Redefining Madness: No Such Thing as Mental Illness and Disorders
Abdulla Galadari, PhD, Assistant Professor, Al-Maktoum College
People usually fear the stigma of psychological health, as mainstream health practitioners label it as mental illness or disorder. However, with modern scientific analysis, there is a hairline between high creativity and mental illness sharing the same genetic link. It is suggested that with modern psychological diagnostic tools, individuals with low latent inhibition and above average intelligence are highly creative, making creative associations in what others may never think about. However, individuals with low latent inhibition and average or below average intelligence may fall into psychosis. The symptoms of the Muslim prophet Muḥammad are compared using modern neuropsychological techniques to evaluate his mental state, when he first claimed to be receiving a revelation from God while meditating in a cave. The symptoms he experienced include withdrawal from family and friends, possible loss of appetite, and loss of sleep. In the cave, he experienced visual and auditory hallucinations. At that moment, he was extremely anxious. These are symptoms of an altered state (psychotic episode). His mind interprets these hallucinations that he is a man on a divine mission, which when coupled with low need of sleep, may reflect a manic episode. However, it is suggested that he had above average intelligence that when he entered the altered state, it protected him from falling into mental illness. Instead, he entered an extreme creative state. The altered state seemed to have allowed him to have low latent inhibition, in which he was able to make creative associations using double meanings and metaphor in the Qur’an.
In Biblical psychological criticism, the mental state of the Biblical authors have also been looked into by scholars to make hermeneutics on their writings. For example, Ezekiel has already been considered by some scholars to have had suffered from schizophrenia. Buddha’s teachings and the Hindu Upanishads include that one must not have blind faith and remain open to various truths, since nothing may be taken as absolute without certainty in their search for truth. These teachings may perhaps mean that a person must have what we today call high openness to experience from among the big five personality traits in psychology. Perhaps enlightenment is the coupling of an altered psychological state with high intelligence and high openness to experience. In the case of Buddha, for example, when he entered an altered state, not only has high intelligence protected him from psychosis, but his high openness to experience fortified him from going into delusion that other religious leaders might have had.
When knowing that Muḥammad’s mental state and other religious leaders may have been very similar to any who may have a psychological disorder, it may provide patients of such disorders and their families a positive perspective of such altered or psychotic states. It is the level of intelligence that differentiates between those who are in highly creative states to those who are in psychotic states. However, the neuropsychological and chemical interactions that are causing the mind to enter such states are perhaps indistinctive.
People usually fear the stigma of psychological health, as mainstream health practitioners label it as mental illness or disorder. However, with modern scientific analysis, there is a hairline between high creativity and mental illness sharing the same genetic link. It is suggested that with modern psychological diagnostic tools, individuals with low latent inhibition and above average intelligence are highly creative, making creative associations in what others may never think about. However, individuals with low latent inhibition and average or below average intelligence may fall into psychosis. The symptoms of the Muslim prophet Muḥammad are compared using modern neuropsychological techniques to evaluate his mental state, when he first claimed to be receiving a revelation from God while meditating in a cave. The symptoms he experienced include withdrawal from family and friends, possible loss of appetite, and loss of sleep. In the cave, he experienced visual and auditory hallucinations. At that moment, he was extremely anxious. These are symptoms of an altered state (psychotic episode). His mind interprets these hallucinations that he is a man on a divine mission, which when coupled with low need of sleep, may reflect a manic episode. However, it is suggested that he had above average intelligence that when he entered the altered state, it protected him from falling into mental illness. Instead, he entered an extreme creative state. The altered state seemed to have allowed him to have low latent inhibition, in which he was able to make creative associations using double meanings and metaphor in the Qur’an.
In Biblical psychological criticism, the mental state of the Biblical authors have also been looked into by scholars to make hermeneutics on their writings. For example, Ezekiel has already been considered by some scholars to have had suffered from schizophrenia. Buddha’s teachings and the Hindu Upanishads include that one must not have blind faith and remain open to various truths, since nothing may be taken as absolute without certainty in their search for truth. These teachings may perhaps mean that a person must have what we today call high openness to experience from among the big five personality traits in psychology. Perhaps enlightenment is the coupling of an altered psychological state with high intelligence and high openness to experience. In the case of Buddha, for example, when he entered an altered state, not only has high intelligence protected him from psychosis, but his high openness to experience fortified him from going into delusion that other religious leaders might have had.
When knowing that Muḥammad’s mental state and other religious leaders may have been very similar to any who may have a psychological disorder, it may provide patients of such disorders and their families a positive perspective of such altered or psychotic states. It is the level of intelligence that differentiates between those who are in highly creative states to those who are in psychotic states. However, the neuropsychological and chemical interactions that are causing the mind to enter such states are perhaps indistinctive.