Which mental illness did Muhammad Have?

[Meylis Delano Lawrence]

Having read Qur'an and biography of the Muhammas from various sources I came to conclussion that he suffered from a mentall illness(es). Now, you never know for sure what he had since I haven't even seen his picture. But by studying his personality through his words and actions I've come up with the following possibilities:

. Shizotypal Disorder with dellusional, narcisisstic features and OCD
. Narcisisstic Personality disorder combroid with other disorders including OCD
. Bipolar Disorder with Antisocial features ( due to the hypersexuality, pedophilia, marriage to an older woman etc ). No offence to BDs, every BD is differenct.
. Antisocial Personality disorder combroid with other disorders including OCD. ( manipulative tactics to the point that I consider him as an emotional vampire, mass killings, racissm, obsession with power and beauty, hypersexuality, being above the law just to name the few.
. Severe anxiety to the point that he may have had problems with external stimuly. I've even heard one of his best friends (I think it was Abubakr, not sure) would close his ears to avoid sound when walking in the market. He may have had similar thing himself sicne he despised music etc.

It seems to me that the guy had a constant battle with recharging himself. He may have been homosexual and was in denial too. But again, I can't say for sure since I haven't met him.

What are your thought on this? What do you think he had?

[pop_punks_not_dead]

I have no idea, but hiding in a cave for over a moth and claiming to have a line to a deity in his head has kinda got to be seens as suspect. Imagine if someone claimed this today!

[Meylis Delano Lawrence]

exactly, why do it in a cave when you can do it pulicly unless, of course, you're dodging up smth. If he was son of GOD (who is the "smartest" btw) doesn't he know that it would make his mission easier since there are more witnesses.

I think, initially, he went to the cage to isolate and recharge himself. He may have been confused about his role in his life and ,at his 40s then, he may have been angry at himself for not leaving smth "significant". As a result, he isolated and decided to concentrate on phylosofy, life and of course religions. It may have not been his intention, initially, to become a prophet. But, as he isolated himself more in that cage he may have turned schizotypal and ,later, dellusional. The reason for this is that he seems to really believe that he is the One. I bet he would have even passed polygraph test for this reason. Schizotypals are highly-functioning people.

And of course with the money he inhereted from his wife and the reputation he had before the illness he could conquer the arabia. Only he didn't. He conquered it by force years after. If he was from God he would have proved it in a more peacefull manner since it's a religion of "Peace" such as, let's say, doing smth extraordinary such as flying or predicting smth or moving a mountain.

I have no idea, but hiding in a cave for over a moth and claiming to have a line to a deity in his head has kinda got to be seens as suspect. Imagine if someone claimed this today!

[Minimalist]

What do you think he had?

I think he was a fictional character made up by men with an agenda.


Just like jesus.

[Angrboda]

Assuming he existed for the moment. (I think it's more likely he existed than that Jesus did.) I don't first off see any necessary reason to assume he was in any way abnormal. People did this shit back then. A lot. Because it worked. And people still do it. Look at Joseph Smith. Is his story all that different? Yet there's no reason to suspect Smith was mentally ill.

However, I see a bigger problem. Even today, the bulk of the purely psychological mental illnesses are diagnosed based on self-reports. If you go to a psychiatrist and complain that your uncle is doing X, Y, and Z, and you want him committed, the doctor will want to talk to your uncle as his first touch stone in determining what is happening. Attempting to diagnose mental illness by reference to external behaviors, particularly external behaviors that are filtered through biased reporters and biased reporting procedures, such diagnosis is very dodgy business and has almost no scientific validity. Was Muhammed mentally ill? Possibly. But it's also consistent with his behavior that he was just a charlatan, or someone who just "liked fucking with other people" or even Min's hypothesis, a construct of myth and legend (which gets us back to biased reporting; what sieve do you use to extract actual behavior from any contaminating legendary embellishments?). It's fun speculating on these things, but at the end of the day, it's little more than the psychological equivalent of playing with a Ouije board.


As another example, at the Nizkor archives is an OSS psychological profile of Hitler which can make for interesting reading. Reading the profile, it seems probable to me that Hitler suffered some kind of affective disorder, bipolar or other, as he was prone to deep funks in later years (and his periods of manic energy probably need no elaboration). But beyond that, he seems very well adjusted. And because I have an illness with the features of an affective disorder, I may be reading more into it than is there. However, he was obviously quite productive and successful, well liked, especially by children and dogs. Charming. Smart. Rational. There's little to suggest he was in any sense personality disordered, least of all psyopathic or sociopathic. By my reading of the profile, he seems to have been just an ordinary, upstanding German gentleman, perhaps with a bipolar disorder, and a bit smarter and more insightful than most. I rather suspect, though, that you can find all sorts of "historical analyses" out there that claim to prove that Hitler had this, that, or the other dysfunction. Dodgy business, I say.

[Darth]

Other than pedophilia you mean?

[Zone]

He was probably sane just an evil evil man. Well no I think he was probably reasonable for the standards of his own culture and time, even if those weren't particularly high standards by our own standards. Though there are some good parts of the Quran to be fair, like how there are good parts in the Old Testament. Ideally you wouldn't the whole thing to be good rather than have to mine it out, if it's the work of the creator of things who we're meant to worship. Do we really want advice concerning slave beating or which women you can take as war booty?

[Aractus]

He had the same mental disease as Hitler. History repeats itself.

[Zen Badger]

Assuming he existed for the moment. (I think it's more likely he existed than that Jesus did.) I don't first off see any necessary reason to assume he was in any way abnormal. People did this shit back then. A lot. Because it worked. And people still do it. Look at Joseph Smith. Is his story all that different? Yet there's no reason to suspect Smith was mentally ill.

However, I see a bigger problem. Even today, the bulk of the purely psychological mental illnesses are diagnosed based on self-reports. If you go to a psychiatrist and complain that your uncle is doing X, Y, and Z, and you want him committed, the doctor will want to talk to your uncle as his first touch stone in determining what is happening. Attempting to diagnose mental illness by reference to external behaviors, particularly external behaviors that are filtered through biased reporters and biased reporting procedures, such diagnosis is very dodgy business and has almost no scientific validity. Was Muhammed mentally ill? Possibly. But it's also consistent with his behavior that he was just a charlatan, or someone who just "liked fucking with other people" or even Min's hypothesis, a construct of myth and legend (which gets us back to biased reporting; what sieve do you use to extract actual behavior from any contaminating legendary embellishments?). It's fun speculating on these things, but at the end of the day, it's little more than the psychological equivalent of playing with a Ouije board.


As another example, at the Nizkor archives is an OSS psychological profile of Hitler which can make for interesting reading. Reading the profile, it seems probable to me that Hitler suffered some kind of affective disorder, bipolar or other, as he was prone to deep funks in later years (and his periods of manic energy probably need no elaboration). But beyond that, he seems very well adjusted. And because I have an illness with the features of an affective disorder, I may be reading more into it than is there. However, he was obviously quite productive and successful, well liked, especially by children and dogs. Charming. Smart. Rational. There's little to suggest he was in any sense personality disordered, least of all psyopathic or sociopathic. By my reading of the profile, he seems to have been just an ordinary, upstanding German gentleman, perhaps with a bipolar disorder, and a bit smarter and more insightful than most. I rather suspect, though, that you can find all sorts of "historical analyses" out there that claim to prove that Hitler had this, that, or the other dysfunction. Dodgy business, I say.

Don't forget that Hitlers personal physician Morrell was a quack who injected his patient with all sorts of crap that would not have helped his mental state in the later years.