Non Cognitive Psychotherapy: Advancing Mood Management

By Russ Hoover

A New Standard, NonCognitive Psychotherapyadvancing mood management by Russell Hoover, Licensed Psychologist, explains both the need for a new approach to psychotherapy as well as its application to a wide range of psychological disorders including panic attacks, compulsive drug use, depression, and stress related disorders. Among its many innovative features NonCognitive Psychotherapy:

Offers a quick, practical, and effective method of alleviating mood without assailing your values, loyalties, or degree of sensibility.

Discusses some never-before-revealed features of your mental makeup that control the nature of emotional unrest and that shape the nature of obsessive-compulsive behavior.

Emphasizes the importance of user-friendliness and non-confrontation in effective therapeutic management and prevention.

Analyzes the consequences of various modern-day misconceptions regarding psychic unrestcalled therapeutic pretenses, and their effects on those receiving treatment.

Reveals how to apply NonCognitive Psychotherapy to a variety situations through the use of case study, unedited transcripts of actual sessions, and humorous anecdote.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 27, 2001
• ISBN: 9781477177068

Book preview

Copyright © 1995, 2001 L. Russell Hoover

All rights reserved,

00 99 98 97 96 95 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-192486

P-CIP Data

          Hoover, L. Russell

                    NonCognitive Psychotherapy: advancing mood management: the new standard/L.Russell Hoover

                          p. cm.

                    Includes bibliographical references and index

                    ISBN (softcover):          0-7388-4306-7

                    ISBN (hardcover):         0-7388-4305-9

                    ISBN (ebook):               978-1-4771-7706-8

                    1. Psychotherapy. 2. Panic disorder—treatment

                    3. Depression—treatment. 4. Posttraumatic stress disorder—treatment. 5. Resistance—treatment.

                    l. Title

                    RC489.R36H667 2000

                    616.891 4—dc20          00-96411

                    XLC00

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical including photocopying, or by information storage or retrieval systems without permission of the publisher. To preserve confidentiality, names of clients used within the text are fictional and resemblances to those living or dead is coincidental.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter herein contained. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological services or other services provided by professionals in mental health. If such services are desired, a licensed professional person should be consulted.

A production of                        888-7XLIBRIS

Xlibris Corporation                  www.Xlibris.com

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

What is Cognitive Therapy

The Mechanics of Mood

Mood Antagonistics

In The Trenches

References

Therapeutic Pretensions

Non-Therapeutic Dialogs

Glossary

To Moo Cow and Dude

Acknowledgments

A s is inevitable with any text of merit, many people

are involved. Indeed, were it not for the patience of innumerable others the pages now before you might well remain another of those once-upon-a-time dreams never to be had. A particular debt of gratitude is owed to Carol whose conversations played a significant role in the formulation of theories here discussed, and, I might add, more than she has probably imagined. A debt of appreciation is likewise handed my niece Debbie, who showed enough interest in the project to muse over much of my earlier material. The book could surely have little existence were it not for the patience granted by the gang at Slaughter’s, where I’m confident my presence at times wore thin. Nevertheless, they endured till the final moments. A much oblige goes to Winston Vanderhoof (cover design), Steve Wheeler (interior art), and Suzie Mulligan (design retouches), clever characters with that uncanny knack of putting to graphics what took me 10 pages to say in words. Similar praises go to my friends and colleagues, Dr. Sam Pfeiffer and Patti Hall, whose undying confidence in the project stood as a continued source of reassurance. Finally, no less appreciation goes to brother Will, confidant and fellow author whose Picks! and advice with respect to the publishing business have proved invaluable assets. Thanks again.

Preface

6635.jpg

I n the usual text on psychotherapy; or one professing

some advice on how to cope, there is the ever present affinity to plunge headlong into this or that fine sounding curative message, sometimes brushing aside altogether an explanation of those essential features that make the mind operate as it does. Something like the surgeon that skips Anatomy 101, there seems no indiscretion in just hacking-on anyway. 6633.jpg Hence, and as an example, one might see some detailed discussion meant to bolster self-esteem with little or no mention of how low self-esteem functions or reasons why one might gain such feeling in the first place. Indeed, it seems to me that were such essentials comprehended we could well be more selective if not precise in the manner used to undo it.

Much because of this, I spent due time and effort spelling out those basic conditions; psychic and otherwise, which occur in relation to emotional discomfort and/or that have some impact on the manner which it functions. Not so surprisingly some of this turns out to be original material, at least in the manner which it is described. To be sure, much of it has been condensed so as to spare the reader undue effort mired in relentless technicality—those prickly details as in how experience can alter the structure of those neurons in your head via messenger RNA and dendrite expansion. In spite of these reductionistic efforts, there will be those tempted to jump ahead or skim through the early pages of substance as if it be ramblings of which they know aplenty, or possibly thinking it has very little to do with psychotherapy itself. Quite the contrary, it is the bare bones, taking-care-of-business stuff upon which any savvy novice or advanced practitioner is dependent, and the matter of which one seldom gains sufficient knowledge. Any skimping of fact in this regard is but a frequent ticket for the application of faulty technique and the source of much 1+1=10 information about the human psyche. Perhaps it might be well to say that even I the author find myself in constant review never assuming to know it well enough. I urge the reader in a similar course of action.

Now in reading this, some might come to gather that an underlying message entwined throughout the text is that the mood one undergoes at any given moment never occurs in a random, fortuitous, or erratic fashion, but always obeys a prescribed and predictable course of action. Where it indeed seems otherwise should be sufficient grounds for putting us back to the drawing board. Be advised that problems of therapeutic irresponsibility arise as we seek our own agenda for the mind simply because that one seated before us does not conform to some greater degree of tranquillity or stereotyped reality orientation. The square peg in round hole courtesy of professional intervention, at least on some occasions. It does not seem a bit outlandish to pose this telltale reminder that only by working in compliance with the psyche and the manner that it functions do we procure any real judicious or responsible tools in psychotherapy.

sawcutt2.ing.tif

What is Cognitive Therapy

6648.jpg ?

MIND-MENDING OR CONDESCENDING…

T he past decade brought sweeping changes to those

forces that shape treatment in mental health. Principal among these transformations has been a subtle shift from the sweet science of mental therapeutics to that of peddling the service with emphasis on the bottom line. While not all of this has proven detrimental, it has at once given the nod to a select brand of treatment touting some unrenounced mischief in the manner that it characterizes, emotional unrest. This is cognitive therapy.

Now to the uninitiated; and those with varying degrees of expertise as well, one best make a correction in the name only resemblance of cognitive therapy to cognitive psychology or phrases like cognitive functioning—age-old idioms referring to ways of knowing or thinking processes. Just as pigskins have little to do with pigs’ skins, neither does cognitive therapy bear much kinship to cognitive psychology or cognitive learning theory in general. Instead, cognitive therapy is a unique brand of psychotherapy the chief features of which are soon to be elaborated. Nonetheless, cognitive therapists dote in such arrant misconceptions given the respected positions of these more traditional views. Much the same is its wooing of the behavioral point of view so that one sees in its many disguises the cognitive behavioral technique (CBT) or various related titles. * Which is to say, one is presumed to believe it is somehow behavioristic. But CT is only by some cavorted, undue stretch 6758.jpg behavioral in its leanings—BF surely needs some resuscitation—though it assuredly employs behavioral strategies in the indoctrination of its beliefs.

So, though in appearance similar to various brands of psychotherapy, CT is much more doctrinaire if not proselytizing in its methods; as when clients are either converted to its view or labeled resistant. And, as most psychotherapies engender the notion that those troubled emotionally are in some way unfit, CT pounds away at this thesis. On the other hand, while CT is much more adversarial, and indeed parental in its interface with clients, such treatment has not been absent throughout history where people were said to be acting irrationally and could benefit from aversive measures. Some of the better known schools of cognitive therapy are RET; the initialism for Rational Emotive Therapy, the Cognitive Therapy of Aaron Beck, and Cognitive Behavior Modification of Donald Michenbaum (1992), to name a few. However, its various and apparently unrelated nicknames continue to flourish.

Atop the list of CT’s distinguishing features resides the unrelenting premise that all which ails you emotionally; from minor twitches to ongoing panic attacks, occurs by way of some irrational thinking (RET), dysfunctional automatic attitudes (Aaron Beck), or crazy negative thinking (CT in general). Note, a reputable Medical Dictionary (Bantam, 2000) defines cognitive therapy as a form of psychotherapy based on the belief that psychological problems are the product of faulty ways of thinking about the world. And, so too write Freeman, Pretzer, Fleming, and Simon in their book Clinical Applications of Cognitive Therapy, Cognitive therapy is based on the observation that dysfunctional automatic thoughts that are exaggerated, distorted, mistaken, or unrealistic in other ways play major role in psychopathology (Freeman et al., p. 4). Still more, in DiGiuseppe words (1999), beliefs are the most identifiable cause of human disturbance (p . 255). It is as if to say; experience has nothing to do with it and/or that emotional irritation serves no rational purpose. In routine practice then, anything that induces calmness is by calmness alone considered rational, while anything inducing upset is considered irrational, unsound, and out of whack. The seat of emotional unrest is just nothing more that some fictional, misbegotten idea in your head, and it is to that and nothing else you owe your bother.

This just stated doctrine; upheld by cognitive therapists the world over, is perhaps best illustrated in Rational Emotive Therapy’s heralded ABCs (Ellis et al., 1988), known by heart and taught like dictum in many treatment centers throughout the United States. In these recitations, you are told that at A; some Activating event, triggers B; the irrational Belief in your head, and that alone is responsible for C, your Consequent upsetting emotion. Alas, that is to say, whenever you are anything but pleasant you are thinking irrationally again. Is the species not riddled with feces? Most certainly not, because beyond its initial intrigue, this gaffe, much favored by CT drones, has little therapeutic value, and is a gross mischaracterization of psychic operations. One might add as well, a cute way of becoming oblivious to any client’s situation and strong bias against emotional unrest. It is moreover absurd on several other levels: 6762.jpg

•   It is hardly likely a surviving species could have evolved a system of thinking dysfunctionally and endured for very long;

•   There is nothing special about seeing things clearly that precludes one from being upset, anymore than clearly seeing something pleasant precludes one from feeling happy;

•   To say something is irrational implies there is no reason behind it (or that the reason behind it makes no sense), when in truth everything exists for some reason and in that it finds credibility for being;

•   You can pay or otherwise entice people to think designated irrational thoughts for lengthy periods, and for the most part they show no emotional ill-effects;

•   If irrationality was responsible for any emotional irritation there would be no way people could go without irritation and still adhere to such views;

•   Case studies can and will be cited in which individuals are encouraged to cling to would be intensives or irrational views, e.g., It’s awful, and yet they become quite unbothered;

•   Anyone that contends adverse events do not cause people emotional pain is likely to become insensitive to the particulars from which people suffer.

Since among the ranks of cognitive therapists emotional unrest is deemed a function of highly disturbed ingrained notions; they arguably feel justified in attacking people’s values and beliefs, nay saying the affect any bad experience has upon the individual. You upset yourself, they love to utter; as if anointed with an edict from on high, the circumstance is purely irrelevant. Struggling individuals are seen as psychologically unfit and too sick in the head to think clearly. And, once again, because no purpose or credibility is granted to emotional discontent—and because it is judged essentially destructive, stoicism and cheeriness become the only true measure of mental prowess or good breeding. Not so bad, all of this, were there some truth in the conjecture, but more so its villainy as it obviates the true dynamics of ego protection. Indeed the concept of emotional control itself is a fairly modern idea to which certain well-conditioned minds do not always adhere.

By its very design then cognitive therapy seldom helps people manage emotionally by contending with their reality as is, but by altering their values about it, as in for example diminishing the extent someone cares. That is to say, in cognitive therapy the trend of value shifting is routinely employed with the specific intent of altering ones standards and convictions if in doing so the therapist believes it will make people less upset. No thought or assessment is ever taken to assure the client’s view is untrue nor is any effort made to avoid the hazards of value shifting in general. It’s just all irrational, so make an end to it whatever you do. In many instances then the end justifies most any procedure by which can be accomplished with little concern regarding the outcome.

So let me suggest, cognitive therapy operates through the guise of various therapeutic shams, the less benign of which are hereby cataloged. However, bear in mind, while these pretenses are written as separate and distinct, in practice they get intermingled sometimes without clearly being stated. (For a more exhaustive discussion of the therapeutic pretenses turn to the appendix at page 167).

6764.jpg

Pretense 1

Upset is a certain sign of weak and unfit minds, while calmness a certain show of strength. Or variation: emotional maturity—whatever that means—is best exemplified by those free of offensive tension and anxiety.

Pretense 2

You; much as the rest of humanity, not only have a decided tendency to think irrationally, but your emotional irritation is the surest sign you are thinking in such a fashion.

Pretense 3

Your emotional discomfort—be it worry, depression, or rage—is the product of certain attitudes (the attitude problem); attitudes that are not only stupid but at their core disturbed, negative, and sick.

Pretense 4

Being bothered by some intangible or yet to happen incident occurs by way of something intrinsically idiotic in the human makeup.

Pretense 5

Humans not only make themselves upset but also can do so for no reason.

Pretense 6

You have the inherent capacity to over-react, that is, to react in a fashion disproportionate to events that produce the reaction, and unhealthy minds over-react more frequently than others.

Pretense 7

There are no absolutes anywhere in the universe and thinking in such false absolute terms is detrimental to your mental health.

Pretense 8

Because the universe has no will of its own, it demands nothing, and those who think in demanding terms of need, should, must, and got to are by definition then being unrealistic. Restated: Imperative thinking is impaired thinking.

Pretense 9

Since all things are relative (there are no absolutes again), nothing is really bad in the universe that redefining it as okay won’t solve from an emotional point of view.

Pretense 10

The fact that emotional pain or being upset has numerous adverse affects (for example it usually strains the system) stands as proof it has no value whatsoever.

Pretense 11

Because unremitting positive self-regard is the undisputed ruler of mental health, being down on yourself and/or experiencing self-pity are hideous disturbances that for your own best interest need immediate correction.

Pretense 12

Acting in a fashion that is not conducive to your own well being is inept and intrinsically stupid.

With this and related pomp, cognitive therapists stand in judgment of those hurting decreeing them disturbed and lost of wit and reason when upset though in essence they see certain things more clearly