Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id SAA03374 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 29 Mar 2001 18:28:17 +0100 From: "Lawrence DeBivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: The Demise of a Meme Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 11:59:17 -0500 Message-ID: <NEBBKOADILIOKGDJLPMAMENACBAA.debivort@umd5.umd.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 In-Reply-To: <3AC34971.FA647D8E@bioinf.man.ac.uk> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Chris Taylor
<snip>
Plus the fact that I've never come across anyone post-therapy who wasn't
just either counselled (and therefore minus the weight) or trained
(cog.psy. I believe) into not being the person they were (which is fine
for patching people up, but not so hot for explaining why they're the
way they are).
<snip>
LdB:
I agree with Chris on this issue. I think that at this point in the status
of psychology, the best that can be done is to 'fix' people -- and even that
is done poorly by the typical practitioner (at least in the US). Most
practitioners are still trying to understand how and why a person got to be
the way he/she is, but are using models that aren't adequate to generate the
explanations they seek, keeping the patient in limbo. It is entirely
possible to fashion a thera[eutic solution for a person without knowing how
they got to be the way they are: one simply identifies the desired outcome,
models the present state, and takes the patient through a series of steps
that creates and wires in the desired changes. It is true that this leaves
everyone not knowing how the person got into the present state, but I have
never run into a patient who truly wants to know that if it means foregoing
or postponing the solution.
Some day, we may have the tools necessary to trace the growth of
psychological or cognitive dysfunctionalities in a person, but for now
clinical therapists ought to concentrate on what can be done, and deliver
real service to real patients.
- Lawrence
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