danDNA’s blog - www.gotaw.co.uk

Darian Leader, an author http://www.darianleader.com has written a piece for G2 - the Guardian newspaper supplement - about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), suggesting that the use of CBT is leading us away from the great work that psychotherapy previously achieved.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/sep/09/psychology.humanbehaviour

According to the piece much of the West is no longer interested in the experiences that have made us who we are, instead choosing to concentrate on how we can correct our thought patterns, which in CBT are seen as the cause of our problems. A Quick Fix for the Soul attempts to explain that CBT will dominate psychotherapy as a cheap alternative to exploring the personality in depth, and that its adherents will be ignoring the cause of the behaviour in their attempts to banish the symptoms their patients manifest, rather than tackle the problem that underlies it. But is CBT just the latest in a long line of ‘cures’ for mental illness? And is it really taking over the asylum?

Perhaps it is a classic woods and trees, but what Darian Leader fails to point out is that there was never a correct answer in psychotherapy, and in all probability there never will be ‘one’. Although he makes a case for the patient in his piece, it may also be that this woman would benefit from CBT, and if not her then some other patient. I am in agreement with Darian Leader that life experiences are key to our understanding of the individual but it is now down to those in charge to re-learn this. The application of one type of therapy to everyone will prove to be futile, if we are correct in our supposition. The most damage may be to the readers, who are led to believe that psychiatry thinks it has found a ’solution’, and one that is wrong at that.

Theory after theory has claimed to be comprehensive and each has eventually been superseeded. So although the dream analysis of the Victorians may still be at the core of psychotherapy, many of its assumptions have been attenuated by newer and more bold theories, which themselves may prove incorrect. The work of Laing was indeed revolutionary in its time but 40 years later only basic elements of it stand up. Each theory may hold water for individual cases, but it would be naive to assume that we can discover empirical answers in psychotherapy.

For example, many fields of psychoanalysis were developed by Freud’s students, who gathered their own data and reached conclusions differing from their tutor’s. This is how therapists should work, establishing a feedback loop between their patient’s and theories both new and old, experimental and accepted. As there is no one true religion there should be no one true therapy, or, for as many individuals as their are alive there should be as many solutions. Of course, some ground rules can be established, gleaned from the very few studies that have achieved workable results, but apart from these there should be complete transparency in psychotherapy.

Darian Leader’s piece was written to suggest that CBT is being applied as a blanket therapy and that no one is voicing their disagreement, or rather, that like good automated therapists they are adhereing to the desires of their superiors, but the truth - I feel - is much more optimistic. All over the world new forms and versions of therapy are being developed, each incorporating the previous theories and study results, like the evolution of organisms. And much like the subject of this analogy we should marvel at the vast array of differences between them, and not see one as superior or ‘fitter’ than any other but as expressions of the nature of the universe. This may not be helpful for the dogmatists who like to claim psychotherapy is a real science but it may be the only ‘truth’ we can take from it. Regulation shouldn’t be concentrated on those who like to try new ideas, or who think outside of the box when it comes to theories of mind, but those who fix their treatment on one school of thought.

Fellow builders - Plumbers, Carpenters, Bricklayers, Plasterers, Electricians - For innumerable years we could command respect for the fact that we literally put roofs over people’s heads. No one could push us around, no cars could take our space, no customer could threaten us with legal action, no company could sack us for being immovably and honestly, ourselves. But year upon year we have been forced to submit, little by little, until we have become a shadow of our former selves. Now it is us getting abuse and nasty looks from the staff in shops, people in the street, other road users, employers and bureaucrats.

Everyone brought 4×4’s so they could feel empowered enough to edge us out in traffic, not realising that the very reason we were in a rush is because we had been working hard from the early hours and we wanted to get home. White van man became a national disgrace and newspapers tarnished our good names by dragging the worst of us out into the light to be paraded as representatives of our trades.

Health and Safety banned pictures in tea huts, sleeveless tops, shorts and radios, and even delegated our power usage to strictly 110v, putting many good power tools to early retirement, and guaranteeing we couldn’t charge our batteries anywhere, making us feel like common criminals when we steal a bit of 240v power to charge our cells. They banned our clothing, our language, our habits, our reckless love of danger all so they could reprimand someone, an easy target. They dress us in fluorescent garments like irresponsible school children, and make us report when we cut a finger, or scratch our leg, they make us wear hard hats when we are on the roof, ON THE ROOF i say! whatever hits us on the head from above at that height is going to kill us anyway regardless of whether we have a hard hat on. Health and Safety convince the surrounding neighbours that they are more important than us, that they should be able to tell us to turn our radio down, or tone down our language, or move our vans, and we are supposed to comply? Where did our spines go? Did Health and Safety remove those too?

Shop staff, feeling the zeitgeist, that everyone is against us and that we are some sort of enemy, treat us with disdain when we enter their establishments in our work clothes and reluctantly serve us down the end of their noses. We feel ashamed to enter public buildings in case we are in breach of some sort of protocol that ten years ago didn’t exist. Cafes, which we patronised in their early days turn us away, or make us sit out the back by the toilets, and whilst they serve everyone else at their table we have to go to the counter and pay before we eat. There was a time when we were their bread and butter.

A gentle bit of banter used to unite the workers, but now? Now we are afraid to say anything to each other, we speak in code to avoid offending someone, we live in constant fear of being reported, like critics of communist Russia. They are slowly dividing and conquering what was once a place where people were free to say what they wanted. And I’m not talking about the racism that existed on sites previously, that was a few hardcore elements that were never really welcome on any site. Building sites have always been places where immigrants, nationals, and people of all races, religions, and social backgrounds could meet and feel equal. When you’re are cleaning shit out of a pipe with your bare hands anyone who will talk to you is a friend, ask a plumber. I know of some of the best friendships in the world, between the most diverse types of people that have been forged on building sites. We would more than welcome women on a site, as long as they could pull their weight they would be respected as equals, but when the size of a bag of sand is changed to supposedly accommodate the smaller frame, is it really us you can blame for sexism? For all the laws that have been changed to limit inequality on the site do we see any more women on jobs? The answer is no.

But things can only change in our favour once again if we all put the effort in. We must find the new, stronger and more confident builder that is waiting to break out of his prison, that isn’t afraid to once again say “yes, I’m taking this place in traffic, and you can get your mobile out and call who you want because I am a builder and I am not afraid any more”, that can say “think what you want of me, I’m not bothered, I put roofs over your head. What do you do, manage a supermarket? Oh that’ll help when the rain comes in” and “I’ll park my van there because I’m doing an honest days work, what are you doing indoors at 10am anyway, you lazy, miserable excuse for a human being, get back inside and watch Jeremy Kyle before I back into your wall”.

Bring batteries for your radio’s and play them as loud as YOU can handle, yes wear safety boots, and by all means wear hi-vis and hard hats when it’s necessary, but if you don’t think you are at risk then take them off, who is that pencil-neck in a suit to tell you when you are safe or not? You’re not an imbecile, and if they don’t like it they can sack you, but they cant sack all of us. Run 240v leads for your batteries - they are after all the tools of your trade - and if anyone tells you no, explain to them that the revolution is coming, and very soon they wont be able to push you around any more, because they wont matter. Earn positions of trust and loosen the laws from the inside - foremen, take some responsibility for making decisions that affect your workforce, only you can say whether lack of hats, coats and gloves, or 240v cables are really dangerous, question the Health and Safety rules, don’t just blindly obey them, otherwise you are nothing better than the guards at Belsen.

Educate your labourers, your family and your friends. Spread the new truths. Translate this into Polish, Romanian, Irish, African, Czech, Farsi, Croatian, or whatever languages and post IT on the tea hut wall, over the ‘considerate builder sign’. Because at the end of the day we are honest, hard working, paid up members of society and it’s high time that we united against our oppressors and rose to take our rightful place in the pecking order - SOMEWHERE NEAR THE TOP.

http://holycow.typepad.com/holycow/2007/07/builders-vs-arc.html

A few weeks ago the British talkshow host Jeremy Kyle was involved in nasty automobile accident, which he unfortunately walked away from unscathed. I decided to write this as an appeal for anyone working in the mental health section to start a worldwide movement to stop Jeremy Kyle obtaining any psychological help whatsoever should he attempt to get it. So if you or someone you know works in this field please send them this blog as an explanation.

First, for those who don’t know, a brief explanation of who Jeremy Kyle is shall follow. Mr Kyle is a fairly well known day time host of an eponymously titled show that puts people on a stage, reveals a controversial truth about them and then has Jeremy shouts at them for the next 15 minutes. The nearest TV show i can compare it to is Jerry Springer’s, with an angrier host. In fact, the show was described by a judge, in a recent court case associated with it, as ‘a human form of bear baiting’. A cheating wife and her lover had been forced into a confrontation with the wanting husband, who had head-butted the lover live on TV. But Jeremy doesn’t only hate cheating partners, Jeremy hates many people. People who leave their kids, kids that disrespect their parents and other people, people who drop out, drop outs who don’t contribute to society, and all the other, frankly, obvious types of people you would stereotypically expect someone like Jeremy to hate. Now i understand that there is the view that those who appear on this format of show are asking for trouble, but perhaps some people do not have the mental capacity to resolves their issues alone. Sure they could talk to friends, to family, fuck it they could talk to each other but when they go on these shows they assume they are talking to an expert, which Jeremy certainly is not (unless its a compulsive gambler they want tips from).

So when Jeremy’s car crash was reported my first thought was for his poor wife, who will have to put up with his ever increasing mood swings, his slowly burning fuse and his insisting “I’M FINE! I DON’T NEED HELP!” in his trademark shout. Because fairly soon Jeremy Kyle is going to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat as he relives those moments of his accident again in dreamlike reality as his traumatised unconscious attempts to come to terms with what has happened, but mixed in with these images will be scenes of his own show, where he is shouting at a guest, his face red with rage, his free-flowing words hyperbolic statements about society at large. And then one day, the director will say “You’re on!” and for a few seconds Jeremy will stand there staring blankly into space unaware that he is being spoken to. “Jeremy! Jeremy? Are you OK?” someone will ask, and he will snap out of it, but he will also be aware that his experience is beginning to encroach on his waking life. The next day he simply doesn’t turn up and we are told by Dale Winton, or whoever replaces him, that Jeremy will be back soon. Meanwhile Jeremy, remembering some advice he had heard someone give someone else once, but which he had chosen to ignore believing, Jeremy heads to a reputable psychiatrist’s office….

And this is where you can help heal the world.

By denying Jeremy Kyle the much needed help you could be giving him a taste of his own vile medicine. I would never normally agree that this would be a good way to deal with psychological problems, but in this case i think we can do the whole country a favour. Let us be in no way confused, Jeremy Kyle is one of the bad ones. When, in four years time Mr Kyle realises the root to all his problems lie in his own anger he will be a profoundly changed man. But this realisation cannot come from someone else, it must come from years of sleeping rough, years of being abused by real people who’s lives he has made worse, years of internal turmoil, which will eventually lead to self-realisation, and the realisation that his life has been a waste of energy.

We must make an exception for the first few psychiatrists that he visits, which could help drive the message home quicker. Their principle concern should be to sit/lay him down and proceed to start shouting at him, “You’re pathetic! You think you’re a man? Why are you crying, you nearly caused others to die with your reckless behaviour! Is everything a GAMBLE to you? Why cant you just get another job? Oh you’re so special, that you cant work at a supermarket?”. I want him to go through a full breakdown process where he realises that he is a bully who doesn’t know how to talk to people in a civilised way, and that his anger is down to problems in his past. A psychologist could tear the shit out of him. perhaps we could get Steve who used to work on Jerry Springer to speak to him, as he now has his own talk-show, as if working on Jerry should qualify you to counsel people with problems, but hey he used to be in the army so he can shout louder than Kyle. Shouting is the only language JK understands, but i suspect it says more about his own upbringing and internal conflicts than it does his ability to empathise with others.

I am led to believe that Jeremy Kyle is popular because he shouts at his guests, and viewers enjoy this because they think it would be good for their kids to be shouted at every now and then. They think he could stamp a bit of authority on their kids, either that or it reminds them or their husbands, who are probably at work, who would be shouting at them if they were home. So in a way they use Jeremy Kyle as a replacement husband. It is familiar behaviour pattern based on destructive and negative thought patterns, which says a lot about the audience, as well as where shouting at kids can get you. What ever happened to talking?

So please, if you have any sense, help to stop Jeremy Kyle.

While i am on the subject, lets take a look at a few other talk show hosts,and their style of presentation, because not everyone is in it to abuse their guests. Who are the good and the bad? Maybe you have one of your own you would like to add.

Steve Wilkos - Straight off, what the hell is Steve Wilkos doing helping people who are fucked up? He was in the army. He might enjoy being shouted at, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that other will enjoy it, or that it is the correct way to make someone do something. In fact, there is no proof that shouting at someone will make them do anything, except go to war.

Trisha Goddard - Trisha, who comes across like most of my black friends’ mums - maternal but rather strict - may have excelled during her stints of group counseling, which is why she thinks that everyone will enjoy spilling their problems in front of an audience. But at least she does offer counseling back stage, so she is willing to resolve the guest’s issues positively.

Oprah Winfrey - Oprah learned the hard way when she was repeatedly accused of hating on black people and women, because in one way or another the Queen of talk shows initially exploited both. She had a bit of a moment of consciousness and decided to repent by highlighting social problems and becoming a positive role model, and no longer tries to exploit her guests. She instead tries to make the audience, both in the studio and at home feel good about themselves, by giving away toasters, cars, make up or whatever.

Jerry Springer - Jerry Springer has not been a good person however. He has sought to exploit from day one, and tries to redeem himself with the final thought, but still allows midget fights and whores, pimps and crack heads to come on and act outrageously. Does he think it benefits a transsexual to come on a TV programme and in front of 9 million people be told that their boyfriend doesn’t love them? Does it benefit the girl who came on and told her mum that she didn’t want to work as a prostitute with her anymore, to be told in front of the whole country by her mum “You’ll be back because you’re just a slut”. Does Jerry think that is going to help her get over the real problems in her life?

There is a complex phenomenon in psychiatry known as ‘Messianic ideation’ where the patient suffers from messianic delusions, reporting a strong association with the Christ figure. I was given an idea about this fascinating human condition after a discussion with a friend about a Will Self book The Book of Dave, in which a mentally ill London taxi driver writes his memoirs and buries them, only to have them discovered 500 years later by a diluvian London society. This cab driver’s book of mad ramblings becomes the Londoner’s new Bible with the cabbie’s Knowledge replacing the old testament as their book of laws. An amazingly brilliant story, i couldn’t help thinking that the phenomenon of psychiatric patients believing they are Jesus - the messianic delusion - may be a form of mental illness itself, and that perhaps the many mentally ill people who reportedly sympathise with the Christ story may be suffering from the same mental illness that Jesus suffered from, and, forgive me if i am offending anyone, Jesus was merely a case of someone with this form of mental illness. This adds a new twist to the idea that a blood line of Christ can be traced from the earliest days of antiquity to our present time.

But we dont have stop with Jesus. Perhaps this mutation - for it may easily be a genetic imperfection that causes the sufferer to believe they are in some way messianic - can be traced even further back to some other messianic figures, as it can be traced forward. Perhaps then also, all of these sufferers today are in some way relatives of that blood line and their mind is their legacy. What are the symptoms of patients of non-Christian religions? Do they also suffer from messianic tendencies?

It has been proposed elsewhere that Timothy Leary and a few other drug gurus suffered something similar to this phenomenon under the influence of psychedelic drugs, and though in these cases it was induced by drugs, it does give us interesting anecdotal evidence to examine. The author Philip K Dick also entered some sort of mindset that gave him the impression that he was in some way special, that like the subject of many of his stories, he was an undercover agent who’s DNA was encoded with a message from Aliens/God that would be revealed when the time was right. I assume that in this case it was also drug induced but the sheer magnitude of his work allows us a very detailed look into his thought process, and the chronicle of the breakdown of PKD’s mind in the book Exegesis is an excellent example of this. Drugs can obviously push the human mind over the edge of some precipice, which in psychiatric patients who suffer from Messianic delusions is much more easily accessible. I do not in any way believe that Leary, McKenna and the other psychedelic pioneers were brainwashed into believing their own hype, but that they were simply stepping into an extremity of the human mind, the religious mind. At one side of the dynamic of human experience is the religious experience, one where the patient, or user, or believer is able to elevate themselves beyond the understanding of the world that is scientifically and systematically taught to us, to a place where they feel at one with every part of the universe. Francis of Assisi and Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of the Latter Day Saints are good examples of people who were able to come out of it with some sort of credence. I believe this experience is somewhat akin to the animal psyche that existed previous to our super-logical human mind, which has been slowly retrained over the past tens of thousands of years to think. But I do not believe that the ability to experience the animal, the unconscious appreciation of the world, is lost to us, or has been bred out of us in some way. It is said that we are only 3 days away from barbarianism, that society as we know it would break down, given the right set of circumstances. So on what would we rely if such an event occurred? Maybe we would find that some sort of instinctive rules took over. In his book On Aggression the Ethologist Konrad Lorenz suggest that the seven deadly sins, on which it is fair to say many of our basic laws are based, are a set of rules created to counter our instinctive behaviours, to tame the savage man. So for instance, Envy was created to counter the age-old behaviour of wanting and stealing from one’s neighbour, which would have had practical benefits to prehistoric man in his fight for survival. Greed is another sin that would have been of benefit to the stone-age man - to have more than others also meant survival in the wild. therefore, we should see the seven deadly sins as pointers to our actual instinctive reactions to situations, and these laws as the first attempt to control man’s behaviour. This period of time could then be said to be the first example of controlling man’s instincts, the first sniff of civilisation.

Underneath our Ego and all of our facades created to fool the world that we are who we are lie some basic truths. Could one of these be that we are all able to experience the messianic delusion, although some are able to experience it easier than others? Perhaps there is a part of the brain that is able to provide this experience, and some of us have greater connections to it, others not so great.