If the Mind Is a Spiritual Substance, as Descartes Maintains, It Cannot Be Ill.

The mind-body problem is a dilemma. What is the relationship between mind and body? Or alternatively, what is the relationship between mental properties and physical properties?

Descartes believed that there were two kinds of substance: matter, of which the essential property is that it is spiritually extended and mind, of which the essential property is that it thinks.

So for Descartes, the essence of mind is thinking, while the essence of body is extension.

Descartes also believed in an independent non-material mind inhabiting and finding expression in a mechanically operated body. Descartes proposed the aphorism, Cogito ergo sum, which means "I think, therefore I am" in English. This statement means that because a person is a thinking being, his or her existence is made possible by the act of thinking. Therefore, the act of thinking, which is a mental process, makes it possible for a person to undergo physical activities. This is how the non-material interacts with the material and how the extended substance of body houses the unextended spirit called mind.

In summary, Descartes' Dualism assumes that both the mind and the body exist. While the mind is distinct from the body for the nature of spirit, the mental processes exist due to the existence of the mind which is apart from the physical processes of body.

Descartes also thought that the mind and body interact, and this interaction occurs at a specific site, the pineal gland.

Based on Descartes' assumptions above, it is generally accepted that mental illnesses involving disturbances of thought, experience and emotion serious enough to cause functional impairment in people, make it more difficult for them to sustain interpersonal relationships and carry on their jobs. This sometimes leads to self-destructive behavior. These thoughts, experiences and emotions come from the mind which eventually affect the behavior of the body. It's a mind and body interaction.

However, does mental illness really exist? Or should I ask, does the 'mind' exist and interact with body?

My first concern is about what is the nature of the mind?

Descartes' answer is simple, who thought that the sense of perceptions and physical passions of men were dependent upon the body, but awareness of them lied in the soul.

This means the mind is an unextended, non-material and indivisible thing. But where is it? Descartes said, "mind is something real that can exist in the body but does not occupy space. The brain is the major locus for the mind. However, mind is completely separate from matter and therefore from the brain."

So Descartes was not sure where the mind is.

If the mind