PureInsight | March 11, 2002
Abstract: Psychiatry is defined from the Greek ‘psyche’, the soul and ‘iatreia’, healing. Therefore, psychiatry has been defined as healing of the soul. However, modern psychiatry has been focusing on the healing of the brain. Modern psychiatry points to the brain as the source of psychiatric illness. More and more neuro-molecular interactions are discovered, but no one can completely explain the origin of the main psychiatric illnesses. We are facing the questions today such as: Are all these neurochemical and structural anatomical changes the cause of psychiatric illnesses? What is the true cause of these disorders? What role does the brain play? Based on our understanding of Falun Dafa principles, we will discuss the etiology of psychosis and brain function. We believe that the brain is a tool for receiving, processing and expressing the messages of the primordial spirit. The brain does not independently generate the thoughts. The true source of the thoughts is the primordial spirit. In cases such as psychosis, the weakness of the main spirit causes other spirits and foreign messages to take over the control of the brain. This results in abnormal behaviors observed in psychiatric disorders. Antipsychotic medications can block these messages. We believe that medications make changes in the receiving device in the brain which then reduce the interference of foreign control enabling the main spirit to regain strength and confidence to assert command over the body again. Other psychiatric conditions resulting from the weakness of the main spirit and consequently the control of the body by the assistant or foreign spirits, are also discussed.
“The guiding ideology for today’s human science is confined only to this physical world in its research and development, as a subject, will not be studied until it is recognized – it follows such a path. As for phenomena that are intangible and invisible in our dimension, but objectively exist and are reflected into our physical dimension as concrete manifestation, people dare not to approach them, dismissing them as unknown phenomena. Opinionated people groundlessly try to reason that they are natural phenomena, while those with ulterior motives, against their own conscience, simply label all of them as superstition” (Zhuan Falun). The following is our current understanding of the true pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders.
Psychiatry is defined from the Greek ‘psyche’, the soul and ‘iatreia’, healing. Therefore, psychiatry has been defined as healing of the soul. However, modern psychiatry has been focusing on the healing of the brain. Modern psychiatry points to the brain as the source of psychiatric illness. Theories such as psychoanalytic and biological, try to explain the origin of this or that disorder but no one has been effective in revealing the true etiology. For example, the dopamine theory dominated the last half century as the cause of psychotic disorders but in the 90’s the appearance of the newer antipsychotic medications and their multiple neurochemical activities challenged the previous hypothesis. More and more neuro-molecular interactions are discovered, but no one can completely explain the origin of the main psychiatric illnesses. Modern psychiatry seems to pose more questions than answers to the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders. Are all these neurochemical and structural anatomical changes the cause of psychiatric illnesses? What is the true cause of these disorders?
In Zhuan Falun, brain functions are clearly described. “If a human body does not have the Primordial Spirit and the things such as temperament, character, and personality, it is only a piece of meat and not a complete person with individuality. So what functions does the human brain have? As I see it, in the form of this physical dimension, the human brain is only a processing factory. The actual message is sent forth by the Primordial Spirit. What is transmitted, however, is not a language but a message of the universe that represents a certain meaning. Upon receiving such a command, our brains will process this into our present language or some other form of expression. We express it through hand gesturing, eye contact, and complete movement. The brain has only this effect. The actual commands and the thoughts come from one’s Primordial Spirit. People usually believe that they are direct and independent functions of the brain” (Zhuan Falun). Therefore, we can say that the brain is a tool for receiving, processing and expressing the messages of the primordial spirit. The brain does not independently generate the thoughts. The true source of the thoughts is the primordial spirit.
The primordial spirit is composed of the main spirit and the assistant spirit. The main spirit is the one that thinks, is conscious and controls one’s actions and thoughts. The assistant spirit is often from a higher level than the main spirit; it comes along with the main spirit to share one’s body and assist the main spirit. Mr. Li Hongzhi stated: “…we have found that an everyday person’s Primordial Spirit is very tiny, and the actual messages from the human brain are not a function of the human brain itself – they are not generated by the brain but by one’s Primordial Spirit.” Many reports of Near Death Experiences (NDE) during cardiac arrest indicate the capability of registering perceptions of auditory and visual stimuli and complex thoughts and memories at a time of being clinically dead. Due to the lack of spontaneous respiration and cardiac output, the brain is anoxic, therefore, very compromised, and incapable to carry out these functions. In NDE, it is the primordial spirit the one who sees, hears, feels and thinks. This proves that the brain does not independently execute these functions but it is one’s spirit who does it without the assistance of the brain.
Based on this new understanding, we believe that the brain undergoes microscopic changes such as atomic and molecular changes to express the primordial spirit’s intentions. For example, when a person wants to do something like going to the movies, a series of actions will take effect, from moving the body and physically getting to the theater to a complex series of emotions, feelings and thoughts that will result from this. All this is the product of one’s primordial spirit’s intention expressed by the brain functions. The command will stimulate certain brain areas which will undergo activation of electronic circuitries along with neurochemical changes.
Thousands of studies using the modern medical technology have been employed on the task to uncover the etiology of different psychiatric conditions. The sophisticated technology of brain imaging such as X-ray computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) show the mapping of structural changes in some psychotic disorders. Although not consistent across all studies, many show smaller right and left hemisphere volume, particularly loss of gray volume in frontal and temporal regions, and enlarged ventricles among other changes, while positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) have determined the abnormal chemical processes, such as lower metabolism in dorsolateral prefrontal, right parietal cortex, etc. In the recent years, a number of neuroimaging techniques have also been employed to evaluate neuroreceptor systems in vivo like PET and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in psychotic disorders like schizophrenia. Radionuclide imaging using carbon, iodide, and other atoms isotopes are used for the study of neuromolecular changes at this site. This intensive research has revealed the complexities of the mechanisms that take place with the brain functions, helped to discover new medications’ mechanism of actions and provided a window into the living brain activities. However, despite such intensive search, we have not been able to reach a sound conclusion of the findings. Many studies show some correlation between the findings and the disorder studied but at the same time other studies with same methology show no, or a weak, correlation. Inference from the growing and conflicting evidence of genetic, epidemiologic, and neurobiological research concludes at best that psychotic disorders are hetereogenic processes, and it is still far from revealing the true cause of psychiatric illnesses. We believe that the limitation of the modern research lines in its fundamental hypothesis that the brain is the mind, and the abnormal thoughts and behaviors are the result of abnormal brain changes. This hypothesis is very narrow and limiting. For example a television shows a certain picture, color, and sound now and another one later depending on the signal it receives. By studying the TV itself, its electric circuitry or structural composition, the technician will not be able to reveal the reason of the changes, unless he considers the possibility that the TV could be only the receiving and processing device of different signals instead of being the source of what is shown on the TV screen.
Mr. Li Hongzhi stated: “Psychosis occurs when a person’s main consciousness become too weak. How weak can it become? It is like a person who can never take charge of himself. A mentally ill person’s main spirit is just like that. It no longer wants to be in charge of the body. It is always in a daze and cannot lift up its spirit. At this point, the person’s assistant consciousness or foreign messages will interfere with him. There are so many levels in each dimension. All sources of messages will disturb him. Besides one’s main spirit may have committed some wrong doings in the previous lives, and the creditors may want to harm him. All kinds of things can transpire. We would say that this is what psychosis is all about.”
In cases such as psychosis, the weakness of the main spirit causes other spirits and foreign messages to take over the control of the brain. This results in abnormal behaviors observed in psychiatric disorders. The visual and or auditory experiences of patients with psychosis are the result of foreign messages and/or other spirits controlling that person’s brain. Some patients are able to recognize that those experiences are foreign and are able to resist the command or ignore what they see or hear. Others, more compromised, are not able to discern whether these messages are a product of their own mind or something else and they go along with these messages. Thought insertion, thought broadcasting, paranoia, thoughts of being controlled, and other bizarre thoughts, are commonly seen in psychotic processes. The degree of psychiatric morbidity has to do with the degree of the main spirit’s weakness. In time of stress, when the main spirit weakens, the symptoms may worsen or recur. Some patients talk about being persecuted by spirits who want to hurt them or tell them to hurt themselves or somebody else, or tell them that so and so is planning something against them, etc. All this causes stress, fear and suffering, which in turn causes the main spirit to weakens even more and allows all other things to step in and take control of the body.
Antipsychotic medications help patients to gain awareness that these messages are not theirs and hopefully, are able to ignore them and to learn how to function in this shared reality instead of the one that originates with these foreign messages and spirits. In other cases, medications can completely block these messages. We believe that medications make changes in the receiving device in the brain such that reduce the interference of foreign control enabling the main spirit to regain strength and confidence to assert the command of the body again. The action of the antipsychotic medications may resemble changing the electrical circuitry of the TV by turning down the volume and the brightness, or change the color of the TV picture and/or completely changing the frequency of the signal (channel).
We have also observed in our clinical practice, other psychiatric conditions such as dissociation, or sleepwalking that may be explained by one’s assistant spirits or foreign messages taking control of one’s brain/body when the main spirit has weakened. Mr. Li Hongzhi points out in Zhuan Falun: “In addition to the main spirit, one has assistant spirits. Some people have one, two, three, four, or five assistant spirits. The gender of one’s assistant spirits may not be the same as that of the person. The main spirit that we are mentioning here refers to our own minds. One should be aware of what one is thinking about or doing—that is your real self. But, you do not know at all what your assistant spirit does. Though you and it are born simultaneously with the same name, same appearance, and control the same body, it is not you in a strict sense.”
People who have dissociative disorders often have weak main spirits. Many of them had experienced childhood abuse or other life-threatening trauma, such as, those who fought in wars or witnessed death, etc. It is possible that the main spirit was unable to tolerate the extreme psychological stress or painful experience during the time of the traumatic events, it withdrew its control temporarily in order to emotionally survive. The intense and repetitive trauma may cause sustained and habituate weakness of the main spirit which leaves vacancy for assistant spirits or foreign spirits to step in and exert control of the brain/body. Clinically, we observe that the onset of recurrent dissociative episodes is most often precipitated by various psychological stresses and that is when the main spirit withdraws or gives up. The episodic nature of dissociation is also correlated closely with the intermittent changes of the level of the person’s life stress.
As described in Zhuan Falun, the main spirit is not aware of what the assistant spirit is doing. It appears that a person’s main spirit and his assistant spirits have their own memories. Our clinical observations are consistent with this description. People who have dissociative experiences have complete amnesia. They often cannot remember their behavior during the episode, even when other people tell them about what they have done. They cannot recognize their writings, drawings and personal belongings; they do not remember how they travel to a strange place, etc. In more severe cases, the foreign messages/spirits can also take control of the person at a time of the main spirit’s weakness. This may be observed in some cases of dissociative identity disorder. In these cases, people may be aware of experiencing multiple persons inside and controlling him. The person could hear voices coming from inside, and the persons inside have different names, etc. Similarly, in the case of substance abuse, such as alcohol-induced amnesia (blackouts), the person’s main spirit is being anesthetized so completely that foreign messages/spirits or assistant spirits may take control of his behavior. Subsequently, this results in amnesia and he cannot recall the destructive acts that he had committed during the intoxication.
During sleepwalking and other parasomnia episodes, the person can walk around or exhibit violent behavior or other complex behaviors in the middle of the sleep when the person’s main consciousness is asleep. It is difficult to wake him up, and afterward he has amnesia. The person’s assistant spirit and foreign messages may play a role in these conditions as well.
Other common psychological phenomenon, such as hypnosis state, may involve similar process suggesting that assistant or other spirits may have assume the control of the body when the main spirit is hypnotized. The suggestive instruction by hypnotist may also acts as an external control of the person’s behavior.
In summary, many years of international scientific research has failed to identify the causal relationship between abnormal brain measurements and psychiatric disorders. We need to question the fundamental hypothesis of: brain equals mind. The study of Falun Dafa give us a new understanding regarding the etiology of psychiatric disorders that is: many psychiatric conditions can result from weakness of the main spirit who gives up the control of the body and the assertion of other spirits, sometimes by very negative and harmful spirits. The treatments include the support of the main spirit to exercise firm control of oneself (many patients are able to do that). It is helpful to help them recognize and reject the foreign spirit or messages that control one’s body through psychotherapy in minor cases or through a combination of both psychotherapy and psychopharmacotherapy in more severe cases. Orthodox spiritual practices can also heal the person’s spirit.
It is our hope that the medical scientific community will join us to break through the limitations of this old way of thinking and methology that has dominated our field. We attempt to establish the basis for the study of the true science. As Mr. Li Hongzhi stated: “If human beings are able to take a fresh look at themselves as well as the universe and change their rigid mentalities, humankind will make a leap forward.”
