Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance

The field of Psychology is a vast domain, it includes many different approaches from A to Z, from Aviation Psychology to Zen Doctrines.

In modern times Gustav T. Fechner (1801-1887), Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894) and Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (1832-1920) are considered, by many, as the fathers of psychology.

However, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) techniques and interpretations are still widely accepted today as the basis of modern psychoanalysis. In 1881, Freud obtained his medical degree in Vienna and most of his medical work was based towards “medulla oblongata” (continuation of the spinal cord within the skull). Having worked with Jean-Martin Charcot and learned hypnosis, Freud opened his private clinic in Vienna in 1886 where his work led to the creation of his “Seduction Theory”, where he states: “all neuroses are the result of a brother’s, a servant’s, a father’s, sexual abuse of a child”.

We can only hope that Freud’s “Seduction Theory” is not widely accepted by the extensive community that study and practice counselling/psychoanalysis, out there.

I am not sure if I should be thankful to Linkedin but this blog has been spawned thanks to comments made by a couple of psychologists from Australia after a question I raised on line. I also later found out that one of the psychologists is a Senior Lecturer at Massey University, Australia.

A number of therapists use techniques that follow the names of their founders like: Ericksonian, Alderian, Gestalt, Jungian, Morita, Rogerian and so on.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with that but we must not forget that even the best students or associates cannot replicate or even learn what the “teacher” had mastered, applied or, basically, what he had in his mind. There are only one Freud, Jung, Barnard, Einstein, Sutherland, Tinbergen and so on. Even Ernest Rossi could not replicate the skills of his teacher Milton Erickson. This is applicable to all fields, we might know the theories from Einstein or Tesla but, even decades later, we cannot apply them or replicate them.

The plain fact is that we are individuals with personal Thinking, Acting, Feelings, Needs and Emotions and as much as we would like to be or become one of the greatest past, renowned individuals, this is just not possible. We might become, in our own right, “someone else special” but we just cannot be ‘them’ or expect similar results if we were them and working on their techniques. Hence, for example, those therapists that ‘apply’ an Ericksonian therapy will only be able to relate to it insofar to their understanding of a particular branch of learning.

In simple terms we learn what teachers, books, videos and universities want us to learn. We are given modules and based on the given teachings we must give “correct” answers. The Senior Lecturer at Massey University stands by her modules. Similar to this Lecturer’s knowledge, modules have been designed and written by others but all restricted and confined by their own personal knowledge. If any one subject is “bullet proof” why would there be over 1000 books telling us how to make bread? Universities introduce different books to their students.

The Lecturer wrote to me stating: “ECT is a preferred treatment for depression by PRIVATE, CORPORATE people who pay for it themselves & through insurance companies – because it works”.

I would like to know from her how many times she has actually used ECT, as a Lecturer or on her clients. Similar to many professionals, recommendations are often given out based not on personal experiences but only based on quick and outdated research.

According to Dr. McClintock, ECT has a 75-83% success rate in battling depression. However without continued treatment such as medications or Maintenance ECT, many patients may relapse. In a recent article (23/04/2016), the US Food and Drug Administration wants to ban electrical stimulation devices used to treat behavioural problems, saying they pose an “unreasonable and substantial” risk to public health. Some Countries/Regions have already abolished the practice of ECT. Similar findings and negative reviews on the risks and primary side effects of ECT have been pointed out by Lawrence Park, AM, MD; John M. Grohol, Psy.D.; Lucy Johnstone, PsyD; Dr. John Breeding and many more.

[Dr. Kuruvilla George, “Effective ECT,” Australian Doctor, 5 November 2014] – (Psychiatry admits it still doesn’t know how ECT “works,” a fact easily discovered when researched for. Victoria‘s former Deputy Chief Psychiatrist Professor Kuruvilla George, wrote in an ECT article, “How does ECT work? This is the million dollar question and the first thing to state is that no one is certain.”)

If continuous treatment and medications must be provided to the patient for life, it seems to me that ECT doesn’t work; hence why not look for alternatives? (Without upsetting private and corporate, of course).

Another friend/colleague of this Professor (Doctor/Lecturer) stated: “I don’t have any real problems with NLP but if you are using it to “treat” individuals with mental health issues then I am not comfortable with that”.

Why does he not feel comfortable with that? Maybe because he knows little about NLP or because he is also keen to use ECT?

Only 30 to 40 years ago ‘doctors’ were still using Trepanation, Hydrotherapy, Chemically induced seizures, Hysteria therapy, Mesmerism, Rotational therapy, Insulin-coma therapy, Lobotomy to name a few, to treat mentally ill patients. We can only move forward if we are prepared to communicate with each other, learn by our mistakes with the view to improve the services provided to clients.

To answer if NLP is useful to treat individuals, I think it is relevant to read the short and somewhat amuzing text below. This is taken from Richard Bandler in one of his worldwide seminars. ‘Evening with Richard Bandler’ Event – 20 October 2010.

““”Now, I don’t believe that psychiatric patients are incurable. When I was at that hospital the first time, it’s a terrible thing, because the psychiatrist giving me the tour, for lack of a better term, he was fucking nuts, just to tell you the truth. He was director of training and we stopped halfway through the tour, because he took me into the back wards because I said I want to see some really whacked out backwards people, you’ve got some really looney ones? So we went into the backwards and we went into this room and there was a woman and she was in a padded cell, a real padded cell, and I went, ‘Wow, she’s got to be really fucking nuts, I love this.’ Because I’d heard from psychiatrists that schizophrenics were like another calibre of looney. It had a little tiny thing like you’d have in a jail cell, a window, and she was in there. There was even a table they could strap her down to, but she wasn’t strapped down. And when we went in she turned around and said, ‘Do you have a cigarette?’ And the doctor said, ‘You already had your cigarette today.’ It’s really hard to stay addicted with only one cigarette a day I would think. But he was nice enough, he said, ‘I’ll let you smoke one more if you talk to the nice doctor.’ And at the time by the way I wasn’t Dr Bandler, I was… I hadn’t got my degrees yet, but I just nodded… talk to the doctor… doctor or lurve. So he pulls out a cigarette and gives it to her and he pulls out a book of matches and she reaches for it and he goes, ‘Ah, ah, you know the rules!’ And he strikes the match and lights her cigarette, she takes a hit off it and he takes the cigarette away from her. And after she exhales he hands it back to her and she takes another hit. And I’m thinking ‘What the fuck’s going on?’ So I said something subtle. I looked at him and said, ‘What the fuck’s going on? Why don’t you just let her smoke the cigarette?’ And he said, ‘I’m afraid she’ll hurt herself, she’s here because she tried to kill herself.’ And the woman turns to me and she goes, ‘Well that’s not really what happened. I was being beaten up by these black women in the wards, and I knew the only way to get out of there was to fake a suicide, and I’ve told them that but they don’t believe me.’ And the doctor goes, ‘Aha. We talked about this before Brenda.’ And then she looks at me and she goes, ‘You want to see me scare him?’ She said this right in front of him! And I went, ‘Yes, yes, I’d like to see that!’ She looks at him and she goes, ‘I was talking to the entities last night doc,’ and the doctor gets really uncomfortable because there are no entities, and she goes, ‘They said you’d say that.’ And he goes, ‘You know if you keep doing this you’re going to have to have another set of treatments.’ And I’m thinking, ‘She’s in a fucking padded cell. What more treatments could you get?’ And I looked at him and said, ‘What treatments?’ And he said, ‘Electric shock treatments!’ By the way, I don’t know who’s idea that was… was there a psychiatrist who was really depressed? He was at home in his workshop making a lamp and he stripped the ends off the lamp and he forgot to put the wire back right and he stuck it in the wall and went….wawawawawa… and he went, ‘I feel better!’ So he went to the hospital and he took a couple of paddles and put it on somebody’s head and went…boom…scrambled their brains in the hopes they’ll come out better this time. I don’t think ECT is really a good idea, I don’t consider it therapeutic. In fact I don’t think the idea of locking nutty people up together is the best idea”””.

The main concern that I am trying to express in this blog and the one that will follow on “physicians”, is about knowledge and – its applications. In philosophy knowledge is characterized as “justified true belief” or, from Merriam-Websters’s dictionary “the range of one’s information and understanding”.

Hence ‘one’s information and understanding’ requires an understanding of the goals and perceptions of other involved evidence, as well as sharing and communicating these effectively. Based only on a specific knowledge (the antonym is ignorance) many illustrious ‘clinicians’ seem to suffer a kind of “psychic blindness” which keeps them from understanding the affective properties of the things they know, perceive and recognize.

There is no one single solution to any one problem but we ought to share our knowledge with the view to improve/reform/advance the therapy that is offered to clients while keeping in mind that, as orthodox as it may seem, some ideas like the one from Bandler or Cass (in my previous article) could bring vast, faster and less intrusive solutions to better wellbeing for all.

[Don’t sit on your laurels and be presumptuous just because you might  consider your position to be highly academic].