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Edwynn -> RE: Mental Illness (7/27/2012 9:17:35 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: kalikshama
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I am somewhat bothered by the increasingly incessant and inescapable noise in the world. One cannot visit a store of any sort, a mall, a public place, the public transportation, or even a parking lot, not even the uni library!, without hearing some sort of 'loud conversation with a remote party,' noise of infinite variety, or 'music,' in the process. I was born with sensitive ears, pitch memory, a sharp ear for music, etc., but now that society has chosen to beleaguer us with incessant noise, -I- am the one who needs to take a pill?, if this "new 'normal'" bothers me to the point of distraction concerning what is expected of me elsewhere? At school, at work? When I get home and deal with others there?
I'm sensitive to environmental noises and was just reading about this as a factor in autism in "The Brain that Changes Itself," which I can't copy/paste, but this will give you a sense:
http://www.healingtalkradio.com/2012/04/04/new-insights-into-autism/
Autism rates have been rising dramatically for several decades. A recent report published by the CDC shows a 78 % increase over just 8 years, with autism now affecting 1 in every 88 children. (Prevalence in Autism Studies) Utah has the highest autism rate in the nation: In Utah the rate is estimated at 1 in 47 children. (Utah at High End for Autism) Current rates indicate a 1000% increase (ten-fold increase) in the last forty years. (Troubling CDC Report on Autism) Boys are 5 times more likely to develop autism than girls.
A variety of factors have been suggested as the cause of the increase, most of them based on correlational studies. Correlational studies suggest a relationship, but do not prove a cause of the disease. To prove causality, the causative agent must be shown to create the disease. Although it would be unethical to “prove” causality in humans, it can be done in animals. Recently a prominent neuroplasticity researcher, Dr. Michael Merzenich, has done just that.
After reviewing research showing that closer proximity to loud, erratic noise centers (airports, busy freeways) corresponded with decreases in the IQ of children, Dr. Merzenich began to suspect that early brain development could be overloaded and derailed by bombardment with “white noise” (noises that is disorganized and covers many frequencies). In laboratory experiments, Merzenich exposed baby rats to pulses of white noise. He found that the brain development of the rats was “devastated” by the exposure. The rats developed symptoms that paralleled human autistic spectrum disorders—including a high rate of seizure activity, which could be triggered just by exposure to normal human speech. (Progressive Degradation and Subsequent Refinement of Acoustic Representations in the Adult Auditory Cortex)
I might or might not have some semi-respectable semblance of Aspergers syndrome, which would be the lightest of the lightest-weight presentation of Autism.
But I doubt it.
If I hear a note, I know what it is, and have a nearby tuning fork to verify for those who need it. Its not a freak thing at all (for me), anymore than one person being better than others about some other completely useless item of curiosity.
I can also allude to this and that or another individual permutation of whatever they came up with 100 years ago or five years ago to make attempt at atonement for exceptional abilities in the aural realm. They didn't ask such things when everybody wanted my ears in the studio or at the front-of-house (FOH) console for every type of show.
My mom (whom you have attacked) and my dad (whom you have attacked previously, as did numerous others, for attempting to get back some minimal portion of what society has taken from from him all his life) did not know at the time the degree to which some of their sons were "afflicted," as did none of the other early children (such as myself) not such afflicted. The doctors at the time were not aware of Ushers' syndrome, that coming to attention only in the late '60s; congenital severe hearing loss, speech impediment, later-in -life loss of sight, etc., (I know, I've heard this from fuckwit liberals all the time I've ever been on forums; "Your parents should never have married!, They should have known this before science was aware of it! How irresponsible! They should have just selectively adopted and made a world event of it, like Angelina!").
I was told that "the afflicted" could not speak until four years old, as by account of the adults, whose word I would never dispute, being as they had to deal with it, along with slow doctors.
But they also told me that I was speaking complete short sentences and was mimicking what I heard on the radio at ten months, which then perplexes me as to why I could understand everything my 3-4 yr. old brother said, and our older such afflicted brother said, before being diagnosed.
Well, the doctors didn't ask ME, did they?
But again, how was this dealt with 100, 200 years ago?
Sometimes quite harshly, no doubt. But there are certainly instances of people in the written chronology or literature or prose that deals with all this. It's as though we forgot all this in the '50s or '60s, (which apparently, we in fact did).
When people tell us that Beethoven could not "hear what he wrote" after the 6th Symphony, or so, it only shows psycho acoustical ignorance, there. He heard at least 60% of it, worst case.
My half-deaf brother pointed out things to me concerning the mix on the American cassette release of The Beatles Rubber Soul album vs. the American LP release of the same album, which my superior ears had overlooked before.
I was too busy tuning pianos at the time to notice.
I bought him a tuning hammer for the excellent piano that I bought for him, BTW. With minimal training, he does quite well in both regards.
What a screw-up from mom, there.
He could sell either his 1911 piano or his '67 Hoffner bass or his '62 Fender Bassman amp or his Martin guitar for a truckload of money (all but the piano and another '63 Fender Tremolux amp I've got at his house), but he keeps getting invited out to play by people know none of the history to worry about it. I cringe at some of his mistakes, but he keeps getting hired ...
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