Alcoholism

My question for the forum has probably already been discussed multiple times on this site, but I was unable to find anything on the topic. My main question is how come multiple great writers ( philosopher’s in their own way ) have all had some various degree of alcoholism? I want to include myself in this category as well ( im not a great philosopher/writer ) but I am more philosophically inclined towards everyday life than the majority of people I know or meet, and the few of us that can have a intelligent conversation on different philosophical issues, all have various forms of alcohol abuse currently or in the past. My own explanation for my alcohol abuse is that it seriously is the only way for me to not run ten miles in my head everyday. Obviously it numbs the brain, but when I drink its the only time I don’t think everything into the ground…Any comments?

I smoke everyday just to maintain!

The common link is creativity with depression.

There’s a very strong neurological reason why being highly intelligent and creative really does mean you’re more likely to suffer from mental illness. It is NOT as simple as “if you’re smart, you see the real shit going on in the world”, although people tend to toss that around. The neurological reason is actually fascinating, and relates to several other things we can see to be true about the human mind. If you’re curious I can elaborate.

But, given that link, someone who is a writer is more likely to be creative (obviously), and thus more likely to be depressed. Historically alcohol has been the most effective and available treatment for depression, replaced only in the last 40 years by antidepressants (and unfortunately, still not replaced enough).

I’d love for you to elaborate.

Yay!

Ok, the two main types of brain cells can be categorized into “white matter” and “grey matter”. The technical differences between the two are that white matter is myelinated, and grey matter is unmyelinated. If you don’t know what this means, it isn’t particularly necessary to understand the rest of what I’m going to say, but it’s interesting in itself, and helps you understand how Multiple Sclerosis (MS) works.

The main difference between white matter and grey matter is that white matter is basically “connective” tissue, whereas grey matter is basically “processing” tissue. We all know that the brain is divided up into two hemispheres. The corpus callosum is the name given to the connector between the two hemispheres. As you’d expect, the corpus callosum is entirely white matter. On the other hand, if you look at the part of the brain that is devoted to arithmetical calculations, it’s almost 100% grey matter.

Interestingly, a lot of the stereotypical differences between men and women are explained by differing balances of white and grey matter. Men have significantly more grey matter than women, which is why we tend to be better at math and spatial orientation and visualization. Women have significantly more white matter than men, and so they tend to excel at brain tasks that demand multiple parts of the brain work together in concert. This includes language, writing and metaphor, and perception of emotions and body language.

The fundamental mechanism behind many mental illnesses is one of “cascade overload”. Think of what happens to epileptics - a part of the brain signals to itself, and repeats the signal only stronger, and repeats it again only stronger, and so on, until soon the brain is signaling to itself so strongly that the part of the brain starts screwing up big time.

Disorders like anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder are very similar in nature (especially anxiety). Because they require that the brain signal to itself repeatedly in order to start, they’re much more likely to be able to occur in people whose brains are already very connected with white matter. Brains that have less white matter are less connected, and so finding the right “circle” of neurons in the brain is less likely.

So, mental illness is correlated with having more white matter. But, naturally, so is creativity. Creativity by definition is the ability to think non-linearly, to use multiple mental abilities together. Thus, creativity is linked to mental illness.

Based on this, remembering that women (on average) have a lot more white matter than men, you might postulate that women have mental illness more frequently than men. This is exactly correct; women have depression, anxiety, and OCD between 4 and 10 times as frequently as men.

Isn’t that cool???

Well written man. I think I understand what you’re saying. I’ve had to cut up a few brains in my time using a brain matrix thingy or whatever it’s called. It’s interesting to actually handle all that shit. Kinda grosses me out though. I hope no one gets on here and starts arguing causation or something, or pointing out the problems associated with conclusions based on corelatives. I can see that happening, and I hate to just watch someone miss a perfectly good point.

maybe these great people feel things more deeply or need more for their soul’s fulfillment then this reality offers, this communityless collection of isolated people, this wage slavery, maybe even a lack of peers… maybe mediocre people adapt and real people are driven to alcoholism by it

Wow that sums up about exactly how I feel about it. I’ve met many people who are very creative and intelligent and seem like they should be doing something with their life, but their so numb to all of it they just kinda drag themselves through it.

I’ve spent most of my adult life going through various compulsive behavior patterns or juggling different forms of substance abuse trying to find something that will distract me enough to make life enjoyable again.

thats a big mission failure so far.
[/quote]

Great post, Twiffy.

I enjoy my time more when I’m drunk.

But I don’t think it improves my creativity all that much. I find stimulant drugs do that way more.

Technically, it depends on what kinds of disorders you’re talking about. Men are more prone to schizophrenia. But you’re right that mood disorders are more prevalent in women.

Absolutely!

It explains a lot about my depression and obsessive thinking. I find that when I get caught in these negative thought cycles - where it feels like I just have to deal with one or two meagre issues or incidents, which I know are too trivial to be worth my attention - it’s like the very act of thinking about them reinforces the need to think about them more.

This is really cool when it’s positive thinking that I get caught up in (caffein triggers this for me, but it can also trigger negative thoughts if I’m in a vulnerable mood).

There was a danger of me abusing alcohol not long ago. There was a growing pattern of alcohol use where I’d come home from work and fix myself a drink two, sometimes three, times a week. I found that I really had to monitor myself so that I wouldn’t be doing it every day. I’d have to tell myself “No, Gibran, you’ve gotten tipsy [never drunk] the last two days in a row. Lay off for today.” One should never have to tell him/herself that, should they?

Mind you, it didn’t feel like I was drinking in order to alleviate my depression. It was more like: hey, it’s available, it’s legal, it feels good, it’s not causing any problems (yet)… why not? I decided to stop and only drink in social situation when my wife started expressing her concern.

Anyway, what’s the solution to this? I guess engaging yourself in analytical tasks, like math, might work. Funny… it reminds me of an anecdote about how Newton brought himself out of a deep depression after solving a complex math problem.

That whole thing was pretty cool, Twiffy.

Personally, I was always interested in altering my consciousness (I don’t buy the “gateway” bs; I was ready to try just about anything available by the time I was 12).

By the time I was 15, I was depressed – I carry a diagnosis of PTSD, but I also think chronic marijuana use was a factor – and drinking to numb reality, and, in part, because I was suicidal.

I should add that I’m a very right-brained creative person. I think that creative types tend to be more passionate, romantic, abstract, less able to focus, notoriously irresponsible … Personally I can come up with six stellar ideas every day, and want to work on them all, and I think then that these conflicting priorities over “what to do” start shooting across different areas of that white matter you mention, and that if my brain weren’t encased in bone, it would probably just explode into fragments.

So, anyway, if I just want to calm the fuck down, about the only way for me to do that is to physically incapacitate myself to some degree; hence, alcohol.

But I think, in general, that many of the most brilliant do it because they see that “big picture” of the world, and they see the enormity of opportunity available (“gosh, if these monkeys would quit killing each other over conflicting visions of the Invisible, Omnipotent being, this would be a wonderful world!” or, “why doesn’t anyone but me see that Iraq has no WMD?”), and seeing that their visions are futile, they drink to numb the pain – or celebrate the grandiosity of their own thoughts.

I think I’ll go get a six pack …

See for me I always saw it as simple as this: Alcohol is a poison that actually will hurt you and destroy brains cells over a period of time if used enough.

Weed, on the other hand, does not.

Alcohol makes you into a violent moron.

Weed, on the other hand, does not.

Alcohol does induce creative thought, but it’s more socially orientated. I like to write fiction and I find that writing drunk I always just end up coming on here instead. Alcohol, for me at least, seems to have that requirement of validation from the other, whereas weed produces thoughts I want to write down just for the sake of doing it.

The whole memory loss thing gets a bad rap. Make some post-its or something – if you’re conscious of the fact that your short term memory will take a hit, you can usually compensate mentally anyways. Especially if you’re reading and writing and engaging that very mind. I see it as like lifting mental weights – yeah you’re sore but then after that you’re even stronger.

It’s the people who smoke and play video games or watch tv that turn into morons – but they would have anyways likely, right?

While alcohol causes greater, permanent damage, weed has the effect of putting braincells into a longterm dormant state. Continuing to smoke weed therefor has the same effect as alcohol.

Untrue in my case. I become an overly romantic, loving moron.

Weed, on the other hand, does not.

Trends toward being true, but it can induce paranoia, leading to violence.

As far as creativity, being a writer myself, I’ve found weed to be very useful in lubricating ideas – although I have a helluva time actually hitting the right keys when I’m high.

Short term memory loss should be better understood to mean an impairment of sensory perception. People think it means “I won’t be able to remember his name tomorrow,” but that’s actually long-term memory.
Short-term memory is getting up from the keyboard, walking to the kitchen, and not remembering what you came for. Or having someone ask you a question – which you answer 7 seconds later becuase your processing is delayed. THAT is short-term memory loss, and it can be debilitating (let me tell you … :astonished: ).

But, your absolute statements aside, I’d absolutely agree that alcohol is often an ill, while marijuana is more often a blessing.

Absolute statements? Hehe… Count how many times I said ‘for me personally’ or something akin to that in my post. In fact I believe that was my opening line – I can’t remember though

:wink:

Paranoia, yep – but I’ve never seen someone high fighting – ever. Again that’s just my experience but I find that if someone smokes some pot the act of fighting is almost impossible.

Mix weed with alcohol and it’s a totally different story though.

Nice post Twiffy – very interesting.

This is only a serious problem for those who smoke chronically, and even they can recover if they abstain for long enough. If you do it once, or even twice a week, you’re fine.

This completely true.

Once or twice a week is a blessed event, and should be taken as such.

I smoke about four or five times a day.

I’m down to about once-twice a night before sleep.