Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  .This section is about psycho-therapy.  Topics include:( ) Affirmations.  ( ) Art therapy.  Writing.  Visual art.  Music.    ( ) Attitude therapy.  ( ) Eclectic therapies.  ( ) Meditation.  ( ) Types of psychotherapies.  ( ) Psych up.  ( ) Calm down.  ---  1/24/2006

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  "Handle it.  Deal with it.  Learn to cope with it.  Come to terms with it."  Integration of experiences is key.  Relearn healthy mental habits and physical habits.  ---  5/15/2004

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  (1) Different techniques to get mind in (2) different states (calm, psyched, etc.), in order to get (3) different ideas or actions.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  (1) Fear of worse.  People are afraid to read and write and think because they are afraid to change.  Thus they do not grow.  They fear change for the worse.  (2) Pride.  They also say "I am ok the way I am"  To say otherwise is to say "I am not ok", which they will not admit.  And since they are "ok", they do not make the effort to grow.  (3) They also say "Things are fine the way they are.  I do not need to learn anything".  They are mental conservatives, keeping the status quo.  ---  05/10/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  (1) Figure out what is optimal mind and behavior.  (2) Figure out how to get it.  (3) Figure out how to use it to identify and solve other problems.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  (1) Get real quiet.  (2) Listen to the quiet voices.  (3) Imagine anything.  Free yourself of limits.  I produce most and best when calm and serene.  No problems.  ---  07/30/1993

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  (1) How to change someone's attitudes (emotions and thoughts) or mind.  One can use emotional appeal or appeal to reason.  One can use media of text, visual art, music.  (2) People get stuck in their ways.  Too proud to change (grow).  Too fearful to change.  Too stubborn and inflexible to change.  Too lazy to change.  Too avoidant of pain to change.  Change takes work.  Change can be painful.  (3) Sub-optimal minding makes one more susceptible to making mistakes in life, and more susceptible to mental illness.  ---  02/28/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  (1) How to get me in a controlled manic productive mood for creative work (or drone work)?  (2) How to maintain the mood?  (3) What are the factors?  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  (1) Prevention.  (2) Maintain.  (3) Repair: improve, control, cure.  (4) Developers, strengtheners.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  (1) Psyching in: focus.  (2) Psyching up: desire.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  (1) Some people are mentally ill and need drugs.  Some people are way off.  (2) Most people are just a little off.  They need to get the facts, and brush up on their reasoning skills and ethical views.  The lazy, etc.  ---  12/30/1995

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  (1) Stay hard and in shape mentally, because if you are soft and out of shape you will not be as willing or able to fight.  And then they will be able to beat you, not because they are stronger, but because you were not willing or able to fight.  (2) One must know how to fight.  Stay in practice, and stay strong.  ---  03/14/1989

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  (1) The biggest place to make gains is tweaking individual's minds.  Many people "mind" poorly.  If we can get people "minding" better, they will act better, and society will be changed for better.  (2) Two problems, (A) People take an attitude, "I do not need to think".  (B) People can not think well even if they try, due to things like repression, depression, etc.  Thus, they can not develop the ideas they need to grow.  (3) Growth depends on generating and adopting new ideas.  Those who do not think do not grow.  Those who do not grow perish more easily.  (4) If one can not think and develop a new meaning system, and grow when one's current meaning system goes bankrupt and fails to satisfy, then you fall apart and die.  This happens a lot.  Death of a meaning system can occur due to either (A) Your situation changing, which causes old ways to no longer work, or (B) Due to your seeing the limitations or holes in your philosophy or attitude(s).  ---  02/28/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  A small slight can kill someone, or drive them nuts.  A small kindness can save a life, or turn a life around.  ---  5/30/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Accurately assess all aspects of yourself and your situation, all the time.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Acknowledge, confront, and solve problems best.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Affirmation, chant.  It is not "everything is going to be fine", but rather "everything is fine".  ---  12/15/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Affirmations.  (1) I'm ok.  (2) I know what I'm doing.  (3) I have my act together.  (4) I can handle any problems.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Affirmations.  Daily affirmation: If you work at it, the ideas will come.  ---  05/30/1993

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Affirmations.  Morning affirmations during stretches.  My body is healing.  My mind is healing.  I am relaxing.  Stress is leaving.  ---  5/20/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Affirmations.  Positive statements.  I feel good.  Its going to be (or is, or was) a good day.  Life is good.  I'm a good person.  ---  12/28/2003

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Analyzing and improving psychology of yourself or someone else.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Any psychological talent or ability must be developed and applied for best purposes, much and often.  Otherwise it is wasted.  Use it or lose it.  See ethics of development and use.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Art and psychology.  (1) To psychologically help any person, you must understand how they see the world.  For example, to help a child you must understand how the child sees the world.  You must understand how a child experiences the world.  You must understand how a child's mind works.  You must understand their vocabulary.  The same goes for old people, women, etc.  This is where art becomes useful to psychology.  Art (literature, movies, etc.) can help us see life as a child (or old person, or woman, etc.) sees life.  Then can we begin to help that person.  (2) The artist has great (A) Memory, or (B) Empathy, or (C) Imagination.  The artist understands humans in a way, and to a degree, that many others do not.  And the artist transfers this knowledge to others through the work of art.  This is the importance of the artist to society.  ---  5/15/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Art therapy.  Art as outlet for emotions.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Ask yourself (1) What are this persons strengths, and how can it be made the most of.  (2) What are this persons weaknesses, problems (in self or in life), neurosis, and how can I be sensitive to them in order to help me get my goals, and help them get theirs.  (3) How can I help them improve their weaknesses, and solve their problems.  ---  04/24/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Attacking symptoms without attacking cure will just lead to a change in symptoms?  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Attitude therapy.  (1) An attitude is a way of looking at a thing.  (2) Attitude therapy consists of finding a better way to look at something.  (3) Attitudes can vary from the general (about life, people, etc.) to the specific (specific events, specific people, etc.).  (4) Revealing your hidden attitudes is key.  Practice using new attitudes (and behaviors).  Replace sub-optimal attitudes.  (5) The big question is: How should I feel and think about x and why?  In general you can say that you should feel hopeful and not despairing.  Not lazy.  Not isolated and alone.  ---  4/20/1999

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Attitude therapy.  (1) Create a catalog of your attitudes on every subject.  (2)  "Look at yourself."  "Can you hear yourself?"  That is, review your catalog of your attitudes.  (3) Collect attitudes of other people and classify them.  Sort them out, good and bad, better and worse.  ---  2/28/2002

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Attitude therapy.  Much of psychotherapy is about attitude change.  The majority of people are mildly disturbed as a result of less than optimal attitudes.  See: Psychology, attitude  ---  2/13/2002

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Be careful of the experiences you subject yourself to.  Be careful what you feed your head.  Don't starve it, and don't poison it.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Behavior therapy is important, along with mental techniques and environmental techniques.  What are the suboptimal behaviors that are holding you back?  What are the healthy behaviors that you want to develop?  ---  6/4/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Centering.  Focusing on your basic core self, environment and situation, and goals.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Change.  How much can a person change?  And to what?  How best to effect the change?  ---  06/30/1993

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Change.  Psychological work on yourself, and psychological change.  (1) It is slow, gradual, imperceptible in the short run (2) It is unquantifiable, and not measurable.  It is tough to say how much better you feel.  It is impossible to say how much worse you would have felt in the same situation without it.  It is tough to see the difference it is making in your life.  There is no objective viewpoint.  It is just two different subjective viewpoints or realities, with no control over many dependent and independent variables.  It is tough to tell the success it helps you gain, or the failures it helps you avoid.  How do you measure a good feeling, or ability to concentrate intensely or long, or the ability to figure out and decide well and quickly?  How do you measure a more efficient mind?  How do you measure the work you put in (ex. I adopted a new attitude), and the improvement you got out?  How do you tell what cause had what effect?  ---  10/15/1994

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Comfort zones.  (1) In life, don't get too comfortable.  Challenge yourself.  Move out of your comfort zone.  (2) It can be uncomfortable sometimes when you move out of your comfort zone.  (3) Just like in physical exercise, sometimes pain is a sign of healthy growth, and other times pain is a sign of unhealthy destruction.  Know the difference.  ---  4/27/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Constantly monitor your mind and behavior.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Crackpot psychotherapists, symptoms of.  Techniques that crackpot psychotherapists use to try to help other people.  (1) Tell customer what they want to hear.  Make the customer feel good about themselves.  Give the customer attention in order to make the customer feel loved.  Yes the customer.  Kiss up to them.  Stroke them.  (2) Get the customer to become dependent on you.  Make them feel weak and make yourself appear strong.  (3) Don't have any method, simply make pronouncements.  Say, "Its just a gift I have".  No logic or reason involved.  Or, if you proclaim to have a method, keep it secret and don't write it down and publish it so that other people can review it.  (4) Give out free samples to get people hooked.  (5) Simply be a cheerleader.  "Cheer up!  You can do it!".  This technique is in the "not too hurtful, but not too helpful either" category of therapy.  (6) Who falls into the crackpot therapist category?  What do we make of palm-reading, astrology, numerology and psychics?  ---  1/23/2001

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Deal with things once and for all?  Deal with things till you get it right/perfect.  Deal with things till you can live with them.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Depression and other pathological states are not to be indulged in, as some would think.  They are to be spotted early, and fought with all one's strength and every means possible (except drugs).  It doesn't pay to romanticize mental illness as a prerequisite for artistic accomplishment.  No one learned anything by feeling screwed up that they wouldn't have learned quicker being healthy.  These views are a far cry from my old beliefs that (1) I am fine the way I am.  (2) I don't need anyone's help.  Be independent (don't even read books).  (3) I should leave my head alone, let it run free, don't direct my thoughts or examine my emotions.  ---  12/30/1996

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Describe in detail your (1) Best and worst mental states.  (2) How to get and avoid them.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Develop mind.  Maintain and protect against (1) Garbage.  (2) Natural decay (forgetting or age).  (3) Antagonists (people and environments).  (4) Self (inner destruction).  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Do a momentary analysis of (1) Focus.  (2) Energy levels.  (3) Psychological problems.  (4) All mental elements.  (5) Good and bad compared to my and others best, worst, and average.  (6) Ways to improve.  Definitions of improvement.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Drug therapy.  I think that drugs are over prescribed.  (1) Drugs are used as an easy out by both psychotherapist and patient.  (A) The patient often does not want to do the emotionally difficult and time consuming yet beneficial work of talk therapy.  (B) Some therapist do not want to do the difficult work of talk therapy with difficult patients.  (2) Insurance companies do not want to pay for the time consuming yet beneficial talk therapy.  Its economically cheaper in the short run for insurance companies to promote drug therapy rather than talk therapy.  (3) Drug companies.  (A) The drug companies over-promote their products.  The drug companies overestimate the benefits of their products and underestimate the dangers of their products, all in the name of making a dollar.  (B) The drug companies pressure the insurance companies and therapists.  The drug companies use pressure tactics like fear and greed.  (C) The drug companies also try to pressure patients directly through advertisements in the media.  ---  6/5/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Eastern arts.  Wisdom of the east.  Especially psychological ideas developed in martial arts and Zen on such subjects as harmony, flexibility, focus, concentration, self discipline, and mental toughness.  ---  04/23/1994

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Eclectic approach: use whatever ideas work, from wherever.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Effective therapy must address all  parts of the patients mind, for example, memory, emotion, thoughts, etc.  Effective therapy must address all parts of the patients life, for example, work, leisure, love life.  Effective therapy must address all the stages of a patients life, for example, childhood, teen years and adult years.  Effective therapy must use a variety of therapeutic modalities, for example, talk therapy, behavior therapy, environmental therapy, etc.  That is to say, one must confront a variety of problems with a variety of solutions.  Psychotherapy is not a case of a single simple problem and a single simple solution.  Humans are complex.  ---  6/5/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Emotions you have vs. emotions you get from others (social emotions).  Love for and from another person can be very therapeutic.  Lack of love can be very destructive.  Find a good lover.  A healthy relationship can work wonders on your mental health.  ---  10/30/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Environment therapy.  (1) There are three aspects to environment: natural environment, man made environment and social environment.  (2) Get yourself to a better environment.  The cause of your mental difficulties may very well be your environment.  See the notes on eco-psychology because we are talking here about eco-psychopathology and eco-psychotherapy.  (3) If you do not like your environment then that is a problem.  Here is where aesthetics can blend into psychology and thus ethics.  Something that really bothers you on the aesthetic level can begin to bother you on the psychological level.  Nothing is ever merely aesthetics alone.  Aesthetics is connected to many other areas.  There is a reason why something bothers you on the aesthetic level and it has to do with other non-aesthetic topics.  ---  6/4/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Environmental therapy.  (1) Social environment:  Stop hanging out with jerks.  Start hanging out with healthy, ethical people.  (2) Natural environment: Do not isolate yourself from nature.  Either bring nature into your environment, or bring yourself out into nature.  (3) Man made environment: Improve your Man made environment.  Get some books, music, visual art, movies.  That is, develop your information environment.  ---  6/4/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Everyday interaction with psychologically healthy people is a healthy thing and one might even say a therapeutic thing.  So if one is interacting daily with healthy people then that is like being in therapy everyday.  It is invaluable and irreplaceable.  You cannot replace that with a one hour a week session with a psychotherapist.  ---  4/9/2001

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Everyone can use help, like a hint.  The help they think they need may not be the help they actually need.  The help you think they need may not be the help they actually need.  What to do?  We stumble across solutions.  ---  6/16/2001

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Everyone should see a talking therapist every week.  Shrinks are not supposed to know your problems.  You go to a shrink in order to spend at least 50 minutes a week thinking about your psychological problems.  The shrink takes guesses, mostly wrong guesses, and it is up to you to figure out that he is wrong, why he is wrong, and what the actual case is.  You have to figure yourself out, and then tell him what is the problem.  ---  12/30/1995

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Expansion of mind.  (1) Scope, breadth, depth.  (2) Unity: how well knit together.  Integrated.  (3) Accuracy.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Find many mentally healthy people.  Interact with mentally healthy people.  See how a healthy mind works.  ---  4/1/2000

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Freudian psychoanalyis.  Criticisms of Freudian psychotherapy.  Psychoanalytic therapists of the Freudian tradition are often taught that it is best to let the patient do all the talking, and for the therapist to say little or nothing.  A criticism of Freudian technique is that anyone can be a silent therapist.  ---  4/7/2004

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Freudian psychoanalysis.  At best people misinterpret Freud by over-emphasizing childhood.  We can correctly say that childhood is as important as adulthood, but some mistakenly say that childhood is all important.  They wrongly say that all problems start in childhood, or that all damage happens in childhood.  This wrongly implies that problems can not develop completely in adulthood, which they can.  This also wrongly implies that once the damage is done in childhood it cannot be undone, and that no important healing can happen in adulthood.  They overdo it.  ---  12/26/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Freudian psychoanalysis.  Criticisms of Freudian psychotherapy.  The psychotherapists may have an idea what is wrong with you and how to help you, but they won't tell you.  Because they think you need to figure out yourself.  Because they think if they tell you then you will reject it.  Silence is not therapy.  ---  3/20/2004

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Freudianism.  One often unspoken argument for the Freudian approach of the silent therapist is the ability to avoid culpability should the patient hurt themselves.  Using the Freudian approach the therapist can say, "I didn't do anything except listen."  Freudianism is an approach to therapy that lets the therapist avoid being sued in a court case.  ---  12/6/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Freudianism.  There is something disingenuous about Freudian psychoanalysis when the therapist has a good idea of the patient's problem but won't discuss it with the patient for fear of rejection.  ---  5/28/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Get much health very soon and make it last long.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Good mental organization helps prevent pathological psychology.  Good mental mechanism helps prevent pathological psychology.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Group lectures in philosophy, psychology, sociology basics would be useful in addition to individual psychoanalysis.  ---  10/25/1993

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Head.  Where to keep your head at?  Hawaii, the beach, the mountains, Tibet, with a fine babe.  Mental words or sounds.  Mental pictures.  ---  12/15/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  How do you help depressed addicts who don't talk?  Be patient, expect setbacks and lapses.  Be supportive.  The nuts shrinks have to put up with, it must be easy to burn out as a shrink.  Dealing with lying, abusive, manipulative, self destructive, people.  Dealing with the dregs without ending up hating them.  Can you help them without having them hurt you, or have a bad effect on you?  ---  01/12/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Humans are information generators and information processors.  Problems result when information is blocked.  Health is restored when information flows.  ---  5/1/2006

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  I carry around in my head the memory of a clear sunny day from every month in the year.  ---  12/29/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  I use art, music, poetry, philosophical writing, and writing therapy frequently.  Examples: doodling with crayons, blasting tunes or hacking around on guitar.  It is good.  Do it daily.  ---  11/10/1993

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  If a person has an inaccurate interpretation of what was, or is, or could be, it may not necessarily be a delusion or a hallucination.  But it may not jibe 100% with reality either.  But this personal narrative may be all that keeps that person going.  And to try to destroy their narrative or change it violently may send that person into a chaotic tail-spin.  Yet living with an incorrect picture of reality, a substandard philosophy, may hurt them.  One has to weigh whether it will do more harm to try to gently change them or whether to let them be.  ---  9/18/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  If stress causes anxiety, and anxiety causes pathology, then a therapy for pathology is to learn stress coping behaviors.  ---  10/30/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  If we have social skills, then we also have psychological skills.  Examples:  (1) How to be alone.  (2) How to live with self.  (3) Figuring out what to do with self.  ---  1/25/2000

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  In psychoanalysis one talks.  One talks using words and sentences.  Words and sentences express thoughts.  The goal in psychoanalysis is to integrate memory, emotion and thought.  Another goal in psychoanalysis is to integrate the past, present and future.  But the means to achieve the goals of psychoanalysis is talking, and talking is essentially thinking out loud.  Thus, thought becomes the route to health.  Some people mistakenly claim that, "One cannot think one's way to health".  Thinking one's way to health is exactly what happens.  And thus we can see the link or bridge between Freudian psychoanalysis and Albert Ellis's Rational therapy.  (2) Incidentally, thinkers perform a similar function for society.  The history of human thought is essentially an exercise of cultural therapy.  ---  4/19/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  It does not help people as much to destroy their arguments, and put down their values.  It leaves them defenseless and vulnerable and empty.  It helps to show them something better, so they have something to live for.  Having no will to live is dangerous.  People need love, not attack.  ---  10/5/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  It is difficult to judge how psychologically fragile someone is.  ---  10/05/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  It is tough to tell from their exterior, how close someone is to the edge psychologically, or how fragile they are.  And these hurting people often will not admit it even if they realize it.  Yelling at them can push them right over the edge.  Therefore be gentle and kind with everyone?  ---  5/20/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  It is tough to tell which of our actions will have what types and magnitude of affects on others.  ---  02/07/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  It is tough to tell which person considers what event or treatment by others to be what type or degree of abuse.  Anything can cause any reaction.  People get into states.  And some people are fragile.  Why?  ---  02/15/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Knowledge prepares you to deal with life.  Knowledge helps prevent pathological psychology.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Life requires constant mental training to stay in shape, to grow, to take advantage of opportunities, to fight fights, and to solve problems.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  List of good, happy and peaceful things in the world, others and me.  Nature.  Civil rights movement.  Nuremberg trials.  ---  12/25/2003

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Make lists and gather pictures of good things, happy things, and calm peaceful things, about the world, people and yourself.  Think about these positive things, not the bad things that cause fear, depression and anger.  ---  12/24/2003

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Meditation.  (1) What is meditation?  Meditation means learning how to not think, which is as important as learning how to think.  Meditation means learning how to relax the body and the mind.  (2) Why meditate?  Meditation is healthy.  Meditation helps reduce stress.  Meditation helps reduce anxiety, depression, and anger.  (3) How to meditate?  Sit quietly.  Close eyes.  Focus on breathing.  Relax the body.  Allow the mind to quiet.  Try it it for ten minutes twice a day.  ---  2/10/2007

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Meditation.  20 minutes a day of a zombie like state is ok in order to calm down, de-stress, and be quiet and still, as opposed to feeling tense, wired, fried, frazzled, shot nerves, and fight or flight reaction.  (1) Learn to know what the meditative state of calmness feels like psychologically and physically.  (2) Learn to recognize how far from the calm state your state is at all times.  (3) Learn to alert yourself automatically when you are far from the calm state.  Learn to get yourself into the calm state quickly.  ---  03/20/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Meditation.  The purpose of mediation is to calm oneself.  When a person relaxes one's body and quiets one's mind then that person is calming oneself.  A person learns to calm oneself during the meditation session and then learns to calm oneself throughout the entire day.  Then, when one is in stress situations, overwhelmed by negative emotions such as anxiety, anger or depression, the person is better able to calm oneself.  ---  12/20/2003

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Meditation.  There are at least two ways of meditating.  One way is to take a trip mentally.  To go out and find things.  The other way is to let things come to you.  ---  7/15/1999

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Meditation.  Two opposing definitions of meditation.  (1) Meditate: to contemplate, to devote time to sitting quietly and thinking, feeling, and remembering.  Get in touch with feelings.  Listen to the quiet small voices.  (2) Meditate: To devote time to sitting quietly and focusing on nothing.  Or focusing on one thing, in order not to think about everything else.  To not think, feel, or remember.  To focus on a flower image, or one's breathing, or a mantra.  ---  03/16/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Mental health help.  The one's who need it most do not get it.  They are less inclined to ask for help.  ---  04/15/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Mental housecleaning: reorganization, reprioritization.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Mental performance.  Wasting less time is a function of (1) Having more energy (better mange food and sleep).  (2) Having more sense of urgency, importance and motivation for tasks at hand.  Feeling it strongly.  Believing it is worthwhile, important, useful and good.  A way to convince yourself of this fact is to repeat it over and over to yourself.  (3) Also get self into slightly manic state.  Avoid depression.  (4) Take advantage of spare hours here and there.  They are all you have and they add up.  ---  12/30/1995

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Mental techniques.  (1) To improve good and to cure bad.  (2)(A) By you for you.  (B) By others for you.  (C) By you for others.  (3) (A) To free mind for creativity and free thinking.  (B) To control mind for self discipline.  (4) (A) To relax mind.  (B) To psych in and psych up mind.  (C) To psych out and psych down mind.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Most interpretations, or readings, of other people's thinking, or mind, are invariably wrong, or rather, incomplete.  ---  07/30/1996

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Narrative therapy.  People with under-developed narrative skills will have trouble integrating their experiences, and mental disorder, confusion and depression can result.  ---  4/23/2006

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Not only must the therapist understand the patient's problem, the patient must understand the patient's problem.  This means not only understanding the cause, mechanism, effects, and therapy, but also seeing how often and how hard it hits, and not only the trouble it gets you into, but also the good it keeps you from doing.  At this point you are working on the patients ethical system, as well as their psychological problems.  A big part of pathological psychology and optimal psychology is pathological ethics and optimal ethics systems.  ---  05/25/1994

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  One useful psychological skill is to be able to control the psychological distance at which you hold a person or thing.  Be able to bring it closer and be able to push it away.  When people are unable to keep things at a distance they tend to put them out of mind completely (repression).  Or else they get so close they get overwhelmed and have a breakdown.  The goal is to keep things close enough that you can see them, but not so close that they overwhelm you.  This ability lets us work on solving problems calmly.  ---  3/30/2000

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  People are fragile.  People are complex.  Be careful when you try to help them.  Figure them and their lives out completely first?  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Pep talk.  Self pep talk vs. for or from another.  How often you do it (how many times a day or week).  How low you have to get before you give yourself one.  What you say, "You can do it.  Things aren't as bad as they seem.  I'm counting on you.  Don't let us down.  We need you.  Do it for (your girlfriend, your country, the glory)".  It is motivational.  In raises the spirits.  Get tough, be strong, fight, survive, win.  ---  11/15/1994

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Philosophy therapy.  Analyze metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics of a new situation.  It takes time to sink in, to integrate.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Philosophy therapy.  Can we say that certain people are suffering from a philosophical crisis rather than a psychological crisis?  And in such cases they would benefit more from philosophical therapy than psychotherapy.  ---  1/25/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Philosophy therapy.  Pro bono philosophy work.  How can I help you.  How to convince someone?  You must get them to accept and believe an number of presuppositions or assumptions or premises.  (1) It is possible to waste one's life vs. the opposite views that it is impossible to waste one's life (anything is ok), or that there is no such thing as waste.  (2) It is possible for your life not to be a total waste, vs. the opposite view that totally wasting one's life is inevitable.  (3) Wasting one's life is wrong, and bad, and emotionally painful.  (4) Writing is a good way to discover ideas, organize them, and remind yourself of them.  (5) Life is worth living.  It is difficult, but possible to make it.  And it is good to make it, because it gives you an opportunity to help.  It is wrong and bad not to take advantage of this opportunity.  ---  10/30/1996

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Positioning of head through controlling experiences, environments, and thoughts.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Positive thinking as a type of psychotherapy.  (1) A person does not want to lie to oneself.  A person should not lie to oneself.  Thus, the view of positive thinking as lying to oneself is an unhealthy view.  (2) A person should not look at only the good things in life.  Thus, the view of positive thinking as looking only at the good things in life is an unhealthy view.  (3) Positive thinking defined as always looking at the good as well as the bad is a better, healthy view of positive thinking.  ---  6/4/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Positive thinking can be dangerous if we let it repress our painful problems, and emotions we feel toward them, and if we avoid looking at poor probabilities in life.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Positive thinking.  Many people's lives are wasted by mild chronic depression and negativity.  Postive thinking does not mean thinking only about the good things in life, repressing the bad.  Positive thinking does not mean thinking everything is fine, or will be fine, automatically.  Positive thinking means thinking that you will try your hardest to solve the problems of the world, and not let the problems of the world demotivate you and activate you, even if you are not completely successful.  ---  5/25/2006

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Preventative maintenance.  The situation with the mind is similar to the situation with the body, in that doing a little preventative maintenance every day can help reduce the chance of acute crisis later on.  How does one do psychological preventative maintenance?  Talk things out.  Learn about the mind in general, and its components of memory, emotion, thought, etc.  Learn about yourself in particular.  ---  5/1/2006

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Psyched up.  Getting psyched means getting drive, hope, and confidence (in self and situation) up.  Get psyched for what, how?  I get psyched for a long effort for a productive and content life in philosophy.  And the work I will have to do to support such a life.  ---  01/01/1994

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Psyched up.  Getting psyched, to do what, how, for what reasons.  You have to get psyched to the point where you do the activity immediately, and in every spare minute, and stay up late doing it.  The mood must be greater than, and override, all contrary attitudes toward not doing it, or doing anything else.  ---  05/30/1993

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Psyched up.  Getting psyched: drive or desire to find way to change and improve.  Vs.  Getting inspired: vision about the best and worst of past, present, and future in your life or in the world.  ---  08/15/1994

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Psyched up.  The best way to get psyched to do x is to believe that many excellent things will result from your effort of doing x.  This may be true, but even if this is not really true, if you believe it for the moment, you get a worthwhile task done faster.  It is self-deception?  ---  08/30/1993

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Psychotherapy is a political act when it empowers people.  ---  12/12/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Reboot.  Booting is the set of instructions that a computer uses to start itself.  Booting is a metaphor that compares computers to the human mind.  Be aware what thoughts you are booting up with.  Boot up with the most important thoughts, emotions, and attitudes.  You can reboot in the morning, throughout the day, and before you go to sleep.  ---  5/29/2007

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Recognize you have a pathological tendency.  Recognize when it flares up.  Attack the cause and effects.  Become knowledgeable about your problems.  Spend time working on them.  ---  12/30/1995

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Reduce occurrences of (1) Harmful "minding".  (2) Harmful behavior: done to self.  (3) Harmful experiences: done by others, done by nature.  (4) Pain from all of above.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Relax the body and you will relax the mind.  Relax the mind and you will relax the body.  Mind and body are connected both ways.  ---  6/12/2004

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Relax, prepare.  Explore, search.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Reversibility of mental illness.  (1) To say that mental illness is not reversible is to destroy hope and thus to destroy chances of recovery.  (2) To what extent are different types of mental illness reversible?  (3) How to un-warp somebody's mind?  ---  8/20/1999

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Say to yourself, "There has to be a better way of looking at this situation".  ---  11/9/1999

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Self help.  To what extent is self help possible?  I say very much so.  Its all self help.  I disagree with those who say attempts at self help are futile.  I believe in long term self help.  ---  6/5/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Short term and long term.  (1) Patients need a short term therapy plan for crisis situations.  (2) Patients need a long term therapy plan:  (A) To learn about self and world.  (B) To practice skills: memory skills, emotion skills, thinking skills and social skills.  ---  1/13/1999

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Sock drawer.  The brain is like a sock drawer.  From time to time it pays to (1) Empty your socks onto the bed.  That is, empty you mind (ideas, feelings, memories) onto paper.  (2) Re-organize them.  (3) Put them back in place.  (4) You will feel much better having done so.  ---  12/29/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Someday an hour a week of psychological therapy will be seen as a human right.  It may even be seen as a legal responsibility or obligation.  In order to give everyone therapy, they will have computers do it in the person's own home.  ---  06/05/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Start a service that lets people who are unrealistically optimistic and people who are unrealistically pessimistic spend time together.  ---  4/24/2004

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Talk therapy is important and good.  Start talking.  Open talk.  Deep talk.  ---  6/12/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Talk therapy.  Keep talking.  Keep talking to your partner, your friends, your therapist, etc.  That is healthy.  The problem is that cultures of enforced or coerced silence are repressive and unhealthy.  Cultures of open dialouge and conversation are healthy.  Honest talk.  Open talk.  Real talk.  Deep talk.  Not only surface chit chat.  ---  11/12/2003

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Techniques.  Instead of saying, "It doesn't matter", say, "Its a relatively small annoyance causing me disproportionately and unnecessarily greater distress."  Or, if it represents a greater injustice and distress, say, "I vow to myself to work to correct it."  ---  12/27/2003

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  The biggest mistake is to think that other people's lives (past and present), situations, and experiences are just like yours.  It is also a big mistake to think that other people's minds are just like yours, and to think their views are like yours and they see things the way you do.  It is very easy to make the above mistakes.  It is very difficult to imagine anything other than what you know, let alone guess exactly what another person is about.  ---  02/09/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  The effectiveness of psychotherapy, and by extension, the helpfulness or destructiveness of any social relationship.  Without therapy we do not know if the person would get better, worse, or stay the same.  Therefore, with therapy we do not know if we are helping, hurting, or doing nothing.  And it is the same with social relationships.  ---  8/27/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  The people who need help most realize this fact least, and ask for it least.  ---  04/24/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  The question for therapy: What is a most healthy person like, and what ways and degrees do I deviate from it?  What causes deviations from health, and what cures it?  How can I get back to health, or create health I never had?  ---  02/15/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Therapies.  (1) Mental: cause finding and treating.  (2) Behavior and action: practice, practice, practice.  Habit forming, symptom treating.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  There are many thoughts and actions (diet, rest, high-test, exercise) that can (1) Guide you (vision) to the correct struggle, and (2) Buoy you (hope) during the struggle (of survival).  ---  10/30/1994

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  There is a difference between preventive maintenance and crisis management.  For example, if someone is falling from a building and calls for help, you should not say, "Let's start by studying the physics of gravitation."  When someone is experiencing extreme, debilitating depression or anxiety it requires crisis management techniques of therapy.  Yet there is also the concept of preventive maintenance therapy.  What do we mean by preventive maintenance psychological therapy?  In the realm of physical health, preventive maintenance involves things like eating healthy, moderate exercise and getting enough sleep.  In the realm of psychological health, preventive maintenance involves things like talking things out with friends, managing stress, art therapy, philosophy therapy,  rational therapy, meditation therapy, nature therapy and other therapeutic activities.  How much time should one devote to psychological preventive maintenance activities?  Psychological preventive maintenance activities should be a part of daily life.  ---  9/12/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  There is a power in words.  Words have the power to heal.  (1) Speaking.  We want to speak.  We need to speak.  The talking cure is what Freud proposed.  Let the patient talk.  (2) Listening.  Yet we want to hear words also.  We want someone to say something.  We want to hear our friends' voices.  We want to read the poets.  (3) Its possible that the listening is as important as the talking.  Thus, its possible that the psychotherapists are not recognizing that the artists are doing half of the psychotherapist's job.  ---  1/22/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Things a therapist should remember.  (1) Other people's mental states can be vastly different from your own.  How they feel, the world they see, and their abilities can all be vastly different from your own.  (2) They usually cannot fully articulate or communicate their mental state.  And if they could, you still could not understand it completely.  Like they say, "No one knows how I feel".  (3) They may not realize they need help.  If they do realize they need help, they may not ask for it.  They may not realize what types and degrees of help they need.  (4) You may not even notice that they need help.  There may not even be an indication they need help.  (5) Everyone can use a little help.  The trick is to figure out what kind of help and how to give it.  ---  02/28/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  To be able to "get away from oneself", "get away from a situation".  These are very important concepts.  Without a reprieve one becomes exhausted.  Recreation is important.  ---  11/16/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  To help someone grow you can introduce them to a healthy idea (subject, view, argument).  Their resistance to the idea may be of various types and degrees (ideological, emotional, etc.).  How to reduce resistance?  One way is to let them think that the new healthy idea is their idea.  ---  1/6/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  To prevent insanity eliminate inanity.  Exposing yourself to stupidity is harmful to your health.  ---  6/21/2000

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Two more kinds of therapy.  (1) Knowledge therapy.  Can a person be considered healthy if a large portion of their basic assumptions are mistaken and false?  No.  Therefore, knowledge, information and reasoning are key components to psychological health.  (2) Ethics therapy.  Can a person be considered to be healthy if a large portion of their basic views are unethical?  No.  Therefore, ethics is a key component of psychological health.  ---  6/5/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Two pop psych phrases.  (1) Get your head together.  Cool out, unwind, clear mind, mellow out.  (2) Get your act together.  Behavior, clothes, job, etc.  ---  01/01/1994

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Types of psychological techniques.  (1) Dream analysis, day dream analysis.  (2) Get quiet and calm.  (A) Write down what images and ideas enter your mind.  (B) Work on them better.  (3) If nothing comes then use planned techniques to spur thought.  (A) Questions and answers about self (my best and worst memories, goals are..., why).  (B) Do general reading.  ---  11/06/1993

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Types of psychotherapy.  (1) Preventative therapy (maintenance) vs. curative therapies.  (2) Writing therapy, talking therapy, and action/behavior therapy.  (3) Reason/thinking therapy, emotion therapy, memory therapy, social skills therapy.  ---  12/26/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Types of therapy by specific areas of mind.  (1) Memory therapy.  Write down all your memories.  (2) Emotion therapy.  Write down and sort out your emotions.  (3) Thought therapy.  Write down and sort out all your thoughts.  (4) Drive therapy.  Work on goals.  ---  06/10/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Types of therapy by thought, word, and action.  (1) "Mind" therapy.  Repeating thoughts to yourself.  (2) Talk therapy and writing therapy.  (3) Behavior therapy.  Acting or not acting a certain way.  ---  06/10/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Types of therapy.  (1) Cognitive therapy.  Get your ideas straight.  (2) Emotional therapy.  Acknowledge emotions, causes, how handle them.  (3) Action/behavior therapy.  (4) Memory therapy.  Journal, estir, dig memories up and record and sort them.  (5) Dream therapy.  (6) Etc. for all mental areas.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Types of therapy.  (1) Knowledge therapy.  Figuring out ideas (thinking).  Finding out ideas (reading).  Recording ideas.  Studying ideas.  (2) Emotion therapy.  Sorting out one's emotions.  (3) Memory therapy.  Taking time to remember and record memories.  (4) Drive therapy.  Learning to acknowledge, develop, and pursue goals.  Assertiveness.  (4) Social therapy.  Love and friends.  Knowing how to compete, and knowing how to fight.  (5) Work therapy.  (6) Ethics therapy.  Studying ethics.  Ethical development.  (7) Any single therapy will not solve all problems, but all these therapies are useful and important.  These are preventative therapies, maintenance therapies.  They are general therapies, not problem specific therapies.  ---  12/29/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Types of therapy.  If I were a psychologist, how would I help people?  (1) Memory work.  Learn about the importance of memory.  Spend one hour a week writing down memories.  (2) Emotion work.  Learn about the importance and mechanism of emotions in health and pathology.  Spend one hour a week sorting out your emotions.  (3) Thinking work.  Learn about the importance and mechanism of thinking in health and pathology.  Understand sound reasoning, logic, epistemology.  Do exercises to build thinking skills.  Build a store of knowledge from with which to think.  (4) Drive work.  Learn about the importance and mechanism of goals in health and pathology.  Spend one hour a week working on goals, strategies, tactics and reasons.  (5) Social skills work.  Spend one hour a week practicing social interaction with  significant other, friends, etc.  (6) Ethics work.  Spend 1 hour a week thinking about ethical issues.  Think about subjects, issues, viewpoints, arguments, and evidence.  (7) Behavior work.  Spend time focusing on one's behavior.  (8) Physical factors.  Sleep, diet, exercise.  (9) Environmental issues.  One's relationship to the earth is important for psychological health.  ---  02/05/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Types of therapy.  Three types of therapy.  Therapy to prevent.  Therapy to control.  Therapy to cure.  ---  5/30/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Unconscious priorities.  Sometimes we don't even know that we need to figure out or do certain things done before we figure out or do something else.  How to bring these unconscious priorities to conscious mind?  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Unpack and repack your mental sock drawer.  ---  8/15/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Use oldies stations music to trigger memories in repressed patients.  ---  08/15/1994

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  We hardly ever know, and often over or under estimate, the good and harm we do when we interact with other people.  It is never what it seems.  ---  01/12/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  When it comes to psychological therapy one needs to negotiate the straight between charlatans and dictators.  The charlatans are the quacks and snake-oil salesmen who sell lies as medicine.  The dictators are those elements of the mental health system that wrongly hospitalize people and drug them against their will.  Many people under-estimate the ability of the mental health system to take you on a nightmare ride.  Once you are in the mental health system it can be difficult to get out.  Once you are labeled it can be difficult to shake the label.  Once they mess up your head it can be difficult to get your head back on straight.  Anyone can sell you down the river at anytime.  ---  1/25/2001

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  When you feel productive and creative and happy and lucky and optimistic you should take advantage of it and not fu*k it up.  ---  10/05/1994

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Which therapy works best and worst for who and why?  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Work on being able to let go of negative thoughts.  Work on being able to not think (meditation).  Work on reducing over-thinking and over-feeling.  Its a useful, healthy skill.  Work on ability to be dispassioned, disinterested and objective.  Unemotional, unthinkful.  Set aside ego, pride, self.  Reduce expectations.  Don't push self so hard.  Don't expect so much from self, others and life.  Formulate and pursue ideals.  Don't freak when ideals are not reached completely.  ---  3/20/2004

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Writing and health.  Recording and organizing your thoughts in writing can help prevent mental problems.  This is because writing helps prevent repression.  Repression is an unhealthy type of forgetting.  Forgetting actions and events.  Forgetting the reasons for your actions.  Forgetting your thoughts and feelings.  Forgetting can cause mental problems.  We all forget constantly, therefore, mental problems are always at risk.  ---  10/1/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Writing therapy is similar to talk therapy.  Write open.  Write deep.  Write on.  ---  6/12/2005

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Writing therapy.  I am a proponent of writing therapy.  ---  04/24/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  Wrong, false or sub-optimal hidden assumptions can destroy you.  True, right knowledge can save your mind.  Ideas and thoughts are very important for mental health.  ---  10/30/1998

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  You can harp on people's weak points, and play up your differences with them, or you can show them their strong points, and emphasize the points you have in common with them.  Harping on weak points can discourage people.  ---  11/30/1997

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  You don't get mental health by acting normal, you get it by dealing with past, present, future problems.  It has to come from within.  From healthy mind to healthy behavior.  ---  12/30/1992

Psychology, pathological, therapy.  ---  You should spend much time working on improving your mental health?  Fine tune it.  ---  12/30/1992