Performance and pathology are related concepts that differ only in terms of duration and intensity. In other words, all humans exhibit pathological observables sometimes, but not long enough and not intense enough to qualify as clinical disorder.
After having defined the perfect human in the previous modules, we have reached the edge of genius space, the tipping point so to speak, when something good suddenly turns bad.
Clinically, a psychological disorder is defined with certain states in which an individual is unable to self-sustain her or himself.
Self-sustainability is dependent on shared – or common aspects of reality constructs. The less our own reality construct is compatible with the one’s from other humans, the more social interactions become difficult. Hence, the most important first question in any problem solving process is: “Who is crazy – me or the others”?
Xia et al. in her article describes the four bio-marker that determine alone or in combination with each other all psychological disorders. They also nicely align with the Axis Classification schema of the DSM-V, developed by Kraepelin.
Assuming that the purpose of life is encoded in the intelligence algorithm of a single cell and reads: learn, grow, transform, we can assume that any condition violating that rule must be considered toxic. Up to a certain level of toxicity of an environment it can still be fun, but it is not sustainable.
The biomarker identified by Xia can be compared to defects in crystals, information distortion in encryption or configuration errors in logical gates due to missing or falsely connected nodes in a neural network. When the amount of defects passes a certain threshold, we develop clinically relevant symptoms.
Generally speaking there are only two possible informational problem states that lead to overcounting past or future for the path integral over kowledge and belief:
a) too much information –> leading to misunderstandings/false expectation
b) too little information –> leading to false assumptions
Root causes
The four “tipping points” represented below show the clinically relevant states and can be mapped to the 4 possible states of a muscle subjected to pressure from the internal or external world.
- 1. State: positive pressure (optimal flow condition)
- staying too long is this state leads to 2. State: bracing (inability to change)
- staying too long in this state leads to 3. State: injury and inability to exert more pressure
- the resulting 4. State: protective stance, which eventually leads to habbituation if no new pressure is exerted.
