Our group uses the podcast on the topic of an unusual way of treating mental illness as a start point of our research question, which leads to the discuss of how people construct what is normal, and how people always try to find solution for every problem. So, our final research question is: to what extent are emotions the key catalysts to problems? To answer the question, we are using two scholarly sources, one is “What is a problem?” by Thomas Osborne, and the other one is “Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures: Inter- and intranational differences” by Michael Eid and Ed Diener. The first source gives a detailed illustration of the definition of a problem using different philosophers’ models. The second source explained how culture affects people when experiencing emotions.

The first source, “What is a problem?” by Thomas Osborne focuses on comparing some of the works of some French philosophers on the topic of problematology. Gilles Deleuze states in his work Difference and Repetition that stupidity is the capacity for fabricating false problems, therefore, not all problems are real problems. For example, in the podcast, mental illness is not a problem in Geel, which is the most humane treatment for mental illness. So it is possible that mental illness is a false problem, people do not have to find a solution for it. Another French philosopher Georges Canguilhem states that normality and problems are depend on the environment an individual is in. Life is able to find the solutions to problems according to the changes in the environment. Therefore, problems are based on individuals’ past experiences in life, which leads to the conclusion that normality is not the same for each individual. Problems can come up as an individual having more experience in life, so new emotions do come in the way of coming up with questions and solving questions. On the other hand, Henri Bergson more or less agrees with Canguilhem that life is about overcoming obstacles, moreover, the solution for one problem can serve as a possible solution for a future question. Bergson believes that problems have a sense of contingency, and they responds to the surrounding environment as it changes. This source provides a detailed discussion of what different philosophers believe is the key elements of a problem, it helps us to see that what leads people to come up with questions to solve, and does emotion play a role when people come up with questions.

The second source,  “Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures: Inter- and intranational differences” by Michael Eid and Ed Diener, focuses on how culture can affect people’s reactions when experiencing emotions. It is analysed by studies in two individualistic countries, The United States and Australia, and two collectivistic countries, China and Taiwan. It was discovered that there are general reactions across all four cultures, and there are also specific reactions based on cultures. People react accordingly to the value they believe in the culture:

For example, people who value positive emotions might be more alert to positive events, might seek situations that provoke positive emotions, might appraise positive events in a more positive way, might stay in positive situations longer, and might try to maintain their positive feelings or even enhance them (Diener, 870).

Therefore, when people experience different emotions, they seek different ways to come up with questions and to solve questions, which is related to our research question that to what extent are emotions a key part of people coming up with problems and solutions. It was found that individualistic nations reacts more uniformly regarding to pleasant affect. When experiencing self-reflective emotions such as pride and guilt, individualistic and collectivistic nations differed most significantly based on the culture. Therefore, it is possible that the emotions in individuals are affected by the norm of the culture, so people are affected when they come up with problems and solution.

Works Cited

Diner, Ed and Eid, Michael. “Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures: Inter- and intranational differences.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Volume 81, Issue 5, 2001.

Osborne, Thomas. “What is a Problem?” History of the Human Sciences, Volume 16,Issue 4, 2003.

Rosin, Hannah. “The Problem with the Solution.” Invisibilia, NPR, 2016.

After reading Leslie Jamison’s “Devil’s Bait”, the group came up with the question that in the context of mental or physical illness, is it possible for an outsider free of the illness to fully empathize with the victim, or just sympathize with them? If not, what factors limit an outsider’s ability to empathize? In order to answer this question, the group looks into two sources, “The challenge of Morgellons disease” from Caroline S.Koblenzer and “Empathic Foundations of Clinical Knowledge” from Nancy Nyquist Potter.

The first source is from Caroline S.Koblenzer who is a dermatologist that focus on skin-psyche. In “The challenge of Morgellons disease”, she describes the challenges that the dermatologist is facing about Morgellons disease and provides the possible solution for it. Koblenzer firsts start describes the sensation that the Morgellons’ patients are feeling and the suffering they are going through. Koblenzer explains that the name “Morgellons” was given by Sir Thomas Browne who first describes the symptoms of Morgellons. The patients who have the similar symptoms soon categorized themselves as “Morgellons patients”. Koblenzer states that the anxious patients would usually make up an explanation of the cause and avoid it extremely to prevent the contagion. The author suggests that Morgellons are related to psychiatric conditions and mostly result from the illusion that drugs bring. Then Koblenzer claims that with the internet, more and more people share their experiences about which Morgellons makes the situation even worse. Because it induces people to believe this disease actually exists while it might just be a delusion. She concludes in the end that Morgellons is curable by taking medication like pimozide continuously. The author gives us a detailed description of Morgellons and her opinion that Morgellons is illusional. The professional evidence helps the group to look at Morgellons disease from a different perspective.

The second source is Nancy Nyquist Potter’s “Empathic Foundations of Clinical Knowledge”. In her essay, she looks at sympathy from different views and thinks that empathy is an important value to be effective clinicians. First, she states that importance of empathy in the society and how it can impact on people. She then connects to these ideas to the clinical experience which also requires a rich understanding of empathy. Because for clinicians it’s necessary to understand what the patients are going through and make the patients feel understand. The author also suggests that world traveling would give the clinicians open perspective which helps them to fully understand their patients. Lastly, The author concluded that clinicians need the moral skills to feel empathy with the patients in order to work effectively with them. This source helps the group to understand the importance of clinicians or doctors to have empathy when facing patients with special diseases.

Work Cited

Koblenzer, Caroline S.“The Challenge of Morgellons Disease.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Mosby, 17 Oct. 2006, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190962206012187?via=ihub.

Potter, Nancy Nyquist. “Empathic Foundations of Clinical Knowledge – Oxford Handbooks.”Oxford Handbooks – Scholarly Research Reviews, 16 June 2017, www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199579563.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199579563-e-021.

After reading “Devil’s Bait” by Leslie Jamison, which explained Morgellons disease and how it affects those who have it, our group responded by creating these questions: In the context of mental or physical illness, is it possible for an outsider free of the illness to fully empathize with the victim, or just sympathize with them? If not, what factors limit an outsider’s ability to empathize? In order to answer these questions, we found two sources that focused on empathy of doctors for their patients. In the first source, “The Challenge of Morgellons Disease,” written by Caroline S. Koblenzer, empathy for a patient is discussed from the perspective of a medical professional, and in the second source, “Empathic Foundation of Critical Knowledge,” by Nancy Nyquist Potter, the same subject is discussed from a physiological perspective. In both sources, the conclusion is reached that a doctor treating a patient, whether that be a patient with Morgellons or any other mental illness, needs to be able to empathize in order to fully understand how to go about helping the patient.

In “The Challenge of Morgellons Disease,” Koblenzer first explains what Morgellons disease is, and what the patients go through when they have this disease. From here, she explains that although what the patients feel or believe may not have any physical symptoms, it is first and foremost important for a dermatologist to assure the patient that what they feel is in fact what they are experiencing (Koblenzer 921). By recognizing that what a patient feels is valid, even if others have told them it is not, a doctor is able to establish a connection with a patient, which may in turn allow them to understand what would best help them. Dermatologists are then able to explain that what they are feeling is a different issue other than a skin issue, and can refer them to other sources that may benefit them. Even though these doctors cannot give a specific reason or diagnosis for their problem, by empathizing with the patient and affirming that that what they feel is actually happening for them, it is easier to help out this patient in a way that they may have never been helped before. This is helpful as it links the original article, “Devil’s Bait,” to our question, as it does specifically address Morgellons disease. However, this can be used to understand how to address and show empathy to people who have other mental illnesses.

In “Empathic Foundation of Critical Knowledge,” Potter first explains that it is extremely important for a clinician to have empathy, even if it may be difficult to do so since they cannot fully see or understand a patient’s condition. She explains that although it may be difficult to have empathy for a patient, doing so allows the clinician to truly grasp what others may be feeling and why they may be feeling this way, and then find a way to potentially go about solving this issue. She goes on to explain how one should go about feeling empathy for a patient, and describes “world-traveling,” which is a process thought up by Maia Lugones. When “world-traveling,” a clinician is able disconnect from the way they view the world to instead process the world the way the patient views and understands it, and thus is able to understand what it is to be the patient (Potter 13). This is a methodology that can lead a clinician to have empathy. This source helps to answer our question as it explains how one could potentially empathize with a mentally ill patient, and it explains that empathy is necessary so that a treatment can be found for the patient.

Works Cited

Jamison, Leslie. “Devil’s Bait.” The Empathy Exams, pp. 27-56.

Koblenzer, Caroline S. “The Challenge of Morgellons Disease.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, vol. 55, no. 5, Mosby Inc, Nov 2006, pp. 920-922.

Potter, Nancy Nyquist. “Empathic Foundation of Critical Knowledge.” Oxford Handbook Online, May 2013.

After listening to the NPR Invisibilia podcast “The Problem with the Solution,” we were struck by the concept that what society considers a problem based on its ideals of normality may not really even be a problem in the first place. Our thought process led us through conventional ideas of normality and how those concepts are formed; eventually our group came up with the question: To what extent are emotions the key catalysts to problems? To answer this question, we located two secondary sources: “What is a Problem?” by Thomas Osborne and “Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures: Inter- and intranational differences” by Michael Eid and Ed Diener.

In “What is a Problem?” Osborne recounts the ideas of various French philosophers on the notion of the problem and the study and controversy of problematology. He writes of the importance of problems in daily life, as well as the emphasis that French philosophers placed on this importance. Osborne first recounts the work of Gilles Deleuze, more particularly his work Difference and Repetition. Difference and Repetition is about the essence of problems. Deleuze even goes so far as to define stupidity as the capacity for fabricating false problems. Thus, according to Deleuze, there is a smart way of thinking about problems and a detrimental way of thinking about problems. This sort of thinking relates directly back to the podcast, as it forced us to consider whether mental illness could be a fabricated problem. Next, Osborne discusses the ideas of Canguilhem, who believed that life should be defined in terms of human interaction with the environment. Canguilhem wrote that because life is the confrontation of problems, there is no single definition for normality itself, but it can be defined based on the problems posed by a certain environment. This means that normality could essentially be defined based on the experiences one has throughout life; with experiences come different and new emotions which could serve as the source of new problems. Osborne then discusses the ideas of Bergson, who similarly to Canguilhem, wrote that life can be synonymous with the overcoming of obstacles— life is just a series of responses to surrounding stimuli that we perceive as problems. Bergson too considers certain problems to be useless and proposes that those problems be discarded in favor of “new, more productive ones” (Osborne 7). This style of thinking is important in answering our question because life is lived through the experiencing of emotion daily; thus what we perceive as problems may only look that way because our emotions tell us so. This reading can also help us define what we think of as a problem— it is important to define what “problem” means before we can determine if emotions are catalysts for problems.

“Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures: Inter- and intranational differences” discusses the immense influence that culture has on the emotional process. Culture largely establishes the social consequences of expressing or suppressing a certain emotion, the normality of feeling a certain emotion, and the social value of expressing a certain emotion. Eid and Diener conducted a cross-cultural study in which they analyzed the differences in norms for experiencing emotions between two individualistic nations— the United States and Australia— and two collectivist nations— China and Taiwan. They found that individualistic nations were the most strict in keeping a standard norm for emotional behavior. This reading can be important for answering our question because it can aid us in deciding whether emotions fuel problems based on the emotional norms in our own society. Based on the results of the individualistic United States, we can detect whether (to what extent) social consequences of emotional expression and suppression, and the social norms behind emotions fuel what we consider to be problems in our society.

Works Cited

Eid, Michael. “Norms for experiencing emotions in different cultures: Inter- and

intranational differences.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Volume 81, Issue 5, 2001.

Osborne, Thomas. “What is a Problem?” History of the Human Sciences, Volume 16, Issue 4, 2003.

Rosin, Hannah. “The Problem with the Solution.” Invisibilia, NPR, 2016.

In reading Jamison’s essay concerning Morgellons disease, a question of the limits of empathy arose. In the context of mental or physical illness, is it possible for an outsider free of the illness to fully empathize with the victim, or just sympathize with them? If not, what factors limit an outsider’s ability to empathize with them? Researching this question led the research group to two scholarly sources:  Empathic Foundations of Clinical Knowledge by Nancy Nyquist Potter and The Challenge of Morgellons Disease by Caroline S. Koblenzer MD. The first source accounts for foundations of empathy and what is needed for one to open themselves to experiencing it, and the second source provides the perspective of a medical professional in their dealings with Morgellons patients.

In Empathic Foundations of Clinical Knowledge Potter argues that empathy “allows us to anticipate the behavior of others, [and is also] morally significant” (Potter, 4). Potter claims that empathy is cultivated through an amalgamation of influences including psychological responses, our imaginations, projection of ourselves into fictional scenarios from books or other stories, a care for the wellbeing of others, and the capacity to recognize certain emotions in others (Potter, 5). However, Potter also explains that the most basic foundations of empathy are present even in infants with undeveloped psychological faculties; with the empathetic responses manifesting themselves in facial mimicry (an innate response). Potter also uses testimony from Greek philosophers to demonstrate that empathy is a virtue that must be developed over time; worked out like a muscle in order to become stronger. Finally, Potter suggests that in order to strengthen one’s empathy, they must travel the world in an effort to knock down any perceived barriers between an ingroup of people from their culture, and an outgroup of those from other cultures (Potter, 14).

In The Challenge of Morgellons Disease discusses the behaviors of Morgellons patients from the first hand account of a medical professional. Koblenzer explains that patients who become obsessed with finding an explanation for their affliction will “‘create’ a ‘cause’ for their symptoms, which makes logical sense to them, and with which they can be  comfortable” (Koblenzer). Koblenzer also states that medical professionals are “familiar” with the delusions that Morgellons patients sometimes have. Koblenzer equates the delusions of Morgellons patients to being similar to “bipolar, paranoia, schizophrenia, depression, and abuse of drugs”. Nevertheless, Koblenzer explains that in order to help the patients, dermatologists must validate the potentially ludicrous claims of the patients in an attempt to get them to take medication which has proven effective in treating the disease.

Works Cited:

Potter, Nancy Nyquist. “Empathic Foundations of Clinical Knowledge.” Oxford Handbooks Online, May 2013, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199579563.013.0021.

Koblenzer, Caroline S. “The Challenge of Morgellons Disease.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, vol. 55, no. 5, 1 Nov 2006, pp. 920-922. Science Direct, PlumX.

Based on the paper “Devil’s Bait” by Leslie Jamison the question at issue that was raised is, in the context of mental or physical illness, is it possible for an outsider free of the illness to fully empathize with the victim, or just sympathize with them? If not, what factors limit an outsider’s ability to empathize? The first source found that helps answer this question is “The Challenge of Morgellons Disease” by Caroline S. Koblenzer. This is from the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, and addresses the issue with a more medical point of view. This source provides an overview of what Morgellons patients deal with; feelings of bugs or parasites under the skin crawling and biting, fibers coming out of their skin, and visible sores on many of their bodies from where they try to dig out the “bugs”, fibers, or anything else they believe is coming from their skin. The source makes it clear that many of these patients are very anxious and are just on a search for answers. Many doctors do not believe them, so they go from doctor to doctor hoping just one will understand and believe what they’re saying. According to Koblenzer the patients “‘create’ a ‘cause’ for their symptoms, which makes logical sense to them” (Koblenzer). This often results in them not believing that there is something psychologically wrong with them. They often will not accept any explanation that does not directly correlate to what they believe – that they have “things” and “fibers” inside of their bodies that are causing them to suffer. This source addresses the importance of medical doctors understanding and empathizing with the patient. It stresses that the most important thing is to understand that the patient is in fact feeling those sensations whether the doctor can find an explanation for them or not. This allows them to understand the struggle of the patient even without an outright physical diagnosis. It also allows them to better find ways to refer them to a psychiatrist or some other form of treatment. If the doctor understands that what the person is saying is true, they can find a way to convince the patient that some other form of treatment will be most effective (Koblenzer). This source helps answer the question at issue because not only does it address the overall disease of Morgellons, it emphasizes the importance of understanding the patient and empathizing with them even if it is very difficult to believe what they are saying.

The second source is “Empathic Foundations of Clinical Knowledge” by Nancy Nyquist Potter. This comes from The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Psychiatry and addresses the question with a more psychological perspective. Potter relates empathy to morality in this piece of writing. She states that “the inner world – and the material, lived experiences – of others can be puzzling, elusive, or very difficult to grasp” (Potter 2). A main point of this paper is that doctors often view their patients as just their diagnosis, not as a full individual person. They can sometimes have a tendency to lump together patients with similar diagnoses and do not take into account how the mental disorder affects each individual personally. Empathy from the clinician plays an important role in understanding why others may be feeling certain symptoms. According to Potter it is important for clinicians to use empathy to sort of take the place of their patient and view their experience through the patient’s point of view. Another important thing is that the doctor must have accurate knowledge of the patient’s illness so they can help them most effectively. Being educated about the illness helps the doctor see how various treatments and therapies may help that specific patient. Having knowledge of what they are going through and being able to empathize with the patient will also allow the doctor to form a better relationship with them which may help the patient feel understood and stop fighting what the doctor says if it does not match exactly what they would like to hear. In addition, the clinician must be able to understand what the patient does to cope with their symptoms and suffering and how that may factor into treatment plans. This source effectively aids in answering the question at issue since it deeply addresses the importance of a doctor having empathy.

Works Cited

“The Challenge of Morgellons Disease.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Mosby, 2006, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190962206012187?via=ihub.

Jamison, Leslie. “Devil’s Bait.” The Empathy Exams, pp. 27–56.

Potter, Nancy Nyquist. “Empathic Foundations of Clinical Knowledge.” Oxfordhandbooks.com, Oxford Handbooks Online, Sept. 2013, www.oxfordhandbooks.com.ezp.lib.rochester.edu/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199579563.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199579563-e-021?print=pdf.

After reading John Ronson’s “God that was Awesome”, we found a lot of controversy regarding Justine Sacco’s situation and public shaming in general. It seemed obvious that this shaming was less controlled online than in person after Ronson’s talk with Judge Poe (88). So from there, we looked into Justine’s situation and came up with the question of whether or not shaming should be regulated on social media and if so, how?

We were able to find a piece by Kristine Gallardo that established the legal precedence of shaming cases. In “Taming the Internet Pitchfork Mob”, Gallardo establishes a basis of shaming in the United States and then explains how ease of access and anonymity of users seems to encourage public shaming on social media. She then takes us through a series of legal incidents and how the Communications Decency Act protects posters and websites from taking the blame of shaming incidents, helping provide a legal background for our question of regulation (Gallardo).

Emily Laidlaw writes the second piece we chose to use, “Online Shaming and the Right to Privacy”. Laidlaw lays out the analysis of the victim’s, the mob, and the failure of our current law to provide any protection from these attacks. She furthers Gallardo’s work by focusing more on the reasons the law is failing than a just reproduction of the cases and trends that show that the law is failing, as Gallardo does. Laidlaw also makes a key distinction between humbling and humility that helps fuel an analysis of the social nature of social media and where a line distinguishing user privacy comes into play. This work will help us to give reason the support regulation or no regulation (Laidlaw).

These two pieces provide valuable insight into the question at hand. First, we can look at what little regulation there is, essentially none, in Gallardo’s work. From here we gain the background knowledge we need in order to understand the position we are currently at. We are also given numerous examples of cases that we can choose to embrace, or disagree with, to argue for, or against, regulation. Following this, we are going to be able to use Laidlaw’s work to help pave the theoretical basis of our arguments through her analysis shaming situations. Laidlaw’s key terms can be crucial to the success of our arguments. These two sources provide all the groundwork that we need to build our argument and do so in such a neutral way that we can choose either side to argue. I think that what we have allows us to simply argue our points and create a well grounded paper without reaching too far on biased ideas or getting caught up in something outside the issue we’re focusing on. That is, we should be able to form and defend a stance on whether or not there should be any regulation of public shaming on social media.

Works Cited

Gallardo, Kristine. “Taming the Internet Pitchfork Mob: Online Public Shaming, the Viral Media Age, and the Communications Decency Act.” Vand. J. Ent. & Tech. L. 19 (2016): 721.

Laidlaw, Emily B. “Online Shaming and the Right to Privacy.” Laws6.1 (2017): 3.

Ronson, Jon. “God that was Awesome.” So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, Riverhead Books, pp. 67–90.

In Leslie Jamison’s “Devil’s Bait”, the author discusses her trip to Austin for a conference, where she met people who claim themselves to have Morgellons. Morgellons is a disease which the common symptom is to have strange fibers emerge from the skin. But Morgellons has never been diagnosed and most of the doctors suggest that Morgellons is simply a delusion from drugs. The people who get ignored from the doctors assemble the Morgellons which lead to this conference to let them share their stories. During the conference, different “patients” describe how they suffer from Morgellons mentally and physically which aroused the empathy from Jamison. She related to herself and began to wonder if she has Morgellons too. The author concluded in the end that without knowing if this disease exists or not, all she can do for those people is to feel empathy.
The empathy that the author discussed in the essay has risen up the question whether people should feel empathy without reasoning? The importance of this question is that it leads us to think if the patients’ stories truly evoke empathy or simply fear. The author has clearly explained that she does not think Morgellons really exists. The reason that the author feels empathy for those people is that she understands their suffering and is afraid of it. The growing fear that these stories bring makes Jamison related to her own experience. Jamison thought about when she found there was a worm in her ankle, after taking it out, she constantly felt like there were more worms hidden in there. This experience leads her to fear about Morgellons happen to herself which leads to empathize with the people who have Morgellons. But what if the disease does not exist and the stories have been exaggerated, is the empathy she feels real or not.

Jamison, Leslie, et al. “The Devil’s Bait.” Harper’s Magazine.

For the second formal assignment, we will be working as a class to develop a question at issue about a topic based on each of the three assigned readings from this section of the class. You will then choose which question you want to write about. After discussing developing research questions in class today and reading the final assigned reading, your job for this blog post is to select the topic that you want to work with for this assignment, develop a potential research question for that topic, and locate at least two scholarly sources that look like promising sources for an essay on this topic. So, consider the next 2 blog posts two parts of a larger single assignment to prepare you to write Formal Assignment 2:

Blog Post 4 – Moving from topic to question
Using the specific popular text that you are working with, introduce your chosen topic and explain how this topic raises the question at issue. Imagine an audience who has not read (or listened to) the text. Use a brief summary of that text to both pique the reader’s interest in this topic and raise the issue that you will research and answer for your second formal assignment. In addition, make it clear why this is an important question that should be answered.

Blog post 4 should be about 300-500 words, and is due by the beginning of class on Thursday, October 12.

Blog Post 5 – Looking for answers
Revised 10/18
For this post, introduce the question at issue that the class settles on for your chosen topic, identify the two scholarly sources (name of author[s] and title of source) you’ll be using as you complete this assignment, and summarize these sources–making it clear how these sources are addressing (in whole or in part) the question at issue you and your group have settled on.

Include full Works Cited entries for all sources used in these posts (there should be at least 3 between them, but there may be more). Blog post 5 should be 500-700 words, and is due at the beginning of class on Tuesday October 24.*