[lit-ideas] Re: Mop Rumpchuck

Sartre (In "Existentialism and Human Emotions" I think) makes the larger point that mental patients exhibit more symptoms in the presence of doctors than when doctors are not present. I think one can take this to mean symptoms are partly contextual without saying that they are freely chosen, but the general point remains: Symptoms of severe disturbance don't always show up in expected ways, and may look like constructions rather than genuine medical conditions. 
David Ritchie wrote:
Privates in the First World War look melodramatic compared to soldiers getting group therapy during and after Vietnam.
I want to add that I have no doubt that soldiers suffered and that I trust the honest reporting of many of them. What's really interesting is the way in which people's minds under extreme stress can conjure symptoms that are likely to be negotiable within the--well in my thesis I likened it to a monetary system--of medicine; one kind of symptoms from officers, a different kind from other ranks. One set of symptoms in one war, a different set of symptoms in another war. 

------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html

Other related posts: