Interesting article: Dabrowski's Theory and Existential Depression in Gifted Children and Adults by James T. Webb.
Not going to comment at this time, but maybe another day.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Bird Walk
I’m on a mental bird walk. Let me explain how I arrived at trying to make connections among the science and theory of understanding autism, Freud’s defense mechanisms, and Transactional Analysis. No, I'm not done with the journey, but here is a breakdown of what got me going.
In Animals In Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior (2005), Temple Grandin talks about what makes normal people different from autistic people and human beings in general different from animals, with specific reference to Freud’s theory of defense mechanisms. She states:
I made personal connections while reading this particular section of Grandin’s book. In the course events in my life, I see many brushes with repression and denial. I became curious about what Freud might’ve had to say about defense mechanisms. And I felt a rush of memories about the numerous times I’d been told that I was negative, when it certainly didn’t feel that way to me. I will not elaborate on those experiences here. Rather, I will simply recount the trajectory of reading thinking that this particular excerpt pushed me.
I googled “Freud’s defense mechanisms,” perused the recommendations a bit. After reading this page on a site called Changing Minds.org, I made a mental note to keep the url as a future reference, and I eventually found myself most interested in this Wikipedia entry. I read the article in its entirety, because I couldn’t recall much of anything about Freud from Psyc 101 in undergrad (It was a boring text-based class in which I earned a “C”). I found the article fascinating enough to go on to the discussion, which could be viewed in the adjacent tabs of the articles. Toward the bottom, there was a post in the discussion about the content and construct of the Wikipedia article that rolled around in my head. It stated:
TA, or Transactional Analysis, caught my attention, perhaps because of the title of a book by Dr. Eric Berne, Games People Play. Having felt great intellectual satisfaction with the first Wikipedia entry, I moved on to both the pages on Transactional Analysis and Games People Play, and decided that I wanted to read Berne’s book.
I moved on to Amazon, but found that Berne’s book was not available for Kindle in the U.S. I tried to find excerpts on Google Books, because that resource is often enough to satisfy my curiosity. While there was an entry at Google Books, there was no excerpt.
My next choice was to see if it was available through my local library system. One copy was all they had and I would’ve been number two on the wait list. Hmmmm. . . that could take a month or two, and what I needed was more immediate gratification to satiate my growing hunger to know.
However, there was a copy available at my neighborhood Barnes and Nobel. Now, you would think that I would have gone straight to the store to at least flip through the pages, but that was when I told myself that I wanted to finish Grandin’s book before moving on to a new one. I was very good about the decision at the moment, but by 9 o’clock in the evening, I knew that it weighed heavily enough on my mind that I should just buy it.
So, here it is sitting on my cluttered dining room table taunting me when I should be out for a walk on this lovely summer morning. There are complex connections in my muddled mind right now. Hopefully, I can sort through them well enough to articulate what I mean to say in future posts. I am still focused on Grandin's work, for she has inspired my thinking in so many ways, not just this little diversion.
One last thought or link that I would like to explore more: Psychology Portal at Wikipedia
In Animals In Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior (2005), Temple Grandin talks about what makes normal people different from autistic people and human beings in general different from animals, with specific reference to Freud’s theory of defense mechanisms. She states:
“The reason I believe animals don’t have Freudian defense mechanisms is that animals and autistic people don’t seem to have repression. Or, if they do, they have it only to a weak degree. I don’t think I have any of Freud’s defense mechanisms, and I’m always amazed when normal people do. One of the things that blows my mind about normal human beings is denial. When I see a packing plant getting into a bad situation I’ll say, “That’s not going to work,” and everyone will immediately think I’m being really negative. But I’m not. It would be obvious to anyone outside the situation that what they’re doing isn’t going to work, but people inside the bad situation can’t see it because their defense mechanisms protect them from seeing it until they’re ready. That’s denial, and I can’t understand it at all. I can’t even imagine what it’s like.” (Kindle Locations 1726-1733)
I made personal connections while reading this particular section of Grandin’s book. In the course events in my life, I see many brushes with repression and denial. I became curious about what Freud might’ve had to say about defense mechanisms. And I felt a rush of memories about the numerous times I’d been told that I was negative, when it certainly didn’t feel that way to me. I will not elaborate on those experiences here. Rather, I will simply recount the trajectory of reading thinking that this particular excerpt pushed me.
I googled “Freud’s defense mechanisms,” perused the recommendations a bit. After reading this page on a site called Changing Minds.org, I made a mental note to keep the url as a future reference, and I eventually found myself most interested in this Wikipedia entry. I read the article in its entirety, because I couldn’t recall much of anything about Freud from Psyc 101 in undergrad (It was a boring text-based class in which I earned a “C”). I found the article fascinating enough to go on to the discussion, which could be viewed in the adjacent tabs of the articles. Toward the bottom, there was a post in the discussion about the content and construct of the Wikipedia article that rolled around in my head. It stated:
“I just removed a few short statements effectively comparing Freud's Id, Ego, and Superego to Eric Berne's Child, Adult, and Parent respectively. Please remember not to make any such correlations in this article. The TA article itself as well as Games People Play (the book that defined TA; yes, I have read it) both mention that there is no direct correspondence between them, even though they are distinctly similar concepts (for example, the Adult represents logical reasoning unaffected by emotional pulls and the Ego represents the reality principle).” User 192.83.228.119
TA, or Transactional Analysis, caught my attention, perhaps because of the title of a book by Dr. Eric Berne, Games People Play. Having felt great intellectual satisfaction with the first Wikipedia entry, I moved on to both the pages on Transactional Analysis and Games People Play, and decided that I wanted to read Berne’s book.
I moved on to Amazon, but found that Berne’s book was not available for Kindle in the U.S. I tried to find excerpts on Google Books, because that resource is often enough to satisfy my curiosity. While there was an entry at Google Books, there was no excerpt.
My next choice was to see if it was available through my local library system. One copy was all they had and I would’ve been number two on the wait list. Hmmmm. . . that could take a month or two, and what I needed was more immediate gratification to satiate my growing hunger to know.
However, there was a copy available at my neighborhood Barnes and Nobel. Now, you would think that I would have gone straight to the store to at least flip through the pages, but that was when I told myself that I wanted to finish Grandin’s book before moving on to a new one. I was very good about the decision at the moment, but by 9 o’clock in the evening, I knew that it weighed heavily enough on my mind that I should just buy it.
So, here it is sitting on my cluttered dining room table taunting me when I should be out for a walk on this lovely summer morning. There are complex connections in my muddled mind right now. Hopefully, I can sort through them well enough to articulate what I mean to say in future posts. I am still focused on Grandin's work, for she has inspired my thinking in so many ways, not just this little diversion.
One last thought or link that I would like to explore more: Psychology Portal at Wikipedia
Friday, July 23, 2010
Hospital Delirium: Underlying Causes and Treatment
This article in today's Denver Post describes a condition described as "hospital delirium," which is apparently only being recognized recently. Hospital delirium typically occurs in ICU patients (80% of those on ventilators experience this) and it seems to take on characteristics of panic attacks, for the patient reacts not as if he understands that his hospital stay is intended to cure him, but as if he is imprisoned or doomed. Relying on a standard belief that sleep is best to help the patient recover, the traditional and typical reaction of doctors and hospital staff to this is to sedate the patient. However, in a ICU research study of hospital delirium in patients at Littleton Adventist Hospital in Colorado, Dr. Kelly Greene suggests the opposite is more effective. As a result, Dr. Greene is spearheading hospital reforms to help assuage patient anxiety and reduce the incidence of unnecessary psychological trauma.
From this article, I make several connections, which are perhaps abstract and may or may not be meaningful. Here they are in no particular order.
1. This taste of the Dr. Greene's research and movement forward in hospital reform reminds me of the work of Dr. Temple Grandin and her research and influence of reforming the cattle industry. It's interesting how as a society, we have made so much progress toward slaughterhouse reform geared to the psychological well-being of livestock, while doctors and nurses continue to be trained in old-fashioned presuppositions that fail to get to the root cause of why the ICU environmental experience might be so traumatic.
2. As with my comments about medication in my previous post on Positive Disintegration, this is an example of how traditional American medical practices, while perhaps not intentionally nefarious, are more focused on medicating outward symptomatic behaviors as dysfunction as opposed to giving thoughtful consideration to underlying psychological needs of the patient. Understandably, an individual who is undergoing the trauma of being trapped in a hell of medical gadgets to keep him alive is going to panic at some point. It seems that medication focuses more on diminishing the flight or fight impulse (reaction) as opposed to reducing the external environment which might be rife with sensory cues that make such reactions perfectly logical which you sit down to think about it . . .
3. That is not to say that doctors and nurses are incompetent or evil. They are simply not adequately trained to effectively differentiate treatment to meet the emotional needs of patients.
4. How goes the reform? Who is implementing Dr. Greene's suggestions? What other hospital and patient care facilities are moving along a similar trajectory.
5. How will this improve society? How would it compare to other areas which do not follow suit?
6. In what ways has the pharmaceutical industry influenced the dependence on use of sedatives in traditional medical practices to treat psychological disorders that may be more effectively cured without reliance on pills?
7. And how are hospital delirium and positive disintegration possibly connected?
8. Reading about hospital delirium reminds me of my former mother-in-law's nursing home experiences. In the first nursing home we put her in, she was clearly over-sedated for the convenience of the nursing staff. I described the experience back in 2007, and here is another.
From this article, I make several connections, which are perhaps abstract and may or may not be meaningful. Here they are in no particular order.
1. This taste of the Dr. Greene's research and movement forward in hospital reform reminds me of the work of Dr. Temple Grandin and her research and influence of reforming the cattle industry. It's interesting how as a society, we have made so much progress toward slaughterhouse reform geared to the psychological well-being of livestock, while doctors and nurses continue to be trained in old-fashioned presuppositions that fail to get to the root cause of why the ICU environmental experience might be so traumatic.
2. As with my comments about medication in my previous post on Positive Disintegration, this is an example of how traditional American medical practices, while perhaps not intentionally nefarious, are more focused on medicating outward symptomatic behaviors as dysfunction as opposed to giving thoughtful consideration to underlying psychological needs of the patient. Understandably, an individual who is undergoing the trauma of being trapped in a hell of medical gadgets to keep him alive is going to panic at some point. It seems that medication focuses more on diminishing the flight or fight impulse (reaction) as opposed to reducing the external environment which might be rife with sensory cues that make such reactions perfectly logical which you sit down to think about it . . .
3. That is not to say that doctors and nurses are incompetent or evil. They are simply not adequately trained to effectively differentiate treatment to meet the emotional needs of patients.
4. How goes the reform? Who is implementing Dr. Greene's suggestions? What other hospital and patient care facilities are moving along a similar trajectory.
5. How will this improve society? How would it compare to other areas which do not follow suit?
6. In what ways has the pharmaceutical industry influenced the dependence on use of sedatives in traditional medical practices to treat psychological disorders that may be more effectively cured without reliance on pills?
7. And how are hospital delirium and positive disintegration possibly connected?
8. Reading about hospital delirium reminds me of my former mother-in-law's nursing home experiences. In the first nursing home we put her in, she was clearly over-sedated for the convenience of the nursing staff. I described the experience back in 2007, and here is another.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Positive Disintegration
Only mildly acquainted with the Theory of Positive Disintegration by Kazmierez Dabrowski, I anticipate becoming good friends with this perception of the role of anxiety, depression, and profound introspection. In a nutshell, Dabrowski contents that an individual immersed in what is usually perceived as a negative cycle of destructive thinking is merely trying to adjust to the world and figure out his place in order to attain a higher level or morality. It's positive psychological evolution; and as a society, we ought to be helping individuals use these tendencies to grow as opposed to suppressing them, which brings to mind a few associations that may or may not be feasible:
1. What are the benefits and pitfalls of psychiatric medication? While it undoubtedly makes an individual feel better and help him control moodiness, does it interfere with empowering him with the ability to become self-aware in a his development? I reckon that one consideration would depend on the conditions surrounding the depression and whether or not they are externally within the control of the patient. Another consideration would depend on whether or not the individual is at risk to harming himself. A third would be whether or not there is another clearly diagnosed psychological disorder. Nevertheless, my point is that in a society where pharmacuitical companies make big bucks when doctors write prescriptions even for mild depression, I wonder if we are doing more harm than good to our culture by allowing a little pill to solve problems. There is clearly more to this notion worth exploring than the time I am going to take to reflect this morning.
2. Given that the notion that there is advancement of development (potential enlightenment?) in going through the process of depression and anxiety, how might that look as a form of therapy? How could guided practice in working through the stages benefit the individual? What are the tests and guidelines and how are they differentiated? (Must study and reflect on existing therapies. What is the role of group therapy versus individual?)
3. At what point is the public educated to accept rather than reject the notion of auto-therapy, developing a means to self manage internal conflict and positively adjusting to life changes?
4. Can I fully appreciate Dabrowski's ideas without knowing Polish?
5. While there is much talk about understanding and working with overexcitibilies in the gifted education community, to what degree do these behaviors exist in individuals who are not metacognitive about their giftedness?
6. I need to better know and understand the stages and major points.
7. Though not definitive in content, more resources on this are here and here.
1. What are the benefits and pitfalls of psychiatric medication? While it undoubtedly makes an individual feel better and help him control moodiness, does it interfere with empowering him with the ability to become self-aware in a his development? I reckon that one consideration would depend on the conditions surrounding the depression and whether or not they are externally within the control of the patient. Another consideration would depend on whether or not the individual is at risk to harming himself. A third would be whether or not there is another clearly diagnosed psychological disorder. Nevertheless, my point is that in a society where pharmacuitical companies make big bucks when doctors write prescriptions even for mild depression, I wonder if we are doing more harm than good to our culture by allowing a little pill to solve problems. There is clearly more to this notion worth exploring than the time I am going to take to reflect this morning.
2. Given that the notion that there is advancement of development (potential enlightenment?) in going through the process of depression and anxiety, how might that look as a form of therapy? How could guided practice in working through the stages benefit the individual? What are the tests and guidelines and how are they differentiated? (Must study and reflect on existing therapies. What is the role of group therapy versus individual?)
3. At what point is the public educated to accept rather than reject the notion of auto-therapy, developing a means to self manage internal conflict and positively adjusting to life changes?
4. Can I fully appreciate Dabrowski's ideas without knowing Polish?
5. While there is much talk about understanding and working with overexcitibilies in the gifted education community, to what degree do these behaviors exist in individuals who are not metacognitive about their giftedness?
6. I need to better know and understand the stages and major points.
7. Though not definitive in content, more resources on this are here and here.
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