This is similar to walking across the bridge you want to jump off of everyday to stare into the water and become familiar with the location as a place to fight your demons. You survive that hard place, and really there isn't anywhere but up after that. He visited his bridge with with a bungee cord (disabled gun), therefore taking the full potential away... Disarming the warhead. I can't understand how this could work with truly chemically fucked people because they forget thier bungee cord. Case by case eh? I'm for it - it can work.
On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 10:13 PM, Liz Purkrabek <[email protected]>wrote: > > 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 > > > > > -- gnothe se auton --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
