Dialectics and Our Path out of our Current Craziness

Marsha Linehan, PhD from the University of Washington, has provided the nearly impossible.  She has led the way in treating patients with a very disabling disorder known as Borderline Personality Disorder.  Dr. Linehan, though she might deny it, is a committed Zen Budhist.  Dealing with the difficult balances that impinge upon us all daily,  is the very  foundation of her expertise.  Those imbalances are especially difficult for her patients, but I, and others contend, the same is true for most of the rest of us.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy, aka DBT, was developed in the late 1970’s by Dr. Linehan and colleagues when they discovered that cognitive behavioral therapy alone did not work as well as expected in patients with borderline personality disorder.  Dr. Linehan and her team added additional techniques and developed a treatment which would meet the unique needs of these patients.

DBT was developed to help people who have trouble in the realms of “thinking, relationships, emotions, and coping” – sounds like most of us, no?

A core component of DBT is “mindfulness” – gaining control of your mind, rather than letting it control you.”

Another component is “interpersonal effectiveness” – which involves, a) getting your objectives met in a situation, b)get/keep good relationships, c) keep/improve self respect and liking of one’s self.

A third component is “emotion regulation” which involves 1) understanding emotions one experiences, 2) reducing emotional vulnerability, and 3) decreasing emotional suffering.

In case I was not clear, I have always thought that these skills could be used by most of us, me included.

What do you bloggers think?

iggy donnelly

Sunday, 08/16/09, Public Square

Forty years ago Woodstock musical festival was in its second day in Bethel, New York. The festival bears the name “Woodstock”, because it was to take place in the town of Woodstock, in Ulster County; however, the town offered no appropriate site to host such a large event due to their belief that over a million people would attend. A site was found in the town of Wallkill. When local opposition arose, the event was almost cancelled, but Sam Yasgur persuaded his father Max to allow the concert to be held on the family’s alfalfa field, located in Sullivan County near Bethel, New York, about 40 miles southwest of Woodstock.

Thirty-two years ago today Elvis Presley died at his home in Graceland at the age of 42.

fnord

Halleujah, Brother. And Pass those Green Backs: The Prosperity of Prosperity Preaching

So, we’re in a recession?  Not true, for “prosperity preachers”.  These Bible thumpers preach the gospel of giving money to them, so that God will return it, multiplied, to the giver.  According to this interesting  sect, God wants people to get rich, for such is His reward to those who follow the plan.

Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and associates preach the gospel of following the word of God which leads to riches.  Such certainly did “work” for them in that their estimated yearly income is $100 million.  The central premise in the Copeland wealth generation plan is send them the money.  To reap the benefits of God’s love in greenbacks, all one has to do is to have faith in God and the Bible AND generously donate to the Copelands, the next thing you know you will be in Greenback heaven.

A vocal critic of the Copeland’s, “Professor Walton called the prosperity preachers ‘spiritual pickpockets.’”“’To dismiss and ignore the harsh realities of this economic crisis,’ he said. ‘is beyond irresponsible, to the point of reprehensible.’”

Read more here.

iggy donnelly