Different Thinking

I personally hate the term ‘mental illness’. The term itself promotes stigma by implying there is something ‘wrong’ with the person. Instead, I will use the terms ‘different thinking’ and ‘different thinker’ instead. I am not even sure I like the term ‘different thinking’ because it still sets people apart from one other. Since I need some term, and I find different thinking to be much less objectionable than mental illness, I will use that from now on, on this blog.

Conditions like borderline personality disorder (bpd) and bipolar disorder (bp) involve thinking differently than others. It is not the different thinking itself that causes the problems, it is when the different thinking manifests itself in harmful and destructive ways that trouble arise.

Our ability to think differently is itself an advantage. It allows us to see things in ways that others do not. It allows us to create new things and solve problems in unique ways. It also lends itself to enhanced creativity. If everyone thought the same way, where would the world be today? It is when people think in unique and different ways that new inventions and new discoveries are made. It is people who think differently than everyone else that advance society, not the people who think like everyone else.

For example, people such as Marilyn Monroe and Princess Di are both suspected as having had bpd. While others such as Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Ludwig von Beethoven and Winston Churchill are all confirmed or suspected of having bp. These are just a few historic people that were different thinkers.

A study conducted by Duke University found that as many as 49% of United States presidents, between 1776 and 1974 were different thinkers. There is a long list of famous contemporary different thinkers as well. Included in this list is Dr. Marsha Linehan who developed Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to treat patients with bpd and National Football League (NFL) Wide-receiver Brandon Marshall, both of whom are diagnosed with bpd.

Unfortunately, society still discriminates, stigmatizes and harasses people that are different. The stigma associated with bpd is so severe that is hard to find a list of famous people with bpd; however, with it affecting about 2% of the population, and the fact that different thinking is prevalent in both genders, all nationalities and economic classes, you can rest assured that they are out there.

The combined contributions these people made to, and in the case of contemporary different thinkers continue to make to the world is remarkable. They have changed the world, where would we be without Sir Isaac Newton’s contributions to mathematics and physics? Where would we be without the contributions of Charles Darwin to evolution or Ludwig von Beethoven to music?

It is not although they were different thinkers that these people made and continue to make such large contributions to society. It is because of the fact that they are different thinkers. If all these different thinkers were able to have the success and make such profound contributions to the world, then any one of us can as well. The trick is learning how to control the more destructive parts of different thinking and learning how to use the positive aspects of it.

Comments

Comment from John Carter - 2012/10/05 at 07:54

Hi. I just want to say you have a very nice blog, with helpful links and information as well. Thanks for sharing.