¿Eres otra persona al hablar otro idioma?

[poli]

Originally Posted by María José

You know, Poli, I was thinking and maybe I do have a multiple-personality disorder. You know: Iris, Gemma and now María José...Just kidding.
But on a more serious note, there's something which I have always found fascinating. A lot of famous writers, poets, painters, composers ... have suffered and suffer from mental illnesses. Is it just a coincidence? Is it that we learn about it because they are famous? Or is it true, as some mental health professionals say, that a high IQ is often related to mental instability or neurological disease?
Some examples that come to mind are:
- Mary Lamb (who co-wrote Tales from Shakespeare)
- Sylvia Plath (though been married to Ted Hughes might have precipitated her tragic ending )
- John Nash
- Iris Murdoch
- Goya
- Beethoven
- Mozart
And we could go on and on. I don't know but there seems to be a link between being a great artistic genius and suffering from 'depression' (a very blurry term, I know)
Sorry if this is getting too depressing (another redundancy) but it's cloudy at the moment in Madrid.... The thing is... I like cloudy!

Cloudy in Madrid? That's rare. Cloudy in New York. Not so rare, but not today. I definitely think that mental illness opens up a well of creativity in some individuals-- a well that sometimes unfortunately cannot be controlled without heavy duty drugs. One thing I know for a fact: mental instability does not discriminate. People with high IQ's and low IQ's suffer
from it, and it is a source of creativity for some, and I am grateful for that some.

[CrOtALiTo]

Yeah, Poli it's dificult for the person who take the treatment, above all, it's more dificult for the family, altough they don't take the treatment of heavy duty drugs but they feel over things what happen to the familiar.

[Elaina]

Eso es cierto CrOtALiTo, la persona con el problema mental está metido en su propio mundo y busca escape usando alguna forma de arte, pintar, dibujar, escribir música, etc. La familia de esta persona sufre porque ellos se sienten impotentes, no saben que hacer, no saben como mejorar la vida de estos individuos y muy, pero muy por dentro quizás hasta se sientan culpables por la condicion de su hija/hijo.

Es muy dificil, me imagino, vivir con un problema mental o con una persona que sufre un problema mental.

[CrOtALiTo]

Yes, it's dificult for the family of the patient.

[Jane]

Originally Posted by Elaina

In a way, maybe not to the extent that Sybil suffered, I think we all have different personalities. The difference is that we know how to control them and use them specifically depending on the situation.

We have a personality when we are home or on the job, when we meet new people, when we want to make a good impression, etc.

What I think happened to Sybil is that she was horribly abused by her mother and she used the different personalities as her defense mechanism. This type of behavior is quite prevalent in children or people in general that suffer abuse at the hands of their caretakers. Not everyone that is abused goes into some type of psychoses but usually there is some form of mental illness that requires treatment in the long run.

What a boring world this would be if we acted the same all the time.

I think that the only constant thing in life is change, and in my opinion change is always spurred on by learning and increased knowledge/awareness. It essentially doesn´t stop at speaking another language, or intended to make one another person, but a better person, someone who´s able to rise up to any situation, to relate well with most people, basically a flexible person (when the need arises), and we usually find that the knowledge of another language widens our scope.
And like Elaina so sweetly put it,
"What a boring world this would be if we acted the same all the time."

[Jane]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

Yes, it's dificult for the family of the patient.

We have a saying that someone caring after a sick person is not well himself.
Usually, the emotional and psychological stress on the caregivers are tremendous.

[María José]

Originally Posted by Jane

We have a saying that someone caring after a sick person is not well himself.
Usually, the emotional and psychological stress on the caregivers are tremendous.

Totally true, I think both the sick person (whether it be a physical or mental disorder) and the caregiver need some kind of support network, either from friends, relatives or professionals.-----

[Elaina]

I agree wholeheartedly! No matter what your endeavor is, there should be a support network.

Does this mean we are all part of a network and we "assist" each other?

How exciting......our support network expands throughout the world!

[María José]

Originally Posted by Elaina

I agree wholeheartedly! No matter what your endeavor is, there should be a support network.

Does this mean we are all part of a network and we "assist" each other?

How exciting......our support network expands throughout the world!

I'm not trying to be , but you are great with the smilies too. I love the two globes with the football in the middle.
Sure, we are (part of a network), you are even helping me re-learn Spanish.

[Elaina]

Bravo!

Bravo!

[Marsopa]

Perhaps, artistic people tend to be super sensitive and therefore prone to depression.
That makes sense to me.

Marsopa

[María José]

Originally Posted by Marsopa

Perhaps, artistic people tend to be super sensitive and therefore prone to depression.
That makes sense to me.

Marsopa

We seem to agree on quite a few things.

[Freddy]

What a great question. Yes, I DO think speaking another language changes you. What you think about, how you think, how you're seen, who you are. But then again I think that we're not the same person today as we were yesterday, or will be tomorrow. And that's good to know.

[Elaina]

Hey Freddy,

I've not seen you in the forums before......welcome!

[María José]

Originally Posted by Freddy

What a great question. Yes, I DO think speaking another language changes you. What you think about, how you think, how you're seen, who you are. But then again I think that we're not the same person today as we were yesterday, or will be tomorrow. And that's good to know.

'My sentiments exactly'. (Poli, do you know who I'm quoting?)
And as Elaina said: Welcome, Freddy! (Great minds think alike)

[poli]

Originally Posted by María José

'My sentiments exactly'. (Poli, do you know who I'm quoting?)
And as Elaina said: Welcome, Freddy! (Great minds think alike)

M.J., I never heard of "my sentiments exactly", but now, thanks to you,
I do. I googled it, and came up with a company that produces rubber-stamp sentiments. How convenient!

[María José]

Originally Posted by poli

M.J., I never heard of "my sentiments exactly", but now, thanks to you,
I do. I googled it, and came up with a company that produces rubber-stamp sentiments. How convenient!

But I was quoting Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia... He says it twice when he first meets the character played by Colin Firth.
But I have to admit that the rubber-stamp thing is one of those quirky little coincidences...By the way, do you know the word empalagosa? I don't remember if we mentioned it or if it was a similar one that we talked about in another thread.

[poli]

No, I never heard of the word empalagosa, but I will add it to my increasing personal glossary that ,one day, I will commit to memory.

When you first wrote "my thoughts exactly" it reminded me of comic pair Laurel and Hardy. I think they said this a lot. I think in Latin America they are known as El Gordo y El Flaco.

[María José]

Originally Posted by poli

No, I never heard of the word empalagosa, but I will add it to my increasing personal glossary that ,one day, I will commit to memory.

When you first wrote "my thoughts exactly" it reminded me of comic pair Laurel and Hardy. I think they said this a lot. I think in Latin America they are known as El Gordo y El Flaco.

It was posher than that. It was 'my sentiments exactly'. Remember it was Mr Brosnan speaking...
Empalagoso in the context I used it is similar to cursi, somebody who uses lots of terms of endearment when talking, smiles too much, likes cute little bears...
You can also say a cake is empalagoso when it's too rich, like for example trifle (which incidentally I love).
We also call them El Gordo... here in Spain.

[poli]

La verdad es que nadie tiene la imunidad contra lo cursi, y lo empalagoso, pero el conocimieno del significado de las palabras le da un pequeño inoculación o sea no 100% efectivo. Me alegro que no es 100% efectivo porque a veces las cosas cursis son divirtidas especialmente para los niños y las trufas de chocolate son agradables de ves en cuando.

Es una lástima que en inglés no hay palabras sinónimos solamente palabras
que aceracan cursi (como dijimos corny, syrupy, y cómo no dijimos Hallmark sentiment, a little too Disneyish, cloying, y unas palabras muy raras jejune y vapid que casi nadie sino catedráticos usan.

Incidentally I love English trifle which fyi is just about unavailable in the USA except in Italian coffee houses in some big cities. They call it suppa inglese. Paradoxically, it came to us by way of Italy.