People Are Strange

[arithia]

26. Great post

Even those who aren't mentally ill or struggling with a personality disorder can be fundamentally, cognitively rigged in such a way to make conceptualizing something.. let alone attaining it.. impossible.

How to put this... have you ever met someone who was really awful at something, but thought they were spectacular? To pick a benign example, you see it a lot in multiplayer gaming. They might even be a great person (making it all the more painful to watch) as they fail miserably but think they doing fine. Well.. there is a reason for that.

We as human beings ALL have our Dunning-Kruger- be it tied to social intelligence, the ability to cook, sing, dance or not stand in fire during a video game. Research has shown time and again that this is the case. This isn't due to some personal fault- it's the lack of a neural pathway. It's why hallucinogens have been so successful in treating personality disorders and various genetic mental illnesses- they cause new neural pathways to form. Long term therapy can help, but due to piss poor mental health services and stigmas world wide, few people actually get the help they need.

Bottom line is, it's easier to spot when that "Break" impacts social skills and behavior. Some of us get luckier with that "break" than others, but it's there for all of us. Some people seemingly won't get what you are saying, no matter how many times you explain or how patiently. Getting mad at people over their Break is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die. Gentle persuasion and correction, however, just might result in their brain building a new bridge. Eventually. Likely long after your interaction with them. XD

We are also a species that primarily leans more from our errors than our successes. Good reasons to remain empathetic to even those we might want to reach out and shake in frustration. heh