Just watched a woman's description of shocking thoughts she had about her baby, such as smothering him, as a result of her post partum depression.
The proper term for this is "intrusive thoughts," which is well described in many Internet articles including in Wikipedia. It is a severe problem and is associated with many mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, OCD, PPD and bipolar.
The reason I am mentioning this today is that here is another example of where society as a whole has gone in a totally wrong direction, which harms rather than helps those with intrusive thoughts.
I agree that cognitive behavior therapy is a great help, but CBT is a matter of closing the barn door after the horse is gone. In other words CBT is used to wrestle with and hopefully subdue the intrusive thoughts, yet people remains saturated in intrusive thought stimulation without even realizing it. There are two main weaknesses in society that result in assailing people with intrusive thoughts:
1. Electronic media is a passive means of providing the viewer or listener with thoughts they would never otherwise have had. That's the whole idea of creativity and exposure to new and exciting stimuli, but the problem is that most people have not formed, particularly in childhood, the boundaries of thoughts that people used to have. In other words the past few generations are "thoughts wide open" due to their early addiction and exposure to electronic media. A huge part of normal human development is self awareness and self imposing of not only behavior but also thought boundaries, strong boundaries. The "let it all hang out" generations have damaged this necessary part of normal development. So people who grew up in electronic media times are programmed to have "all channels open to all thoughts, good or evil, wise or foolish, useful or bullshit" and thus are vulnerable to intrusive thoughts.
2. Excessive "spiritual" practices run the same risk, cultivating an undiscipled mind. In fact what passes for "spiritual discipline" in many cults and so forth (and even dabblers in mainstream religion) is actually not discipline in terms of discerning good thoughts and bad thoughts, but being, "open to the universe" and other such bullcrap. Listen, when normal people pray they know who they are and who they are praying to, that being the Almighty God. People who develop excess so called "spirituality" are like lint collectors, opening their minds to whatever crap is floating around out there. Mental crap that floats out there to be collected may be the undisciplined baloney of one's own unconscious mind, the crap thoughts of others via ESP, miasma from the gates of hell, and the urgings of one's own ego to be "special" and to "hear" things that "enlighten" you, but really don't exist. Folks, there is plenty of legit meditation and other spiritual practices, but beware, beware, beware because human ego like a magnet takes you places you should not go for your own good and for that of others.
When I was studying undercover people involved in so called "New Age" and other cult beliefs, I was in horror at the pride many of them had at working on broadcasting their sex thoughts via kundalini and other methods. And you wonder why so many children are beset by victimization. This is just one example of how you should not emit that kind of garbage (it hits more than you intended) plus it prevents you from having natural levees against intrusive thoughts later when YOU need protection.
I hope this helps. Too late, but what the hell.
Showing posts with label Counseling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Counseling. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Instant cure for grandiosity and inflation with LOL
Here is a very effective and also humorous cure for feelings of alienation, grandiosity, inflation and feelings of spiritual superiority.
First let me define the terms. Alienation is the feeling that one is suddenly detached from the reality of life, and thus almost looking "down" on what is happening as though it were all unreal, an illusion or a "script." Grandiosity is the sense that one is bigger and better than all the other people, and that you are among them and nice to them only because you are being "generous." Inflation is the belief that you are not just human but have supernatural powers or identity. Feeling of spiritual superiority used to be known as feeling "holier than thou art" until modern times, when people want to be "spiritual" and not holy... and so this term means that you think spiritual goodness and prowess is something that can be measured and that you have more of it than other humans.
When I was a teenager and later in college, I regularly encountered people who had moments of alienation. So I have a long history of prescribing this "treatment" to them, and it is actually part of our family lore.
Go stand in a long line that involves some horribly drawn out bureaucratic procedure.
I'm not joking, this is a very effective cure for the feelings described above. It works because it requires one to be "stuck" within the reality of matter, energy and time. When one is stuck waiting two hours in a line to do some meaningless paperwork, it is enforced mental rootedness. One cannot genuinely detach, inflate or feel superior when one must shuffle as a clock slowly ticks in order to apply a very real pen to a very real paper for very real results or failure.
Now, the flagship for this cure in those days was the Motor Vehicle Bureau. Before the time of computers and even calculators, and way before the time of "service first" and "the customer is always right," going to the Motor Vehicle Bureau was a guaranteed complete day killing torture. There were no convenient "local offices" so one had to drive into the nearest city. Once there one witnessed all forms of human drama and misery (they wait two hours in line and find they have the wrong form, for example). This is where it entered family lore as my mother gave it the nickname "The Divorce Court," as the misery and prolonged drama of the Motor Vehicle Bureau was only matched by a court dedicated to handling divorce cases (which back then was not "no fault" and thus was old fashioned agony at its best).
In this modern era it is harder to find such a bureaucratic and miserable line to stand in, but you can envision and, if you are unlucky, experience some equivalents. Those who have to wait in line for water after a hurricane know exactly what I mean. No one is feeling alienated, grandiose, inflated or superior when you are standing in line, dirty and tired, waiting hours for water in the heat (or the cold) and not even knowing if you will be successful when it is your turn. Miserable as it is, it is a very rooting experience. When one goes through something like that, it's a great cure to slough off any pretensions and affectations of being "above it all" or "not really of this world." Yep, when you have to shuffle off to Buffalo, to use an old saying, to travel a long and inconvenient distance in order to stand in a long line to do one and only one bureaucratic thing, that you may or may not succeed in, and everyone is "in the same boat," it's a great cure.
To this day when we joke in my family about "going to divorce court" that is subversive nickname humor referring to the great miserable equalizer that cures by making one stuck in time and earthly matter, the old Motor Vehicle Bureau.
First let me define the terms. Alienation is the feeling that one is suddenly detached from the reality of life, and thus almost looking "down" on what is happening as though it were all unreal, an illusion or a "script." Grandiosity is the sense that one is bigger and better than all the other people, and that you are among them and nice to them only because you are being "generous." Inflation is the belief that you are not just human but have supernatural powers or identity. Feeling of spiritual superiority used to be known as feeling "holier than thou art" until modern times, when people want to be "spiritual" and not holy... and so this term means that you think spiritual goodness and prowess is something that can be measured and that you have more of it than other humans.
When I was a teenager and later in college, I regularly encountered people who had moments of alienation. So I have a long history of prescribing this "treatment" to them, and it is actually part of our family lore.
Go stand in a long line that involves some horribly drawn out bureaucratic procedure.
I'm not joking, this is a very effective cure for the feelings described above. It works because it requires one to be "stuck" within the reality of matter, energy and time. When one is stuck waiting two hours in a line to do some meaningless paperwork, it is enforced mental rootedness. One cannot genuinely detach, inflate or feel superior when one must shuffle as a clock slowly ticks in order to apply a very real pen to a very real paper for very real results or failure.
Now, the flagship for this cure in those days was the Motor Vehicle Bureau. Before the time of computers and even calculators, and way before the time of "service first" and "the customer is always right," going to the Motor Vehicle Bureau was a guaranteed complete day killing torture. There were no convenient "local offices" so one had to drive into the nearest city. Once there one witnessed all forms of human drama and misery (they wait two hours in line and find they have the wrong form, for example). This is where it entered family lore as my mother gave it the nickname "The Divorce Court," as the misery and prolonged drama of the Motor Vehicle Bureau was only matched by a court dedicated to handling divorce cases (which back then was not "no fault" and thus was old fashioned agony at its best).
In this modern era it is harder to find such a bureaucratic and miserable line to stand in, but you can envision and, if you are unlucky, experience some equivalents. Those who have to wait in line for water after a hurricane know exactly what I mean. No one is feeling alienated, grandiose, inflated or superior when you are standing in line, dirty and tired, waiting hours for water in the heat (or the cold) and not even knowing if you will be successful when it is your turn. Miserable as it is, it is a very rooting experience. When one goes through something like that, it's a great cure to slough off any pretensions and affectations of being "above it all" or "not really of this world." Yep, when you have to shuffle off to Buffalo, to use an old saying, to travel a long and inconvenient distance in order to stand in a long line to do one and only one bureaucratic thing, that you may or may not succeed in, and everyone is "in the same boat," it's a great cure.
So well rooted am I and having spent my share in lines such as this that in the 1980's when I needed my passport renewed and working at a Wall Street bank found that an assistant would take my passport in person and have it renewed for me while I stayed in my office, not having to stand in line I almost fainted. To this day I still retain the habit that I and my cohorts developed which is to always have a paperback book along with you in case you have to stand in a long line.
To this day when we joke in my family about "going to divorce court" that is subversive nickname humor referring to the great miserable equalizer that cures by making one stuck in time and earthly matter, the old Motor Vehicle Bureau.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Caution to those seeking Counseling/Psychiatric Help
Caution to those seeking Counseling/Psychiatric Help
I'm reminded of this by listening to the brave and loving mother of the pregnant lady who was murdered in Canton, Ohio as she talks wisely of helping her 2 year old grandson to cope with loss of his mom. (My heart goes out to the whole family, and prayers for their solace.) Pat has wisely told the little boy that his mom is with Jesus. This is a very good thing to do and will give him the foundation of faith he will need to grow up strong even under the weight of the cruel and unrighteous loss of his mother. Talking heads who analyze this story on the media are quick to suggest that the boy will "need professional help." That may or may not be true, but I urge all who are in this situation or similar situations to be VERY careful about your selection of a professional counselor. Be sure that they are God fearing and of your faith. That is a harsh statement but I've seen things that would horrify you. I will tell you about my personal experience working in a Catholic hospital where the psychiatric outpatient unit was controlled by secularists.
Patients were forbidden to discuss their faith at all, either during intake (where their illness is diagnosed) or later in therapy. If they insisted in even providing the most basic of information (e.g. a Hispanic patient saying she is a devout Catholic) that information is viewed as a symptom of her illness. Yes, you read right, proclaiming one's faith even in a Catholic hospital was viewed as a symptom of mental illness. These counselors were not Catholic, and if anything, they tended to be New Age freaks. The most religiosity that I noticed was discussion of their hot tubs, their arts and crafts business, and their reviews of the latest shows on stage. They viewed themselves as either very haute elite, or gosh, down earth "one of the little people." Instead of talking about the patients they spent a good 45 minutes every morning before clinical rounds talking about their wonderfulness as modern women. I was warned many times not to discuss religion with the patients, even when they want to as part of their wholeness and therapy, even though that is not in any authentic text or teaching of psychology, where one's faith is fundamental to one's healing. Just look at AA, for example.
Now, listen to this. Even in group therapy, where the patients are supposed to be able to discuss anything they want in a, "SAFE PLACE" (one of liberal and secularists favorite terms) they were forbidden from discussing religion. If even one mention was made, the patient was told they were imposing their beliefs and not to say anything. Needless to say this hindered recovery. The worst thing I saw was that coincidentally, in one new group that was formed, there were three avidly pro-life patients. The secular oppressors got together and decided that cannot be allowed, so they broke up the group, using the excuse that the religious people "MADE UNCOMFORTABLE" other patients (though "being sexually abused as a child" discussions did not make anyone uncomfortable, if you know what I mean.) Instead of the patients' who had interests outside of their illness being encouraged, such as working at their churches or just being pro-life, it was viewed as being a symptom of their illness and not one to be encouraged. Often faith is the only thing poor people have, and most of our patients were very poor. Some literally did not have an extra dollar on a given day. And they were humiliated and shunted out of the system just for having faith. I saw it with my own eyes and it made me sick.
The faithful are viewed by secularists as having a bull's eye on their back, in that secularists think they get "bonus points" in some insane system for denying people their faith, even if it's the only true thing sustaining them. So please, anyone who has a member of the family who needs professional psychiatric or counseling help, be sure that expression of their faith is accepted and supported by their professional. Do not assume that a religious affiliation necessarily means quality service either. Check the actual counselor out very carefully. Do not trust that the affiliation is necessarily indicative of the quality of care. The people I met in the system would love to take Jesus Christ away from even a toddler, because they would view it as an "ignorant crutch that will cause him or her problems later." Can you believe this? I could not until I saw it. This was what turned me off from the entire profession. This was my first year of internship after paying a small fortune for my Masters degree, and I was unpaid and not beholden to the hospital system.... except, of course, without references and connections you don't go anywhere in the profession. I'd rather go broke (and I have) than be part of the "helping profession" that views robbing people of their faith as a worthy goal. The Old Testament warns that thou shalt not put stumbling blocks in front of the blind. These type of people have a lot to answer for. I'm totally with Tom Cruise in one respect... medication is God for many of these systems. I then disagree with him, obviously, about where God is, and medication is needed when one is highly psychotic and in severe pain. But I'm telling you, you who read this of faith, psychiatry and counseling is rife with "New Age" secularists who use their work to suck the faith out of the most helpless and the most in pain. Be very careful with who you put the precious care of your family members.
And yes, there was huge jealousy of my successes with patients, and it was highly unbecoming and unprofessional and carried over into the care of the patients.
I'm reminded of this by listening to the brave and loving mother of the pregnant lady who was murdered in Canton, Ohio as she talks wisely of helping her 2 year old grandson to cope with loss of his mom. (My heart goes out to the whole family, and prayers for their solace.) Pat has wisely told the little boy that his mom is with Jesus. This is a very good thing to do and will give him the foundation of faith he will need to grow up strong even under the weight of the cruel and unrighteous loss of his mother. Talking heads who analyze this story on the media are quick to suggest that the boy will "need professional help." That may or may not be true, but I urge all who are in this situation or similar situations to be VERY careful about your selection of a professional counselor. Be sure that they are God fearing and of your faith. That is a harsh statement but I've seen things that would horrify you. I will tell you about my personal experience working in a Catholic hospital where the psychiatric outpatient unit was controlled by secularists.
Patients were forbidden to discuss their faith at all, either during intake (where their illness is diagnosed) or later in therapy. If they insisted in even providing the most basic of information (e.g. a Hispanic patient saying she is a devout Catholic) that information is viewed as a symptom of her illness. Yes, you read right, proclaiming one's faith even in a Catholic hospital was viewed as a symptom of mental illness. These counselors were not Catholic, and if anything, they tended to be New Age freaks. The most religiosity that I noticed was discussion of their hot tubs, their arts and crafts business, and their reviews of the latest shows on stage. They viewed themselves as either very haute elite, or gosh, down earth "one of the little people." Instead of talking about the patients they spent a good 45 minutes every morning before clinical rounds talking about their wonderfulness as modern women. I was warned many times not to discuss religion with the patients, even when they want to as part of their wholeness and therapy, even though that is not in any authentic text or teaching of psychology, where one's faith is fundamental to one's healing. Just look at AA, for example.
Now, listen to this. Even in group therapy, where the patients are supposed to be able to discuss anything they want in a, "SAFE PLACE" (one of liberal and secularists favorite terms) they were forbidden from discussing religion. If even one mention was made, the patient was told they were imposing their beliefs and not to say anything. Needless to say this hindered recovery. The worst thing I saw was that coincidentally, in one new group that was formed, there were three avidly pro-life patients. The secular oppressors got together and decided that cannot be allowed, so they broke up the group, using the excuse that the religious people "MADE UNCOMFORTABLE" other patients (though "being sexually abused as a child" discussions did not make anyone uncomfortable, if you know what I mean.) Instead of the patients' who had interests outside of their illness being encouraged, such as working at their churches or just being pro-life, it was viewed as being a symptom of their illness and not one to be encouraged. Often faith is the only thing poor people have, and most of our patients were very poor. Some literally did not have an extra dollar on a given day. And they were humiliated and shunted out of the system just for having faith. I saw it with my own eyes and it made me sick.
The faithful are viewed by secularists as having a bull's eye on their back, in that secularists think they get "bonus points" in some insane system for denying people their faith, even if it's the only true thing sustaining them. So please, anyone who has a member of the family who needs professional psychiatric or counseling help, be sure that expression of their faith is accepted and supported by their professional. Do not assume that a religious affiliation necessarily means quality service either. Check the actual counselor out very carefully. Do not trust that the affiliation is necessarily indicative of the quality of care. The people I met in the system would love to take Jesus Christ away from even a toddler, because they would view it as an "ignorant crutch that will cause him or her problems later." Can you believe this? I could not until I saw it. This was what turned me off from the entire profession. This was my first year of internship after paying a small fortune for my Masters degree, and I was unpaid and not beholden to the hospital system.... except, of course, without references and connections you don't go anywhere in the profession. I'd rather go broke (and I have) than be part of the "helping profession" that views robbing people of their faith as a worthy goal. The Old Testament warns that thou shalt not put stumbling blocks in front of the blind. These type of people have a lot to answer for. I'm totally with Tom Cruise in one respect... medication is God for many of these systems. I then disagree with him, obviously, about where God is, and medication is needed when one is highly psychotic and in severe pain. But I'm telling you, you who read this of faith, psychiatry and counseling is rife with "New Age" secularists who use their work to suck the faith out of the most helpless and the most in pain. Be very careful with who you put the precious care of your family members.
And yes, there was huge jealousy of my successes with patients, and it was highly unbecoming and unprofessional and carried over into the care of the patients.
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