the Thalamus and the Soul

Hi Noblerealmers,

Way back I read some extracts of this article in a daily newspaper, since the related implications/ramifications seem to be very interesting, I post it:

    "Depression associated with greater number of nerve cells in thalamus region of brain

     DALLAS - July 1, 2004 - Individuals who suffer from severe depression have more nerve cells in the part of the brain that controls emotion, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have found.
 
     Severely depressed individuals have more nerve cells in the part of the brain that controls emotion, researchers at UT Southwestern have found. Dr. Dwight German, professor of psychiatry, holds a cross-section of a postmortem brain used in the research study.

     Studies of postmortem brains of patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) showed a 31 percent greater than average number of nerve cells in the portion of the thalamus involved with emotional regulation. Researchers also discovered that this portion of the thalamus is physically larger than normal in people with MDD. Located in the center of the brain, the thalamus is involved with many different brain functions, including relaying information from other parts of the brain to the cerebral cortex.

     "This supports the hypothesis that structural abnormalities in the brain are responsible for depression," he said. "Often people don't understand why mentally ill people behave in odd ways. They may think they have a weak will or were brought up in some unusual way.

     "But if their brains are different, they're going to behave differently. Depression is an emotional disorder. So it makes sense that the part of the brain that is involved in emotional regulation is physically different."

     Results showed an increase of 37 percent and 26 percent, respectively, in the number of nerve cells in the mediodorsal and anteroventral/anteromedial areas of the thalamus in subjects with MDD when compared with similar cells in those with no psychiatric problems. The number of nerve cells in subjects with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia was normal.

     Researchers also found that the size of the affected areas of the thalamus in subjects with MDD was 16 percent larger than those in the other groups.

     "The thalamus is often referred to as the secretary of the cerebral cortex - the part of the brain that controls all        kinds of important functions such as seeing, talking, moving, thinking and memory," Dr. German said. "Most everything that goes into the cortex has to go through the thalamus first.........

http://www8.utsouthwestern.edu/utsw/cda … 76840.html

Could this be the physical/biological difference between souled and non-souled individuals? Can the soul be "mesured"?

What I think -- only my two cents... --  is that under "normal" mainstream STS conditions, the potentially "depressed" people are easily wieved preventively as dangerous/psychos (desorder of the soul/"too much soul"-- but you still need a soul for this kind of desorder!)
On the other hand, the "normal" people, the so-called "50% OP/others" (yet it's not so half & half...) who's external behaviour can be so neat, only them in fact have the very potentiality to be real psychopaths (lack of the soul)!

As I understand it, in a real human STO candidates world, the cases of "abnormalities in brain development"  (the 31% more nerve cells in the thalamus) could be the norm without create any mental illnesses, without being named   "structural abnormalities" -- at the contrary -- being maby the presupposition for the functioning of superior emotions as Compassion ... having those fortunates  then no reason to be depressed. So, what if "if you don't use it you lose it, it can explode!" ?

WR
nilel