Are accidents all from the mind?

[freescorfr]

I heard a guy on French Radio talking about a book he’s written in which he argues that nearly all accidents are an expression of a mental state. OK sometimes we are just victims.
How often, though, is it an expression of unexpressed inner pain or discontent?
I broke my ankle, 10 years ago and had two years in a wheelchair: it changed my life.
I’m much happier now than I imagine I would have been if I’d carried on in the rat-race (nothing against rats Anneski).

Have you had an accident you can explain from how you were really feeling about life at the time?

 

[alltherage]

I have found that if I am depressed, or upset, or guilty, the chances of my having a self injurious accident increases greatly. The fault in this theory would seem to be the other person whose mental state causes an accident that involves another person. Traffic accidents come to mind. If the breaks fail on a truck the drivers state of mind has little to do with the accident that will occur. It may however, impact their ability to respond to the situation. The family he runs over are accident victims but I think their state of mind has little to do with it.

 

[freescorfr]

The fault in this theory would seem to be the other person whose mental state causes an accident that involves another person.

That's a problem I agree, allthereage, if you stick with our conventionally embedded notion of causality. If, however, you see two events as occuring in conjunction the so-called victim is a co-author of the accident - there at the time - and responsible, maybe not for the violence received, but for being there.

 

[alltherage]

There is great danger in this line of thought. I am thinking specifically of victims of crime. "Being their" is often a function of daily life. It is metaphysically dangerous to put the victim in any way in control of the crime. Rape victims have suffered forever from the suspicsion that they somehow induced the rape. This argument is a defense lawyer's dream.

 

[freescorfr]

I expect it's also a bit of a therapist's trick to move the victim from a "victim" mentality to a "survivor" mentality, and to take personal responsibility for recovery.

It's a mental shift which does help, like translating fears into desires. eg "I'm afraid of being raped" can become "I desire to keep my body for myself and make my own decisions about how I use it."
Difficult. But it can change a person's outlook on life.