my experience dissociation can feel very different in different times of your life; just as drugs can affect you very differently under different circumstances. The changes in time perception doesn't happen to everyone.

I firmly believe that in the case of "mental illness" you have two things happening: 1 The biology of the brain changes as a response to some sort of stress (like emotional conflicts), which it is programmed to do but the severity and type of symptoms depends on your genetic make-up, the shape you are in at the time + what you can handle at that moment in your life. 2 You get psychological symptoms which can manifest as hallucinations/psychosis and all sorts of other thoughts and sensations that arises from the changes in brain activity. People who've come out the other end of schizophrenia often say that their hallucinations had meaning to them, much like dreams have when they try to wake you up or tell you something is going on with you. So it's not a "defective" brain, it's one of several ways the mind copes with major trouble in your psyche. 
There is a reason talk therapy helps, processing difficult thoughts physically changes your brain, in turn making it work better. Thought changes matter, and matter changes thoughts. It's not like a lot of old-schoolers say, that we are all victims of biology. 
The mind is something more, it extends beyond the brain, and we use the mind every day to change the climate of the brain we live in.

I do agree with you though, it's very comforting to know it's not a mystery what we feel, it's really a bluff staged by the brain.
We all go through the same symptoms more or less, because the brain functions more or less in the same way in all of us. 
Oh, and yeah, the subconscious.. I feel like it's a little alien inside of me who keeps all the absolute data, and makes sure everything reacts exactly as it should according to the book your life has written you. You have to go Cesar Milan on it before it gets too comfortable dominating you. Again, the mind/YOU are in charge once you know you can reprogram the little bastard.


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## kate_edwin (Aug 9, 2009)

Psychosis is biological not psychological.....That's why medications work to treat it


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## York (Feb 26, 2008)

kate_edwin said:


> Psychosis is biological not psychological.....That's why medications work to treat it


Biological and psychological factors produce the same chemicals in the brain so you can use both human and clinical approaches to cure.
Sometimes drugs are fast and effective and give you a much needed rest from psychological issues, but to stay well you need a way to stop your unhealthy thoughts and reactions to the world,and drugs can never do that. At best it's a combination.


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## York (Feb 26, 2008)

Not saying lots of mental issues isn't purely biology, I know biology plays a much bigger part than what most psychiatrists will admit today.


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## resonantblue (Mar 15, 2011)

The thing about the book (I just finished it today, it really is excellent) is that he is essentially arguing that the distinction between "psychological" and "biological" doesn't really make sense, as almost all of our behaviour/feelings/thoughts/sense of self, directly correspond to our neural circuitry. He lists countless examples of experiments which suggest that even while we "feel" that something is just "a part of who we are", existing as some sort non-physical (soul-like) aspect of us.. it really can be narrowed down to the brain. I like the book because he concludes in a very open-minded and curious way, not suggesting that we've got it all figured out and he makes sure to point out that we still don't understand how all these physical things yield subjective experience of being a human.. but literally.. almost any aspect of yourself you consider as "you" can be altered physically or chemically (brain damage, a stroke, drugs, surgery, etc).


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