kusarinashi (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} kusarinashi) wrote,@ 2005-10-20 15:58:00 |
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Problems with Categorization, the Nature of Modern Psychology
How does psychology so often fail us? We can be diagnosed with many different disorders by different doctors.
The answer is the in the story of the 6 blind men and the elephant.
http://www.wordfocus.com/word-act-blind
The doctors focus on "symptoms" that they feel are indicative of a disorder. But the doctors have their own prejudices and people are very complex.
The result is categorization that is found in the DSM. With these categories they can give something a name but rarely can they help a person in their lives.
They do not see the elephant. They do not understand the nature of human. They do not question the idea that what they are seeing may not be a disorder but a "functional impulse" driving dysfunctional patterns and behaviors. They are context blind. The jungle that the elephant lives in is "culture" and the parts of the elephant that they feel are the things that help the elephant survive. They are the "orders and disorders" they seek to describe.
One "why?" packs the potential of an atom bomb. A "what?" is no more than a soggy firecracker. When we throw away the "whats?" and ask the "why?", we start to see the elephant as a whole.
Why do we not see our place in nature?
Humanity is the animal of ego. With this ego we separate ourselves from nature. The ego helps us be part of our groups and shun other groups. Ego also distorts our view.
Humans are animals and as animals we behave like animals. The same thing that holds us together in groups, makes us blind.
Why do we see patterns and disorders?
A human, like any other animal, is a "pattern buffer" hooked up to an "impulse engine". Simple solitary animals have reflexes. In a reflex, the drive is connected directly to action. An animal needs complexity and flexibility in a changing environment with competition for resources. The reflexes become impulses and the results of actions become memory. In a social animal, learning becomes vital. Not only the results of actions must be stored but the observed patterns of others. These patterns are expressed in social interaction.
A silly question to ask is "If a man goes crazy, alone in the woods, is he truly crazy?" The state of sanity and mental health often fall on the social nature of humans. The psychiatrist, counselors and researchers are part of the social matrix. This presents a problem for research. In order to understand human behavior, the social matrix must be extracted from the equation. The base structure of the mind must be examined. This starts with the physical structure and moves out to the behaviors. Then "culture" can be folded back into the mix.
When we examine cognition from the concrete to the dynamic, we get the following list:
Neurons
Neurotransmitters
Impulses
Patterns
Motivations
Behaviors
Psychology looks down the wrong way. Outward behaviors are examined at the most dynamic level. These are patterned and they offer a glimpse into the lower levels but they are not conclusive. Researchers often look at the lowest levels. Neurons and neurotransmitters are confusing when viewed without the understanding that they have simple functionality. This functionality is simply extended from a flatworm to a human in many ways. The basic functionality remains the same.
What we are missing in cognitive research is an understanding of how impulses work through learned patterns that then become motivations and behaviors. The primary expressions of impulses has been built for human survival in small groups. As the environment changed rapidly, these once fully functional impulses are left grasping for functional patterns. The impulses themselves are operating "as designed". Many of the patterns have become "dysfunctional" for the individual and their human relationships.
Looking into the nature of the neurons and neurotransmitters then becomes a simple task. The behaviors still do form patterns but the must be looked at from "10,000" feet as well as 1 nanometer. The cognitive types become clear on both levels and the patterns that shows dysfunction can then be examined based on the individual's base cognitive type. Many patterns appear common on the surface between two cognitive types but are driven by different impulses.
1. Many Motivations, one "disorder" A behavior viewed as a disorder, Passive/Aggressive
For example the term "passive/aggressive" has been used to describe people in popular psychology and even has a disorder associated with it. This exists at the level of "behavior" and many patterns can cause this "behavior" across different cognitive types. This dysfunctional behavior does not exist alone but is indicative of underlying impulses.
The type that would show this behavior most intrinsically is "ER+" . When ER+ has dysfunctional patterning (NPD), it is seen clearly. Passive/aggressive behavior is usually tied into a motivation. The motivation in ER+ is the control of another person.
The passive state shows the reward response.
The aggressive state is the punishment response.
It is built in operant conditioning of another person in a relationship. Calm states reward behavior that is comfortable for the "conditioner" and aggressive rage punish behavior that is not. In the person being conditioned, the pattern is not clear. The pattern of rage/calm cannot be seen because the individual being conditioned associates their impulse, patterns, motivations and behaviors with the "abuser's". This illusion creates a desire to "fix" the abuser. Since the primary impulses are different, there cannot be any "fixing".
This pattern is combined with a "push/pull" behavior that helps keep the other person at bay. Soon the patterning of the "abused" changes and passive/aggressive "protection behaviors" appear. This creates a "borderline state in the abused which then creates a situation in which the abuser will leave... This is followed by parting "shots". When the "abused" is partially healed...the abuser steps back in.
In this case we see passive/aggressive behavior with two motivations. One is control and one is protection. The patterning is deeper and takes time to change. Since the two motivations show as the same pattern, treatment would be different. One person must learn how to "observe boundaries" and the other person must learn how to set boundaries. These are just two motivations that can cause the behavior. There are many more. The title of passive/aggressive disorder leads clinicians to view it as one thing. Thus they could fail to treat it.
2. Many "disorders". One motivation. Sets of behaviors viewed as different "disorders".
The base impulse of a cognitive type can show many different patterns. These patterns have similar motivations behind them. ER+ is a very well studied type. The behaviors are often "flashy" and interesting. This type can wreak havoc on friends and family yet still remain convinced that they are OK. In the most functional state ER+ is almost hidden. It can take years with an ER+ person to discover it. ER+ in its most functional state is a great actor. Caring and love are faked very well and the ability of the functional ER+ to read and understand minute changes in stance and facial expression of another person render them powerful on the "playing field" of ego.
The functional ER+ never gets diagnosed, even when their life falls around them. They play into stereotypes so well that they are convincing. "Victimized single mother", "Person with incurable diseases", "Hero", "Knight in shining armor", "Earth mother", "Suffering Partner", "Brave Rescuer", "Dutiful Leader", "Ethical Warrior", "Starving Artist", "Misunderstood Victim of society", "Striving Intellectual". These are some of the most successful images created by their patterning. They also create images that are less successful "Macho man", "Ladies Man", "Mother of a sick child", "Abused childhood person", "Constant complainer", "Arrogant Jerk", "Loose woman", "Gossip Queen", "Know it All", "Obstinate Obstructionist", "Evil Prince/Princess".
All of these images have one simple motivation, to generate attention. In the end, no matter how positive or negative the attention, it is all the same.
Functionally they live in ego. Ego is used to mark status and role. Ego has another function to generate "sticks and carrots" in culture. The stick is absent in this individual's ego.
The DSM has many different disorders that map into ER+. Since ER+ is a convincing actor, they defy simple categorization. They have two main types ER+CM and ER+HM. They generate attention through intellect (ER+CM) and body (ER+HM). In the extreme case of ER+HM+ (Grandiose Psychopath) They even murder their own children to get attention.
This type *often* maps to:
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Histrionic Personality Disorder
Passive Aggressive Personality Disorder
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Factitious Disorder (Munchhaussen)
Munchhausen by Proxy
High Functioning Borderline Personality Disorder
(Caveat: Behavioral assessment and personality inventories often assigns these "disorders" to other types such as CM+ (ADD) and IR+ (AS))
There are more diagnosis for ER+ but most often...in its functional state, it exists as a leader in the community.
They would be seen as very healthy by a practitioner. Sometime so healthy the practitioner can find nothing wrong with them. They are quite common as well.
This is just one example. Functional analysis is not done when putting together the DSM. It is instead a practice of categorization by committee. The lists of disorders are growing longer every day, yet nobody seems to be concerned with the reason for this. The diagnosis of disorders is increasing and getting more confused. Many people now wear a necklace of co-morbidities.
Functional analysis is the only solution to these morass.
How does psychology so often fail us? We can be diagnosed with many different disorders by different doctors.
The answer is the in the story of the 6 blind men and the elephant.
http://www.wordfocus.com/word-act-blind
The doctors focus on "symptoms" that they feel are indicative of a disorder. But the doctors have their own prejudices and people are very complex.
The result is categorization that is found in the DSM. With these categories they can give something a name but rarely can they help a person in their lives.
They do not see the elephant. They do not understand the nature of human. They do not question the idea that what they are seeing may not be a disorder but a "functional impulse" driving dysfunctional patterns and behaviors. They are context blind. The jungle that the elephant lives in is "culture" and the parts of the elephant that they feel are the things that help the elephant survive. They are the "orders and disorders" they seek to describe.
One "why?" packs the potential of an atom bomb. A "what?" is no more than a soggy firecracker. When we throw away the "whats?" and ask the "why?", we start to see the elephant as a whole.
Why do we not see our place in nature?
Humanity is the animal of ego. With this ego we separate ourselves from nature. The ego helps us be part of our groups and shun other groups. Ego also distorts our view.
Humans are animals and as animals we behave like animals. The same thing that holds us together in groups, makes us blind.
Why do we see patterns and disorders?
A human, like any other animal, is a "pattern buffer" hooked up to an "impulse engine". Simple solitary animals have reflexes. In a reflex, the drive is connected directly to action. An animal needs complexity and flexibility in a changing environment with competition for resources. The reflexes become impulses and the results of actions become memory. In a social animal, learning becomes vital. Not only the results of actions must be stored but the observed patterns of others. These patterns are expressed in social interaction.
A silly question to ask is "If a man goes crazy, alone in the woods, is he truly crazy?" The state of sanity and mental health often fall on the social nature of humans. The psychiatrist, counselors and researchers are part of the social matrix. This presents a problem for research. In order to understand human behavior, the social matrix must be extracted from the equation. The base structure of the mind must be examined. This starts with the physical structure and moves out to the behaviors. Then "culture" can be folded back into the mix.
When we examine cognition from the concrete to the dynamic, we get the following list:
Neurons
Neurotransmitters
Impulses
Patterns
Motivations
Behaviors
Psychology looks down the wrong way. Outward behaviors are examined at the most dynamic level. These are patterned and they offer a glimpse into the lower levels but they are not conclusive. Researchers often look at the lowest levels. Neurons and neurotransmitters are confusing when viewed without the understanding that they have simple functionality. This functionality is simply extended from a flatworm to a human in many ways. The basic functionality remains the same.
What we are missing in cognitive research is an understanding of how impulses work through learned patterns that then become motivations and behaviors. The primary expressions of impulses has been built for human survival in small groups. As the environment changed rapidly, these once fully functional impulses are left grasping for functional patterns. The impulses themselves are operating "as designed". Many of the patterns have become "dysfunctional" for the individual and their human relationships.
Looking into the nature of the neurons and neurotransmitters then becomes a simple task. The behaviors still do form patterns but the must be looked at from "10,000" feet as well as 1 nanometer. The cognitive types become clear on both levels and the patterns that shows dysfunction can then be examined based on the individual's base cognitive type. Many patterns appear common on the surface between two cognitive types but are driven by different impulses.
1. Many Motivations, one "disorder" A behavior viewed as a disorder, Passive/Aggressive
For example the term "passive/aggressive" has been used to describe people in popular psychology and even has a disorder associated with it. This exists at the level of "behavior" and many patterns can cause this "behavior" across different cognitive types. This dysfunctional behavior does not exist alone but is indicative of underlying impulses.
The type that would show this behavior most intrinsically is "ER+" . When ER+ has dysfunctional patterning (NPD), it is seen clearly. Passive/aggressive behavior is usually tied into a motivation. The motivation in ER+ is the control of another person.
The passive state shows the reward response.
The aggressive state is the punishment response.
It is built in operant conditioning of another person in a relationship. Calm states reward behavior that is comfortable for the "conditioner" and aggressive rage punish behavior that is not. In the person being conditioned, the pattern is not clear. The pattern of rage/calm cannot be seen because the individual being conditioned associates their impulse, patterns, motivations and behaviors with the "abuser's". This illusion creates a desire to "fix" the abuser. Since the primary impulses are different, there cannot be any "fixing".
This pattern is combined with a "push/pull" behavior that helps keep the other person at bay. Soon the patterning of the "abused" changes and passive/aggressive "protection behaviors" appear. This creates a "borderline state in the abused which then creates a situation in which the abuser will leave... This is followed by parting "shots". When the "abused" is partially healed...the abuser steps back in.
In this case we see passive/aggressive behavior with two motivations. One is control and one is protection. The patterning is deeper and takes time to change. Since the two motivations show as the same pattern, treatment would be different. One person must learn how to "observe boundaries" and the other person must learn how to set boundaries. These are just two motivations that can cause the behavior. There are many more. The title of passive/aggressive disorder leads clinicians to view it as one thing. Thus they could fail to treat it.
2. Many "disorders". One motivation. Sets of behaviors viewed as different "disorders".
The base impulse of a cognitive type can show many different patterns. These patterns have similar motivations behind them. ER+ is a very well studied type. The behaviors are often "flashy" and interesting. This type can wreak havoc on friends and family yet still remain convinced that they are OK. In the most functional state ER+ is almost hidden. It can take years with an ER+ person to discover it. ER+ in its most functional state is a great actor. Caring and love are faked very well and the ability of the functional ER+ to read and understand minute changes in stance and facial expression of another person render them powerful on the "playing field" of ego.
The functional ER+ never gets diagnosed, even when their life falls around them. They play into stereotypes so well that they are convincing. "Victimized single mother", "Person with incurable diseases", "Hero", "Knight in shining armor", "Earth mother", "Suffering Partner", "Brave Rescuer", "Dutiful Leader", "Ethical Warrior", "Starving Artist", "Misunderstood Victim of society", "Striving Intellectual". These are some of the most successful images created by their patterning. They also create images that are less successful "Macho man", "Ladies Man", "Mother of a sick child", "Abused childhood person", "Constant complainer", "Arrogant Jerk", "Loose woman", "Gossip Queen", "Know it All", "Obstinate Obstructionist", "Evil Prince/Princess".
All of these images have one simple motivation, to generate attention. In the end, no matter how positive or negative the attention, it is all the same.
Functionally they live in ego. Ego is used to mark status and role. Ego has another function to generate "sticks and carrots" in culture. The stick is absent in this individual's ego.
The DSM has many different disorders that map into ER+. Since ER+ is a convincing actor, they defy simple categorization. They have two main types ER+CM and ER+HM. They generate attention through intellect (ER+CM) and body (ER+HM). In the extreme case of ER+HM+ (Grandiose Psychopath) They even murder their own children to get attention.
This type *often* maps to:
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Histrionic Personality Disorder
Passive Aggressive Personality Disorder
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Factitious Disorder (Munchhaussen)
Munchhausen by Proxy
High Functioning Borderline Personality Disorder
(Caveat: Behavioral assessment and personality inventories often assigns these "disorders" to other types such as CM+ (ADD) and IR+ (AS))
There are more diagnosis for ER+ but most often...in its functional state, it exists as a leader in the community.
They would be seen as very healthy by a practitioner. Sometime so healthy the practitioner can find nothing wrong with them. They are quite common as well.
This is just one example. Functional analysis is not done when putting together the DSM. It is instead a practice of categorization by committee. The lists of disorders are growing longer every day, yet nobody seems to be concerned with the reason for this. The diagnosis of disorders is increasing and getting more confused. Many people now wear a necklace of co-morbidities.
Functional analysis is the only solution to these morass.
