[lit-ideas] Re: Tune in and turn off
- From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 14:13:42 EDT
Okay. I'm feeling a little too emotional for this discussion.
I'm angry that someone cut me off in traffic. I'm angry because I'm afraid
I won't get to my destination in time.
I'm sad that Joe Smith didn't show up on time to supper.
I'm sad because I'm afraid he doesn't want to be here and this will happen
again.
I can't recall the other "emotion" words used in this dialogue, but you get
the idea.
Re. amydala, I believe/think/feel that is amygdala.
Julie Krueger
========Original Message======== Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: Tune in and turn
off Date: 4/29/06 5:51:28 P.M. Central Daylight Time From:
_carolkir@xxxxxxxxx (mailto:carolkir@xxxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
(mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent on:
Donal wrote:
Can't it be argued that fear is just a form of anxiety, and equally that
depression or "grief" are just forms of sadness?
ck: It can be argued ad infinitum, especially if the combattants deploy
distinctly different definitions of the term "sadness." And all other feeling
words and feeling states. And if the term "feeling state" isn't distinguished
from "mood" in duration or intensity (for two), it can be argued some more.
Furthermore, it can be argued that the DSM (Diagnostic Statistical Manual) is
simply a group effort at fashioning a useful emotional dictionary that might
be somewhat valid, with tons of qualifiers, for a decade, at most.
I'm frustrated discussing Julie's questions about "fear" or "anxiety," for
instance, without having some definitional framework: Are we talking about
"fear" as the fight-or-flight response to stimuli that can be visually mapped,
while occurring, in the amydala? Are we talking about "fear" as anticipatory
dread, generally recognized as anxiety? Or is this "fear" we're discussing
right now a chronic phobia that is a conditioned response to something that no
longer exists as a perceived threat to that individual's well-being in the
outside world, if it ever did?
I'm not trying to be obtuse. That part comes naturally. But seriously folks,
my inner Socrates feels stymied. A total phobic response trumps all other
types of fear, in intensity and range of sensations. How can Julie deem fear a
fundamental emotion when phobic fear responses, a subtype, typically
encompass such extraordinary and distracting sensations as tingly or numb
hands and
feet, the "feeling" of being choked, the "sensation" of not being able to
breathe, the "sense" (good one, this) of imminent doom--all part of your
standard panic attack.
But does the term "fear" also encompass more subtle sensations that get
dwarfed during a panic attack? Or are less dramatic expressions of
fear--chronic,
low-level generalized anxiety, to DSM for a sec--other than "fear"?
Stretching the word "fear" to fit many distinct emotional states drains the
term of
agreed-upon meaning.
And is "frustration" also a form of fear? Or is frustration a matrix of
emotions that get dragged out as a habitual response to writing about emotion
versus feeling versus sensory perception?
Cream soda, anyone?
Carol
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