This post will talk about the different views on treating substance abuse by looking at the themes of determinism, reflective ability, mindfulness, self-awareness of a person’s emotional self, moral compass, freedom, disassociation, empathy, and addiction.
I will propose the controversial suggestion that some addiction interventions might be unintentionally decreasing a person’s ability to freely make a choice in the space between a stimulus and a response. I will suggest that telling a person that they lack control might be encouraging and/or enabling a lacking of consciousness or growth of a person’s reflective ability.
Category Archives: Philosophy & Theory
An example of ‘Auras’ and ‘Energy’ for our left brained friends
Quick clarification – When someone says “I can see your energy” they are stating – “I can see the boundary of you personal space and that boundary is implying how you desire to be interacted with at this moment… this gives me insight into your emotional disposition.”
What is empathy? How do I know if I am experiencing empathy?
Quick summary – Empathy is when a person opens up their emotional boundaries and allows another person’s feeling to be cradled and nurtured within the loving hands of his/her understanding. Empathy is holding a narrative of another person and allowing yourself to feel the person’s emotions related to his or her storyline while understanding that these are not your own emotions.
pathologizing, labels, dichotomies, existentialism and acceptance
Quick summary: I am offering a discussion concerning the drive to label and how labeling impacts suffering. There is a heated debate in the field of psychotherapy as to whether psychiatric (DSM) labels help or hurt the client’s recovery. I am commenting on what encourages our emotional reactions and behavior related to the topic.
Existential Recovery – Emotional freedom inherent in the choice of meaning
Quick summary: Most of us believe that the outside world is responsible for our emotions, that our emotional dispositions are externally controlled (ex. he/she or this event etc made me feel this way). I am going to suggest that the meaning that you place onto an occurrence in often what you are emotionally reacting to… I will suggest that you have a freedom to choose your emotional experience as you have a choice in what meaning you place on the occurrences in your life.
Vengeance and the Ego
Quick summary: Vengeance is a tool which creates instability in an attempt to create a stable ego.
The Evolution of CBT = Mindfulness – moving from changing projections to eliminating projections
I am suggesting that CBT will evolve into mindfulness as mindfulness reduces the unwanted affects of both positive and negative projections where as CBT is designed to reduce the unwanted affects of negative projections alone.
Strength Based Therapy – what it means
“most people are very good at articulating their problems and their faults… they are seeking my help to acknowledge and to understand their strengths and potential solutions… it is my job to ensure that the therapy session balances problems with solutions and perceived faults with perceived strengths.”
The Oppression of Creativity and Progression – How regulation, oversight, managed care, and “Big Brother” oppress growth
Quick summary: When a person or system gains power they have the choice to use that power to implement and oversee regulations intended to bring the masses to conform to a truth which was suggested by the relevant power. ‘Knowledge’ then becomes an oppressive tool used by the power to convince people of an absolute truth with the end goal of exerting its intention on the population. The power is very often unaware that they are oppressive… in fact the power often believes that it is being helpful in that it is proliferating a helpful ‘truth’ to the masses. The problem is that when the public rigidly holds onto a truth the process of creativity is diminished (as you no longer need to create anything because the power already found ‘the truth’).There is no end to the evolution of consciousness and as such there is no end to the creative potential of consciousness (we are embodiments of consciousness = you are conscious = your creative potential is infinite). When the power imposes regulation, standards, and oversight intended to bring the population to conform to their ‘truth’ which they substantiate with ‘knowledge’ they intentionally or unintentionally hinder creativity. In short, the power says,” this is the ‘right way’ to do things based on these ‘facts’ and it is in the best interest of the public that we implement oversight to ensure everyone is doing things the ‘right way’… we will put regulation in place to ensure that there are no deviations from our set protocols.” deviations are creations – without deviations there is no creativity and therefore no progression or evolution of consciousness. There is hope… open-mindedness and acceptance can counter power as those two attributes help us to see that truth is relative and ever evolving… there are no absolute truths.
Changing unhelpful beliefs – "If ____________ then I will be happy"
Quick summary: there is a common belief that many of us hold which is based on what I will call the “if – then -” philosophy. Many of us believe that happiness is something to be found in the future. In order to reach this goal of happiness (or relaxation or whatever the emotional goal might be) we create a belief system which quantifies what we need in order to be happy. We tell our selves “If __________ (the blank is an occurrence that has not happened yet) then I will be __________ (the blank is whatever the emotional goal is. Example: at peace, relaxed, happy, ready, confident etc). The problem that arises is that this belief is rarely ever true, and even when it hold a degree of truth we rarely pause long enough to actually enjoy the positivity which was to be acquired at meeting the goal. The point that I am trying to make is that many of us have reached the goals that we set countless times, and yet we still find the emotional reward that was to accompany that goal to be elusive. I am not suggesting to stop setting goals, instead I am suggesting for you to allow yourself gratitude for what you already have and for what you have already accomplished. Happiness is something that you innately and infinitely possess sometimes the most difficult thing to do is to stop your never-ending wants so that you can enjoy the happiness and wonder of this very moment.
What is the meaning of Life? – To live… consciousness of consciousness in existence
I have contemplated the meaning of life and when asked what it is I usually defer to, “I don’t think that my brain is evolved to understand such things,” or “I am not sure that I am supposed to know… and I find that lack of existential responsibility to be comforting.” Today I will offer that perhaps the meaning of life is simply to live. When I say such a thing most people jump to anarchy, hedonism, and/or an existence without ethics and morality. To that I would reply that I believe that morals, ethics and structure are a part of existence, which life’s consciousness quantifies with terminology, relationship, math or language so that we reach some degree of understanding of the apparent balance of all existence. So to clarify, the meaning of life is then to live within the balance of existence… and to have life means to have a direct individual experience of this balance… to be able to experience this interconnectedness of everything from an individual perspective.
Mindfulness Interventions for Both the Therapist and the Client to Increase Therapeutic Effectiveness When Treating Trauma
Research has suggested that Mindfulness interventions can be extremely beneficial in the treatment and prevention of symptoms associated with trauma and vicarious trauma. The intention of this paper is to look into the possible positive effects of incorporating Mindfulness practices into therapist self care routines, and therapeutic interventions. To arrive at such an end this paper will briefly discuss the basic tenants of mindfulness and will then move on in examining studies which have noted the positive effects of mindfulness integration. In closing this paper will outline why a Mindfulness state is so critical in relation to recovery from trauma.
Reducing suffering – How trying to avoid or control suffering often increases suffering – When to act and when to accept without action
I will speak most on the suffering which we cause for ourselves when we distract, avoid, overwork, and over think with the good intentioned yet futile goal of attempting to control chaos, to create predictability, or to force reality into looking like our expectations.
Argumentative? Dichotomies in conversations lead to arguments not solutions
Quick summary – Couples and politicians alike commonly experience unnecessary unpleasant emotional reactions and a failure to reach a resolution do to the use of false dichotomies in conversation. Dichotomous thinking is what people commonly refer to as “either or thinking” or “black and white thinking” – basically people oversimplify issues so as to believe that their view point is 100% indisputably right and the other view point is 100% indisputably wrong. Solutions and more agreeable conversations simply necessitate that an adult takes into consideration that almost nothing is “black and white”… most everything is in the “grey area.” This would mean that adults would enter into conversations involving different viewpoints with the understanding that both people are both right and wrong at the same time… If you do not have an ability to do this with certain subjects (religion, politics, a vocational technique etc) then it would be best for you to hold an awareness of your inability to converse on such a subject without promoting an argument. It is hard for me to understand how a politician in a democracy can adequately fulfill their job description if they hold tightly to false dichotomies… in my opinion this is why solutions are becoming less common in our current government – we are unintentionally promoting dichotomous thinkers. This ability to hold security and compassion in the face of coexisting opposites is what has been historically described as Wisdom.
Does being drunk make you uninhibited? | alcohol, authenticity and primal instinct
Quick summary: Alcohol comes up quite a bit in counseling as most people who have drunk until intoxication have a story about how a drunken occurrence impacted a relationship. Clients have noticed that there is somewhat of a correlation between being drunk and having affairs… the question then naturally arises, “Does being drunk make you uninhibited?… Upon clarification they might say, “Does being drunk give people the freedom to engage in behaviors that their authentic self has always wanted to engage in?” When asked this question point blank I answered, “I don’t think so, it seems to me that being drunk simply makes people more primal… they become less inhibited and arguably less moral, ethical and logical in attaining their most basic bodily needs. Basically, being drunk generally encourages people to procreate with less selectivity… to ruthlessly obtain and eat high calorie foods… to aggressively assert dominance over what they would define as territory…to urinate without regards to social norms… and to sleep in less than ideal settings.”
Authentic Self – Are you the work you or the outside of work you?
Perhaps to increase your happiness in all areas of your life it is best to be as authentic or honest as possible. We suffer when we resist a part of ourselves. To have your ideal vocational environment perhaps it is best to find a place where you can displays all sides of yourself… ultimately this should be to the benefit to all those you serve.
Allowing and Believing
Quick summary: Lately I have noticed that not all obstacles are nearly as insurmountable as I had previously thought… I am not intending to suggest that environmental roadblocks do not exist… instead I am suggesting that perhaps the greatest wall keeping us from our ambitions, life paths, meaning, desires etc are related to an inability to allow. The question I am posing today is simply this – what would come to be in your life if you allowed yourself to try and what would come to be in your life if you allowed yourself to be different from the masses. In order to allow you must believe… not in the certainty of the future… but in yourself in the moment.
Courage to use your Strength to attend to your Fear
Quick summary: I am offering a discussion on the difference between Strength and Courage. My hope is that by helping people to see what courage is… they may be more likely to use that courage to express the potential of their authentic self. Courage is willingly engaging yourself in something that you view as very difficult… something that requires emotional strength… something that on the surface would seem to be easier to avoid, repress, or defend against (to rigidly close your mind too). It takes strength to be courageous and is takes strength to suppress your courage. Define what is ‘courageous’ for yourself… your answer may shed light on what you could do to bring your self into balance.
Narrative therapy: the externalization of perception
Quick summary: By talking with a therapist and re-experiencing emotions, thoughts and emotionally significant experiences, a client can show his/herself that occurrences can be narrated and therefore separated from the concept of self… narration is freedom as we find ourselves to be the author of our own reality. Resiliency naturally emerges as our identity ceases to be determined by the plot of our lives… we are no longer automatically controlled by the plot… instead we are the author… we choose the conclusions of our conflicts.
Empathy – nature and nurture
Quick summary: Empathy comes from nature and from nurture… from perceived positive and negative experiences. Empathy is something which is advantageous to the social human animal… there are many ways of augmenting this ability.