Introduction

I remember as a pubescent teen reading The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris.  He started his fascinating book by posing this question: If we were Anthropologists and examined ourselves as a newly discovered species, what would we note?  He suggested that our appearance was similar to the Ape family, but with much less hair, thus the name of the book.  He then went on to describe our behavior.  I was fascinated.

            At 17 I read Born To Win by Muriel James.  It is a primer on Transactional Analysis with Gestalt experiments.  I embarked on a life long journey, wondering about this creature we call Human.  My journey took me through 30 years of practicing law and psychotherapy.  I know that I am where I should be. 

As I sit today, writing this section of my Capstone, the images of the theoreticians swirl in my mind: Freud, Jung, Adler, Erikson, Rogers, Ellis, Berne, Perls, Lao Tzu, The Buddha, Klein, Hahn, Glasser, Linehan; along with the theories and the schools: Psychoanalytic, Humanistic, Behavioral, Developmental, Existential, Cognitive, Strength-Based, Ecological, TA, RET, DBT, CBT, Reality, Feminist, Systems, Imago, Mindfulness….  This paper will discuss my personal view of how humans operate within our environment and the biological, emotional, cognitive and behavior issues that arise. 

I call my concept of Eclectic practice Discrimination Therapy because I believe that fundamentally a therapist assists his client in discriminating or sorting out misinformation, assumptions, conclusions, interpretations based on whether those thoughts serve the client's life goals, I believe that today it is near impossible to determine what is real or accurate and thus we must turn our attention to that which serves our growth.  After discussing Discrimination Therapy I will explore my practical construct of Eclectic practice, followed by how it lends itself to therapeutic goals and the clients experience in therapy as expressed by the therapeutic relationship.

My profound questions go unanswered, perhaps they always will.  My study over the last two years, however, has given me enough to understand another of my species; to have the empathy to sit and have glimpses, however brief, into the soul of another Human Being and perhaps make a difference.  After all, isn’t that what it’s all about?

DISCRIMINATION THERAPY, A PERSONAL VIEW OF HOW WE ARE

BACKGROUND

The Cro-Magnons, among the first true modern people—They lived in Europe from around 35,000 years ago until between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago.  When this time period--called the Late Paleolithic--ended, a number of radical transformations had taken place.  The last of the four great Ice Ages, which had taken place over the previous 600,000 years was ending and receding glaciers in Europe and North America were giving way to warmer and wetter climates.  But from the human viewpoint, the most dramatic development was the introduction of an entirely new subsistence pattern: agriculture. 

The Neolithic Revolution, transformed the planet: Whereas 10,000 years ago all people hunted and gathered for a living, fewer than one-thousandth of 1 percent carry on that tradition today.  Once introduced, agriculture prevailed as the leading pattern for human subsistence until about two hundred years ago, when another change of immense import-the Industrial Revolution-occurred.  With it came a new set of forces that interacted on an ever-increasing scale with the ancient forces of nature, intensifying by a hundredfold an already complex interaction. 

Technological progress, aside from its complex influence on the biosphere, has also had a profound effect on human biology.  Men and women in modem Western society are exposed to conditions of life that differ radically from those of the pre-Neolithic epoch-those which, through Darwinian natural selection, determined the biological characteristics of the human species as it now exists. 

When conditions of life for any animal population deviate from those to which it has genetically adapted, biological maladjustment-discordance--is inevitable.  The human species is no exception.  For us, discordance between our current life-style and the one in which we evolved has promoted the chronic and deadly "diseases of civilization": the heart attacks, strokes, cancer, diabetes, emphysema, hypertension, cirrhosis, and like illnesses that cause 75 percent of all mortality in the United States and other industrialized nations. 

Most of these illnesses simply did not exist, or were very rare, in the society of our Paleolithic ancestors.  They, like us, had the genetic potential for these disorders, but it took our life-style to bring those genetic susceptibilities to the fore.  Uncommon in their world-illnesses now proliferate whose frequency is encouraged by much in our "self-made" environment. 

If the factors that have brought about such sweeping changes in culture caused such dramatic changes in our rates of illness and morbidity, why would we imagine that the same "Social Dissonance" would not produce dramatic increases in our emotional, cognitive and emotive dysfunctions.  Put another way, if 100,000 generations had evolved a human wired properly for the environment it existed in, how could that same human adapt to an industrial age in only 5 generations? 

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

There are five hypotheses that I propose, which come out of living in an artificially complicated and mechanized world:

1.  People are perishable.  As such we have instincts to survive and to avoid injury and pain.  We perceive comfort as the polar opposite of pain/vulnerability.  In an environment where life has become complicated, symbolized and largely artificial, our survival instincts often work against us, and we become insatiable for comfort.  As an example our "fight or flight" response is appropriate if attacked by a tiger, but when we are threatened by missing a commuter bus and thus fear losing our job and therefore metaphorically dying in the workplace, the adrenaline released has nowhere to get burned off and anxiety results.  Or our built in process of generalizing; in primitive times it would help us identify dangers or food sources based on similarities of experience, but in today's world when a mother's admonition not to cross a street becomes generalized to be afraid of new things, it does not serve us.  In Discrimination Therapy we look at helping the client DISCRIMINATE between when our survival instincts work for us, and when they do not serve us. 

2.  People are vulnerable.  As such we have instincts to avoid injury and pain.  We perceive comfort as the polar opposite of pain/vulnerability.  In an environment where life has become complicated, symbolized and largely artificial, our desire to be comfortable (i.e. not to be vulnerable or in pain) has become insatiable....In a world where comforts were sparse, and being warm and dry meant not being exposed to dangers, it was safe to get all the comfort we could.  In our modem world the natural connection between comfort and pain has become broken.  We no longer have a natural restriction on comfort and the demands of our environment allow us to be comfortable with relatively little effort.  This has resulted in an unnatural quantity of comfort in our lives, which throws off our natural sense of balance and reduces our tolerance for pain.  When this becomes a cognitive metaphor, we develop avoidant behaviors in dealing with even life's most minimal challenges. 

3.  We are wired to take in information with the assumption that it is valid.  With the possible exception of natural camouflage, the natural world provides information that is accurate and useful, With the advent of agriculture, land ownership and possessions, we developed attachments.  Once attached to possessions we used our intellect to manipulate information to further our ownership rights.  With misleading information-giving birth to more of the same, eventually we began not to trust our world, each other and ourselves.  DICRIMINATION THERAPY helps the client to deal with the emotional response in discovering the information he has based his life on may not be valid and in learning how to discriminate in choosing which information he wishes to accept and use. 

4.  People are information and meaning machines.  Meaning is essential to our lives. The moment something happens we immediately, almost automatically put an interpretation on it.  The interpretation we choose will control our behavior and affect others.  In turn they will interpret and act, with interpretation building on interpretation we develop stories about what occurred which then becomes the basis for future interpretation~ In the natural world where we could rely on information in a simpler setting, our interpretations were more often valid, i.e., our interpretations worked for us.  Today they formed on the basis of millions of pieces of artificially produced data.  DISCRIMINATION THERAPY works with a client to help him understand the process of cognition and meaning formation, moves to free him of the rigidity of believing his opinions and interpretations to be fact and offers the flexibility of consciously choosing which of many available interpretations to adopt in a way that serves the client. 

5.  People are spiritual beings in a physical existence and have a profound need to be connected.,  In the natural world people were keenly tuned in to the timing and signals of their environment.  Whether they perceived the energetics around them as a flow of information or energy, a supporting consciousness, a universal whole, a binding spirit or anthropomorphically as a God, their connection was real.  Today, we are so disconnected from the energy of the natural world that we perceive that we are likewise separated from our energy source, thus all separations become traumatic.  This is added to and engraved within in us by the birth separation and trauma.   DISCRIMINATION THERAPY adds spirituality as an area to be visited with a client; therapy must proceed taking into account the client's belief system. 

The Foundation

            Each one of us is a hologram of the Human Race.  As I look at the myriad manifestations of cultures, I see an infinitely faceted diamond.  As I look at the myriad manifestations of personality, I see a carbon copy of that diamond.  In order to have a cohesive framework for working with people, there must be a small set of core principles and a huge set of tools. 

In my first year of the JMSW program I was exposed to and developed a good size toolbox.  In my second year I got to apply it.  It was during the summer in between that I focused my core principles.  During that summer I began the adventure of harmonizing what I had learned of Western psychology with my interest in Eastern thinking.  I studied Buddhist psychotherapy as expressed by Jack Kornfeld, Mark Epstein, Thich Nhat Hahn and others.  By the end of the summer, my core principles had coalesced.

            I had found myself attracted to Strength-based Practice, Rogers and the Humanistic school of practice, and Jung  What the social work approach, that is the Strength-based model, Rogers and Jung have in common is the core assumption that Human Beings, as individuals, or in groups , will naturally move towards health.  Whether this is due to a collective unconscious, the nature of being or the natural drive to evolve is debatable.  What is clear, is that the role of the healer is to facilitate access to resources and to create the space in which healing can occur.  This is consistent with Buddhist thought.

            My core principles are these:

1.      Human Beings, given the opportunity, will move towards health.

2.      All Human Beings have within them the capacity to live happy and productive lives, as each person defines that to be.

3.      The true nature of being human is to be loving.

4.      That everything we do has consequences.  Learning from the consequences allows us to make better choices.

5.      That ignorance of our own true nature and the nature of life causes us to misinterpret events, leading to discomfort, anguish, suffering, resentment and hate.

6.      That because we are vulnerable and perishable we are prone towards fear

7.      Fear and ignorance causes us to become unnecessarily competitive, leading to greed and attachment.

8.      That all of these impediments to being loving are merely interpretations of events that can be reinterpreted.

9.      That essential to health is the capacity to forgive.

Developing The Core Principles

            I developed these foundational concepts primarily by combining Buddhist psychotherapy with Rogerian principles.  This underlying philosophy is brought into practice primarily through Cognitive-Behavioral, Rational Emotive, Strength-Based Practice and Reality Theory conceptualizations.  I will now describe how I arrived at my core principles, but would caution the reader not to think that the practice is as complex as the explanation.  Once an understanding is arrived at the explanation becomes irrelevant.

Jung said there are five core addictions, we have:

POWER                                             SECURITY                           SUFFERING

SENSATION                                     CONTROL

            Buddhist Psychology teaches that there are three Poisoned Fruits.  I would correlate them to Jung’s five core addictions as follows:

ATTRACTION-                               - FEAR,                                  NEUTRALITY

GREED                                              AVERSION                           DELUSION

Why are these called roots?  Because they are reduced to their most simple, and are the basis for the rise of discomfort.  Either something is positive, negative or neutral.  Either it is moving forward, backwards or standing still.  Either it was in the past, is in the future or is right now.  Either it helps or hinders or just doesn’t matter.  An airplane can fly up, down or level.  Either you see something and decide you like it and want it (Greed), or you see something and you don’t like it and you want it away from you (Aversion-Fear), or you see it and it either doesn’t concern you and you pay no attention (Neutrality)or it confounds you (Delusion).

As an example we might take eating disorders:

Compulsive Overeating                                Anorexia                                Bulimia

Compulsive overeating is a chronic condition (long duration-mild consequences).  It comes out of the Greed Root through the core addiction Sensation.  Anorexia is an acute condition (short duration-severe consequences), comes out of the Repulsion Root through the core addiction Control.  Bulimia is a chronic-acute condition (long duration-severe consequences) that comes out of the Delusion Root because it tries tying two countervailing core addictions: Sensation and Control together (when you are driven by sensation you can have no control, and when you are driven by control you can not be swayed by sensation. This is the same as addiction. 

Addiction also tries to tie Sensation to Control.  The Sensation is getting high (Greed because we like to feel good) and Control is over fears and anxiety (Repulsion because we want to control feelings).  Sensation and Control can not exist together, it is like matter and anti-matter.  So, to think it can is truly delusional.  It is for these reasons I am attracted to working with addictions, they provide the opportunity to study attachments at their most gross manifestation.

If we cannot forgive it is because we are stuck in our core addictions:  I can’t forgive because I don’t want to surrender my power over you (You owe me!).  :  I can’t forgive because I don’t want to surrender my feelings (Sensation).  :  I can’t forgive because I don’t want to surrender my Security.  :  I can’t forgive because I don’t want to surrender my Control. :  I can’t forgive because I don’t want to surrender my Suffering. 

If we take this down to the roots it becomes:  I can’t forgive because I don’t want to surrender my Greed. :  I can’t forgive because I don’t want to surrender my Aversion:  I can’t forgive because I don’t want to surrender my Suffering

Buddhist psychology teaches that there are antidotes to the three Poisonous Roots.  They are called the three sweet fruits.  They are:

Love                                                    Compassion                                       Wisdom

            Interestingly these three sweet fruits correspond to the three principles laid out by Rogers for successful therapy, therapy where healing occurs:

Unconditional                                        Empathy                                        Congruence

Positive Regard                    

Now, let’s take a look at Greed.  What is Greed?  Greed comes from me looking at my fellow humans and thinking that we are different, better, more worthy, more righteous and that there is not enough love…money…attention…. comfort…. whatever, to go around.  And for those of us that have been hurt, we have developed a bottomless pit to fill up.  Of course we come to the conclusion that there isn’t enough, we have never been able to satisfy our hunger---there can never be enough.   And so when our ego is stuck in Greed, the antidote is to call up from our true nature, from its endless, infinite supply: respect for others…understanding of the interdependence of all life…unconditional positive regard…..Love.

Let’s look at Aversion.  We hate that which we fear.  We want it gone, away from us.  When our ego gets stuck in Aversion, we have to break it down by reaching into our true nature and bring up compassion …..empathy.  Empathy is feeling for the other (compassion) together with a deep understanding of the other’s situation, pain, and confusion.  It is walking in the other’s moccasins.  It is hard to hate when we stop dehumanizing.  When we have compassion together with deep understanding, we cannot hate.

Delusion is the result of a fragmented ego.  An ego that wants impossible things and expresses its irreconcilable conflicts in endless, unquenchable suffering.  The cure to this is congruence, restoring wholeness, de-fragmenting the fragments, bringing brain in line with heart.  I said bringing the BRAIN in line with the HEART.  Not the other way around.  The Heart is the playground of our true nature; the brain is the playground of the Ego.  To bring the runaway brain back in line with the Heart, we have to speak in the brain’s language, and so, the antidote to Delusion is Wisdom.  Wisdom is book knowledge, practical knowledge, knowledge of facts combined with heart knowledge.  When our knowledge of the world that comes in from outside (through our eyes, ears, nose and throat) is combined with the knowledge that comes up from inside, the result is Wisdom.  .  Piece by piece, wisdom builds wisdom until the delusion just clears away…like fog lifting from the road.

In looking at Imago Therapy, there are several correlations.  Hendrix tells us that often one partner in a marriage is insatiable and the other lives with a feeling of being overwhelmed.  The marriage becomes a tug of war.  Is this not the same intrapersonal struggle of greed and aversion manifested interpersonally?  The result is the same: delusion and suffering.  Hendrix’ antidote likewise is the same: Understanding, compassion, wisdom.

Why is forgiveness so important? Because:

FORGIVENESS   =     LOVE         +          COMPASSION         +          WISDOM

This is like a circle.  We can start with either love, compassion or wisdom, any one of them gives rise to an understanding of another until the capacity to forgive is integrated.  Or, we can just forgive (You can start anywhere on the circle and fake it until you make it)  When we forgive, and then watch what happens, we gain Wisdom, and Love and Compassion are stimulated.  We are always looking for the “Magic Bullet.”  Well, here it is: Forgiveness, a bullet of love, cased in Compassion, fueled by Wisdom.

THE PRACTICAL CONSTRUCT

Attempting to practice without having an explicit practical rationale is like trying to build a house without a set of blueprints.  The foundation of a house needs to be sturdy and strong to support the rooms.  If you operate in a practical vacuum and are unable to draw on theory to support your interventions, your attempts to help people change will have uncertain outcomes.  Theory is not a rigid set of structures but a general framework that enables you to make sense of the many facets of the counseling process, providing you with a blueprint that gives direction to what you do and say. 

As counselors, we will encounter a wide range of clients with diverse problems.  It is essential that we have an Eclectic   framework that can embrace a variety of theoretical concepts and intervention strategies.  To accurately understand clients we must be able to appreciate them from a multitude of perspectives.  There are several key questions that need to be addressed in working with each client common to all frameworks:

·         What is not working in this person's life at this time?

·         What are the particular problems and causes that contribute to the client's present predicament?

·         What does the client need from counseling in a general sense?

·         What does the client need at this time to be helped to heal, grow, and cope more effectively with life?

In creating my practical framework, I draw primarily on Adlerian Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral/Rational Emotive concepts with Gestalt Therapy contributing techniques to address emotive issues.  These three therapies would create the practical framework; underneath I would integrate techniques from many of the contemporary counseling models.  In addition I would draw heavily on concepts from:

·         Buddhist Psychology

·         Transference

·         Erikson’s Stages of Development

·         Transactional Analysis

·         Reality Therapy

·         Object relations

·         Re-decision Therapy

·         Business Management Techniques

·         7 Habits Of Highly Successful People

·         Existential Philosophy

·         Strength Based Approach

·         Bibliotherapy

·         Schema Therapy

·         Imago Therapy

·         Dialectic behavior therapy

I would then adapt them to a style that fits me personally, taking into account the universal thinking, feeling, and behaving dimensions of human experience.  I would challenge clients to think about the decisions they have made about themselves.  Some of these decisions may have been necessary for their psychological survival as children but now may be clearly out of date, or inappropriate for their environment.  These interventions help clients think about events in their lives, how they have interpreted those events, and what they need to do cognitively to change certain belief systems. 

Once clients begin thinking about their problems, they often become stuck due to unexpressed and unresolved emotional concerns.  I would encourage clients to experience the range of their feelings and talk about how certain events have affected them.  The healing process is facilitated by using techniques that tap feelings and allow individuals to feel listened to and understood.  Thinking and feeling are vital components in the helping process, but eventually clients must express themselves by behaving or doing.  Clients can spend countless hours gaining insights and venting pent-up feelings, but at some point they need to get involved in an action-oriented program of change.  Their feelings and thoughts can then be tested and adapted to real-life situations.  If the helping process includes a focus on what people are doing, there is a greater chance that clients will also be able to change their thinking and feeling.  Using an Eclectic   counseling style, there is interaction between these three dimensions throughout the counseling process. 

Ultimately, the most meaningful counseling perspective is one that is an extension of my values and personality.  Developing such a personalized approach that would guides my practice would be an ongoing process, and the model will continuously undergo revision.