[Doctor Stochastic]

I don't have that direct an experience with this. I have heard similar things from relatives of schizophrenics.

One proble is though, there is some woman that keeps advertising on the radio things like "You can always control things that happen to you, but you can control how you feel about it." Of course, those who are depressed (or have other problems) simply cannot control their feelings.

[js1138]

There is a school (behavior therapy) that suggests that many mental illnesses are best treated by teaching the patients to ignore the symptoms and learn to interact "normally" with other people. I have not read the book, but in the movie Beautiful Mind, this is what Nash arrived at independently. Apparently he was out of commission for 20 years, so this approach takes patience. His wife divorced him but stayed with him, which helped.

Totally off topic, but I suspect schizophrenia is a rather simple disorder structurally -- an inability to turn off what would otherwise be a normal dream state. Perhaps at heart it is a sleep disorder.

[js1138]

Of course, those who are depressed (or have other problems) simply cannot control their feelings.

True, but there is a lot of evidence that people can be taught to live with bad feelings, and that as their lives improve, the bad feelings diminish. this is the school of therapy that says change the behavior first and the feelings will follow.

It is the only effective treatment for phobias, and it works really well.

[gomaaa]

Great subject for a thread sometime! If people cannot control their own emotions, are they responsible for their actions? Should society help them cope? Would such efforts be entitlement programs for freeloaders or investments by society in helping potentially productive citizens? I don't want to get too far off the topic of this thread, but I'll look for some material to start a new discussion elsewhere. Let me know if you guys beat me to it.