We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves
after a journey that no one can take for us,
nor spare us

— Marcel Proust

Mental Disorders diminish the quality of a human life. Some — such as Bipolar Disorder — have a biological etiology, and are appropriately treated with medication. However, when the problem is not caused by a medical disease, but by one’s beliefs and perspectives,  the cure involves changing the mind rather than the body.

How can you tell the difference between a medical and a psychological disorder? When the negative emotional states come ‘out of the blue‘ it is likely to be primarily biological in origin. On the other hand, when the self-sabotaging emotional state is a consequence of your beliefs and perspectives, the cure involves changing your beliefs and perspectives.

Personal Research

Studying subjective experience [phenomenology] is a different kind of challenge than studying other subjects, such as the physical sciences. When researching the latter, we can safely assume that the cause-and-effect principles are the same in different laboratories, and once they are specified they can be used by other laboratories and passed down from generation to generation. In contrast, subjective phenomena exist within the experience of each individual. So, each individual has but a single lifetime to learn how to work with the subjective phenomena he or she experiences.

Fortunately, the generic principles of learning and motivation are well understood. However, to take advantage of this knowledge so you can navigate the hazards of stress and temptation that life has in store for you, you will have to become familiar with working with subjective phenomena.

A Developmental Passage

Few of us have been taught how to work with subjective phenomena. Most people continue to follow the thinking patterns they used as children  — even when doing so produces bad outcomes for them. However, now that you have the mental faculties to research the causes of your reactions, you can use the understandings you acquire in the service or your will.

It is possible that your current predicament is not the result of being diseased, defective, or bad. Many people become entrapped by a pattern of self-sabotage, because they are all too human.  Emotional and Addictive Disorders are the natural consequences of psychological cause and effect principles.  

Meta-Cognitive Awareness

Meta-Cognitive Awareness is an important milestone along the passage from the mentality of childhood to the more advanced cognitive tactics described here. It refers to the appreciation that all your experience [thoughts, emotions, perceptions, etc.] are products of the nervous system of a particular creature at a particular time — they are not necessarily true [and not necessarily false]. The feeling of certainty that a particular belief is valid is simply one of those creations of your nervous system, so naturally your nervous system accepts the belief as valid. As comedian, Emo Phillips, concluded: "I used to believe that my brain was my most important organ, until I realized who was telling me that."

If you can step outside yourself and observe how you think, some of your own thinking errors may even appear amusing [See Thinking Errors], despite the fact that they cause so much suffering. We are continually taken in by the illusions that result from assuming that our perceptions and interpretations of the things that happen are valid and complete. Seeing the truth
from a dispassionate, observer’s perspective can free you from the traps of your own making.

In contrast to the temporary effects of medication, the benefits of understanding the cause-and-effect principles that determine how you react to the things that happen do not dissipate as soon as the treatment ends. In fact, once you become aware of this meta-cognitive perspective, your understanding of and ability to exert a mindful influence over your subjective experience will continue to grow.