[Alay]

Hi All,

I recently read an article on Schizophrenia. I was curious about what is defined as “Positive symptoms”:
http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/conditions/schizophrenia

What is it that causes patients to Hear or see something that isn’t there?

Given that in Buddhism the mind and brain are two different things, is there a way to explain this behaviour? Is it purely “Chemical reactions” in the brain or is there a connection to the mind?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Kind regards

Alay.

[Lal]

You are correct to say that mind and brain are two different things in Buddhism.

However, brain plays a critical role for the working of the mind, as explained in the post: “Brain – Interface between Mind and Body”

Therefore, when the brain function is weakened by schizophrenia, that will affect the mind in the same way that any damage to the brain will affect the mind. In fact, as we get old, brain function deteriorates and that affects the mind too. So, there is nothing special about schizophrenia in that sense.

All those, including schizophrenia, are kamma vipaka, just as cancer or any other ailment is due to kamma vipaka.

[Alay]

Thank you Lal for the explanation.
I was discussing this with a retired Scientist (who is also on “the path”) and his explanation was similar – i.e due to the illness, the brain signals to the mind are “corrupt” and this causes various forms of images to be presented and would explain the resulting behaviour.

[Author]

Posts