There is little value in making mistakes, yet contemporary psychology and psychiatry apparently lauds them in the idea that they present valuable opportunities for learning.
Sure, one can take the opportunity to find out what caused the mistake, correct it, and take steps to prevent it happening again. One should certainly do this. We may think less of someone who will not do this.
On the other hand, one should also ask why these steps were not taken previously, in order to prevent any possibility of a mistake.
How did it come to pass that one made a mistake in the first place? Obviously one had not learned something to begin with.
To be sure, a person who makes the same mistake again and again is demonstrating that they cannot learn from their mistakes and should be removed from the area. Illiteracy is a primary cause of an individual who cannot learn from their mistakes.
The prevailing sentiment is that mistakes are a normal part of the human condition. The better option is simply not to make mistakes. If one does not make mistakes, then there is no value to making them.
However, mistakes ARE going to be made. Knowing what mistakes are, how they might happen, where they might come from, and how to deal with them, are all vital things to know.
The English word “mistake” has multiple definitions:
— something that has been done in the wrong way
— an opinion or statement that is incorrect
— something done that is not sensible
— something done that has a bad result
— to misunderstand something
— to be wrong about something.
[late Middle English, from Old Norse mistaka “take in error”, probably influenced by Old French mesprendre (wrongly take) “to misunderstand”.]
The Psychiatric Connection
In psychiatric circles, “fear of making mistakes” is a big topic linked with fraudulent diagnoses of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
Neuropsychiatry tries to blame mistakes on the brain, labeling it “Error-Related Negativity”, a euphemism to make it sound more scientific than it actually is.
Other psychiatric efforts call mistakes “Cognitive Distortions” or “Cognitive Errors”.
These psychiatric conjectures lead to the mistaken idea that when fear of mistakes becomes excessive and interferes with daily functioning, this may indicate some underlying psychiatric condition (“disorder”) that can be “treated” with psychiatric drugs or other harmful psychiatric “treatments.”
Additionally, psychiatric drugs themselves can have adverse side effects that impair cognitive function, contributing to an increased risk of making mistakes.
Examples of common mistake conditions that can result from such psychiatric interference are: driving accidents, workplace accidents, risky behaviors, poor judgment, emotional dysregulation leading to interpersonal upsets. The same things can happen from substance abuse with illegal drugs as well as with legal prescription drugs. Hallucinogenic drugs, a growing area of psychiatric interest, can also lead to a heightened risk of mistakes due to hallucinations, flashbacks and other adverse side effects.
Psychiatry has assumed they are in charge of diagnosing and treating substance abuse, with disastrous consequences, as they often treat this condition with more drugs instead of handling the root causes of addiction. Trauma is another area infiltrated by psychiatry, as well as so-called attention deficit conditions; these may have significant risk of mistakes being made.
We need a better view of the various conditions that lead to mistakes and how to effectively deal with people who make mistakes, and not from any psychiatric point of view which typically leads to abusive treatments such as harmful psychoactive drugs.
Causes of Mistakes
The first thing to know is that making a mistake is not a mental illness, and psychiatrists have no cure for such a condition in any case.
The second thing to know is that there is not just one single cause of all mistakes; many different conditions can lead to a mistake, or at least a greater risk of making a mistake.
The Antisocial Personality
People who have antisocial tendencies, and the people close around them who are disturbed or agitated because of this, are one of the main enablers of mistakes. Surrounding such people there is often a disturbed, agitated or turbulent environment, which is distracting enough to cause someone near it to make a mistake.
Attention Failures
More generally, any conditions which interfere with one’s ability to pay attention can be a ripe environment for making mistakes. For example, a person under duress may have their attention compromised and thus be susceptible to mistakes. A person who lacks the ability to observe what is going on around them, or who is unaware they are being fed insufficient, faulty, or illogical data can make mistakes.
The psychiatric billing bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (current version DSM-5-TR), specifically calls out mistakes in its diagnostic criteria for so-called Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): “Often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, at work, or during other activities (e.g., overlooks or misses details, work is inaccurate).”
Notice, however, that the application of this psychiatric diagnosis is an opinion; there is no clinical test for it, and likewise no psychiatric cure. The usual drug treatments are stimulants, amphetamines or other psychiatric drugs designed to shock one into focusing attention, but which have known side effects of violence and suicide.
As a root cause, a person may have barriers that prevent or inhibit effective use of attention, but these have non-psychiatric-drug solutions. An often unsuspected cause of attention issues is illiteracy or study problems. The many side effects of reading and comprehension difficulties are a main barrier to one’s ability to focus attention.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is there are actions one can take to proactively proof oneself and others against any tendency to make mistakes, in addition to the usual exhortations to “learn from them” after the fact. Pretty much any non-drug, non-psychiatric methods to enhance one’s awareness, one’s literacy, one’s ability to observe, to recognize the lack of data or the presence of faulty data, to limit one’s exposure to antisocial persons or other duress, will help.
So go forth without any fear of making a mistake; resolve to proof yourself against them.