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September 17, 2006
Feed me more pain now!
The "Currents" section of today's Philadelphia Inquirer has a huge piece by psychologist Steven C. Hayes titled "Surviving Emotions." Unfortunately, the piece itself survives nowhere except in the Inquirer's hard copy, which makes it rather hard to comment intelligently on it in a blog post. But there's such a pretty picture accompanying the piece that I couldn't resist framing it in a photograph (or would that be photographing it in a frame?):
As the sub-headline warns, humankind is at risk: Cognitive skill mixed with emotion has always been a volatile brew. Add modern technology, and the concoction can become untenable -- unless humankind takes specific steps.Now, that strikes me as important. Important enough, at least, that the idea ought to be linkable (at least findable) online somewhere. It's challenging to come up with the gist of Hayes' concerns, but I'll try to come up with a quote (what a royal pain in the ass it is to transcribe; I hope someone appreciates my pain!): The Internet, radio and TV pour out rhetoric that feeds fears and dehumanizes those with different religious or political views, providing endless reasons for our biases. Physical technology places every object of desire in front of us 24/7, from sugar-coated food to sex-charged images.Ye gods! I grew so tired of typing that I resorted to photography. Whether a photographic image of text alters the effect on the emotions, I do not know. I'd like to think accuracy is the important thing, but you never know. Anyway, I'm fed up with transcription, so I'm feeding up the image:
In the Inquirer article, Dr. Hayes is mostly silent on the sources of food and the human volition involved. He focuses on dealing with the emotion that results, and he proposes a new kind of cognitive therapy which neither suppresses emotions, nor allows them to control (both of which lead to problems), by treating emotions not as emotions, but as thoughts about emotions. "Happiness Isn't Normal" is how Time Magazine characterized Dr. Hayes' central philosophy. Whether ACT is a cult or not, a recurrent theme in Hayes's work is that it can save the world: "We could get Muslims and Jews together in a workshop," Hayes said in Washington. "Our survival really is at stake."Sounds like pretty powerful stuff. My problem with the Inquirer version is that if this stuff can save the world, why not share it with the world, by putting it out there for the world to see? As to the substance, I'm a skeptic, as is my wont. While I completely agree with Hayes that emotions should not control us and that stifling or suppressing them is a bad idea, he doesn't seem to tackle the problem of what to do about dissembled emotional triggers from external sources (those who emotionally "feed") -- a problem I see constantly in the use of manipulative language, code language, hidden undisclosed meanings. I think it is only fair to identify (at least try to identify) attempts at emotional manipulation for what they are. (This, I think, is especially true when the intent is intimidation.) Whether one stifles the emotions thus provoked, lives with them, recognizes them as mere thoughts about emotions is another issue. As is happiness. I tend to be a Buddhist in that regard, as I think life is suffering. Death ends it. Whether that life suffering can or should be relieved is, I think, up to the individual. "Get rid of the emotion now" is certainly a poor approach to dealing with emotions. But what should be the approach when people insist on sharing their emotions, and even want them to be felt as they feel them? There's a bit too much of this going on as it is, but when it's concealed I call it emotional manipulation. Is it really fair to trick other people into feeling what you feel, but which they might not want to feel? I don't think it is, and I think it's at least as important as the question of how to deal with the resultant emotions. Relational Frame Therapy might be a very helpful thing if it helps people cope with their emotions. But is there anything wrong with avoiding emotional frameups? The list that follows is called a "Summary of the key features" of Relational Frame Therapy: The development of relational responding can be organized into a rough list that gradually becomes more and more complex. We are not presenting this list as a set of stages or steps, and we would expect them to be sequenced only in broad terms and even then only if the training history is typical. Nevertheless, this list gives a sense of the complexity that emerges from the small set of core concepts in Relational Frame Theory. posted by Eric on 09.17.06 at 10:57 AM
Comments
Alan thanks, but I have a scanner, and whether I scan or take a photo, it's really six of one, half dozen of the other. My camera obtains a better image than my scanner, and much more quickly. Plus when I scan the thing, and then run the OCR, I end up with garbled text that takes so long to edit that it's easier to transcribe the portion I want. I just scanned two long columns from that piece, and what I got follows. (I think you'll agree that it's extremely annoying to edit something like this.) **QUOTE** become extended because OUT cogmtne drugs desigOEd to reinove difficult thoughts I suppose there are newer scanners, with ever-newer software, requiring uninstalling of older scanners with older software. This raises the old "devil you know" issue.... Anyway, I do appreciate your advice. I might be better off with no scanner at all, as I'd be more motivated to go out and buy one. "Buy one" has a better (dare I say it?) emotional appeal than "buy another one." Eric Scheie · September 18, 2006 02:56 PM |
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Eric, the next time you have enough money for some coffee down at Starbucks, take it instead to your computer store and get a scanner. Hell, you can get a scanner-fax machine-copier-printer for dang cheap now-a-days down at Wal-Mart. It'll save your fingertips and flashcard memory.