Over the long history of investigation many things have taken their turn as the cause of mental illness. When statistics showed that inner cities had higher rates of schizophrenia than rural areas, depravation was put forth, as its cause. When patients got better in hospitals then worse when they returned home, poor parenting and failed home life was believed to be a cause. Victims of bipolar disorder and other psychiatric problems often blame their own childhood abuse.

Now modern medicine has discovered chemical changes in the brains of some schizophrenic’s and this too has moved to the top of the list of probable cause for mental illness even though there is only a statistical correlation for the theory.

The experts who abandoned that early information made a mistake. While their conclusions were wrong the observation was accurate, there was more mental illness in crowded urban areas. But information was not available then that would allow them to understand why that was so.

Today there are still studies being done in Scandinavia attempting to find a genetic or psycho-social reason that mental illness is more prevalent in urban areas. The statistics have held true for more than a hundred years although modern era studies began in the 1930's. (The 'Mad Travelers' of  France epidemic began about 1880.They were all clerks, artisans, and small shop keepers. Farmers or rural residents were not involved.)

There is a simpler solution for the cause of first psychotic episodes. It is something "hard wired" into our physiology of sight. It can be shown to cause these psychotic episodes by observation of two exercises. Both Qi Gong and Kundalini Yoga produce the mental breaks.

There is a problem with human physiology related to the human vision startle reflex that was discovered in the 1960’s when it caused mental breaks for knowledge workers. They were using new movable close-spaced workstations. Psychologists determined that Subliminal Sight and Peripheral Vision Reflexes had operated in those special circumstances to cause the mental breaks. Outside the United States in the field of Design the problem is called Subliminal Distraction. That term has a limited definition here. It usually refers to sounds subliminally perceived while attempting to concentrate in a busy environment.

Every human who ever lived had and has an evolutionarily developed system that will subliminally detect movement toward you and attempt to warn by breaking your concentration with a startle. You will experience a urge to quickly look in the direction of the detected movement.  If you have ever been startled when someone stepped up beside you or caught something out of the corner of your eye, that is the brain system that causes the problem. That system cannot be turned off. It can be ignored and if you do that you will habituate notice of the detected movement within seconds. The subliminal action of the system prevents your being aware that your brain is still detecting threat movement and attempting to force the startle.

Herman Miller Inc. introduced the Action Office 1 in 1964 but modified it by adding vision-blocking panels in 1968. This created the Action Office System, cubicle, and the mental breaks stopped.

 Although they must have known it is a ‘conflict of physiology’ not a problem of office space, when they solved their problem they didn’t investigate further.

The episode created when there is intense short term exposure resolves with no treatment once the stimulation of the subconscious stops. This can be seen in ICU Psychosis, Qi Gong psychotic reaction, the mental problems associated with Kundalini Yoga, and those caused by participation in Landmark Education's seminar, The Forum.

Today so few people are aware of why the cubicle was created the problem is never considered when there is a first psychotic episode,  student suicide, strange disappearance, or mass school shooting. (The Redlake shooter left a journal entry that tells what he did to cause exposure.)

The Virginia Tech shooter had created the "special circumstances" for exposure when he used the suite common room to study while others walked by ignoring him. While the episode this phenomenon causes may resolve if stimulation stops the outcome of low-level long-term exposure can be tragic. Seng-Hui Cho had been exposed as his roommates left and returned to the dorm suite rather than the exposure you would expect during the eight hour work day in a crowded business office. Interviews said he increased the at risk activity in the month before the shooting.

We do not have to look far to find other possible outcomes of exposure from Subliminal Distraction.

Qi Gong and Kundalini Yoga produce the same "special circumstances" that those prototype workstations did. They both produce first psychotic episodes when too many exercise periods are performed in a compact time frame.

 But when exposure is low level and persistent over long periods the exercises create narrowly focused, psychotic, altered mental states. Qi Gong masters begin to believe they have superhuman strength and supernatural powers. They think they can cast energy, chee, from their fingertips to strike opponents. Some Kundalini Gurus believe they can levitate, dematerialize, become invisible, walk through solid objects, and that they can read your thoughts or control your actions through mental telepathy. This happens when they experience the Awakening of Kundalini. The same phenomenon in Qi Gong is called "opening the third eye." Qi Gong Psychotic Deviation is included as a Culture Bound Syndrome in the DSM but not the Awakening of Kundalini even though they are near identical activities and produce similar mental outcomes.

Acolytes of these exercises believe they are reaching a higher plane of existence for the purpose of achieving enlightenment. They have been doing this for 2400 and 3000 years respectively.

There is YouTube video of someone with this altered mental state. It is taken from a National Geographic's Channel program "Is It Real?" If the video is removed you can still see the segment aired on Cable TV. The episode is called "Superhuman Powers."

G. Dillman on National Geographic's video link Total clip time 8:13.

At time mark 4:03 he claimed telepathic powers, being able to control the actions of people waiting in line at Starbucks.  At time mark 5:30 he begins the demonstration of throwing Chee. Dillman explains the failure of a trial of his powers beginning at time mark, 7:35.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-x4iJM2aU4

When these Qi Gong or Kundalini Yoga exercises are performed eyes-open concentration, meditation, is substituted for the mental investment and slight dissociation necessary to perform knowledge work. Movement of others in the exercise group creates the threat movement detected when office staff walks close beside an unprotected knowledge worker.

Classrooms create the same situation as the 1960’s business office. But students do the same things at the same time so that exposure is limited. When puberty increases body size, exposure spikes. That’s why schizophrenia onsets in adolescence. Schizophrenia can be explained as an altered mental state without the narrow focus encountered when exposure is coupled with instruction in bizarre belief systems. This altered mental state can be layered on any other disorder, neurological problem, or illness. Only the blind are  immune.

Hutterite colonies have very low levels of schizophrenia. They intermarry thus genetics are being investigated to find a reason for that low incidence. But Hutterites stop schooling in the ninth grade before the full effect of increased exposure to subliminal distraction would be realized.

The designers and psychologists who discovered this phenomenon did not understand what they had found. They made three basic mistakes. They thought their encounter was the first time the phenomenon had been created. Its temporary period of confusion and pseudo-psychotic behavior was believed to be harmless and the only outcome of exposure. Massive exposure such as in the business office was believed to be necessary to cause any psychiatric outcome. None of that is true.

The jumping diseases, startle-matching behaviors, provide a path to understand the phenomenon. They are so strange it cannot be argued that the cases are some other disorder. Victims exhibit hyper-startle and hyper-suggestibility at the point of startle. They have behaviors, usually only seen in catatonic schizophrenia.

Jumping Frenchmen of Maine was discovered when lumberjacks lived in bunkhouses in 1880’s Maine. When a lumberjack chooses an open, unprotected, location to perform an activity requiring mental investment to the point of slight dissociation they can be exposed as others move too-close beside them. . There are no desks and filing cabinets but the mental investment and exposure are the same as those 1960’s offices. That syndrome disappeared when modern logging equipment replaced bunkhouses of men in remote lumber camps. Rather than the eight-hour business day exposure is limited to nights and those days too inclement to work outside. This is higher level of exposure, but lower intensity exposure, than the one or two exercise periods each week for Qi Gong and Kundalini Yoga.

In Malaysia entire villages live in a single longhouse. Without electrical power for lighting they must sit near a window or door to perform craftwork requiring mental investment. Other villagers walk by to enter or exit creating exposure. Latah is the jumping disease of Malaysia. Jumping diseases as well as Culture Bound Syndromes are found around the world where either of two conditions is met, many people living and working in a large single-room arrangement, or when two or more people live in too-small primitive single-room housing. There have been single cases happening as a result of exposure on factory work floors. Concentration to operate a lathe, punching machine, or even a Post Office mail-sorting machine creates the opportunity for exposure if there is repeating detectable movement in peripheral vision.

The crowded single-room living situation has produced mental breaks with violence. Fur trappers, mountain men, preferred to over-winter alone rather than risk that a cabin mate would go berserk and try to kill them. It was called Cabin Fever. There have been mental breaks on Russian space missions, Soyuz 21/Salut-5. The too-small capsule and scientific work create opportunities for exposure. Just as in ICU Psychosis, Culture Bound Syndromes, and the early office workplace experience non-violent victims usually recover without treatment.

This argues that violence in inner cities is, in part, caused by crowded living conditions where many family members are in too-small apartments. Remember that in the 1930's schizophrenia was more prevalent in inner cities than rural areas. That fact was replicated both here and in Europe.

A fifteen year study examined watching violent TV as a cause of violence in children. But I am unaware of any control factor for the size of the family,  birth order, or the nature of the living arrangements. When young children watch TV they often sit close to the set and watch with suspension of disbelief. They are completely focused on the action. Think about the last time you attempted to call a young child away from a TV program. They become so deeply involved watching that It often takes several attempts to gain their attention. That mental state is similar to the mental investment necessary to perform knowledge work. Movement of other children or even family pets could easily be detected in peripheral vision by these concentrating watchers.

Even eyes-open daydreaming causes slight dissociation. There has been a recent study that found a correlation between children who daydream and those who later become schizophrenic. Film studies showed that children who stand back and observe rather than participate in social activities had a high correlation for schizophrenia.

The brain’s detection system only evaluates movement. There is little recognition of the nature of the object in peripheral vision. If you have several hours exposure from human traffic at the library, while reading at an open table or seated in a reading room chair, followed by long hours watching TV with a critically misplaced ceiling fan sweeping detectable shadows around the room, the combination of those two behaviors might cause the problem. The suggestion is that either activity alone would not consume enough exposure time even if the critical movement is present.

Copyright 2003

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