WHERE IS THE MIND???

[funky 0]

I have always been very curious about issues that affect the human.

being a psychiatrist my curiosity just swells daily.

Seriously, can anyone tell me where he / she thinks the mind is?

what is the mind and where exactly is it. believing we all agree that there is a concept as such. Surely there must be : :

This view is particularly interesting as it directly relates to us all in this forum.

do post your ideas / views on the subject.

[Guest khuram]

Could you expand on your thought.

[funky 0]

Psychiatrists have the role of assessing mental states, making sense of this and formulating diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.

This is by no means a difficult task -exploring the mind- we often do use various parameters which assist this process. However the mind to me is a 'concept' rather than an anatomical structure with specific location and parameters eg gross and microscopical (histology)   :o

or does anyone else knows where this mind is? Get the debate rolling!

What are your views as psychiatrists on where the mind is?

[Guest khuram]

When you say the use of various parameters, what exactly you are referring to?

[pukhtun 57]

mind is the brains function of accepting the truth of the self and the world that we live in. if u know yourself and accept the reality of the ever changing world then u are of sound mind.

[Guest khuram]

I think the hypothesis proposed is 'what is and where is the mind', not the assessment of a sound/not sound mind.

[Guest khuram]

Plato said that: (427-347 B.C.)

mind is a single entity, perhaps having its base in the brain but distinct from it and having an autonomous existence. This view was absorbed from him into Christian thought. In its most extreme form, the substantial view merges with the theological view that the mind is an entity wholly separate from the body, in fact a manifestation of the soul, which will survive the body's death and return to God, its creator.

[pukhtun 57]

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[funky 0]

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Dear peecho-again, can you decode your z's'?

[Guest khuram]

[folder 0]

The mind is surely part of the brain. Debate has raged since Descartes about the mind-body split but it is felt he was trying to appease the Catholic Church in  coming to his conclusions. Though it is extremly difficult to pinpoint where exactly in the brain the mind is (because the brain is such a complex organ as we all know judging from the horrible side effects our patients get from medications we prescribe them). Our thoughts,feelings giving rise to consciosness,self awareness, reason,reflection and responsiblity for our actions are in most cases distinct human traits coming from a neural substrate.

[chrispell 22]

The mind is a sort of simulation, a gathering together of several perceptual and internal monitoring neural networks. Pooled together they provide the sensation that we are self-aware continuously existing entities, a 'me' looking out at and interacting with the world. We know from research into the brain that there is no single seat of consciousness, no little homunculous directing our actions and thoughts, and that it just seems that way to us.

I think if I had to sum up what I thought, I would say that the mind is a product of the brain, but that it doesn't really have an independant location. Without the brain though, there is no mind.

If you're really interested then I can recommend 'Consciousness: An Introduction' by Susan Blackmore (Hodder & Stoughton 2003). It's a great summary of recent philosophical and neurological thought on the topic of what the mind is and whether it exists at all.

[Oceanic 0]

Mind is the invisible body ( brain) and body is the visible mind.

[funky 0]

Folder and chris your contributions to this debate is interesting!

So if the mind does not exist without the brain, could we say the reverse i.e the brain can not exist without the mind? :-/

What explanation is there for those who are alive on life support, technically their brain is still alive, is their mind still alive or not?

Is the assumption that the mind is not alive a wrong one becos we are unable to assess this?

what about those with learning disabilities? Yes they have a brain and are alive, but their mind is assumed to be developmentally slower. (i stand to be corrected)

So is the mind concept closely linked with our intelligence quotient? or is it some other summed concept we do not really know much about?

it still leaves us with the questions of Where is the mind? What makes it up? What standards objectively defines it? :-? :-?

we got to try provide some evidence base on this issue if you know or have read some.

Keep the debate rolling? (psychiatrists have great minds, I think we agree :-/. but how do we come to that?) :lol:

Is it by the inquisitorial nature of their job?

What then makes a great mind and a small mind? Some intellectuals undoubtedly have what seem to be small minds? :o

Do not get distracted, hey where is the mind and what is the mind? how do we

[pukhtun 57]

OHH MEE GOSH......if freud was still around now...he would be thinking of ways of pulling his nails out or inflicting small cuts to the web between fingers to keep himself awake. I feel so inapt being unable to partake in this intelectual discussion

[Guest khuram]

Aristotle said that the mind is a term of convenience for a variety of mental functions

which have little in common except that humans are conscious of their existence.

Just taking peecho`s earlier point further  (mind is the brains function of accepting the truth of the self and the world that we live in. if u know yourself and accept the reality of the ever changing world then u are of sound mind. )

Attributes which we collectively call the mind are closely related to the functions of the brain and can have no autonomous existence beyond the brain, nor can they survive its death. In this view mind is a subjective manifestation of consciousness: the human brain's ability to be aware of its own existence. The concept of the mind is therefore a means by which the conscious brain understands its own operations.

[funky 0]

Well said khuram, your contribution seem a beautiful sum up of what the mind possibly is. so in terms of confines where could this be? :-X

I am getting quite excited by this debate.

I am learning alot from you guys. Please do contribute your views.

Thanks all!

[docsanju2003 0]

Well people are talking about mind.What about soul has anybody wondered what happens to what we call 'me' when we die?

[chrispell 22]

All of the available evidence would suggest that it just stops. Without functioning neurones there is no 'me' or 'you' or anyone else.

[smithy 0]

I dont know where my mind is but i know where yours is peechoo again

[aparanjothi 3]

i think mind is in the brain and the hearts

[Guest j]

All of the available evidence would suggest that it just stops. Without functioning neurones there is no 'me' or 'you' or anyone else.

agreed

[funky 0]

could the mind be the seat of reasoning that just has no specific anatomical site but lies within the living human? :-?

is the mind the conscience then?

so why does it appear as though the psychopathic individuals have no mind/conscience? :

is it possible to have one without the other if they are separate entities?

The Descartes dualism theory as explained in the wilkipaedia site has this to say:

'...........So, Descartes argues, the mind, a thinking thing, can exist apart from its extended body. And therefore, the mind is a substance distinct from the body, a substance whose essence is thought.'

[smithy 0]

When did Descartes ever say that the mind and brain are separate? As far as I can tell he suggested only that the mind, that is thought, can be proven unlike the physical body.

His ideas don't really apply to psychiatry, as he was on about metaphysical existance and not mind brain.

He held only two basic contructs one that he exists in thought and two that god exists too.

[Guest j]

so why does it appear as though the psychopathic individuals have no mind/conscience? :

it doesn't seem to me that they have no mind. they also seem to have a conscience, but just one that is different from the majority of society.