A lot of people will claim that intense emotions are in themselves harmful. Years and years of study have gone into the science of eliminating them. However, I feel it's important to recognize the value of emotions, even the most intense of them. Many of the coping strategies that I've seen, I feel, are inadequate. They usually involve identifying the emotion you wish to eliminate, then procuring some objective mental phenomena which has the function of blocking and repressing that emotion. For example, we have the "positive affirmation" techniques. Yes, we must affirm our true, innate beauty. However, I've never trusted the approach, because my experience is that I will end up depressed no matter what words I choose to say to myself. Therefore, something deeper is needed.
I could delineate the other coping techniques I've come across, but they all suffer from the fundamental flaws of psychology and psychiatry: they are materialist, empiricist (read: behaviorist) philosophies aimed at control of the things which can be reduced to bodily movements, and involve nothing else. (This makes sense, because a psychological scientist must base his theories on observation, and, really, if you get right down to it, you cannot observe anything in others but bodily movements.) However, we have to deal with mental problems when dealing with extreme emotional phenomena, not bodily problems. And yes, there is a way to communicate that, too. But the scientific method is entirely inappropriate in this case, as it is completely materialist (not psychological) in substance.
I've used this blog to talk a little about mental health, and I've given a crude outline, mainly by means of implication, of what kind of coping strategies I consider legitimate. This page, then, is a kind of summary of this thought. Below the fold is a brief compilation of coping strategies I've discovered that work for me, and linked, as well, are several articles from this blog concerning the topic. The intent is gradually to grow and build upon this.
Coping Mechanisms
1) The three-step method. As follows:
- Do everything wrong. For instance, I drink Coca-Cola with 1/2 of a 200mg caffeine pill dissolved into it. Not Mexican Coke either—I rock the high-fructose corn syrup.
- Go psycho. Immense emotions will result. Make no mistake. You simply have to deal with them. Even the wasteland of mainstream psychiatry admit to it.
- Enjoy it. There's nothing wrong with psychosis, or depression. The only mental illness is always moral: we aren't treating ourselves with the respect we deserve, we aren't treating others with the respect they deserve, we disregard empirical facts and form conspiracy theories, and so forth. We counter these not by blocking them (e.g. "I can identify the signs and symptoms of delusion and therefore block the formation of conspiracy theories"), but by giving them their due respect as observations, while not being afraid of other and perhaps more important observations.
2) Meditation. Breathing meditation to counterbalance the ego-isolation aspect of psychosis. This tends to work very well much of the time. The building, inevitable-like crescendo of a psychotic break can be countered by patient observation of the natural way things are. Sometimes, if you take breath and watch, the inevitable-like qualities aren't as inevitable as they seem. Meditation works particularly well when combined with an attitude that having a psychotic break isn't necessarily a bad thing. Which leads me to:
3) Infinite Chess. The principle of temporary "repression" (or, rather, "restraint" or "tempering") of emotions when they are not, at the moment, appropriate. Sometimes, of course, they are definitely appropriate. And when they are, they will provide great benefits to all present. When they are not appropriate, and you restrain them, it provides the conditions for them to blossom forth later, when they are, in fact, appropriate.
For more information in Infinite Chess, see here.
The thing to remember, of course, is that when they are in fact appropriate, a great observation to cut through the nonsense is to remember that the appropriateness of a wrathful act almost never relies upon physical things, or speech, or even concepts. It's quite rare. Ordinary people yell at or beat others with no regard for first philosophy or spirituality. It's much better to have a position of being in line with first philosophy and spirituality first, and the physical acts are just interactions with that. In other words, don't kill someone. Dress to kill—and with heart.
I have no particular interest in making mistakes. That is, I think, part of this philosophy in the 3rd coping mechanism. However, even if I do make a mistake, it's not necessarily bad: it is possible to simply see this as step #1 of the 1st coping mechanism (do everything wrong). We should fear mistakes, of course. But we shouldn't fear ourselves because of the possibility of making them. We fear the mistake, and the manifestation of the mind which makes the mistake, not ourselves.
4) A long list of really good things. This includes some wonderful things like:
- Extremely manipulative women. The more manipulative, the better. A wonderful woman would be one who can sink her claws deep into your flesh and mind and pierce the very essence of who you are. As long as they are not being abusive (i.e. have bad motivations), having someone do this to you can be extremely satisfying.
- Spices. "My life is all spicey. / There's too many spices. / The only way through it / Is to see spices as nices."
- Going through bad karma as a method of purification for yourself, and / or others. Regarding the "others," we're can be more specific:
- Being expendable. Having been designated to suffer, with the proper attitude of having a deep understanding of happiness, and having no problem that someone else is experiencing that happiness.
- Being able to choose to forgive. Forgiveness, actually, is the bare minimum. It's merely accepting the possibility that, perhaps, sometime in the future, you will be able to give. That's why it's called "FOREgiveness," and not just "giveness." Really, we should do more than forgive, and actually give.
- Being able to choose to adopt the Dharma. This is a difficult one. It's never good to turn away from the Dharma. But we should be kind to ourselves. If the Dharma isn't solving our problems, perhaps that's suggesting that we're expecting too much of the Dharma. It's like the Kabbalistic parable of the man trying to move the stone: God tells a man to push on a stone, and he pushes all day and nothing happens. Frustrated, he prays to God and asks Him why He told him to push the stone when it was so obviously futile. God says, "Of course it's not futile. Look at how strong you are; look at how much determination you have. Don't worry about the stone. I'll move it when it's time." The problem will be solved when it's time. No need to rush: rushing things excludes other exciting possibilities regarding solving these problems.
- YOU ARE A MOUNTAIN. When evil people cause harm, it's like a landslide. It broadens your base and allows you to grow even more powerful.
- Loans. People often take out loans from you without even realizing it. This helps put you in a position to be of even more help.
There are many more. There's one, too, involving emotional validations, through both a sense of love, and also a sense of critical appraisal. (Being touched with love as well as being put on the witness stand.)
Links to Relevant Posts
This summarizes my view so far on this topic. The view is categorized below:
Applicable Interpretation and Insight Regarding Buddhism
Clarification of my somewhat unconventional view of Buddhist philosophy. Note that these views are unconventional in the West, and though they are, in my opinion, a true interpretation of Buddhist thought, they have not been validated by an authentic lineage holder with the necessary credentials to make proclamations regarding actual Buddhist thought, and so should be confirmed with your personal guru. They are:
- [Clarifications of Buddhism: Nonviolence, not Anti-Violence!]
— An argument that Buddhism is "nonviolent," rather than "anti-violent." Violence should be considered to be a mode of human existence, but within the Buddhist framework, one which has been emptied of caustic significance both to the oppressor and the oppressed. - [Peace with and Edge]
— Similar to the last, an argument where the emptiness of caustic, negative significance ought to be applied equally to the quality of "peacefulness" as it is to "edginess." - [Anger, Attachment, and Ignorance]
— A clarification of my understanding of the "three poisons" of the mind according to Buddhism (anger, attachment, and ignorance). Again, the point is to empty the contamination of negative acts, rather than forcibly eliminate the act altogether.
Mythos
Mythology and cosmology involving psychiatry:
- [Finding Wonderland]
— A critical cosmological concept, involving the understanding of existence beyond time, which is important for understanding the true significance of the potential for harm of things. For something to be truly significant, its significance must extend beyond temporality, and beyond time. In other words, it must exist not just on Earth, but also in "wonderland." - [On the Psychiatrist I Love]
— A mythological character of the divine manipulator. A validation of the experience of being lovingly emotionally manipulated by a benevolent and uncompromisingly careful "psychiatrist." This character actually manifested in a dream, and she was pivotal in my development of ease of mind and draining of caustic hatred with regards to psychiatry as an institution.
Validations of Emotional Experience
A long series of emotional validations of the mentally ill experience which involve actual, direct experience of the phenomena described and full commitment to the given interpretations:
- [How the Schizophrenic Mind Works]
— A logical argument vindicating the flawless logic of most psychotic thinking. - [Psychosis as Sexual Pleasure]
— A vignette of psychosis as a form of intense sexual pleasure. - [A Note or Two on Yelling at People]
— A validation of intense anger and nonviolent fighting. Here, the idea behind "peace with an edge" and a "nonviolent not anti-violent" approach are put to the test in the real world. - [An Indulgence in Paranoid Delusions]
— A specific indulgence in a specific delusion, namely, the delusion that a conspiratorial entity was intending to control my thoughts and that assassination was imminent. Note, the delusion in question was in full force in my mind-stream at the time of writing this. The result, I think, is a validation of the positive and wholesome effects of such psychotic delusions. - [Don't Worry: In Anticipation of the End of the World]
— Another indulgence in anger, bitterness, hatred, contempt, and real "grumpy cat" stuff. The result was a positive conclusion, as a direct result of an element of self-honesty: knowing myself that I do not want suffering, but want happiness, and therefore negativity can only go so far. - [Why People Probably Commit School Shootings]
— A theoretical application of the above validations of violence and anger with regards to a school shooting. - [Why Enemies are Blessings: Re. Morgan Freeman and Lanza]
— A validation of the experience of having a loyal enemy (though in this case the enemy is a fiction—Morgan Freeman did not originate the writing in question). The actual positive result of the experience was a true reason to live and exercise care (and not cynicism) with regards to morality.
Political Anti-Psychiatry
A radical political anti-psychiatric philosophy:
- [Clarification of Psychiatry: What It Is and What to Do About It]
— A simple explanation of what psychiatry really is and what to do about it. - [Brandon Raub: It Could Happen to Anyone]
— In response to the political outrage over the psychiatric hospitalization of one Brandon Raub, I expressed total bewilderment. I can't understand how activist organizations could demonize the psychiatric hospitalization of Raub, and not psychiatry itself. Raub's hospitalization was by no means out of the ordinary, but happens to millions of people all around the world all of the time. Thus all of the outrage regarding how Raub's civil liberties were violated applies to all psychiatry. The category here relates to the religio-humanistic political philosophy of civil rights. - [The Problem with Psychiatry in Three Quick Arguments]
— The most concise and flawless logical argument (both deductive and inductive) which irrefutably proves that psychiatry is genocide. - [Structuralism, Psychiatry, and Choice]
— An argument which, unlike the above, distinguishes between the scientific advances of the study of the brain as a medical organ, as well as the legitimacy of medical doctors who specialize in the brain, while nevertheless fundamentally denies that any scientific observations of the brain could possibly have moral implications above and beyond the institution of civil rights.
Hopefully this elucidates my view on psychiatry and psychology, and improves relations between psychiatrists and consumers.
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