Blankness, mental

In seeking the answer to the riddle of human behavior, Dr. Freud found (or thought he did) that most character traits or mental attitudes in patients could be explained if only he probed far enough back into the patient s past, back to earliest childhood. He decided that the human psyche at the time of birth was like a blank slate, on which various designs were registered as the growing child adapted himself and his few primitive instincts to his circumstances to his parents, his relatives and the rules and characteristics of the household and the society. 

The symptoms of anxiety are both mental and physical. Mentally, anxious people often describe themselves as worried, keyed up, restless, or on edge. They experience difficulty concentrating and often describe their minds as going blank. Anxious people also describe a variety of physical symptoms that impact on nearly every organ system (see Table 5.1). 

Further up in the painting we see a great master of yoga with his mind made blank as sensory powers perform a mental cleansing in order to be able to attract occult powers or forces. There is also an ancient priest of Vishnu and Shiva who is very skilled in cures of the mind and body. Beside him we see an Incan Ayar, a priest and prince of all the witch doctors, healers, and sorcerers, with his shining... 

Stoller, A., Knipinski, J., Christophers. A. J., and Blanks, G. K. (1965). Organophosphorus insecticides and major mental illne.ss. An epidemiological investigation. Zzwitrf 1, 1387-1388,... 

He had been diagnosed as schizophrenic when he was 16 or 17 years old, but psychiatrist Heather Hall at SFGH doubted that the diagnosis was correct. He stared blankly into the distance, as many schizophrenic patients do. He looked really, really sad. Hall believed the correct diagnosis was depression. His mother had called the police when a quarrel with his friend escalated into a fight. The diagnosis of mental illness is often difficult and arbitrary. 

Hashish acts to depress the central nervous system and causes mental relaxation and euphoria that occurs within 15 minutes and lasts up to four hours. The drug abuser experiences a loss of inhibitions. The person s time and space perception is altered and causes a free flow of ideas to occur. These ideas, however, are disconnected. The person can experience blanks or gaps in memory similar... 

We wish to thank Michael Moore, Jim Blank, Joan Whittier, Eric Pianka, Mark Grassman, Mike Ryan, and Jim Bull for their suggestions which greatly improved this manuscript. We also wish to thank David Hinkley, Jim Bull, and Fred Marsteller for their assistance with the statistical analyses. Marie Anne Diamond and Yuki Morris provided excellent technical assistance. Special thanks to Bill Koonz and Merlin Shoesmith of the Manitoba Department of Natural Resources for their invaluable help. Supported by National Institute of Health grant NICHHD 16687 and by a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award to D. 

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