PERSONALITY DISORDERS VS. MENTAL ILLNESS: What the Advaita Teachings Can Address and What They Cannot, Part One

F.: The discussion of this topic is an ongoing one on the site. Why? The Advaita Teachings address personality problems and provide a means for being free of those problems. It will be shown again that there are conditions that appear to be rooted in mental illness but that are actually rooted in personality disorders. Evidence that those disorders can be effectively treated by the Teachings will be provided in tomorrow’s post with a recounting of the condition that “floyd” once suffered. Before continuing, though, two points are offered: (1) mental illnesses that are truly clinical in nature cannot be addressed by the Teachings and require treatment of the type provided by trained professionals; and (2) mental illness affects 1%-5% of the population whereas 95%-99% suffer from one or more personality disorders, to some degree.

Yesterday’s post included this:

As this discussion of the relevance of the Teachings is underway, what may prove to be a prime example of relevance was presented yesterday on the Virginia Tech campus. When the details behind the shooting are revealed, it might be found that the shooter was not clinically insane. It might be found instead that the shooter was trapped in an ego-state that he thought was being hurt, interfered with, or threatened.

Another possibility is that a combination of mental and personality disorders was at play, along with the possibility of an impact from the side effects of certain medications. More may be revealed about that case, but it must be noted again that nothing has ever been offered on this site to discount the toll of mental illness. Furthermore, if there is any suspicion that a mental illness is at play, the advice is always to seek out a professional for help. (That was the message sent last week in a private e-mail response to one wondering how to help a friend experiencing serious delusions. The friend wondered if the Advaita Teaching might help. The severity of his friend’s behavior led to a recommendation to forget trying to use the Advaita Teachings and to contact those in his community’s social services network and find help from the professionally-trained.)

What is being offered is an invitation to broaden the national and international discussion by inviting persons to consider other possible “causes” for most of the misery and suffering and outrageous acts of violence that mark the human condition and to stop the misclassification of personality disorders as mental illnesses. Why? Because a misdiagnosis of any problem will guarantee a continuation of the problem and will assure that any treatment plan being tried will be ineffective. That lesson was learned early on from an uncle whose entire career was in the field of mental health. As an adolescent spending his summers with an uncle that worked as the Chief Administrator of the Texas State Mental Hospital in Rusk, time was spent with patients there (an act in the late 1950's and early 1960’s that could not take place nowadays).

Only a small area of the facility was required for the housing of violent patients. Most of those confined as a result of their mental illnesses were docile and gentle and, yes, loving. Helping out in the cafeteria, contact happened with many patients who would initiate conversations, and it would later be discussed with the uncle about how kind most of the mentally ill were. The uncle agreed, saying that most who were locked away in that facility had conducted themselves in a far more civil manner than did the masses that were free to roam the streets. He emphasized that most of the mentally ill in his facility had never behaved as violently as the majority of persons behave, trapped as they are in personality. When persons feel that one or more of their (false) identities are being threatened, those suffering from personality disorders (which are rooted in the adoption of false personas) will fight, attack and destroy as if for their lives.

So, in light of the happenings on the Virginia Tech campus on Monday, might the Advaita Teachings have any relevance? Certainly, the majority in the nation will dismiss anything other than mental illness as “the cause.” (The Advaitin knows right off that “one, single cause” for any happening is a myth.) Reports that the shooter was being treated for depression have surfaced, yet he was just 1 of 21,000,000 in the U.S. who was diagnosed with depression during the last twelve months. But there were not 21,000,000 shooters in the U.S. last year, so maybe other factors came to bear. One respected psychotherapist who has treated thousands of patients over the years and who has reviewed some of Cho’s history saw similarities with certain of her patients who were suffering paranoid schizophrenia. What several of those patients had in common was sexual molestation as a child, some abused by family members and many assaulted by priests. (It is known that in some of his writings, Cho raised the issue of pedophilia, discussed his anger with parents, and expressed his anger toward women.)

Further, shooters are common within the U.S. borders. A woman dies as the result of spousal abuse every 6 hours in the U.S. and a man dies as the result of spousal abuse every 8.64 hours in the U.S. And that statistic just takes into account “the married” and does not count those killed during breakups among “not married” parties. Yet more often than not, those are not murder statistics; those are not mental illness statistics; those are persona statistics.

So another factor to be raised in the national discussion, therefore, is the possibility of one or more personality disorders. Sometimes all that is required in order to believe that one has the right to decide who lives and who dies is to be suffering the personality disorder known as “the God Complex.” If you read the postings in late March and early April on this site, you read about the types of personality disorders that are most likely to appear with each of the nine personality types. Some of you noticed that among all nine of the enneagram personality types, the God Complex was listed for every one. (Of course, when ego-states appear, ego defense mechanisms follow, and when living in ego—as personas do—then the arrogance of a God Complex is common.)

The God Complex, along with the associated disorders of narcissism and egomania, can inspire lethal conduct. Consider the level of arrogance that is required for persons to believe the following: “I can decide who lives and dies”; “I am a loving being but I can also be a wrathful being”; “I tried to give warnings to this culture to change your ways…now you will pay the price for ignoring me”; “I will be made immortal with this act and will be obscured no more”; “I will go as far over the line as I must in order to make you hear me and pay attention to my words”; "I have been trying to speak out and tell you what is wrong, but you ignore my words and that makes me very angry"; “I, and my important words, will be remembered forever”; “when you ignore me, you will be punished and will feel my wrath”; “sometimes it's lonely being god, having everyone ignore you during times when the masses are so self-absorbed and not knowing how wonderful I am”; “the world needs reforming and I'm just the one to do it”; “when the world gets so far out of hand, a reign of terror is justified to bring down punishment on people and let them see that I mean business”; “I am the judge of what is ‘right vs. wrong,’ ‘moral vs. immoral,’ and what ‘proper punishment vs. proper reward’ is”; “I can create or sustain or destroy you—it is my option…it is my providence.” It has been witnessed that the more "godly" some people become, the more they behave just like their destructive Judaeo-Christian-Islamic god.

That level of arrogance inspired by the God Complex Personality Disorder is not unique to the Virginia Tech shooter. That is the level of arrogance that many are being exposed to on a daily basis with an arrogant spouse, an arrogant boss, an arrogant person cutting you off in traffic, an arrogant person behaving in an abusive way in a store, ad infinitum. Should the current discussion focus on a "madman" or should it focus on "a mad man" (or "a mad woman")?

Again, 95%-99% of the planet’s population is suffering from some personality disorder(s), and the disorder that is common to all nine enneagram types is the God Complex described above. So the shooter’s "mental" vs. "personality" condition notwithstanding, the question for those interested in the Advaita Teachings is this: is it possible that you are dealing with someone who is suffering from the God Complex? Is it possible that you are suffering from a God Complex? Ego-states generate egomania, and egomania generates much of the suffering and misery on the planet. With 1%-5% in need of the level of care that is provided by professionals in the mental healthcare industry, but with 95%-99% needing The Understanding that is provided by the Advaita Teachings via elimination of personality, what treatment plan is most indicated for the majority on this planet? Please enter the silence of contemplation. (To be continued)
WORKING ON BEING FREE OF MIND AND PERSONALITY IDENTIFICATION?

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“MIND” and MEMORIES: When Nature’s “Assets” Become Warped into “Liabilities,” Part Fourteen

[Continued from yesterday]

F.: The “mind” has been shown to be the source of all assumed personality. Personality, in turn, has been shown to be the source of most of the relative existence problems on the planet, and each of the nine basic types generates a particular set of personality disorders. Before looking at the personality disorders that each of the basic types generates, a point should be offered that comes from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, 1994 (commonly referred to as “DSM-IV”):

A personality disorder is a pattern of deviant or abnormal behavior that the person doesn't change even though it causes emotional upsets and trouble with other people at work and in personal relationships. It is not limited to episodes of mental illness, and it is not caused by drug or alcohol use, head injury, or illness.

So, all of the (relative) negatives of personality, negatives which have motivated Advaitin sages for centuries to encourage the abandonment of personality, are becoming better understood. What additional motivation to Realize could possibly be required among those with any wisdom at all, once the facts about personality are understood: (1) to identify with the personality, formed as a childhood exercise, is a disorder; (2) the behavior that follows the assumption of personality is deviant and abnormal; (3) it is persons--not the Realized--who cling to false personas as identities; (4) emotional intoxication is rooted in personality; (5) relative existence problems, whether at work or at home or in between are rooted in personality; (6) personality has nothing to do with mental illnesses; and (7) personality problems are not caused by addiction, physical injury, or mental illness.

As a relevant example of the DSM-IV definition, apply it to the billions who are suffering from the Addictive Personality Disorder (APD). Take drug or alcohol abuse as an example. Per definition, the disorder is “not caused by drug or alcohol use.” The drug or alcohol abuse is a symptom of a personality disorder. Neither the drug nor the alcohol is the core problem; therefore, if an alcoholic suffering from APD merely stops drinking, that will have no effect at all on removing the negative traits and behaviors of the personality disorder. The traits and behaviors will continue as a result of what the primary literature calls the “grave mental and emotional disorders” that APD’s exhibit. (Also, note that the literature did not say that APD’s have “grave mental and emotional illnesses,” though some do. Most are suffering personality disorders, not mental illness. That applies to all APD’s, no matter whether they are addicted to food, power, gambling, shopping, another person, alcohol, religion, drugs, sex, love, spirituality, chaos, money, etc.)

As noted earlier, the reason that persons with disorders typically do not change is because consequences are not imposed or because they are not imposed to a degree that inspires taking the necessary action to be free of the effects of one or more personality disorders. (That is another reason that few will ever seek Realization and why fewer still will ever Realize fully.)

Further, any rationalizations and justifications and denial and excuse-making in regards to those with personality disorders—such as “His/her behavior must be understood or tolerated as a result of mental illness” or “She/he is an alcoholic or drug addict and that must be considered” or “He/she has some injury or illness”—are (as shown by the definition above) totally unfounded, inapplicable, and irrelevant in regards to personality disorders. Tolerance of the warped thinking and warped behavior of persons with such disorders only prolongs their entrapment in personality and guarantees the continued manifestation of the effects of their disorders.

Now, pause to reconsider the information quoted above from the DSM-IV. Then, list all of the roles that you have assumed that are inspiring you to feel anxious or to fight. Are there certain self-images that are you trying to defend? Is there any evidence that you are forfeiting the fullness and freedom of AS IF living in order to maintain some assumed personality/persona? Are you having trouble in a relationship because “The Boss” persona is fighting for control? Are you angry with someone who is not supporting your false image? Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued]

NOTE: This series includes excerpts from the book

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND”
(There is Only Peace if You’re Out of Your Mind)

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“MIND” and MEMORIES: When Nature’s “Assets” Become Warped into “Liabilities,” Part Nine

Psychiatrists and psychotherapists attempt to treat mental illnesses. Realization offers the treatment for personality disorders.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Loved your expression “brain-flush”?! Now that resonates. I’ve been visiting your site off-and-on since the early days - you did a piece one time on the brain and mind and consciousness but I can’t find it in the search. Can you tell me how to find that and then tie it in with “brain-flush”? LOL Thanks.

[Continued from yesterday]

F.: So to differentiate between behavior that is driven by mental illness as opposed to that which is driven by programming and conditioning and enculturation, it must be understood that taking personas to be actual identities results in personality disorders which only look like insanity to the objective witness; nevertheless, personality disorders do block the cognitive functioning of the brain. Further, personality disorders block the natural and normal functioning of the brain and body far more often than do mental illnesses. The results of a study of global mental illness by the World Health Organization and Harvard Medical School, as reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association, reveal that from 1 to 5 percent of the populations of most of the countries surveyed had serious mental illness.

By contrast, estimates are that 99% of the earth’s population suffer from one or more personality disorders; thus, as Advaitin sages have taught for centuries, the relative existence problems of the planet are rooted in personality. Realization offers the opportunity to eliminate most of the problems of the planet since they are rooted in personality, not in mental illness. When diagnosable mental health problems reach a level of seriousness that is labeled “clinical,” then a mental illness exists and professional intervention and treatment are indicated. Advaita cannot treat such conditions; however, those mental illnesses are very different from personality disorders, and personality disorders can be addressed and eliminated via the understanding that is attainable by way of the Advaita teachings. Psychiatrists and psychotherapists attempt to treat mental illnesses. Realization offers the treatment for personality disorders.

Since personality disorders are far more common on planet earth than are mental illnesses, then a logical approach would involve this: when insane-type behavior is being observed, look first to determine if ...

This is an excerpt from the book
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND”
(There Is Only Peace if You’re Out of Your Mind)

For information on the book, visit http://advaitavedantabooks.blogspot.com/

To order the book, visit
http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm
(You can use the Special Message box)

Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued] For additional information, click

here

“MIND” and MEMORIES: When Nature’s “Assets” Become Warped into “Liabilities,” Part Eight

Psychiatrists and psychotherapists attempt to treat mental illnesses. Realization offers the treatment for personality disorders.

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Loved your expression “brain-flush”?! Now that resonates. I’ve been visiting your site off-and-on since the early days - you did a piece one time on the brain and mind and consciousness but I can’t find it in the search. Can you tell me how to find that and then tie it in with “brain-flush”? LOL Thanks.

[Continued from yesterday]

F.: “Mind” and “personality” cannot be separated since the former generates belief in the latter. The latter, in turn, generates all emotional intoxication. [Search the site for “feelings” vs. “emotions.” The short version is, while the Realized can witness feelings rise and fall, only ego-states—only assumed personas—emote. When personas believe that they are experiencing some slight, hurt, threat or interference, a series of actions and reactions are inspired that trigger emotional intoxication as well as destructive and/or self-destructive behavior.] When persons are trapped in the agendas of their false roles, then emotions will always overwhelm cognitive functioning, so now a new pointer is available:

It has been seen that the “mind” can override the constructive functioning of the brain; now it is seen that persona-generated emotionalism can also subdue the manner in which nature had originally intended that the brain should function. Now the degree of wisdom behind the Advaitin pointer that one must relinquish identification with the “mind” and the personality as well as with the body becomes clear. Review the evolution of the brain in regards to this latest understanding:

Humanity functioned with a mind-less brain for thousands of years. The brain evolved, developing an area for storing memories and an organ that could retrieve memories. Those two areas of the brain were intended to help humanity survive and to behave constructively. No personas were taken to be identities.

As language developed, information being stored in the brain was less and less of the character of things observed and became filled more and more with the remembering of things told. To observe a friend who touched a burning log, to see his pain, to file away that memory, and to recall that memory when next in the presence of a burning log produced behavior that would be considered “sane.” To the contrary, to observe crops dying as a result of the lack of rain, and then to be told that the rain is being withheld by an angry god who wants a priest to fornicate with a virgin and who wants the priest to cut out her beating heart with a sharp-edged rock and pass it through the crowd during a commune-with-god service produced behavior that would be considered “insane.”

The result of thousands of years of being conditioned to believe in whatever one is told rather than witnessing objectively and believing in that which is observable and provable has resulted in a planet that is populated with masses of ...

This is an excerpt from the book
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS “PEACE OF MIND”
(There Is Only Peace if You’re Out of Your Mind)

For information on the book, visit http://advaitavedantabooks.blogspot.com/

To order the book, visit
http://floydhenderson.com/order.htm
(You can use the Special Message box)

Please enter the silence of contemplation. [To be continued] For additional information, click

here

WHY ABNORMALITIES ARE NOW THE PLANET’S NORMALITIES, Part Three, Conclusion

[Continued from yesterday]

FROM A SITE VISITOR: I’ve been reading your answers to angie and I’ve reread everything you wrote about MPD/DID. A decade ago, a doctor diagnosed me with MPD.. After years of therapy he kept telling me that I had to keep coming bacvk to him. I thought I was a total defect and might as well kill myself. Finally---after years of my own research and studying the enneagram and also what A.V. teachers have to say about personality---I‘m getting it. No wonder insanity is so widespread! I don’t feel so alone anymore in this struggle. I’m not the only oddball. What hit home was when you showed how so many areas---like finances and relations etc---are affected by each personality I assume. No wonder my mind never stopped! So it starts out causing some trouble and then just gets worse and worse, and this is almost universal, right?. Thanx Beverly

F.: Then you’re told that you are “The Student.” The elections at school show that classmates consider you “The Best Looking”…or not. You become more body conscious. More roles appear, more agendas appear, and more impact in all those areas begins to manifest. Later “The Friend” and “The Girlfriend” are assumed as roles. Later, “The Graduate,” “The Employee,” “The Fiancée,” “The Wife,” “The Mother,” “The Working Mom,” “The Soccer Mom,” or other roles are assumed. Even later, in some case “The Alcoholic” is assumed or “The Divorcee” comes along with “The Single Mom” and “The Failure” and “The Bad Daughter.” A search begins and "The Religious One" or "The Spiritual Giant" roles are played. Now, add in all of the areas where each of those is affected.

The more components that are added to the personality, the more fears and desires are added. Eventually, so many will be added that persons say, “I don’t even know who I am anymore.” Actually, they never did, and if they ever will, it will only happen via Full Realization. Also, notice how each adopted ego-state becomes another obstacle to being consistently happy or content and why, ultimately, being happy becomes an impossibility:

If married, “Husband” might behave in a way which results in “Wife” thinking she’s okay in terms of finances, relations, sex, self-esteem, and security. But at the same time, some teacher has not shown due respect to “Super Mother’s” child, so that role triggers a sense of feeling upset. After a conference in which the contrite teacher restores “Super Mom’s” peace, all seems “good.” “Wife” is fine, “Mother” is fine; “Homeowner” is fine; “Lover” is fine. Then, “Husband” is caught in an affair, and several ego-states feel threatened. Are you beginning to see the way in which each newly-assumed ego-state makes consistent happiness an impossibility?

Two ego-states might think they're happy, but three others become offended. Get two of those three ego-states satisfied along with the first two, and then only one ego-state is unhappy. Get the fears of that one assuaged or its desires met, and then six ego-states seem happy but then something happens that threatens three others. Are you seeing how it eventually happens that so many “stars” have to be “aligned” in proper order for happiness to happen that it becomes an impossibility?

Circumstances just never unfold in a way that allows for all of the areas of all of those false identities to feel that all of their needs are being met and that all of their desires are being fulfilled at the same time. As the number of false roles being played increase, the chances for misery increase not arithmetically but geometrically. At the same time, the sleepwalkers who are totally unaware can have their entire relative existence falling down around them but will claim, "No problems here, floyd...everything is fine, so you really don't have a clue what you're talking about."

Are you seeing that it is belief in multiplicity that sets the stage for so many opportunities to feel threatened, angry, hurt, interfered with, unfulfilled, unhappy, and/or miserable? What is the answer? Realization. Knowing the unicity preempts any false belief in multiplicities. If you Realize that you are not all those things--all those personas--then you might find THAT Which You Are. And THAT is one thing only which is not personal, which has no attributes, and which, therefore, cannot be impacted financially, relationally, sexually, or in any other relative fashion.

Then, whatever happens…happens. No do-er is assumed to be present. No false identities are taken as real. No images are assumed to be authentic, so only that which is witnessed by the “Authentic Self” is given any credibility. Believing the nonsense of parents and teachers and preachers or priests or gurus or medicine men and politicians and all of the other authority figures in various cultures led to the nonsense of believing in your roles and false identities. Then, the nonsense generated by all of those phantoms led to the nonsense of accepting personas as identities. Finally, the nonsense of accepting those roles as defining who you are led to all of the nonsense that followed.

Realized, you will not accept the nonsense of your culture and its authority figures. You will be free of their nonsense and the nonsense they passed onto you as their legacy. And only freed of nonsense can you be free, Fully Realized, and consistently stable for the remainder of the manifestation. Please enter the silence of contemplation.

WHY MOST PERSONS WILL NEVER REALIZE, Part Three

FROM A SITE VISITOR: Dear Mr. Henderson, Re; your am post of this date.[8 Feb 2007] Can you speak about how to move beyond the fear of losing \"this\" to embracing \"That\". When I think about \"Why not Realize\". It is fear. Fear of losing parts of the little self that I have allowed to define me. Peace,Peace,Peace Virginia

F.: [Continued from yesterday]

DENIAL
When persons read the February 7th and 8th postings that describe the insanity that marks the relative existence of the non-Realized, most will deny that anything in those two postings applies to them. Even as validated research confirms that 95% of people in “developed nations” suffer depression to some degree and that most persons suffer from MPD/DID and that bi-polar disorders have reached an all-time high and that 95% or more are addicted to something, most persons will deny that they are depressed or that they have any really significant problems. The ego always reports to itself that “it is doing just fine” and then reports the same to any who would question that delusion.

Among persons, the case is usually that denial and distortion re-frame miserable experiences as “normal” or as “OK, really” or as "That's just the way it is." It is also usually the case than unbelievable pain—of the mental and emotional and physical varieties—must manifest before persons will take action. When people are asleep, they must be shaken to be awakened, and who that is sound asleep would want to be shaken or awakened? Even those who are having nightmares usually prefer that their nightmare-filled sleep continue as opposed to taking the seven steps that are required in order to be fully awakened.

GREED
Finally, persons are controlled by greed. At the root of that greed is, once again, the desires of false personas and the fear that there will never be enough or that they will not always have enough to sustain all the images that the non-Realized adopt. Whereas Realization is about not wanting and about de-accumulating, body-mind-personality identification is about wanting and accumulating. “Giving up” rather than “getting” is anathema in the planet’s cultures of accumulation. Simplification, therefore, is also scorned, so complications ensue. Trapped within those conditions, the corrupted consciousness will usually remain corrupted throughout its manifestation. (Relatedly, the question that triggered your question was, "Why not Realize?" That could as well be stated as, "Why not clean up the corrupted consciousness that you have become and be restored to the state of pure consciousness that You Were?" or "Why not get free of all the myth-based lies that you've been taught?" or "Why not take out the garbage rather than letting it stay inside and contaminate your home and infect your very being?")

If the consciousness were re-purified enough to understand that “this” is a mirage and that THAT is all that’s real, Full Realization would happen. That understanding happens only after seeing how many lies have been told to humanity for thousands of years. Yet most persons—driven by fear, desire, arrogance, denial and greed—will continue to take lies and myths and superstitions to be true. Furthermore, in cultures where fear, desire, arrogance, denial and greed are now taken to be “the norm,” little inspiration to be free of any of those will manifest.

Thus, most will never Realize because fear, desire, arrogance, denial, greed and chaos have become preferable among the persons of the planet; therefore, the results of Realization—namely, an awareness that there’s nothing to fear, that there are no real requirements that should trigger desires, that having less lightens the load, and that awareness of truth results in peace—have no appeal at all. Because persons have such low tolerance for self-awareness and for self-inventory that reveals their relative-existence liabilities, they automatically have no interest in self-awareness, in Self Awareness, in relative shortcomings and abnormalities, or in truth.

Therefore, most will remain trapped in their body-mind-personality identification. If one would hate to lose even one single finger, think how much more he/she would hate to give up the body. If one is proud of her/his learned ignorance and "mind," why would the person consider giving up the lie-filled mind as the path to peace? If a person is so proud of the roles being played, why would he/she even consider discarding those phony roles and stop playing all the phony games? Most never will, and so it is. But anyone reading this post certainly has the opportunity to begin the seven-step “journey” to Full Realization. Please enter the silence of contemplation.