[Buddha-l] Personality disorders and anatta

[Stefan Detrez]

Do you know what place anatta takes in this whole? In what way is it
different from a Hindu-approach which incorporates atta? As far as I
understand, anatta is of no major importance in helping a patient out.  Or
is it?

2010/11/25 Dante Rosati <danterosati at gmail.com>

> i dont think its an east-west thing. its a question of focusing on yourself
> snd your horrible old condition vs focusing on helping others. in some
> traditions its called bodhicitta, in others charity or doing unto others.
> the basis of medically based therapies seems to be  increasing the focus on
> ones self, either by endlessly digging into the black hole of the past or
> completely screwing up your brain chemistry, usually both.
>
> On Nov 25, 2010, at 3:05 PM, Stefan Detrez <stefan.detrez at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > That's a bold generalization. I feel however uncomfortable with the idea
> > that non-Western psychotherapies are in every way better than all Western
> > psychotherapies. Not wanting to generalize, I think some Western
> > psychotherapies have, with trial and error, produced good results. How
> ideas
> > of atta and anatta are involved is unknown to me. Can you point me to
> > Buddhist-grounded therapies which deal with for instance psychotic
> > personality disorders or adhd? Can such therapies deal with these fine
> > spectra? How do you say to a psychotic person he or she's self-obsessed
> and
> > should develop bodhicitta. Do you think it will cure that person?
> >
> > 2010/11/25 Dante Rosati <danterosati at gmail.com>
> >
> >> i have no idea. based on what ive seen of the "benefits" of "western
> >> approaches to psychotherapies", i wouldn't touch them with a ten foot
> pole.
> >> ive only seen people get worse under their guidance.
> >>
> >> On Nov 25, 2010, at 2:34 PM, Stefan Detrez <stefan.detrez at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Ok, thank you, Dante. Is the practice of bodhicitta adopted in Western
> >>> approaches of psychotherapies? Can you tell me if and how this has been
> >>> done?
> >>>
> >>> 2010/11/25 Dante Rosati <danterosati at gmail.com>
> >>>
> >>>> the diagnosis does nothing. the practice of bodhicitta does
> everything.
> >>>>
> >>>> On Nov 25, 2010, at 1:55 PM, Stefan Detrez <stefan.detrez at gmail.com>
> >>>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> How would the diagnosis of self-obsession and mental illness help
> >> someone
> >>>>> who has developed a personality disorder as a consequence of underage
> >>>> sexual
> >>>>> abuse and exposure to extreme violence? People with such pasts have
> >> been
> >>>>> known to have an unstable self image. Just a question.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Stefan
> >>>>>
> >>>>> 2010/11/25 Dante Rosati <danterosati at gmail.com>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> low self esteem, like most forms of mental inbalance, is caused by
> >>>>>> self-obsession. mental illness = narrowing horizon. generating
> >>>>>> bodhicitta is probably the most immediately effective treatment,
> >>>>>> although anatta meditations proabably wouldn't hurt either.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Dante
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On Thu, Nov 25, 2010 at 1:36 PM, Stefan Detrez <
> >> stefan.detrez at gmail.com
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> wrote:
> >>>>>>> Hi,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Psychotherapy based on Buddhist understandings of the workings of
> the
> >>>>>> mind
> >>>>>>> look promising from a scientific point of view. However, I have
> often
> >>>>>>> wondered how such therapeutic approach works on patients who suffer
> >>>> from
> >>>>>> low
> >>>>>>> self esteem, have no stable sense of a self, don't 'know how they
> >>>> really
> >>>>>>> are', etc. Wouldn't the notion of anatta be 'nothing new' to them,
> or
> >>>> the
> >>>>>>> very problem itself, being that the sense of the absence of a self
> IS
> >> a
> >>>>>>> contributing factor to the existence of the personality disorder?
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Thank you,
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Stefan
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> >>>>>
> >>>>>
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-- 
'In some awful, strange, paradoxical way, atheists tend to take religion
more seriously than the practioners' - Sir Jonathan Miller.