Posted by Jost on August 25, 2006, at 12:01:06
In reply to Re: Woo hoo a rant fest :-), posted by Estella on August 25, 2006, at 10:18:59
There used to be a theory that different therapist/personalities would be drawn to different therapy modalities. It seems to have dropped form view, but it was there.
Also, there was a theory that if you were a freudian, everyone had hysteria (until hysteria disappeared, and then everyone had whatever freudians believed in, then), while biological types thought everyone had bad brain chemistry, and existentialists thought everyone needed to grapple with existential dilemmas.
So, for example, in the famous experiment where all these "normal" people went to psych hospitals and claimed to hear voices saying something (it wasn't something you'd expect voices to say, either--more like "balance your checkbook NOW" as opposed to "the fbi has planted receivers into my fillings")-- once people were in the hospital, nothing they did could convince anyone that they were sane. Everything was somehow consistent with the diagnosis of schizophrenia-- like they were paranoid, or resistant to treatment, or whatever.
~~
I also read somewhere that if a little boy and a little girl are crying, people will think the boy is angry and the girl is sad. Since arguably your judgments about what you're feeling are partly determined by what you're told you're feeling, these interpretations could be internalized, and elaborated. Even after people have other experiences in which they are angry or sad (or, as often, both at once), this could lead them to overidentify with the angry or sad elements of their emotions.
Emotions are an interesting subject. The CBTers seem awfully sure that there's one type of connection, which can be reversed or broken mechanically-- without having thought through the complexities or the full usefulness of their method. It has a superficial appeal, and is a contribution because psychotherapy focuses so much on reworking emotions, rather than reworking judgments. But it seems reductionistic--kind of like dripdry materials versus satin or brocade. Maybe good for the occasional hot summer day.
Jost
poster:Jost
thread:679557
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060808/msgs/679999.html