[Buddha-l] Buddhism and Psychology research

[JKirkpatrick]

As I see it, only a complex of billions of neurons could come up
with anything as ingenious as the discovery that "mind" is a
vacuous, non-referring expression that is, at best, a convenient
fiction and at worst a disastrously misleading construct.

--
Richard P. Hayes
Department of Philosophy
Cell: 414-8757
Fax: 277-6362


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As I recall Freud did indeed say about psychotics that they were
untreatable by talk therapy. There were no acceptable medications
in Freud's time. "Mad" folks were often just stashed in sanitaria
or chained up in their parents' homes, or worse. 

These days the "neurosis" classification seems to have dropped
out of everyday talk and been replaced by the term "issues." Some
people have "issues" they need to, or want to, deal with in the
company of some kind of a therapist. Others' issues are slated to
be resolved by arguments, street warfare (a la mafia)-- the list
is long. The term "issue" has become so prolific that one comes
across it in non-psychology contexts, where it has begun to
substitute for such terms as problem, fight, conflict,
preferences, disagreement, on and on. It must occur on NPR about
90 times a day. Another reason not to listen to NPR.

JK