Depression can hit at any age.

More than the blues, the overall feeling of doom can trigger some people to kill themselves. Researchers now are looking at this behavior from a new angle. Studies show that low levels of the brain chemical serotonin can in part lead to an overall insensitivity to future consequences, setting off impulsive & aggressive behaviors & perhaps culminating in suicide.

By selectively restoring the chemicals' activity researchers hope to prevent destructive behavior as well as head off suicide - the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S.

Grades are posted.

• Alex . . . 98%

• Pam ...  85%

• Nick...    91%

Your grade?

• 20%

You're upset so you talk to your teacher to find out where you went wrong. 

But what if your feelings went out of control? You rip up the posted mid-term grades & glare at your teacher as you exit the classroom. In the days that follow you experience overwhelming feelings of sadness & thoughts of ending your life. 

Why would a person behave one way rather than another? For years, scientists have agreed that some behavior flaws can arise from environmental influences including how your parents raised you or from a traumatic life crisis such as the death of a loved one.

Now a growing body of evidence suggests that a chemical dubbed serotonin (ser-oh-TOE-nin) also may play a part. Some scientists believe that low activity of the chemical in the brain can lead to an underlying inability to handle powerful feelings, which can result in impulsive acts, aggressive behaviors & suicidal tendencies.

This new line of research may lead to:

• The use of brain imaging techniques for identifying those who may be impulsively aggressive or suicidal.

• A method to monitor the serotonin medications given to suicidal depressed patients.

• New insights on the mechanisms of serotonin.

Serotonin is one of a group of chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters that carry out communication in the brain & body. The message molecules flow from a nerve cell or neuron onto other neurons that act as receivers.

There, they attach to a distinctly shaped area on the neuron called a receptor site. This union, which is like a key fitting into a lock, triggers signals that either allow the message to be passed on to other cells or prevent the message from being forwarded.

Since the discovery of serotonin in the 1950's, researchers are finding evidence that one of its roles is to mediate emotions & judgment. 

i.e., in animal studies, scientists discovered that low serotonin levels may be associated with impulsive or risky behavior. Researchers observed monkeys & found that the ones who took more dangerous leaps traveling from tree to tree had lower serotonin levels & more injuries from falling.

Other scientists examined rats & found the ones with low serotonin levels chose a small immediate reward instead of waiting for a bigger prize. 

Scientists also have compiled studies that show serotonin is implicated in aggressive acts. One example involves mice who lack one type of receptor that responds to serotonin. These defective mice attack intruders faster & more intensely.

Other researchers examined the spinal fluid of murderers in Finland. Their results indicate that these individuals have abnormally low levels of serotonin. 

Some researchers now believe that suicide may be the ultimate act of inwardly directed impulsive aggression. 

In one new area of research, scientists are examining humans with brain imaging techniques & believe defects in serotonin processing are partially responsible for suicidal behavior. Preliminary results show that depressed people who have attempted suicide exhibit lower serotonin activity in response to a drug that boosts the amount of the chemical in the brain.

In addition, the depressed had a history of comitting impulsive acts including overeating & aggressive behaviors such as lighting fires or fighting. 

Scientists plan to uncover the brain areas where serotonin's inactivity causes the most havoc & identify all the components that play a role in the defective processing. Researchers view the brain in action with a special imaging technique called positron emission tomography (pet).

These pet scans compare the brain activity of a severely depressed patient to a healthy volunteer. Both people received a drug called fenfluramine that is known to increase the availability of serotonin in the brain.

The scans demonstrate that only the healthy patient has an increase in serotonin activity, which is represented by the orange & yellow shading. This suggests that the severely depressed have a very blunted response to the neurotransmitter or very low serotonin levels.

Researchers plan to use the technology to devise imaging guidelines that would identify patients with this deficiency.

Anger is a way of asserting my rights & my opinions, a way of pushing back when I feel threatened.

I can reinforce my anger by focusing on how I see a situation. Sometimes I go over my arguments repeatedly, explaining to myself — or to anyone who'll listen — why I'm justified in feeling the way I do, justified in doing what I did or in saying what I did.

I may express my anger quietly in stony withdrawal, over time in little verbal jabs, or I may explode abruptly.

Getting angry clears out the space around me. It gives me a bigger sense of myself. It pushes other people away.

At it's best, anger can energize me to make things different, to improve my situation.

Anger is our own attention-getter, arousing us to respond to something that may hurt us or those we care about.

When serving its true function — when it's healthy — anger is brief in duration, appropriate in intensity to the situation & it yields constructive action.

But healthy anger is a rarity.

Instead of being clear, direct, focused & brief, our anger lingers, comes out in inappropriate ways, damages our relationships & makes life unpleasant.

• We seethe for days, months, years, even life-times.
• We explode over trivial incidents.
• We're sarcastic & derisive.
• We pout & complain.

Why is anger such a problem in our lives? Because we have a real reason to be angry: our lives aren't filled with the love & satisfaction that we crave.

We're angry because we aren't getting what we want & need out of life.

We aren't getting the love, the respect, the attention, the caring that we want.

Whether or not we believe that we deserve it, we all want it. We all need it.

No one can give us all that we need & we can't give anyone else all of the love & caring that they need. We just don't have it in us.

Why not? Why is there this deep, painful need within us that never gets fully satisfied?

Is there anything we can do except continue to get angry?

We have a need that no one can meet because we are meant to live in God's love, but we've forgotten how.

There's a God who loves us & not just in some vague & distant way. There's a God who wants us to experience his love.

In the experience of God's love, his caring & his acceptance of us as we are, there's freedom from the need to be angry about our lives. There's the possibility of peace & contentment.

Some Philosophizing About Lying

by Ben Best

What is Lying?

Lying is communication with the intention of creating a false belief. A sarcastic statement which isn't intended or expected to create a false belief isn't a lie, even if it creates a false belief. If a statement is true, but the communicator believes it's false, it still counts as a lie.

Although self-deception is possible, it's difficult to accomplish with full consciousness and intention. Therefore, lying is most often done by one person to one or more others.

Lies are typically motivated by a desire to persuade others to act or to refrain from acting in a certain manner - or to make decisions in one's favor. Sex, money, status, power, love - anything desired can provide temptation to kill, steal or lie. But lies can be motivated by nothing other than the creation of a false (misleadingly favorable or unfavorable) image or the fabrication of an entertaining story.

Costs and Benefits of Lying

Credibility is a form of wealth. Everyone has access to some credibility. If credibility is squandered, believers are less readily available - but "there is a sucker born every minute". This is reassuring only for persons who are content to continually populate their lives with newly-born "suckers".

Lasting relationships are built on credibility and trust. There is little that people will do for each other without some amount of trust. Truthfulness and trust are usually essential for goodwill. If one wishes to be believed when speaking the truth, one must have credibility. Credibility is also required if one is to be believed when lying.

The "perfect lie" is a lie that produces a benefit and which will never be discovered. Or a lie which misleads a person who will never again be of any consequence or value. But it isn't always easy to predict who will never be of consequence. If the pattern is repeated often enough, a mistake will be made which entails a person of considerable consequence.

Maintaining a false perception in the mind of a person with whom there is an on-going relationship requires constant maintenance and diligence - an on-going cost which isn't incurred by someone who tells the truth. Lying about one matter makes it easier to lie about others. Lies often require more lies to shore-up the false impressions. The liar must remember all the lies to maintain the illusions. Truth becomes a feared enemy of the liar. The intelligence of the duped person becomes the enemy of the liar. The accumulation of lies increases the probability of discovery. With discovery and the collapse of an elaborate fabrication comes a considerable loss of credibility and trust. Once credibility is lost it can be very difficult to regain.

The confirmed liar will only be comfortable in the company of those who are easily deceived - not those with intelligence and understanding. A person who resists lying has the capacity to build lasting relationships of trust. Trust is an important ingredient in every aspect of life which is dependent upon personal relationships - including work, business, friendship, love and family.

LYING TO FRIENDS & LOVED-ONES

People justify lying to enemies by regarding them as people of no value or negative value. But people justify lying to friends, associates & loved-ones on the grounds of being people of value. To maintain or enhance the esteem of those valued it can be tempting to exaggerate personal accomplishments or to cover-up embarrassing mistakes.

If we can't trust the truth to those we love, to some extent we treat them as adversaries. While this may be emotionally safe or gratifying, it's also distancing.

So-called "white lies" are often justified as being acts of consideration. To decline an invitation with an untrue excuse is a ruse intended to protect both the liar & the deceived. To express gratitude for an unwanted gift or to express insincere concern about another's well-being are also regarded as politeness. Lies can be an easy way to reduce conflict or make others feel better. Nonetheless, these practices erode credibility & create distance.

The consequences may be moderate, however, if the politeness is recognized & accepted as social custom.

Being close to people requires being open & honest. Being close to another person means knowing intimately what's going on in the other persons heart & mind - for better or worse - & this usually requires communication & disclosure. Warts become visible when you're up-close-&-personal. Lying is far more work - & the risk of exposure is far greater - in a close relationship.

Closeness to the point of intimacy involves such exposure as to require great trust. The closeness of intimacy can mean greater vulnerability to being hurt. We must not only be more open & honest to allow a person to come close to us, we must have the credibility to inspire trust in the other person for them to allow us to come close to them. Not lying is a necessary condition for true closeness, but it isn't a sufficient condition. There must be trust not only in the honesty & openness of the other person, but in the good-naturedness of the other person - the sense of assurance that no harm will be done.

Although every relationship is different, in most intimate-love relationships it's assumed that each partner has a right to full knowledge of the other intimate relationships of the other partner -- or, more likely, full knowledge that the intimate relationship is exclusive of sexual relationships with others. Failure to disclose another sexual relationship is tantamount to lying.

Broken promises can appear to be lies, but needn't be lies. Promises made without the intention of fulfillment are lies. Promises are commitments, unlike plans which only involve tentative expectations.

Often people make promises which are unreasonable - in which case the broken promise is more the consequence of bad judgment than of an intention to deceive. Of special relevance to this discussion is the promise made during wedding vows to love the spouse until death. But the sweet-natured creature at the altar may turn into a roaring volcano of hostile criticism & attack. Or the love may simply disappear for some other reason.

The expression "All's fair in love & war" has been used to describe lawless circumstances in which usual rules of conduct don't apply. (The exact phrase comes from the English novelist Francis Edward Smedley, but similar sentiments were expressed earlier by other authors, such as Cervantes in DON QUIXOTE.) Although the phrase remains popular, its meaning is ambiguous. Does the phrase only refer to the treatment of love-competitors as enemies of war?

Or is deception of others excluding competitors & their allies part of "collateral damage"? Deceiving the object of affection could have negative consequences for building trust. "Make love not war" seems a more apt phrase outside of love/hate relationships. (War is more limited to hate.)

"Love" is a word that can be used among relatives & others more out of duty or habit than as a sincere expression of feeling. If "love" simply means a warm or positive feeling, it's hard to say how dishonest it is to use the word. A person who hesitates to say the word "love" in reciprocation because of concern that feelings will be hurt does indeed have a sense of caring. Who is to say what positive feelings truthfully do or don't belong under the rubric of "love"? When the word "love" is used as manipulation or to gain cooperation, the dishonesty is more clear - although motives & emotions can be mixed.

Adults often engage in a special kind of lying to children. Lying about the existence of Santa Claus or fairies is a socially-accepted form of engaging the children in sentimental fantasy. Fantasy can be entertainment, including a lovingly sentimental fantasy like Santa Claus.

Although fantasy is unreality, it needn't be a lie if it isn't treated seriously. But these rituals do run the risk of undermining credibility with the children if too much effort is made to counter doubts in their questioning minds. Sheltering children from the harsh realities of life may not be a good way of educating them.

Lies by children are often explained by the idea that children haven't yet learned to distinguish fantasy from reality (although this remains a challenge for everyone throughout life). Children (& adults) enjoy a good story - & can enjoy creating good stories. Children's lies are also explained by the idea that children are still learning right from wrong. Many learn the advantages of credibility in childhood, while others learn later or not at all.

LIES IN WORK & BUSINESS

Deceptive advertising & salespersons who mislead are stereotypic images of business. But these images are most applicable to one-time sales or short-term dealings. Long-term business arrangements are absolutely dependent on trust & goodwill. Even one-time sales involving large amounts of money usually involve extensive investigation into credibility of the seller.

Although false claims about products are likely to destroy credibility, salespeople rarely go out of their way to detail weaknesses about the products they sell - & can easily exaggerate or hype the benefits. Consumers generally expect this behavior & discount the descriptions accordingly.

In business, broken promises are broken contracts - & can be the equivalent of fraud & lying. The fact that a promise (contract) was made with good intentions is small compensation to someone who was depending upon delivery of goods or services. Agreeing to provide goods or services without assurance that those goods or services will be delivered isn't honest.

A friend who borrows money may do so with the intention of repaying, but may have a change of heart when confronted with the reality of repayment. Honesty & integrity are a kind of competence - they require commitment & good judgment.

Physicians typically have vastly more medical knowledge than their patients. Full explanations would be time-consuming & often fruitless. Convenient oversimplifications may offer the best that can be expected. All experts face this difficulty when trying to communicate with novices.

Physicians often make judgments about the patient that involve deception which is believed to be in the patient's best interest - such as administration of a placebo or giving misleading information about the purpose of a drug. (A patient may become upset at the thought of taking a tranquilizer or anti-depressant.)

Taxi-drivers commonly pocket the full proceeds of un-metered, un-dispatched trips. Taxi-owners commonly include this in their cost of business. Companies or government agencies often expect their employees to periodically call in sick when there is really no illness. Employees may spend some of their working hours doing non-work related tasks. Again, as long as these abuses are limited they're tolerated as a cost of business.

Employability is dependent upon perceived competence. The employee has motivation to cover-up mistakes. As long as a job is done satisfactorily the mistakes will attract little attention or concern. Employees have incentive to exaggerate accomplishments. Many people in organizations engage in an ongoing struggle to take credit for the accomplishments of others & to pass to others blame for inadequacies or mistakes.

In all these cases the criterion of truth is more a matter of quantity than of quality. Employers tolerate employees who provide positive net benefit. But employees who show more reliability, more trustworthiness & more credibility are more likely to be valued in positions of greater responsibility. The world isn't one of perfect justice or meritocracy, however. Petty jealousies, favoritism, sex appeal & other factors can play important roles. Competence & credibility are important, but they aren't everything.

The classic paradox of employment is that employers only hire experienced workers, but without the job no one could ever gain experience. The classic solution to the paradox is to lie about previous experience. During the process of bumbling-thru & fabricating additional lies about the previous work experience the new employee may gain the necessary experience & be relieved of the practical necessity of lying in the future. Or, if the lack of experience is unmistakable, the employee is fired & no worse-off than when previously unemployed.

Lying about qualifications is most likely to be successful when an employer has an exaggerated conception of the amount of experience actually required. It also helps to be in a large urban environment where damage to one's reputation (credibility) is minimal due to anonymity.

But even in big cities, work within a specific industry or profession can be a "small world" - & it's easy to run-into former associates at a new workplace. Being fired from a job for lying creates temptation to lie about having had the job when applying for the next one.

If the lying is indeed a temporary, loathsome ad hoc necessity which isn't continued, caught or repeated, there may be no long-term consequences. A pattern of lying, however, will certainly lead to a pattern of low credibility. And the costs of being caught, if caught, can be high.

It's possible to rob a store & get away without being caught. Robbery is thus rewarded & thus appears more "practical" than honesty. It's rarely possible to habitually rob stores without eventually getting caught. Many people have been temporarily very successful in business by deep deception, but once the fraud is discovered the consequences can be severe.

The higher the ascent, the greater the fall. But the majority of people neither know nor care about the difference between high honesty or moderate honesty - "honest enough" is good enough.

Nonetheless, many can be quite successful who practice mild deception which is augmented by special talents &/or hard work. It would be naive to claim that honesty is the key to success in every field. Politics is notoriously grounded in balancing honesty with deception.

There's a qualitative difference between lying to cover-up an accounting error & lying to cover-up an embezzlement. The seriousness of the lie is judged on the basis of the subject of the lie. It's regarded as worse to lie to cover-up a murder than to cover-up a parking infraction.

President Clinton could more easily be forgiven for a lie to cover-up a marriage infidelity than President Nixon could be forgiven for a lie to cover-up a break-in at a Democratic Party office. The seriousness of the lie is judged on the basis of the subject of the lie.

LYING TO ONESELF

A salesperson may engage in self-delusion concerning the value of his or her product. A lawyer can quickly convince himself or herself of the merits of the case of a high-paying client. Extended into the realm of personal psychology, "affirmations" or self-programmed "positive thinking" is self-deception. Wishful thinking - believing what you want to believe - is self-deception. Nonetheless, life consists of both positive & negative aspects - & it's possible to choose to focus on one or the other without self-deception.

Intellectual honesty requires the ability to admit being wrong or having been wrong. A "know-it-all" has no room for additional knowledge. Cherished or long-accepted beliefs can be hard to abandon.

Intellectual honesty also requires being able to accept unpopular beliefs that are perceived to be true, but are at variance with cultural norms or at variance with the strong convictions of someone loved or respected. Mental conformity can be unconscious, automatic & self-deceptive.

Honesty in this case requires a capacity for independence. For many, honesty & independence aren't worth the price of alienation - although people rarely explicitly admit this to themselves.

Few people can think objectively about matters affecting their "vested" interests. Rationalization reduces internal stress, but it also reduces clear-sighted understanding. Effectiveness is greatest when there is clear understanding. Honesty is the way to truth, truth is the way to knowledge & knowledge is essential for effectiveness.

The alternative is fantasy, not reality. By honestly acknowledging our embarrassing mistakes & shortcomings - to ourselves as well as to others - we're most empowered to learn what is required for improvement.

Lying and Openness  

Lying is distinct from not being open, although there can be similarities. A sharp distinction between lying and openness seems evident concerning private financial information. What friend would feel mistrusted or betrayed by not being informed of the password code on your credit card?

Even people with very intimate relationships may feel it's prudent to keep a distance concerning financial matters so as to avoid misunderstandings that might arise from joint bank accounts, etc.

I can be a very private person and don't normally reveal a much about myself. Most people have very different views than I do about most things: religion, politics, life, etc., and I see no reason to unnecessarily arouse hostility, argument or disapproval. What I say about myself will be minimal, but what I do say will nearly always be true. On the other hand, if I feel that I am or want to be close to a person I will feel an obligation to reveal a great deal of "personal" information.

Lying is active, whereas not being open can be passive. Not being open can be a way of supporting falsehood, in which case it's passive lying. One can remain silent concerning a flattering false belief about oneself or one can take active steps to correct the misunderstanding for the sake of truth (rather than being a passive accomplice of untruth).

Distance from others varies with the amount of self-disclosure. When I want to be close - and I feel it's safe to be close - I aggressively self-disclose. But with people I distrust I've gone to great lengths to find devices for concealment, evasion and distancing (a "safe distance").

A complicated, stressful or dangerous medical condition may be a private matter simply because to attempt to explain the condition or to deal with the reactions of others would create too much additional stress or complication. It could be particularly difficult to explain such matters to children. Any sensitivity to possible criticisms and/or misunderstandings by others creates defensiveness and/or a desire for privacy.

The ability to keep confidences and to respect the privacy of others is an aspect of integrity which is counter to openness. Keeping discussions to a minimum or steering conversation is a means to avoid direct questions which could force a choice between lying and disclosure. On the witness stand, however, evading questions can be more difficult and refusal to answer a question (Fifth Amendment) is generally seen as an admission of guilt.

There are unquestionably risks to telling the truth. Telling the truth can cause a great deal of embarrassment, but admitting to failures often leads to learning how to do better in the future. For someone who values learning and effectiveness, the gain usually more than justifies the pain.

There's also risk when a disclosure can seriously affect the regard of a person we care about or possibly destroy the relationship altogether. In such a case lying can still usually be avoided and disclosure can be withheld until circumstance makes the disclosure more safe.

Lying and Moralizing

This essay is being written by a real person in the real world: me. I am not a detached observer. I don't mean to piously preach. I can't claim that I have never lied or will never lie again. I know there are situations when I weigh the costs and benefits of lying and decide that the risks of telling the truth may be too horrific to contemplate. These would generally be situations where the person I'm dealing with is an adversary with power, not a person I'm wanting to be close to or expect to relate to on an ongoing basis.

The journalist/essayist H.L. Mencken said, "Conscience is that wee inner voice that says somebody might be looking." Whether or not conscience is paranoia, I think it's valuable conditioning for those who experience a high emotional cost associated with lying.

When situations arise where lying seems to be the most expedient solution, the emotional cost factor can add additional motivation to find solutions that don't involve lying. Often with some imagination and a willingness to spend time thinking about the problem, satisfactory solutions can be found which don't involve lying.

It's easy to be hurt or morally outraged by the lies of others. But our integrity isn't measured by our outrage at the behavior of others - it's measured by our own honesty. If we value the "wealth" that being trusted can bring, then our integrity will be important to us. People aren't as naive as we sometimes imagine and we lose more credibility than we are aware - of by a dishonest frame of mind. If we want people to be honest with us, being honest with them is a better policy than trying to intimidate them with our moral outrage.

Once a witness lies on the witness stand the credibility of all the witness's testimony is in doubt. If I have lied before, why not lie again? Of course, if my credibility has been lost, my lies may not gain me very much. If all of my associates lie in moderation, I may not think there is much to gain by being an extremist who never lies.

It may be too risky or difficult for me to admit to past lies, but I can begin the road to renewal by being more honest on a go-forward basis. If we can learn from our mistakes in a metaphysical sense, we can also learn from our ethical mistakes - and be better in the future than we were in the past.