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The Fine Line Between Art and Bad Behavior
Talent, he told me, does not originate purely: it derives from something else, as a pearl or coal does, as pain must. Talent is the result of some friction, consistent and substantial, and the defense a person devises against it becomes a painting or a poem or a play. Or a tantrum. ‘The line between art and bad behavior is terribly fine,’ he told me. ‘Something that is of some use to others can arise, or simply a means of getting attention or a particular reaction. You need to know how to discern the difference in yourself and others.
— Tennessee Williams
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All of the diagnoses that you deal with — depression, anxiety, ADHD, bipolar illness, post traumatic stress disorder, even psychosis, are significantly rooted in trauma. They are manifestations of trauma. Therefore the diagnoses don’t explain anything. The problem in the medical world is that we diagnose somebody and we think that is the explanation. He’s behaving that way because he is psychotic. She’s behaving that way because she has ADHD. Nobody has ADHD, nobody has psychosis — these are processes within the individual. It’s not a thing that you have. This is a process that expresses your life experience. It has meaning in every single case.
― Gabor Mate
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