re: Believe good things about yourself

Hello Britney, I like your idea of studying people who are 'overly happy' or 'overly loving'! What 'syndrome' would that be then?!!! 

There is a famous psychiatrist called Thomas Szasz who said just about the same thing you said above! He basically said: Imagine you're walking down a street and a man comes up to you saying the world is ending - maybe he's dressed in a white gown and has a crown of gold leaves on his head. You assume he's mentally ill and so you sort of walk on by.

Thirty minutes later (you're still there on the same street ) a group of about fifty people come by with the same white robes and crowns of gold upon their heads,saying the world is ending - you then realise it's a RELIGION. So you think: OH.... that's OK then.   

I could be the next Thomas Szasz! At least I want to change the world especially in the way people view mental illness.

~Brit

Obviously there ARE definable mental illnesses like bipolar disorder (my husband has this) or schizophrenia and, thank God, there are medications for some of these mental disorders. I personally thank God for the discovery that lithium treats bipolar disorder. Lithium is a salt and yet it can transform someone from a maniac into a normal person (I've seen it happen - we're made of strange stuff!).

I think what Szasz is saying is, we need to keep an open mind, because lots of people act in so-called irrational ways and in fact we all do at times! We're lucky if our brain chemistry is within the normal range; if it isn't, science is developing ways to help. At any rate we shouldn't be judgemental even though it's easy to be so.