Posted by fallsfall on March 19, 2004, at 14:37:38
In reply to Re: A little better » fallsfall, posted by crushedout on March 19, 2004, at 13:59:23
"brainwashing" - I like that term.
What is the difference between "brainwashing" and "teaching"? At some point in our early life we learned to name our emotions because other people would name them for us. So we have always recognized our emotions based on other people's observations.
It almost seems that it could be like false memories. If I'm told that I'm angry underneath, then I will search for (or create??) evidence of anger to please my therapist. I have to be trusting him enough so that when he tells me I'm angry and I don't feel angry that I don't simply feel invalidated. He did show me examples of when my anger "broke" through during the session. He said that if there wasn't a ton of anger simmering under the surface that responses of mine would have been more like "Well, I'm not sure that's true..." rather than "You Did NOT...". He said that the anger doesn't just "exist" and "stop existing" - that it is always existing, but only occasionally breaking through.
I want so badly to find something that I can change - because if nothing changes then I just stay in this misery forever. But how do I know if what he is suggesting is the TRUTH, or if I can just rearrange things so that it BECOMES the truth?
poster:fallsfall
thread:325785
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040313/msgs/326101.html