Shadowing Practice: Mental Illness as a Crisis of Meaning in Modern Society - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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Modern society is characterised by many things,
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Modern society is characterised by many things,
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but perhaps most notably by the remarkable scientific and technological advancement,
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as well as capitalism, individualism and hedonism.
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We are wealthier than our ancestors,
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we live in more safe and comfortable environments,
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we have more access to food and other basic needs.
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Why then have we seen a massive spike in mental illness?
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The bulk of evidence concludes
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that there seems to have been a significant rise in the incidence of lunacy in the 19th century,
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and that this increase consisted largely of patients with the illness we now call schizophrenia.
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One of the most widely ramifying features of modernity is the intense focus on the value and power of the individual self,
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to turn away from the search of an objective external order
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and to instead turn inward and become aware of our own connectivity.
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This becomes a pervasive feature of human experience and self-knowledge in the 19th century.
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Western culture is dominated by individualism,
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subjectivism and relativism, with the rise of a new character type that dominates our age,
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the psychological man, who is intent upon the conquest of his inner life.
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Mental illness must also be viewed in line with a modern social structure,
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with bureaucratisation, technologisation, secularization, and rationalization of the modern world on the level of individual experience.
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The conditions of modern life,
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with its rational forms of social organization,
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are more complex, conflicting, and require potentially disorienting cognitive requirements.
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While there is an emphasis on individuality,
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one must also simultaneously adapt to society's evolving needs.
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The problem arises when these two are in contradiction,
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leading to a sense of inner division.
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In the myth of mental illness,
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psychiatrist Thomas Sass criticises the psychiatric establishment who uses mental illness as a metaphor to describe an offending
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or disturbing pattern of behaviour under the wide-ranging term schizophrenia as an illness or disease.
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Sass wrote, if you talk to God, you are praying.
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If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.
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If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist.
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If you talk to the dead, you are a schizophrenic.
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While many behave and think in disturbing ways,
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this does not mean they actually have a disease.
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Unlike physical illness and disease,
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mental illness is judged from certain psychosocial, ethical or legal norms.
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Transgressing these is not a consequence of illness,
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but of the attempt to confront and tackle the problems in living.
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Sass does not suggest that mental illnesses do not exist,
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rather he is claiming that many such phenomena is a consequence of the attempt to confront
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and to tackle the problem of how to live,
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and to identify such phenomena as a disease
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or an illness is to hide the very real problems in living that people face.
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With increasing understanding of himself and of the world,
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modern man feels that he is free to direct his own life and must take responsibility for it.
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We are, as Jean-Paul Sartre asserted,
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condemned to be free, condemned to shoulder the burden of our freedom and responsibility without being able to seek refuge in others.
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We must be responsible for ourselves,
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for we have no other way of experiencing ourselves or the world as being in any other mode than our own existence.
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We cannot have our existence depend on somebody else,
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for that would contradict the very core of our being.
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We can ask for other people's opinions,
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but the choice ultimately lies in us.
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Many cannot stand this dizzying freedom.
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Kierkegaard says that one can either get lost in the infinite,
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a state of analysis paralysis,
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where one thinks of the infinite possibilities but never acts,
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or get lost in the finite,
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becoming an imitation, a number,
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a cipher in the crowd.
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The latter is a finitude's despair,
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or what we would now call depressive psychosis.
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One cannot imagine any alternate ways of life and release himself from the trivial obligations that give him no value.
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It is as if one has literally died to life,
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but must remain physically in this world.
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One lives dyingly.
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Eventually, one faces the why of existence.
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As Albert Camus writes, Rising,
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streetcar, four hours in the office or factory.
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Meal, streetcar, four hours of work.
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Meal, sleep.
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And Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday day,
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according to the same rhythm.
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This path is easily followed most of the time,
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but one day the why arises,
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and everything begins in that weariness tinged with amazement.
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Camus' absurd person is one who has seen through the ridiculous repetitions of daily life.
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He is conscious of his Sisyphean condemnation.
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We all have to push our own boulders and watch it roll back down.
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If what we do does not satisfy our why of existence,
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we must search for other alternatives or risk falling into an existential crisis.
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A nauseating sensation of trying to justify one's existence,
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which can lead to suicide.
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One of Western civilization's most significant events is the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century,
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a period which undermined the values that society had hitherto relied on,
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namely on the religious view.
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This engenders the most profound cultural,
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sociological and psychological repercussions, leaving many facing a crisis in discerning a meaning
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or purpose for their existence and struggling to tackle the problems in living that this gives rise to.
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While we previously had ready answers to the problem of how life ought to be lived
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and what its overall meaning and purpose was,
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since faith in the existence of God gave us the reassurance that we are partaking in a divine project,
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we are now slowly experiencing the consequences of what Nietzsche proclaimed as the death of God,
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whose full consequences would elude many people as he made clear.
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This tremendous event is still on its way,
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still wandering, it has not yet reached the ears of men,
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this deed is still more distant from them than the most distant stars,
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and yet they have done it themselves.
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This realisation forces us to be faced with the terrifying question,
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has existence any meaning at all?
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The modern age is characterised by a sense of disorientation,
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of not knowing what to do with one's life.
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One notable figure who has attempted to respond to this existential crisis and the psychological manifestations of meaninglessness is Viktor Frankl,
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who had been left in an existential vacuum.
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The meaning crisis and mesoniosis of modern times is the unheard cry for meaning.
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Frankl believes this is the cause of much of modernity's increase in mental illness.
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It is the struggle to confront the existential vacuum.
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He writes, Such widespread phenomena as depression,
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aggression and addiction are not understandable unless we recognise the existential vacuum underlying them.
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Frankel's therapeutic response to those experiencing such phenomena is to reorient the person to the meaning or the purpose of their existence,
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to confront the question of the meaning of their existence,
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to explore the question and,
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ultimately, to provide a positive answer to it.
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meaning to one's life is not to be understood as some idle
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or academic curiosity that one engages in when more fundamental needs have been met.
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The striving to search for and to possess a meaning
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or a purpose for one's life is said to be the primary motivational force in man.
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Without a meaning, all of life's struggles,
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strivings and projects become ultimately futile.
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Frankel believes that this sense of futility is what characterises addiction, aggression and depression.
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There is nothing in the world that would
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so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one's life.
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Frankel concludes, in a word,
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each man is questioned by life,
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and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life,
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to life he can only respond by being responsible.
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Modern man is in desperate need for the hero journey.
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In Man and His Symbols,
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Jungian psychologist Joseph Anderson describes the importance of the hero myth as a universal pattern throughout the world.
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The hero descends into darkness to slay a dragon,
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rescue a damsel in distress and gather the treasure.
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The early weakness of the hero is balanced by the appearance
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of strong guardians who enable him to perform the tasks that he cannot accomplish unaided.
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Their role is the development of one's strengths and weaknesses,
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in a manner that will equip one for the arduous tasks which life confronts him.
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This can be linked to being dependent on one's parents.
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It is only when one becomes independent and confronts the world by himself
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that the individual has passed his initial test and can enter the mature phase of life.
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In Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Carl Jung's research brought him into the burning question,
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what actually takes place inside the mentally ill?
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He writes, To my mind,
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therapy only really begins after the investigation of that wholly personal story.
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It is the patient's secret,
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the rug against which he is shattered.
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If I know his secret story,
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I have a key to the treatment.
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In most cases, exploration of the conscious material is insufficient.
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In therapy, the problem is always the whole person, never the symptom alone.
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We must ask questions which challenge the whole personality.
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Jung treated many schizophrenic patients who were considered a lost cause.
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The paradox of schizophrenia is that there is both a dissolution of the self in the world,
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but also the dissolution of the world in the self.
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Eternal punishment, but divine omnipotence.
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The patient doubts that it is really him who is thinking his thoughts.
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Reality might as well be a train of illusions produced in him by evil scientists.
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It is the most profound form of self-contradiction,
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to be both God and a worm." Jung,
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however, found out
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that many people who were diagnosed with schizophrenia actually had ordinary depression as a result of traumas
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and difficult life experiences that had been repressed.
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He tells the story of an 18-year-old girl who had been abused at the age of 15.
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She retreated into isolation and concealed herself from people.
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She was taken to a mental hospital and remained in a catatonic state.
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Over the course of many weeks,
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Jung gradually persuaded her to speak.
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After overcoming many resistances, she told Jung
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that she had been living on the moon said that she did not like this world,
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and that the moon was beautiful and life there was rich in meaning.
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He writes, as a result of the incest to which she had been subjected as a girl,
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she felt humiliated in the eyes of the world,
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but elevated in the realm of fantasy.
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The consequence was complete alienation from the world, a state of psychosis.
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She became extra mundane, as it were,
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and lost contact with humanity.
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She plunged into cosmic distances,
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into outer space where she met with a winged demon.
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By telling me her story,
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she had in a sense betrayed the demon and attached herself to an earthly human being.
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Thereafter, I regarded the sufferings of the mentally ill in a different light,
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for I had gained insight into the richness and importance of the inner experiences.
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In his book Tribe, Sebastian Junger argues that Throughout history,
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humans have had a strong instinct to belong to small groups or tribes.
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These tribes gave people a purpose and understanding of life.
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However, this tribal connection has been obliterated in modern society.
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During wars with the Indian tribes,
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many European settlers were taken as prisoners and held within the tribes.
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After they had a chance to escape and return to their modern society,
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many refused to do so.
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They preferred the primitive society over their modern one.
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On the contrary, not one tribesman wanted to flee to modern society.
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We have evolved genetically to live in an interdependent group in order to survive,
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and this creates equality as everyone plays a necessary role in the tribe.
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They work 12 hours a week to survive,
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in contrast to the average 40 hours a week that many westernized societies require.
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The tribes collaborate for survival,
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each day they go to hunt and gather,
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and in the evening they return to share the food.
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People often believe that modern life with all its efficient technology has allowed for more leisure time,
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however, the exact opposite is true.
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Modern life is characterised by a desperate cycle of work,
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financial obligation, and more work, sacrificing personal freedom.
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One might argue, however, That modernity has allowed for a sense of independence,
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which primitive man could never have achieved,
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leading to a sense of freedom,
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but can also lead to a feeling of alienation and depression.
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We have not yet been genetically adapted to our environment,
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the enormous changes of agriculture and the industrial revolution have hardly begun to affect our gene pool.
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In other words, even though we live in more complex societies,
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we are still hardwired to be hunter-gatherers.
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Today, we can be surrounded by a group of people and yet feel completely alone.
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This is not something we have experienced until quite recently.
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We are wired to belong to a group where we feel valued by our contributions to it,
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and without a group, many fall into a sense of meaninglessness.
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Sociologist Emil Durkheim first noticed the positive effects of war on mental health,
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the suicide rate, homicide and admission to psych wards drop down.
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Likewise, in natural disasters, people overwhelmingly devote their energy to the community rather than themselves.
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Adversity produces pro-social behaviours in which one is likely to abandon his self-interest and sacrifice himself for others,
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acting as a unified society,
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sending people back into a more ancient way of life.
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Modernity has disrupted the social bonds that has always characterised the human experience.
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It breeds comfort, allowing people to act selfishly.
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This shows an increase of mental illness In modern society's deep lack of a sense of community,
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which the tribe had historically provided us,
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we have much to learn from our ancestors in this regard.
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The world hangs on a thin thread,
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and that is the psyche of man.
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We are the great danger,
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how important it is to know something about it,
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but we know nothing about it.
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Jung warns us that we are pitifully unaware of our unconscious,
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we have become too rational,
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and have lost contact with our primitive instincts,
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leading to a dissociation in the psyche of modern civilization.
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He writes,
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ideas has put him at the mercy of the psychic underworld,
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he has freed himself from superstition or so he believes,
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but in the process he has lost his spiritual values to a positively dangerous degree,
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his moral and spiritual tradition has disintegrated and he's now paying the price for this breakup in worldwide disorientation and dissociation.
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The surface of our world seems to be cleansed of all superstitious and irrational elements,
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However, a realistic picture of the human mind reveals many primitive traits
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which are still playing their role just as if nothing had happened during the last centuries.
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Man feels himself isolated in the cosmos because he no longer has a deep relation with nature.
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When a primitive society's spiritual values are exposed to the impact of modern civilisation,
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its people lose the meaning of their lives,
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their social organisation disintegrates and and they themselves morally decay.
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As Ernest Becker writes, anthropologists have long known that
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when a tribe of people lose their feeling that their way of life is worthwhile,
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they may stop reproducing, or in large numbers simply lie down and die beside streams full of fish.
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Food is not the primary nourishment of man.
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Unlike primitive man, modern man has lost contact with nature and his relationship with animals and trees through mystical participation.
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We may have advanced in the outer world,
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but our inner world is still delicate and fragmentary.
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A famous fictional example of the modern dissociation is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
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In the story, Jekyll's split took the form of a physical change,
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rather than, as in reality, an inner psychic state.
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Jung writes, we can be possessed and altered by moods,
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or become unreasonable and unable to recall the important facts about ourselves or others.
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We talk about being able to control ourselves,
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but self-control is a rare and remarkable virtue.
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There is a world of difference between a conscious decision to split off and temporarily suppress a part of one's psyche,
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and a condition in which this happens spontaneously,
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without one's knowledge or consent and even against one's intention.
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The former is a civilised achievement,
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the latter a primitive loss of a soul,
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or even a pathological cause of a neurosis.
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In order to heal the split in the psyche,
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Jung tells us to explore our unconscious through self-reflection and dream journaling.
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We must understand that there are things within us that are beyond our control,
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which are autonomous personalities.
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Here is where we find the vital insights for our lives,
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and where the primitive aspects that form part of the original mind are preserved as archetypes.
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Despite our differences, we all share a collective unconscious which adapts itself to the particularities of the individual's life.
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We have been so busy with the question of what we think,
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that we entirely forgot to ask what the unconscious psyche thinks about us.
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I hope you found this video valuable.
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commenting or sharing the content.
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Context & Background
The video titled "Mental Illness as a Crisis of Meaning in Modern Society" navigates the complex landscape of mental health within the context of contemporary society. The speaker discusses how incredible advancements in science and technology have not necessarily translated into improved mental well-being. Instead, modernity's emphasis on individualism, capitalism, and hedonism has coincided with a notable surge in mental illness, raising questions about societal values and personal identity. The exploration into mental illness highlights a conflict between personal freedom and societal expectations, incorporating philosophical insights from thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre. Understanding these intricacies provides valuable context for learners seeking to refine their English speaking skills through engaging, thematic content.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
Here are five key phrases extracted from the transcript that can enhance your English communication skills:
- "The focus on the value and power of the individual self." - This phrase highlights the importance of individual identity, useful in discussions about personal development.
- "The conditions of modern life are complex and conflicting." - A great way to describe the challenges of contemporary society.
- "We must be responsible for ourselves." - This statement can serve as a personal mantra or as a way to encourage self-ownership in conversations.
- "Mental illness must be viewed in line with modern social structures." - Useful for discussing mental health in the context of societal influences.
- "Condemned to be free." - A thought-provoking phrase to evoke discussions around freedom and responsibility.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively utilize this engaging transcript for english speaking practice, follow these steps for shadow speak:
- Watch the video attentively: Begin by watching the entire video without interruptions. Pay close attention to the speaker's pronunciation and intonation.
- Listen and repeat: Play short segments of the video. Pause after each segment and repeat what you hear, mimicking the speaker's rhythm and pronunciation. This practice can drastically improve your fluency.
- Focus on comprehension: After shadowing, summarize each segment in your own words, ensuring you understand the content. This will help you build both comprehension and vocabulary.
- Practice aloud: Use the extracted phrases in your conversations or practice them alone. This can be an effective means for advanced IELTS speaking practice. Incorporate them into different contexts to gain versatility.
- Engage with others: Pair up with a language partner or join a learning group, discussing the themes of the video using the phrases you learned. This not only aids in retention but helps in applying the language in real-life scenarios.
By using this shadowing approach, learners can significantly enhance their grasp of language nuances while engaging with meaningful content. Explore the wealth of knowledge available in videos like this as you learn English with YouTube and improve your speaking abilities through methodical practice.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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