To all listmembers,
Since posting the abstracts on personality a few days ago,
there has been a lot of discussion on the list about this
subject. Certainly, debate is a good thing, and many of the
responses I received were thoughtful and eloquent, but a few
(not many,but some) were quite angry and seemed to be personally
directed against me. So I'd like to say a few more things. (If
this isn't risk-taking behavior, I don't know what is!)
First of all - I did not write these articles; I didn't
conduct the research; I'm not a psychologist, and I wasn't
attempting to promote a certain point of view. Another list
member asked if anyone knew of literature on a "Parkinson
personality" and I answered her question, and copied the
abstracts of some articles I had in my files. I also added my
reactions to the articles and posed some "what if" questions that
came to mind after re-reading them. I find it fascinating to read
about human behavior and the influences that form our
personalities, and thought others might be interested too.
I never meant to imply that every PWP has the same
personality traits. As I said in my original posting, "Of course
while many of us may fit the profile, there are probably just as
many others who don't." No group of people should be stereotyped.
I would never defend such a practice, and I don't believe that
was what these researchers were trying to do either. The
disadvantage of seeing only an abstract is that so much is left
out. If you read the entire article, the authors do discuss many
of the same issues that were brought up in your replies.
There has been much research in recent years on brain
chemistry, and there is some evidence that it can produce
tendencies for certain traits and behaviors. But these tendencies
are of course influenced by many other factors - our parents and
upbringing, social influences, the environment, and living with a
chronic disease. I do think it is important to understand how all
these influences work and interact, including how decreased
levels of dopamine may affect us in all ways, whether premorbidly
or not. Maybe we don't all agree with the theories presented in
these articles, but who knows - perhaps this type of research
will add another piece to the PD puzzle.
I am facing similar challenges as everyone else. I feel
anger too - anger about having this disease,at insensitive
medical personnel,at people who patronize me,at a government that
moves too slowly,or just doesn't care. But what good does it do
for us to be angry with each other for sharing information (even
if it is controversial),or for expressing a differing opinion?
Peace,
Linda Herman
