A Multitude of Motives
Man's mind is not as simple as Science seems to believe it is.
I am referring to the Science of Psychology at this time.
Psychology has created little cubbyholes in which to shove different problems, as well as the people who have them.
A neat little package of cures and explanations are fed into the cubbyhole for the patient, and if they don't eat it, they are considered resistant and unreasonable.
A good example of this is the many radio Psychologists. A person, or more precisely, a voice over the phone dumps their problems into the airways, as best as they can, having no idea the what or why of their problem. And without a moment's hesitation, the Therapist tears a page out of her "book of cures" and solves that person's problems.
It's really a sickening thing to hear.
Now this person over the phone has the answer to their life-long problem, and has no way to implement the cure, even if it did, by chance, fit them.
I feel sorry for that person. Actually I feel sick to the stomach to think what that person now has to go through.
Meanwhile, the Doctor gives less than a thought to that patient, as they are too busy saying, "next".
It reminds me of a Surgeon who botches an operation due to being drunk, or inattentive to his work.
"Oops. Next!" he says. Meanwhile the patient is debilitated for the rest of their life.
However, at least the Surgeon is trying.
There is no cubbyhole for any certain behavior. There is no instant cure-all for any given problem. Each problem has a multitude of motives. And the motive for a behavior one time, may be totally different for the same behavior the next time. And that, with the very same person.
I will use a kleptomaniac as an example, though any behavior can be substituted, smoking, eating, talking too much, workaholic, etc.
A person, child in this case, enters a store with his friends. He is challenged to take something. He does it for fear of being rejected or accused of cowardice by his friends.
The line of no-no has been crossed. And he has gotten away with it. So he gives some justification in his mind for his action. "It didn't hurt anyone." "Everyone does it." "Insurance will pay for it." Probably a few of the excuses he comes up with he learned from the very people who were establishing the no-no's in him in the first place; his parents.
So next time he is in the store, alone, he takes something because he wants it. And he already has his set of justifications running in his mind at the time.
It's easy now. Again he does the same, but this time it's because he took something from his mother's purse, was caught and was punished. So to get back at them, he takes something bigger.
He has reached a point where there is no thought at all, not even a justification or a reason. He finds that whenever he goes into a store, he takes something, almost as if it is what a person is supposed to do when in a store.
Now this is not a bad kid. And he has come to the realization that that there is something wrong with his behaviour. He hasn't considered it a problem with himself, who he is, just what he does.
So he decides to quit.
But he can't. His behavior is now a habit.
Now he thinks it is him. That he has a problem. But he dares not tell anyone about it.
And what happens with a problem that you are aware of, can't quit, and you now feel bad about yourself because of?
What happens to someone who hates being fat, and has a bad self-image? Or one who smokes, and feels bad about themself because of it? Of course, they eat and smoke all the more.
And they start piling more and more justifications on the fire -- not to put out the fire, but to convince themself that the fire is natural, a result of their gene pool, a chemical imbalance, et adnauseam.
But the boy, in desperation, calls a radio Therapist, or even pays for Psychological treatment.
"This is your problem," he hears.
Now the boy has risked, and been cut off. Now, in his mind, it's hopeless.
Now he's hopeless in his own mind. Worse than that, he is "no good, a thief," and a hundred other things foul in his own mind.
What happens when this boy is offered a drink, or drugs, or whatever else he can find that will allow him to escape the reality of who he is?
Add to this, in this case, the boy is also dealing with the topsy-turvy world of adolescence.
To escape this world of ever-spiraling downward existence, he considers; suicide, or doing all the things he is now doing more vigorously in the hopes of getting caught, which will force a change of one kind or another, or maybe just giving himself over to the "dark side," and forgetting about correcting his life all together.
Now, you are the Psychiatrist who this boy's fate rests with. If you muff it, you could destroy a life that might well be saved.
Which motive, out of the multitude the boy has exibited, do you try to correct?
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Tumbleweed
