Madness and sympathy

[ALO]

It's commonplace to be said that madness is a brain biochemical issue. Just that?

I feel madness happens when kindness is low in the "terroir",

and reiterating- I feel the main cause of madness is the low level of kindness in the environment we are moving in.

A pill of sympathy does a lot.

[Velocity_Boy]

Interesting idea. It explains some sociopaths, who could I reckon be considered mad, and they are incapable of feeling empathy, let alone sympathy.

 

But you'd have to better define your definition of had before I could drive any deeper into my take on your hypothesis.

 

And we just remember to that lack of empathy would not be a exclusive requisite for madness. Oops, I mean a contradictory one. By that I mean, there are plenty of mad souls out there who DO empathize and sympathize.

 

Or do you disagree with that?

 

Thanks. Very intriguing idea you have here.

 

VB

[tkadm30]

Interesting idea. It explains some sociopaths, who could I reckon be considered mad, and they are incapable of feeling empathy, let alone sympathy.

 

But you'd have to better define your definition of had before I could drive any deeper into my take on your hypothesis.

 

And we just remember to that lack of empathy would not be a exclusive requisite for madness. Oops, I mean a contradictory one. By that I mean, there are plenty of mad souls out there who DO empathize and sympathize.

 

Or do you disagree with that?

 

Thanks. Very intriguing idea you have here.

 

VB

 

I agree. A lack of empathy/sympathy doesn't imply necessary a "psychiatric disorder". However, a disorder in the mirror neuron system could result in psychosis-like symptoms.

[JohnSSM]

Madness isnt really a term I would use, but ASPD is certainly created by an uncaring emotional environment. Anxiety, depression, BD and MPD are also linked to traumatic experiences. I don't refer to any of these conditions as madness or insanity, as they are all reactions to environmental discomfort.

I think "madness" describes psychotics and schizo effectives as well as most dementia sufferes, depending on the intensity.

Lacking empathy causes many emotional problems and without the limbic system doing it's job well, the human experience will be drastically altered. Affective empathy is an autonomic process our brain's use to evaluate dangerous events as well as the emotional expressions of others. Affective empathy is NOT lost in sociopaths and psychopaths. Cognitive empathy is the same thing as sympathy, and every sufferer of ASPD has a limited cognitive empathy. This also leads to sadistic personality disorder and masochistic personality disorder as well as narcissism and the entire dark triad.

When people are placed in a harsh and uncaring environment, many of them will react by being harsh and uncaring, thus creating a more harsh and uncaring environment. This type of behaviors seems to spread and grow.