RADICAL SELF THERAPY
By David Grossack
ONE OF THE HERD?
The human species is very skilled in adapting to difficult situations. Since time immemorial humans have built tools to hunt, farm, cook, eat, provide shelter and wage war. Our species has survived millennia of frosts, heat waves, natural disasters, invasions and epidemics and stands on the threshold of intergalactic exploration, the cracking of the genetic code and perhaps even immortality itself.
Humans have united in groups to form communities, governments and armies. Like insects that develop colonies, fish that travel in schools, birds that fly in formation, human beings are animals who use their tools to organize societies.
It is believed that there is a basic herd instinct, which is at least in part responsible for this behavior.
In the animal kingdom, leaders control organized communities. From ants to elephants, hierarchies are entrenched social orders that govern the lower classes. A strong case can be made that a genetically transmitted instinct passes from generation to generation of animals to follow the herd and to stay under its influence.
What keeps human beings under the control and influence of social groups is more complex. The mechanisms of control by institutions are thrust upon children in our formative years. We watch the television programs that 70 million other children watch. We go to school and read the same textbooks that 70 million other children read. We go to houses of worship and get exposed to the same man- made theologies that millions of others are exposed to, and tithe to support huge 'religious' bureaucracies.
In Eugene Ionescu's play 'Rhinoceros' we observe a critical satire of the human herd instinct.
A significant portion of the indoctrination process into society is through forms of marketing and merchandising. The merchandising of religions, soap operas and fashion are examples of building and branding new herds within the human species. Not only are we white, yellow or brown, we are Lutherans, Sunnis, Reformed Jews or Mormons, or one of the many other brands. We use Crest, Gleem or Tom's Natural Toothpaste. Some women dye their hair any of dozens of colors, wear styles and colors found in great abundance in and the selection of our beverages and automobiles are said to identify our personalities.
We become 'products of products", almost worshipping things society manufactures. The entire culture of our society, for many, many people, is based on 'getting' things. If this is a remnant of our primitive days as "hunter gatherers " it nevertheless represents the basis of considerable neurosis found in those who constantly striving for "more", 'better' and 'what the neighbors have". In such a world, fighting injustice doesn't take a high priority.
Once the individual becomes part of society he or she is of course subject to its laws, courts and police powers. Questioning the legitimacy of the System becomes heresy.
This has been enshrined in the law and culture of social systems for ages.
While the western world had embodied the Divine Right of Kings and the jurisprudence of the Talmud has stated that 'the powers that be are ordained of God and must be followed". In the eastern world the Chinese believed the Emperors enjoyed " the mandate of heaven."
English common law and much of American law including the Eleventh Amendment of our national constitution tells us that the government cannot be sued, though this is not eroded. This is the principle that you are not supposed to turn on the leaders of the herd.
Break away from the herd at your peril! Think outside the herd, and you'll become hunted or perhaps just an ignored freak, is the unwritten implication. If you do not know what Brittney and Madonna did, if you do not know who pitches for the Cardinals, If you do not watch Fox Reality shows, well, you are way out anyway, right?
What has the modern herd really become? It is like living on a Georgia plantation in the last days of the Civil War.
The powers that be, the leaders of the American herd, could not save ten thousand folks in New Orleans from drowning.
The powers that be could not save 3000 Americans from death at the hands of foreign terrorist despite a 101 warnings. They had even supplied the killers with $4 billion in our tax money years before the events of September 11!
In other words, the herd here has become dysfunctional. The dysfunction is reflected in the lawyers, judges and courts that serve it.
The dysfunction is noted in the widespread, rampant corruption in government at every level, the alienation many people feel from the national and local political arenas and the frequent low turnouts in many elections. A widespread view is that politicians are so in hock to corporate interests that communication with them is futile.
Against this context, an epidemic of abuse at the hands of the justice systems and the government is virtually a tradition at every level in just about every country.
The conditions resulting from legal and government abuse are not unlike those after a serious physical assault, Posttraumatic stress syndrome has been documented among many victims.
Unlike the forms of psychotherapy, which require intervention by therapists deal with emotional disturbance, RST recognizes that the expectations of positive results from a conventional patient therapist are unrealistic. More damage than benefit may very well result.
RST therefore is a tool to be used without a therapist unless the symptoms are so severe that medical intervention is necessary, i.e. hospitalization for severe depression or medication.
After all, what is the social role of the psychologist in American society?
A great number are employed by law enforcement, by prisons, courts and even the intelligence agencies. Their view of the patient's treatment may be to require him to adapt to the herd rather than to drop out or to try to change it because the therapist's own bias may lean that way.
The therapists are themselves 'products" of the System, enjoying comfortable lives as servants of power, dependent on insurance agencies, hospitals and other bureaucracies for sustenance. And of course, they are licensed by the various states.
A field of study where entire branches are devoted to help manufacturers sell their products, to help politicians subliminally reach voters or to help armies launch propaganda campaigns are risky prospects for helping to heal anybody of anything. In fact, the role of the psychologist is one of counterinsurgent or bully in so many aspects. Troublesome patients are often drugged after criticizing their doctor or lawyer.
A judge sends a litigant or even his own lawyer to a psychiatrist and the psychiatrist will inevitably make some moral judgments on him affecting the court case. The moral judgment may be coded in medical terminology and will no doubt be colored by a partisan view of the case. But the psychiatric opinion will be used an excuse by a judge or lawyer for making a decision, unless the judge really does not like it!
Parties seeking to divorce may have the welfare of the children investigated by a psychologist with close connections to a judge and biased, partisan reports will affect the family negatively for decades.
Psychologists continue to bill the insurance company as long as you are not well and keep coming back for visits. They almost have a vested interest in you not getting well.
Modern psychology simply is not trustworthy.
For all of these reasons, it is my belief that it is safest for the victims to heal themselves with a minimum of outside assistance using RST tools and techniques that are easily applicable at home or in leisure moments.
SOME TOOLS OF RADICAL SELF THERAPY
Your Conversations With You!
All day long we have conversations with ourselves. Unfortunately, the conversations we have with ourselves often reinforce our subservience to the culture and thought of the oppressive institutions of society.
We may tell ourselves that we are at fault for a situation when it is absolutely not our fault.
We may invent excuses for not doing something because it makes us feel uncomfortable even if it is the right thing to do, or even beneficial for us.
We may have conversations with ourselves to justify our failure to fight back. This could be fear of reprisals, fear of embarrassment, fear of failure, fear of ridicule, and fear of the comments of family and friends.
Very often the premises and conclusions arising from the conversations you have with yourself are simply destructive.
" Self talk " should be used to program a positive self image of yourself, realistically build confidence and encouragement, keep you from developing a negative view of yourself.
This is not to say you should never criticize yourself or put limitations on yourself. But learn how to be critical of your own irrational assumptions and program yourself to have positive, uplifting and helpful chats with yourself.
Some folks use 'Affirmations", statements they repeat every day to encourage themselves to adopt characteristics they find themselves lacking.
If I said to myself every morning:
I am a good writer.
I communicate well.
People like what I write.
I will write a great essay today.
Could it hurt?
IMAGINEERING!
Beyond words and thoughts at some point RST means action.
RST encourages practitioners to imagine a situation and act it out before going forward with it.
It is part of writing a script for life and then making it happen.
Your odds of getting a successful response to asking a woman for a date increase when you plan your words, plan the time and occasion and rehearse. And don't be satisfied with your first rehearsal. Rehearse it again, perhaps with the help of a friend.
Asking your boss for a raise, telling a co-worker to mind her own business, speaking to your spoiled, poorly behaving child, these are occasions where your conversations carry a great deal of importance and significance and can be rehearsed, with somebody else playing the role of the opposite party, anticipating various reactions and developing appropriate responses.
The process will help you build self-confidence, choose the best words and increase your chances for optimal results.
SELF-MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES
In 1974 the author enrolled at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts to study business management. I had just completed three courses in economics at Brandeis, one with a Maoist tinge, and was thirsting to learn about American capitalism, coming from a home where there was ambivalence towards the subject.
Professor Deneault taught a course called General Management. The process of management includes planning, leading, organizing and controlling. We learned about goal setting, delegating authority, decision-making and other methods of running a corporation.
I look back and I confess to one thing. I never learned how to really apply the techniques of General Management, for which I received an A +, to managing myself.
I haven't managed my weight, eating habits, grooming, decision-making, personal organization and other aspects of my life because I could mitigate the damage with a good intellect and memory. Now as I age I realize I'd better start fast.
But what if one applied the principles of management to managing yourself? What if you set realistic goals and instead of writing a business plan, wrote a detailed, businesslike script for your life with the same level of thought and planning as business plan would entail, and how you would follow it, on a daily basis and on a weekly, monthly yearly basis, contrasting results and implementing review techniques, improvements, and amendments to your script?
What are the reasons for following this suggestion?
What are the reasons against following this suggestion?
Your life is worth it, isn't it?
What is your optimum time to awake and to go to sleep? What is your optimum diet? Should you be planning each meal? + Should you be employed or self-employed? What is your best path to contentment and success? Do you have an appropriate life partner? If not, why not? What should you do about it if the answer is no? What basis do you have for the decisions you intend to make?
If you want to look for an appropriate life partner in a pick up bar, is there a reasonable basis for that decision?
ACT UP
Act Up is the name of a militant protest organization of that became prominent in the 1990's on issues involving AIDS. Under a death sentence, the sufferers of AIDS lost their inhibitions about protesting, engaging in civil disobedience and aggressively pursued campaigns to obtain funding for AIDS research and to combat prejudice against homosexuals. Their methods came from the antiwar movement, civil rights movement and were highly confrontational.
Act Up was a descriptive term for their group, because acting up is exactly what they did. If you associate being homosexual without having guts, without having resolve, and courage, then the folks at Act Up absolutely proved you incorrect.
They did a thorough job of embarrassing politicians and bureaucrats. When the crypto-fascist homophobe and anti-semite Patrick Buchanan announced his Presidential candidacy on one occasion, the folks from Act Up completely disrupted the event.
My guess is that the folks at Act Up did what they did for their own emotional well being as well as their vested interest. They were going to die, or their friends and lovers were going die. The pain of enduring this impending doom was no doubt with them every minute of the day.
Not to protest the lack of a remedy for the horrible disease was not an acceptable alternative for them. That science could only accomplish so much, so fast, was perhaps not fully understood by them.
The act of protesting is itself therapeutic. My late father, in his successful book You Are Not Alone, had this to say about the mental health of those who protest:
"...involvement in making our society a better place can give meaning to the lonely, elderly, the confused and the bewildered. Be willing to accept and even advocate change and even to initiate efforts to modify conditions. By lessening your own complacency, you increase your social awareness and feelings of dignity and worthiness...."
"...As you commit yourself to rational, personal growth, also commit yourself to working for a sane social order..."
Dr. Martin Grossack, 1965