Posted by alexandra_k on October 1, 2006, at 19:56:25
In reply to I have a different take on this., posted by madeline on October 1, 2006, at 16:24:47
> Imagine how wonderful that would be. We could choose to be free from all this that binds us.
> I hope more research is done on this theory. Because, boy, if I knew how to choose differently, you'd better believe I would.
I hear you. The word 'choice' is something that I find particularly hard... The notion of 'choice' is all tied up in the notion of blame and responsibility. It is also a point that theory doesn't exist in isolation... Usually something like a treatment plan follows from the theory. And... What is the treatment plan that follows from this theory?
Sounds like no treatment to me.
And yeah, that is a bit hard to take. I don't think that follows... May have followed in practice. May be that the people (if there are any) who believe symptoms are a 'choice' thought that the best treatment was to discharge the person and that was all. There are behaviourist views (I'm thinking of Spanos in particular, who wrote about treatment) where they called it 'strategic enactment'. They thought that the people who strategically enacted mental illness symptoms were indeed mentally ill. They were cautioning against a clinician overfocusing on the symptoms, however. The notion was that the symptoms are a strategic enactment, but the point that the person did strategically enact meant that they were indeed mentally ill. So they had a treatment plan. Though the treatment plan sounds rather... Worrying too... The notion is to punish (ignore) the symptoms and reward (praise with attention and the like) non symptom behaviour. Thus the patients behaviour would be shaped towards successive approximations of mental health, one can only suppose.
I have trouble with that view too...
poster:alexandra_k
thread:689710
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20060926/msgs/690929.html