Dimova The human being in the flow of transformation

An interdisciplinary human-environment model
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-64268-265-6
Verlag: novum publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 384 Seiten

Fear is seen as a generalized, successful survival strategy that warns us of danger. However, doesn't it often cause us to overlook relevant details of a situation or to act in a way that is prone to error, or even paralyze us altogether? Aleksandra Dimova discusses these and many other questions in her work 'Der Mensch im Fluss der Verwandlung' (Man in the Flow of Transformation). In doing so, she gives the reader insight into complex biological and psychological (causal) mechanisms. So far, humans have managed to survive in the flow of countless events by means of finely tuned regulatory processes. But does this also help us in the face of the current flood of demands and information? And what can we do to improve our well-being? - A fascinating guide for all those hungry for knowledge!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Dimova, Aleksandra

Leseproben

The search for the common denominator My search for such a possible denominator began during a rather boring lecture in the field of psychiatry. That day, the psychiatry professor, an inveterate psychoanalyst, lectured on adjustment disorders (a spectrum of symptoms consisting of anxiety, despair, hopelessness, isolation, sadness, and tension in the cervical spine muscles). Generally, this is a pessimistic attitude toward life combined with a lack of interest and joylessness. The professor listed the symptoms: psychological abnormalities such as anxiety, depression, anger, bitterness, despair, aggression, but also physical symptoms such as tensed muscle. In his opinion, these physical symptoms were purely psychologically induced. Listing the symptoms of this disorder, he mentioned, vivid muscle stretch reflexes (hyperreflexia). These are reflexes that occur when a muscle is tensed and are triggered by the lengthening of a muscle during a rapid movement. An example of this is the knee joint extensor reflex (hamstring reflex) that can be achieved by striking under the kneecap with a reflex hammer, which causes an involuntary extension of the bent leg. The presence of this reflex would mean that the spectrum of symptoms of an adjustment disorder represents a coexistence of purely psychological and neurological symptoms. This made me sit up and take notice. Somewhere in my brain, the alarm bell rang. The question suddenly arose in my mind: what has an organically caused symptom got to do with a purely psychologically caused illness, an adjustment disorder? I realized that there was something wrong with the explanatory model for the development of mental illness. How could a mental illness be half fish (psychological) and half flesh (neurological)? I could not understand that. The convinced neurologist in me at the time knew that the neurological symptoms that can be observed in mental conditions, such as muscle tension and lively reflexes, must also hide an organic cause. The cause of manifestation of these reflexes needs to be sought always in the brain at the level of the so-called upper motor neurons, which connect the brain with the spinal cord. From that reason, this coexistence of purely psychological and neurological symptoms could not be a coincidence. They could also be found in many other mental illnesses where tension is part of the symptom spectrum. (Urban, 2012), as well as in a mental condition that is widespread today, namely stress. At the time, I reached for my notebook and jotted down 2 mathematical equation:   Adjustment disorder = vivid reflexes Lesion of the upper motor neuron = vivid reflexes Legend: The symbol "=" in the first equation denotes the connection to convey a hidden link between a purely psychological and a purely neurological state. The use of such a "mathematical" form of representation of observed coincidences between phenomena that appear different at first glance entails the risk of being classified as very simplified and dubious by some scientists. This need not always be the case, as the historian Thomas Goldstein wrote in his book Down of Modern Science: "Mathematical relationships often show a surprising elementary simplicity, as if they imply that the infinite variety of observable details presented to our senses is based on relatively few fundamental laws or variants thereof." (quoted from Calvin, 1997, 541)   Experience during my research work showed that such a form of representation served the function of a note on the pinboard of my attention, reminding me again and again to stay "on the ball" in the search for hidden connections It proved to be groundbreaking in the attempt to discover a principle, the common denominator that lies behind the transitions from one neurobiological process to another; or metaphorically, from one section of the flow of transformation to another. I speculated that there was a hidden connection behind this coincidence in the following way: Adjustment disorder = lesion of the upper motor neuron Caution is advised when interpreting this equation. It in no way implies that an adjustment disorder is the result of a lesion of the upper motor neuron. It merely indicates that in the case of co-existence between a purely psychological and a purely neurological condition, there must be a common denominator that should be sought at the level of neurobiological processes. What could this be? However, this question then moved to the periphery of my field of attention and at some point disappeared completely from my horizon of interest. Other priorities proved to be more relevant in my life. But as it turned out in retrospect, these equations were like seeds that sprouted very slowly but incessantly somewhere inside me. My curiosity left me no peace to search for this connection. The three equations kept attracting my attention. The question of which neuronal pathways could be responsible for muscle tension and lively reflexes in mental disorders left me no peace. At some point, I had an impulse to reach for my old neurology and neuroanatomy books again to find out more about the neuronal pathways that could be responsible for muscle tension and vivid reflexes in mental disorders. But there I found no evidence that could suggest a common denominator between the neurological and psychological symptoms of an adjustment disorder. Searching for this hidden denominator, I was forced to leave the comfort zone of my two specialties, neurology and psychiatry, and enter other fields such as physiology and psychology. In physiology, I came across thermodynamics. As a branch of physics, thermodynamics deals with the transformation and change of energy within one or more systems. Neurobiological processes are also subject to their laws. Considering the 0th and 2nd law of thermodynamics according to Rudolf Clausius (see chapter "Human-environment interaction: the role of thermodynamics") proved to be helpful to a) better understand the interaction between humans as an entity and their environment, and b) explain important processes on the motor, physiological and psychological level of humans after contact with the environment. In order to understand the interfaces where interaction between humans and their environment takes place, there was still a lack of explanatory approaches. As humans are part of a larger whole, the universe, it was obvious for me to look for an explanation for this in quantum physics. Exactly in this field, I found what I was looking for.   One day, I tried to represent all my collected equations in the form of a diagram. The result was not at all encouraging. It seemed very complex and convoluted. I could hardly do anything with it. Nevertheless, I fixed it on a pinboard and let it mature, so to speak. In the meantime, I navigated through the models used in different fields to find traces that could give me clear clues about the link between a mental illness and neurological symptoms. I once came across the following quote from the American physicist Hans Christian von Baeyer: "If you don't understand something, take it apart. Reduce it to its components. Since they are simpler than whole things, you have a much better chance of understanding them; and when you have succeeded, put the whole thing back together again." (Baeyer, 2004, quoted from Bryson, 2011) "That's easier said than done, Mr. von Baeyer," I thought. There was no shortage of details in my research work. The problem was that there were more and more of them. In sum, they reminded me of a colorblindness test, which consists of many dots of different sizes and colors from which you can make out a hidden number if you are not colorblind. As a colorblind person, I could not recognize anything. The search for conclusive connections between details that I have collected, which are based on scientific foundations, became my constant companion, or, I could say, my life partner: sometimes challenging me, sometimes driving me to despair. Especially when I found myself at a dead end in my research, when I lost track of the whole thing. A frustrating experience kept repeating itself. Nevertheless, I did not give up. I did not lack perseverance. However, the more I immersed myself in different areas over the following years, the more potential connections between details from these areas opened up to me. I wrote these down as further equations before they disappeared again alongside the demands of my everyday life. As you will learn on this journey of discovery, the result of my research went far beyond my original intention. As already indicated, I originally only wanted to clarify what could be hidden behind the equal sign in the equations mentioned, i.e. what could connect adjustment disorders and lesions of the upper motor neuron. During the journey the hidden common denominator became clearer. Not only that, but as the journey of discovery progressed, outlines of something much more complex began to emerge, ultimately resulting in a model of human-environment interaction that I christened the Flow of Transformation. The development of the model of human-environment interaction At this point, I would like to emphasize that my work on this model would not have been possible without the work of extremely competent predecessors. I am very grateful to them for this. In developing this model, I have concentrated on those aspects that I considered necessary to put it on a firm scientific...