I would also add that the method used was steeped in personal importance and symbolism, and the method's effectiveness may reflect that. Other people volunteering to participate in a study relating to this one man's methods may likely find that the method is essentially useless to the volunteer unless the gun and particular thoughts and actions taken were also significant to them in similar ways. That would certainly be difficult to ascertain.
I am somewhat skeptical of the long term effectiveness of his method for dealing with depression, but I realize I must be careful not to let my own struggles intrude upon my objectivity toward another person's. I can't imagine that any ritual or thought process would have changed the way I felt physically and mentally when I was at my worst. If it were possible, I would have done it. I tried everything I could think of and many things I didn't. Liz -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jason (Memphis) Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2008 4:03 PM To: Memphis Freethought Alliance Subject: Re: Unconventional Approach to Coping with Depression The problem is that if this treatment is very effective even more so than any other treatment : 1) it would be hard to get it through a human rights/ethics review board to run the experiment; 2) it would also be hard to recruit participants once you described the treatment to them and 3) once you got participants, attrition (drop out) rates would likely be high because the treatment is inherently aversive and troubling to the individual and society at large. On Dec 21, 3:33 pm, "Liz Purkrabek" <[email protected]> wrote: > That's great if it worked for the guy. > > Liz > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jason > (Memphis) > Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2008 2:58 PM > To: Memphis Freethought Alliance > Subject: Unconventional Approach to Coping with Depression > > Here is a story of an unconventional approach to dealing with > depression. This is a adult diagnosed with bi-polar from California. > I don't know the long-term consequences (that is, decades) but this > person claimed that it worked for a least the few years that I knew > him. > > This is his approach. > > PROBLEM: He had a problem getting out of bed in the morning and had > frequent "comfortably numb spells," which eventually led to a job loss > and other issues that accompanied the job loss especially relationship > (martial and divorce) challenges. That is not atypical for mental > health patients. So the following "solution" is his unproven, > extreme, unconventional approach that worked for him as far as getting > himself back into his life. He thought his problem was that he lacked > energy each morning to get out bed and contemplated suicide on a > number of occasions. He allegedly would "drown" himself in thoughts > such as "it is not worth it," "....it is too much effort...,' "nobody > care. i am nobody", " or "this is too overwhelming"...."life will > never get better what's the point..." etc etc. or just cried. > > SOLUTION: He bought a 9mm semi-automatic pistol but didn't buy any > bullets and damaged the barrel so it wouldn't work without a > replacement. Each morning he would reach under his bed, point the > defective 9mm to his temple, think about killing himself and slowly > apply pressure to the trigger. When he heard the click from the empty > chamber, he forced himself to imagine that he was dead and contemplate > the worthless of his life and how his death did not matter to the > people in the world around him--his insignificance. He would engage > in this "self-therapy" each more for about 30 minutes. If he got > depressed or was depressed, he would force himself to deliberately > embrace and repeat these negative thoughts. Then he would force > himself to state the direct opposite of this negative statements for > the next 30-min but still occasionally think about the negatives. He > then would get out of bed (when it worked), embrace these negative and > positive thoughts and spend the rest to the day distracting himself > with life. He claims that he also frequently felt overwhelmed with > negative feelings so in order to learn to embrace these out of control > overwhelming feelings, he would hold his breath and just accept that > he was going to die by suffocation and kept holding his breath and > accepting his death until he passed out (and he always woke up). He > used this as an analogy for his strategy for his negative emotions and > reported that it helped. These techniques did not always work, but he > claimed that it was the best self-treatment that he came across so far > that worked for him. And he still relied on some (albeit less) > medications. > > That is was just the oddest story from a mental health patient. > However, he seemed to work for him so who am I to criticize. When > Jeff was talking about unconventional mental health approaches, it > reminded me of this patient. > > Jason --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Memphis Freethought Alliance" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/memphisfreethoughtalliance?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
