tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post4077174963277944269..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: Psychiatry and Its DiscontentsStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-13120523164678699542015-07-21T08:17:50.899-07:002015-07-21T08:17:50.899-07:00Errors in comment above. Last sentence change pres...Errors in comment above. Last sentence change presence -> present and whole -> hole.<br /><br />Zen Buddhism teaches the Four Noble Truths and the Path of Right Action.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-71931796280033197142015-07-21T08:02:33.018-07:002015-07-21T08:02:33.018-07:00Regarding the prior article, where the young man c...Regarding the prior article, where the young man could not beat depression via professional success as a performer and via compliance with the advice of mental health experts, the reasons for such failure are described by Alice Miller in The Drama of the Gifted Child. Neither success nor compliance with the expectations of others can substitute for the painful loss of love as a child. In fact if one had not been loved and accepted as they are as a child, and instead had to perform for the sake of others, to be and become what others need and want from the child, then the young man's strategy for "beating depression" (residual pain) is nothing but a reenactment of submission to the demands of others to be a successful performer and comply with the diktats of some external authority figures. One can enjoy success and relationships in the presence for what they are, but one cannot fill a whole in the soul by playing roles in life which continue to operate primarily as substitute gratifications.<br /><br />The practice of Zen Buddhism appears to be the operative foundation of DBT.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-91669457350619296052015-07-21T03:37:26.492-07:002015-07-21T03:37:26.492-07:00Of course, I have previously written about Linehan...Of course, I have previously written about Linehan... see this post from May: http://stuartschneiderman.blogspot.com/2015/05/who-is-marsha-linehan-and-what-is-dbt.htmlStuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-57773384062459385572015-07-20T19:52:08.268-07:002015-07-20T19:52:08.268-07:00This is a biographical article about Marsha Lineha...This is a biographical article about Marsha Linehan:<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/health/23lives.html?_r=1&hp<br /><br />Here is an introduction to Dialectal Behavior Therapy (DBT):<br /><br />http://behavioraltech.org/resources/whatisdbt.cfm<br /><br />Mindfulness and tolerance of whatever state of mind arises or does not arise are the essence of any meditation practice. Here they are called aspects of cognitive therapy.<br /><br />Acceptance and gradual change is the pattern experienced by a well-parented child. <br /><br />These therapists have a lot more mindfulness practice to do if they think the labels applied to suffering persons (disorders, disease, etc.) are aids to self acceptance. I can tell you from personal experience such labels are nothing but stigmatizing judgments imposed by others who are not aware of how their mind generates judgments.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-69449211518646457472015-07-20T08:50:32.805-07:002015-07-20T08:50:32.805-07:00re: I do not agree that narcissistic and rage and ...re: I do not agree that narcissistic and rage and paralyzing ambivalence vanish when a patient has attained to self-understanding. What is called self-understanding has always involved finding a convenient narrative that pretends to explain your problems, but that, more significantly, provides you with access to a group of people that believes in the same "truth."<br />...<br />re: In the past, the narrative would have involved the Oedipus complex. Today’s therapists are likely to tell you that you are a narcissist with control issues. (I expect some gratitude for having saved you years on the couch.)<br /><br />I think about Mr. Househusband in the previous blog, with the liberated wife here. How could a therapist (or psychotherapist) help liberate an abused househusband? How would a therapist "treat" his sensitive complacency if he was say only concerned his wife's behavior would harm their children?<br /><br />How do therapists deal with a patient who wants nothing for himself, just wants the best for his children?<br /><br />If "self-understanding" always reduces to a narrative that pretends to explain, what else is there besides a narrative? Is there any narrative besides blame?<br /><br />One blogger I like, John Michael Greer, had a saying "Knowing many stories is wisdom. Knowing no stories is ignorance. Knowing only one story is death."<br /><br />The "explanation" of this "narrative" is that there are many points of view, and wisdom comes from weighing them against each other. Refusing to be reflective at all perhaps doesn't "shutdown" our story telling, it just makes us ignorant about what beliefs are behind our judgements and assumptions. But the biggest problems may come when we PRETEND there is only one right answer that must be right for everyone, and stand for that no matter how much it would seem inferior to other answers.<br /><br />So the value of a therapist in my mind would be to help verbalize what assumptions a patient is making and hint at possible blind spots, and reflect what those assumptions look like from the outside. This might be hard I admit. Perhaps some therapists are better than others? Perhaps most people would be terrible therapists, even if they spent a lifetime of study?<br /><br />So instead perhaps Valium or Prozac or some other medication will magically make his worrisome concerns over negative affects of his wife's choices on the children go away?<br /><br />Or then again, perhaps a Life Coach would do better, and when advice is requested he could tell a patient to "experiment" saying "no" to his wife sometimes, on small things just for practice, and see what happens? That might be a stretch, or not.<br /><br />Or maybe a combination of drugs and expert advice, so many ways to offer hope, assuming we even know what outcome is optimal.<br />Ares Olympushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09726811306826601686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-5995990098941029922015-07-20T08:26:22.818-07:002015-07-20T08:26:22.818-07:00Thank you... much appreciated!!Thank you... much appreciated!!Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-84265445549890545182015-07-20T08:07:41.784-07:002015-07-20T08:07:41.784-07:00I seriously love this blog. Just started reading y...I seriously love this blog. Just started reading your book as a result.<br /><br />I am an internist and work with chronic pain patients.<br /><br />Your insights have been invaluable to me and, consequently, to my patients.KCFleminghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00124201866124646626noreply@blogger.com