by Helen Borel, RN,MFA,PhD
Formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), Dissociative Personality
Disorder (DID) is one of the most baffling and difficult mental illnesses for non-
psychiatric persons to understand. Simply, it’s a condition of ego- or Self-segments
splitting off from the main Self. This severe disruption in normal intrapsychic
development is usually due to major traumatic events in infancy, toddlerhood, later
childhood and teen years. Beatings, sexual invasions, frequent noisy harangues,
frequent emotional intrusions, frequent and sudden rageful outbursts by Borderline
Personality mothers and other traumas can be causative. These, somehow, cause the
Self to fragment into sub-selves, each of whom are not aware of all the other self-fragments.
And only the main Self knows the names and ages of each of the split-off selves.
Note that all of this mental splitness occurs on an unconscious level. Meaning that
the person suffering Dissociative Identity Disorder is not consciously controlling
this horde of “identities” inhabiting her or his mental life.
One Dramatic Case Shows how
Each Self-Fragment is Sharply Self-Contained
One of the most dramatic cases of DID, demonstrating how truly UNCONSCIOUS
a phenomenon it is, was reported in the medical literature many years ago. It involved
a DID patient who, in her ordinary existence was highly allergic to horses and would
risk anaphylactic shock and death if in the presence of a horse without her epinephrine
(aka adrenalin) injection at the ready. However, one of her split-off selves would ride
horses without ever wheezing, itching or coughing, without ever evidencing the
slightest allergic response.
This case demonstrates how neatly and discretely cut off from the main personality
these split-selves are. Even the immune system, supposed to intervene in allergicities,
surrenders to the dissociative identity state.
“Split Personality” and Eerie Experiences
The DID person is, in a sense, a victim of the split-self horde which emerges
unbeknownst to the chief Self. ’Though, you can be sure that some triggering event
or troubling emotion caused the main Self to recede, making an easy pathway for
one of the split-offs to act in ascendancy, with little to no awareness by the main Self.
The main Self does know the names she/he assigned to each split-off. When taken over
by one split-off, the main Self talks like that split one, dresses like that split one, acts
that split-one’s age and suffers that split one’s concerns.
An “eerie” feature of the DID condition is unaccounted for time, a kind of amnesia.
The patient, after the emergence of one of her split-offs, was, in a sense, living in
“another world”. She was mentally “elsewhere”. But when the split recedes and the
dissociative personality is “present” again, she can’t fully, or at all, explain what she was
doing, what was going on, why she exited this present moment and existed elsewhere.
Another element of this loss of consciousness of one’s physical self is even more
stunning. A native New Yorker, never traveled elsewhere, wakes up in a hotel in
Philadelphia and hasn’t a clue how she got there. Zero memory of why she went there,
how she got there. Eerie. It’s a form of amnesia. One of her split-offs took her on this
trip.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To access Expert, Empathic PsychoTherapy
visit
http://www.PsychDocNYC.com
YOUR EMOTIONAL COMFORT ZONE
(See more Personal Therapy information at the end of this blog.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Split Moments ~ The Rest of Us are not Immune to Dissociation
Milder forms of the dissociative experience can happen to anyone – in “split” moments.
Did you ever have this kind of experience? You’re in a store, at the counter, about to
pay for something when, suddenly, you feel somewhat distant, like you’re not really
there, fully, not on solid ground standing AT the counter. It’s like the core of you has,
somehow, floated off above the cashier, near the ceiling, and you are “observing”
yourself down there, feeling cut off from others, not really present, but present watching
yourself in your interaction. Such an experience could be a normal passing event. Or it
can signal that you are dealing with some form of stress or memory that needs to be
addressed. Shortly, you “return” to who you really are, grounded. But that experience
is momentary and doesn’t occur in prolonged stretches of time or repeatedly interrupting
the flow of one’s existence.
For DID patients, splitting (dissociation) occurs often. This disrupts their family, social,
educational, career and lovelife goals and interactions. The objective in therapy with the
DID sufferer is to integrate as many of the horde of split-offs as possible into the main
Self. Integrating all of them would be ideal.
Everyone Contains Multiple Selves
In this regard, be aware that we all have within us (in our unconscious zone) all the
selves we ever were during every nanosecond of our lives. Happily, the normal person’s
Self has automatically integrated all these life experience “selves”(what remain separate
entities for the DID patient) into the main Self. It remains for the PsychoTherapist
to help the DID patient knit these mini-selves together into the Real Person so that he/she
can experience emotional wholeness, solidity of Self.
TO HELP YOU TRANSITION FROM EMOTIONAL PAIN
TO FEELING GOOD MOST OF THE TIME
CALL for my Expert, Compassionate PsychoTherapy**
(212) 873-5640
7 days a week, 12 Noon to 10 pm New York City time
IN-PERSON SESSIONS – Manhattan, New York City
TELEPHONE SESSIONS – NYC, all USA states, and WorldWide
**Low, subsidized fees. **You pay only what you can afford.
...and do visit my
PsychDocNYC.com
Your Emotional Comfort Zone
Whatever emotional distress or psychiatric diagnosis you are living with, my
PsychoTherapy will help you feel better and live happier. So don’t delay. The
sooner you get my help, the faster your life will become better and better.
(c) Copyright 2018 Dr. Helen Borel. All rights reserved.
Saturday, January 20, 2018
M is for MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER
See "D is for DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER"
by Helen Borel, RN,MFA,PhD
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
F is for FREUD, THE MASTER MIND
by Helen Borel,RN,MFA,PhD
Sigmund Freud,MD, the great Austrian psychoanalyst, fathered a whirlwind revolution in psychiatric concepts and treatments. A neurophysiologist, he pioneered, in the early 20th Century, the discovery of "the unconscious mind," along with his parallel theories and treatment approaches that underpin all of today's multitude of
analytic and therapeutic modalities. Whether these methods include Cognitive Behavioral, Hypnosis, Dialectical, Group, Family, EMDR, Dream Interpretation (Freud's "Royal Road to the Unconscious"), Pediatric Play Therapy, and so forth, all psychiatric practitioners stand on his genius shoulders.
Even my own analytic-plus-direct-feedback method, which I call
Holistic Interactive Interventional Psychoanalysis, could not have emerged from my own unconscious without the genius concepts of
Dr. Freud, the great Mind Master.
Today, despite antipsychotic medications, electroconvulsive therapy, and hospitalization treatments for schizophrenics, despite anxiolytic Rx pharmaceuticals for high anxiety, despite antidepressants for the severely depressed, despite antimanic drugs and hospitalization for bipolar disorder,all psychiatric patients benefit from psychotherapy
and should always be prescribed this in tandem with whatever medical treatments a psychiatrist orders.
Psychotherapy, the brilliant heir of Freud's discovery of the unconscious, is not only valuable in mental illnesses. It, by now, has become essential in a myriad of problematic life circumstances. The sundry methods that therapists use can be adapted to the highly specific needs of each individual patient. The goal, in all cases, is to lift the therapy patient out of a malfunctioning way of life up to social, emotional, career and creative wholeness and maturity. And to free all sufferers from suffering.
With these goals in mind, I silently thank Dr. Sigmund Freud, when I interact with my own psychotherapy patients.
TO HELP YOU TRANSITION FROM EMOTIONAL PAIN
TO FEELING GOOD MOST OF THE TIME
CALL for my Expert, Compassionate PsychoTherapy**
(212) 873-5640
7 days a week, 12 Noon to 10 pm New York City time
IN-PERSON SESSIONS – Manhattan, New York City
TELEPHONE SESSIONS – NYC, all USA states, and WorldWide
**Low, subsidized fees. **You pay only what you can afford.
...and do visit my
PsychDocNYC.com
Your Emotional Comfort Zone
Whatever emotional distress or psychiatric diagnosis you are living with, my
PsychoTherapy will help you feel better and live happier. So don’t delay. The
sooner you get my help, the faster your life will become better and better.
(c) Copyright 2018 Dr. Helen Borel. All rights reserved.
Sigmund Freud,MD, the great Austrian psychoanalyst, fathered a whirlwind revolution in psychiatric concepts and treatments. A neurophysiologist, he pioneered, in the early 20th Century, the discovery of "the unconscious mind," along with his parallel theories and treatment approaches that underpin all of today's multitude of
analytic and therapeutic modalities. Whether these methods include Cognitive Behavioral, Hypnosis, Dialectical, Group, Family, EMDR, Dream Interpretation (Freud's "Royal Road to the Unconscious"), Pediatric Play Therapy, and so forth, all psychiatric practitioners stand on his genius shoulders.
Even my own analytic-plus-direct-feedback method, which I call
Holistic Interactive Interventional Psychoanalysis, could not have emerged from my own unconscious without the genius concepts of
Dr. Freud, the great Mind Master.
Today, despite antipsychotic medications, electroconvulsive therapy, and hospitalization treatments for schizophrenics, despite anxiolytic Rx pharmaceuticals for high anxiety, despite antidepressants for the severely depressed, despite antimanic drugs and hospitalization for bipolar disorder,all psychiatric patients benefit from psychotherapy
and should always be prescribed this in tandem with whatever medical treatments a psychiatrist orders.
Psychotherapy, the brilliant heir of Freud's discovery of the unconscious, is not only valuable in mental illnesses. It, by now, has become essential in a myriad of problematic life circumstances. The sundry methods that therapists use can be adapted to the highly specific needs of each individual patient. The goal, in all cases, is to lift the therapy patient out of a malfunctioning way of life up to social, emotional, career and creative wholeness and maturity. And to free all sufferers from suffering.
With these goals in mind, I silently thank Dr. Sigmund Freud, when I interact with my own psychotherapy patients.
TO HELP YOU TRANSITION FROM EMOTIONAL PAIN
TO FEELING GOOD MOST OF THE TIME
CALL for my Expert, Compassionate PsychoTherapy**
(212) 873-5640
7 days a week, 12 Noon to 10 pm New York City time
IN-PERSON SESSIONS – Manhattan, New York City
TELEPHONE SESSIONS – NYC, all USA states, and WorldWide
**Low, subsidized fees. **You pay only what you can afford.
...and do visit my
PsychDocNYC.com
Your Emotional Comfort Zone
Whatever emotional distress or psychiatric diagnosis you are living with, my
PsychoTherapy will help you feel better and live happier. So don’t delay. The
sooner you get my help, the faster your life will become better and better.
(c) Copyright 2018 Dr. Helen Borel. All rights reserved.
Sunday, October 22, 2017
NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER (NPD): Got One of These in Your Life?
by Helen Borel, RN,PhD
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) pathology is the failure of the individual to behave
in a mature manner, and failure to show genuine concern for others. Classically, the NPD entity is incapable of caring about you...or anyone else! He/She exploits others’ time, concern, generosity, feelings. Such creatures feel ZERO for what you and all others experience. And they really
do not care when they hurt, hamper, inconvenience and destroy you and others. This entity is
The Classic Monster = ME-ME-ME.
They are ENTITLED to whatever they envy, and you deserve nothing.
Unfortunately for such SELF-DEFICIENT characters, there’s nothing inside them to offer others ...or, sadly, even themselves. You make a grave mistake when you assume – because of the NPD creature’s good looks, oily charm, and superficial intellect – that you are dealing with a genuine
human being. You are not! They look like regular people, but they are not!
NPDs are Fake People. They feign “suffering” but they don’t really suffer. They, however,
constantly complain about how others have done them wrong. Parents, co-workers, sisters,
brothers, ex-spouses (and there are often a number of these), “friends”...all fall victim to the NPD's shriveled ego which masquerades as pride, hubris, self-superiority and gross Self-ENTITLEMENT.
As a result of her/his distorted character, you can expect (if you are unfortunate enough to get
entangled with such) major manipulations of your time, your concerns, your sincerity, your finances.
When you feel uncomfortable around such an entity...when you feel anger rising in you under, what
externally appears, ordinary circumstances...there IS something wrong. You are being had! You
are being verbally twisted! You are being manipulated by the one-way goal of the NPD individual.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To access Expert, Empathic PsychoTherapy
visit
http://www.PsychDocNYC.com
YOUR EMOTIONAL COMFORT ZONE
(See more Personal Therapy information at the end of this blog.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Again, I emphasize, The NPD individual does NOT care about you, nor about anyone else.
The NPD entity is merely A CARICATURE of a human. He/she manages to imitate being a real human (education, appearance, work). Be smart. Don’t be fooled. Because “being human" means
one has Empathy and a Conscience. Both are grossly absent in the NPD.
Knowing such are without a conscience and without empathy, consider the NPD type a Monster. But, always in disguise, appearing human, appearing real. Therefore, you are in great emotional and financial peril if you get suckered into a relationship with such...be it in a job, in a
love, in a healthcare, or a business relationship. The thing these types are highly skilled at is EXPLOITATION of others. Others includes You. And they laugh about it because they believe
they got over on you. (In most cases it's true, they did.) That’s their biggest thrill of all. Strangely, NPDs are less intent on the exploitative goal they were after (though, believe me, they
want that too) than on having fooled you, hurt you, disappointed you.
Think about that extremely wealthy Bernie Madoff. (He made off with other people’s money.
His last name aptly describes what this empty character did.) He didn’t need more money.
He simply needed the thrill of fooling others. This is the major coup. Remember the twinkle
in his eye when he was finally caught? Yes, he’s a cross between a Psychopath and an NPD.
Ergo, the NPD has many features of psychopathy, particularly an absent or extremely
weak conscience. There appears a visible joy in these two-legged monsters when they hurt, disappoint, cheat and damage others...particularly-> they revel in tricking others.
WATCH OUT for These DISTRESSING FEELINGS and REACTIONS in YOURSELF when you assume you are interacting with a Real Human Person...but he/she is an Empty NPD:
1) You give too much extra time to hear out what seem, at first, legitimate complaints about others
...even though the NPD-loser knows, very well, she/he is wasting your time with hogwash.
2) Feeling rising anger during his/her verbal forays and tangled “explanations” that lead nowhere
and waste your time.
3) Experiencing Increasing Annoyance and Befuddlement as the NPD Manipulates You verbally,
screws up appointments, lies about “illnesses,” preys on Your Empathy but never benefits or improves her/his outlook or behavior from anything you say or do to help them.
GROSS MANIPULATIONS OF YOUR TIME AND CARING
1) Blowing off an appointment with you without notice...and...
2) Not picking up their phone, when a no-show, nor explaining the lapse
3) Lying to you about non-existent illnesses
4) Laughing about others’ “lower intelligence,” imperfect execution of their jobs and overt
disdain for all others. Seems only the NPD is perfect.
Psychologically, yes...A Perfect Personality Mistake!!!
5) Jealousy of others’ accomplishments, ‘though making zero effort to achieve such themselves.
6) Blatant lying while acting clueless about the obvious to you both, with zero capacity to
admit wrongs or to apologize.
DON’T GET BAMBOOZLED by the NPD NON-PERSON At first, it’s very difficult to recognize these, what I call, “human monsters”. I mean, they look human, but their actions and inactions
belie this. That’s because of their superficial traits – good looks, manipulative “charm,” and surface “intellect”. So keep a keen eye open and your emotions on hold when you meet new individuals.
Remember, the NPD experiences NOTHING, feels NOTHING for you! Therefore, you can’t benefit at all from trying to relate to such an EMPTY entity that never feels Empathy. Lacking
empathy means what’s inside this creature is EMPTINESS.
The only “E” word the NPD character knows is EXPLOITATION...of your time, of your caring,
of your knowledge, of your achievements, of your money. And the Narcissistic Personality Disordered being has ZERO capacity to change for the better. Got one of these in your life?
Get away fast!
Often, we assume certain emotional/social/behavioral “frailties” will burn out as the afflicted
pass middle age. That their interactions with family, co-workers, others gets more mature,
less me-me-me. as they age. However, the NPD seems stubbornly fixed on destroying others
for self-aggrandizement even into old age.
Crucial: If you're NPD-entangled, in any way ~ family/friend/work/love ~ LEAVE and LIVE AGAIN!
TO HELP YOU TRANSITION FROM EMOTIONAL PAIN
TO FEELING GOOD MOST OF THE TIME
CALL for my Expert, Compassionate PsychoTherapy**
(212) 873-5640
7 days a week, 12 Noon to 10 pm New York City time
IN-PERSON SESSIONS – Manhattan, New York City
TELEPHONE SESSIONS – NYC, all USA states, and WorldWide
**Low, subsidized fees. **You pay only what you can afford.
...and do visit my
PsychDocNYC.com
Your Emotional Comfort Zone
Whatever emotional distress or psychiatric diagnosis you are living with, my
PsychoTherapy will help you feel better and live happier. So don’t delay. The
sooner you get my help, the faster your life will become better and better.
(c) Copyright 2017 Dr. Helen Borel. All rights reserved.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) pathology is the failure of the individual to behave
in a mature manner, and failure to show genuine concern for others. Classically, the NPD entity is incapable of caring about you...or anyone else! He/She exploits others’ time, concern, generosity, feelings. Such creatures feel ZERO for what you and all others experience. And they really
do not care when they hurt, hamper, inconvenience and destroy you and others. This entity is
The Classic Monster = ME-ME-ME.
They are ENTITLED to whatever they envy, and you deserve nothing.
Unfortunately for such SELF-DEFICIENT characters, there’s nothing inside them to offer others ...or, sadly, even themselves. You make a grave mistake when you assume – because of the NPD creature’s good looks, oily charm, and superficial intellect – that you are dealing with a genuine
human being. You are not! They look like regular people, but they are not!
NPDs are Fake People. They feign “suffering” but they don’t really suffer. They, however,
constantly complain about how others have done them wrong. Parents, co-workers, sisters,
brothers, ex-spouses (and there are often a number of these), “friends”...all fall victim to the NPD's shriveled ego which masquerades as pride, hubris, self-superiority and gross Self-ENTITLEMENT.
As a result of her/his distorted character, you can expect (if you are unfortunate enough to get
entangled with such) major manipulations of your time, your concerns, your sincerity, your finances.
When you feel uncomfortable around such an entity...when you feel anger rising in you under, what
externally appears, ordinary circumstances...there IS something wrong. You are being had! You
are being verbally twisted! You are being manipulated by the one-way goal of the NPD individual.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To access Expert, Empathic PsychoTherapy
visit
http://www.PsychDocNYC.com
YOUR EMOTIONAL COMFORT ZONE
(See more Personal Therapy information at the end of this blog.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Again, I emphasize, The NPD individual does NOT care about you, nor about anyone else.
The NPD entity is merely A CARICATURE of a human. He/she manages to imitate being a real human (education, appearance, work). Be smart. Don’t be fooled. Because “being human" means
one has Empathy and a Conscience. Both are grossly absent in the NPD.
Knowing such are without a conscience and without empathy, consider the NPD type a Monster. But, always in disguise, appearing human, appearing real. Therefore, you are in great emotional and financial peril if you get suckered into a relationship with such...be it in a job, in a
love, in a healthcare, or a business relationship. The thing these types are highly skilled at is EXPLOITATION of others. Others includes You. And they laugh about it because they believe
they got over on you. (In most cases it's true, they did.) That’s their biggest thrill of all. Strangely, NPDs are less intent on the exploitative goal they were after (though, believe me, they
want that too) than on having fooled you, hurt you, disappointed you.
Think about that extremely wealthy Bernie Madoff. (He made off with other people’s money.
His last name aptly describes what this empty character did.) He didn’t need more money.
He simply needed the thrill of fooling others. This is the major coup. Remember the twinkle
in his eye when he was finally caught? Yes, he’s a cross between a Psychopath and an NPD.
Ergo, the NPD has many features of psychopathy, particularly an absent or extremely
weak conscience. There appears a visible joy in these two-legged monsters when they hurt, disappoint, cheat and damage others...particularly-> they revel in tricking others.
WATCH OUT for These DISTRESSING FEELINGS and REACTIONS in YOURSELF when you assume you are interacting with a Real Human Person...but he/she is an Empty NPD:
1) You give too much extra time to hear out what seem, at first, legitimate complaints about others
...even though the NPD-loser knows, very well, she/he is wasting your time with hogwash.
2) Feeling rising anger during his/her verbal forays and tangled “explanations” that lead nowhere
and waste your time.
3) Experiencing Increasing Annoyance and Befuddlement as the NPD Manipulates You verbally,
screws up appointments, lies about “illnesses,” preys on Your Empathy but never benefits or improves her/his outlook or behavior from anything you say or do to help them.
GROSS MANIPULATIONS OF YOUR TIME AND CARING
1) Blowing off an appointment with you without notice...and...
2) Not picking up their phone, when a no-show, nor explaining the lapse
3) Lying to you about non-existent illnesses
4) Laughing about others’ “lower intelligence,” imperfect execution of their jobs and overt
disdain for all others. Seems only the NPD is perfect.
Psychologically, yes...A Perfect Personality Mistake!!!
5) Jealousy of others’ accomplishments, ‘though making zero effort to achieve such themselves.
6) Blatant lying while acting clueless about the obvious to you both, with zero capacity to
admit wrongs or to apologize.
DON’T GET BAMBOOZLED by the NPD NON-PERSON At first, it’s very difficult to recognize these, what I call, “human monsters”. I mean, they look human, but their actions and inactions
belie this. That’s because of their superficial traits – good looks, manipulative “charm,” and surface “intellect”. So keep a keen eye open and your emotions on hold when you meet new individuals.
Remember, the NPD experiences NOTHING, feels NOTHING for you! Therefore, you can’t benefit at all from trying to relate to such an EMPTY entity that never feels Empathy. Lacking
empathy means what’s inside this creature is EMPTINESS.
The only “E” word the NPD character knows is EXPLOITATION...of your time, of your caring,
of your knowledge, of your achievements, of your money. And the Narcissistic Personality Disordered being has ZERO capacity to change for the better. Got one of these in your life?
Get away fast!
Often, we assume certain emotional/social/behavioral “frailties” will burn out as the afflicted
pass middle age. That their interactions with family, co-workers, others gets more mature,
less me-me-me. as they age. However, the NPD seems stubbornly fixed on destroying others
for self-aggrandizement even into old age.
Crucial: If you're NPD-entangled, in any way ~ family/friend/work/love ~ LEAVE and LIVE AGAIN!
TO HELP YOU TRANSITION FROM EMOTIONAL PAIN
TO FEELING GOOD MOST OF THE TIME
CALL for my Expert, Compassionate PsychoTherapy**
(212) 873-5640
7 days a week, 12 Noon to 10 pm New York City time
IN-PERSON SESSIONS – Manhattan, New York City
TELEPHONE SESSIONS – NYC, all USA states, and WorldWide
**Low, subsidized fees. **You pay only what you can afford.
...and do visit my
PsychDocNYC.com
Your Emotional Comfort Zone
Whatever emotional distress or psychiatric diagnosis you are living with, my
PsychoTherapy will help you feel better and live happier. So don’t delay. The
sooner you get my help, the faster your life will become better and better.
(c) Copyright 2017 Dr. Helen Borel. All rights reserved.
Friday, August 11, 2017
DOES BAD PARENTING CAUSE MENTAL ILLNESS?
by Helen Borel, RN,MFA,PhD
The Baby Monkey Experiment
Decades ago, psychiatric scientists performed a sad experiment. They set up two separate
rooms into each of which they introduced an infant monkey. Only one object, for each of
the infant monkeys to cling to, was installed in each room.
In one otherwise bare empty room, stood a big, flimsy-looking, black wire “mother”
(a construct like a “head” with a “body”, loosely made of metal webbing).
In the second also bare empty room, soft white terrycloth toweling completely covered
a similar “wire mother”.
Both the cold metal and terrycloth “mothers” had nippled bottles of milk attached to the
“body” areas.
The results of this cruel experiment were predictable by any nonscientist with common
sense. The infant simian placed with the “terrycloth mother” drank the milk, cuddled
with the “mother,” and thrived. The infant simian abandoned by the heartless “scientists”
with the cold, “wire mother” shriveled emotionally and developed schizophrenia-like
symptoms.
________________________________________________________________________
To access Expert, Empathic PsychoTherapy
visit
http://www.PsychDocNYC.com
YOUR EMOTIONAL COMFORT ZONE
(See more Personal Therapy information at the end of this blog.)
________________________________________________________________________
The Myth of the “Schizophrenogenic Mother”
Caution: Of course, this ethically-questionable “experiment” took place in an era when the,
now discredited, concept of a so-called “schizophrenogenic mother” was rife in psychiatric
circles. The idea, that a mother alternating, warm “come-to-me-I-love-you” messages with
cold “get-away-from-me, I’ve-no-feeling-for-you” messages confused her child with
painful inconsistency thereby precipitating schizophrenia, though false, damaged the lives
of these mothers on top of the burden they had to bear of seeing their beloved children
descend into worsening psychosis.
Due to this faulty notion, too many mothers of severely ill schizophrenics, so mislabeled,
blamed, and baffled by befuddled psychiatrists, were themselves emotionally wounded while
trying to help their psychotic young adult children who were floundering in a sea of voices
and visions now known to be generated by cerebral pathology.
The Anatomy and Physiology of Major Mental Disorders
The lesson here: Many psychiatric illnesses are genetic, especially psychotic conditions like
bipolar disorder (swings between mania and depression), schizophrenia, and severe chronic
depression with delusions.
Other conditions, like personalities warped by childhood traumas, might be attributable to
actions of adult miscreants toward the developing child.
However, conditions like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Attention Deficit Hyper-
activity Disorder (ADHD), Asperger’s syndrome, Autism, even Shyness, Excessive Anxiety,
and uncontrollable Anger Outbursts as in Borderline patients are all attributable to some
cerebral malfunction, whether anomalous brain anatomy (some distorted or absent key
brain tissue) or disordered brain chemistry (an imbalance between feel-good neurochemicals
and mood-lowering or mood-agitating neurochemicals). Both of the latter anatomical and/or
physiologic disruptions, which interact with each other to produce disordered thoughts and
repetitive strange and dysfunctional behaviors, are known to be etiologic (causative) of
psychiatric illnesses. Not mothers!
Empathic, Interactive PsychoTherapy Improves Suffering Patients’ Lives
Expert, high quality PsychoTherapy that identifies causes of suffering, brings them to
the surface of consciousness, and helps you reformulate a view of who you are which is
healthy and consciously Self-Loving, often reduces and even eliminates mental anguish
and emotional suffering. Which allows you to move on to a healthier you...emotionally,
socially, careerwise, and also on to love-relationship success.
TO HELP YOU TRANSITION FROM EMOTIONAL PAIN
TO FEELING GOOD MOST OF THE TIME
CALL for my Expert, Compassionate PsychoTherapy**
(212) 873-5640
7 days a week, 12 Noon to 10 pm New York City time
IN-PERSON SESSIONS – Manhattan, New York City
TELEPHONE SESSIONS – NYC, all USA states, and WorldWide
**Low, subsidized fees. **You pay only what you can afford.
...and do visit my
PsychDocNYC.com
Your Emotional Comfort Zone
Whatever emotional distress or psychiatric diagnosis you are living
with, PsychoTherapy will help you feel better and live happier. So don’t
delay. The sooner you get my help, the faster your life will become better
and better.
(c) Copyright 2017 Dr. Helen Borel. All rights reserved.
The Baby Monkey Experiment
Decades ago, psychiatric scientists performed a sad experiment. They set up two separate
rooms into each of which they introduced an infant monkey. Only one object, for each of
the infant monkeys to cling to, was installed in each room.
In one otherwise bare empty room, stood a big, flimsy-looking, black wire “mother”
(a construct like a “head” with a “body”, loosely made of metal webbing).
In the second also bare empty room, soft white terrycloth toweling completely covered
a similar “wire mother”.
Both the cold metal and terrycloth “mothers” had nippled bottles of milk attached to the
“body” areas.
The results of this cruel experiment were predictable by any nonscientist with common
sense. The infant simian placed with the “terrycloth mother” drank the milk, cuddled
with the “mother,” and thrived. The infant simian abandoned by the heartless “scientists”
with the cold, “wire mother” shriveled emotionally and developed schizophrenia-like
symptoms.
________________________________________________________________________
To access Expert, Empathic PsychoTherapy
visit
http://www.PsychDocNYC.com
YOUR EMOTIONAL COMFORT ZONE
(See more Personal Therapy information at the end of this blog.)
________________________________________________________________________
The Myth of the “Schizophrenogenic Mother”
Caution: Of course, this ethically-questionable “experiment” took place in an era when the,
now discredited, concept of a so-called “schizophrenogenic mother” was rife in psychiatric
circles. The idea, that a mother alternating, warm “come-to-me-I-love-you” messages with
cold “get-away-from-me, I’ve-no-feeling-for-you” messages confused her child with
painful inconsistency thereby precipitating schizophrenia, though false, damaged the lives
of these mothers on top of the burden they had to bear of seeing their beloved children
descend into worsening psychosis.
Due to this faulty notion, too many mothers of severely ill schizophrenics, so mislabeled,
blamed, and baffled by befuddled psychiatrists, were themselves emotionally wounded while
trying to help their psychotic young adult children who were floundering in a sea of voices
and visions now known to be generated by cerebral pathology.
The Anatomy and Physiology of Major Mental Disorders
The lesson here: Many psychiatric illnesses are genetic, especially psychotic conditions like
bipolar disorder (swings between mania and depression), schizophrenia, and severe chronic
depression with delusions.
Other conditions, like personalities warped by childhood traumas, might be attributable to
actions of adult miscreants toward the developing child.
However, conditions like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Attention Deficit Hyper-
activity Disorder (ADHD), Asperger’s syndrome, Autism, even Shyness, Excessive Anxiety,
and uncontrollable Anger Outbursts as in Borderline patients are all attributable to some
cerebral malfunction, whether anomalous brain anatomy (some distorted or absent key
brain tissue) or disordered brain chemistry (an imbalance between feel-good neurochemicals
and mood-lowering or mood-agitating neurochemicals). Both of the latter anatomical and/or
physiologic disruptions, which interact with each other to produce disordered thoughts and
repetitive strange and dysfunctional behaviors, are known to be etiologic (causative) of
psychiatric illnesses. Not mothers!
Empathic, Interactive PsychoTherapy Improves Suffering Patients’ Lives
Expert, high quality PsychoTherapy that identifies causes of suffering, brings them to
the surface of consciousness, and helps you reformulate a view of who you are which is
healthy and consciously Self-Loving, often reduces and even eliminates mental anguish
and emotional suffering. Which allows you to move on to a healthier you...emotionally,
socially, careerwise, and also on to love-relationship success.
TO HELP YOU TRANSITION FROM EMOTIONAL PAIN
TO FEELING GOOD MOST OF THE TIME
CALL for my Expert, Compassionate PsychoTherapy**
(212) 873-5640
7 days a week, 12 Noon to 10 pm New York City time
IN-PERSON SESSIONS – Manhattan, New York City
TELEPHONE SESSIONS – NYC, all USA states, and WorldWide
**Low, subsidized fees. **You pay only what you can afford.
...and do visit my
PsychDocNYC.com
Your Emotional Comfort Zone
Whatever emotional distress or psychiatric diagnosis you are living
with, PsychoTherapy will help you feel better and live happier. So don’t
delay. The sooner you get my help, the faster your life will become better
and better.
(c) Copyright 2017 Dr. Helen Borel. All rights reserved.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
LONELINESS HURTS.
PsychoTherapy Gets You a Quality Social Life.
by Helen Borel, RN,MFA,PhD
Your loneliness comes from many sources. Fortuitously, PsychoTherapy
helps you retrieve the causes of your isolation. It helps you overcome them.
Then it helps you reach out for human contact and succeed in making friends.
Out of your sessions, as a result, you are able to recognize the difference
between toxic people and those who’d make valuable friends.This awareness,
then, enables you to find and keep just the right love partner.
____________________________________________
You CAN build Social Skills, Gain Friends,
and have A True Love Life NOW!
Find out who you really are and how to
connect with others by entering
YOUR EMOTIONAL COMFORT ZONE
at my PsychDocNYC.com
(More therapy-contact info at the close of this article.)
SOME CAUSES OF LONELINESS
Weak or Unreliable Emotional Attachments from a Troubled Childhood
Self reliance and confidence come from an inner emotional steadiness, a
strength in knowing who you uniquely are. This awareness solidifies, slowly
and surely, in the loving, nurturing emotional zone your mother cradles you
in from birth. It further deepens in the atmosphere of loving paternal and
maternal parents who adapt to you and encourage you to be you as you
grow physically, intellectually and emotionally.
But repeated physical abuse or verbal torture from emotionally immature
or mentally ill parents, or other caretakers, disrupts the evolution of your
Real Self which, unbeknownst to you, slips underground into your
Unconscious. And there it remains, protected from harm but unable to
mature further, until PsychoTherapy helps you bring it into conscious awareness.
Then, when you recognize, welcome, and embrace the magnificence of who
you really are, the profound nature of your Real Self, reaching out to others
gets easier.
Abandonment Experiences
Feelings of isolation and loneliness can come from growing up in a one-parent
family, whether your absent parent died or whether he or she deserted your
family. In childhood, you need the perspectives of both a mother and a father to
gain a well-rounded view of your ever-widening world and the other people
in it. Absent some of these crucial positive influences, you will suffer some
low self-esteem issues that could cause you to isolate from others.
This course of your emotional life, with even more overwhelming feelings
of loss, disruption and abandonment, is worsened if you grew up in an
orphanage, or suffered a negative foster care childhood.
Inborn Shyness
This is genetic. Innate Shyness causes hesitation in reaching out to others.
And when others don’t make the first move with a friendly smile, an invitation,
a willingness to converse, engage and interact, a shy person retreats and then
tends to feel more unwanted.
When these unsuccessful socializings repeat again and again, a shy person
assumes this is further confirmation of his/her “unwantedness” and tends to
retreat to a habitual solitariness. Thus sets in motion a repetitive cycle of
Self-Negation and feelings of Low Self-Worth.
High Creativity
Artistic Personalities often appear to be, or are, “loners”. This is not
necessarily because you as an artist prefer to be alone, nor because you are
antisocial.
It’s because, given a 24-hour day, you sleep 8, you work at a salaried job 8,
and, with travel, miscellanea, meals, and more, there’s little time left to paint,
compose, write, invent, etc. Let alone nurture friendships. It’s difficult,
therefore, for you as a creative being to develop the varied interactive skills
necessary to socialize and make special friends successfully.
Negative Self-Talk
This is a habitual mental health problem that everyone falls into at times.
Some people more than others. However, if you tell these self-negatives to
your brain on a consistent basis and if you are determined to believe these
falsehoods about your Self, not only will you lack peace of mind and be
haunted by anxiety and worry, but your ability to engage others and enjoy
their company will be grossly impaired. Like seeing new people through
a trick mirror that misrepresents them. Like seeing your physical self
distorted, too, by your faulty thinking.
Thus, you can’t trust others with your thoughts and feelings, you can’t
allow yourself to get close to others, if you keep convincing yourself there
is so much wrong with you. This is essentially a kind of paranoia, where
you’re convinced others are viewing you as inferior and experiencing you as
defective because you are projecting your own self-negatives onto others
erroneously. This pathologic ideation results in you assuming that others
view you negatively, that they can’t like you, nor care about you, nor love you.
THERE IS A CURE FOR LONELINESS THROUGH PSYCHOTHERAPY
PsychoTherapy helps you retrieve unresolved traumas, abandonments,
misunderstandings. It helps you straighten out distorted memories and
troubled feelings from early childhood when you had neither the vocabulary
nor the emotional development to fully grasp and describe to yourself what
you were going through.
By positive contrast, PsychoTherapy also helps you retrieve buried memories
of some warm, wonderful, loving times that you unconsciously submerged
to protect them from expected future damage.
Once your past sufferings and joys are emerged, through talk and (sometimes)
tears, through laughter and struggles of growth, through actual new life
experiences and dreams, all of your Real Self is free to feel all your Real Feelings
in the present. Now, being more and more open to your Real True Self, you can
more easily interact with others.
At this stage, as you’ll experience it, your PsychoTherapy will concentrate on
what’s happening NOW in your life. It will focus on who you actually are currently
relating to, on how you can achieve your goal of emergence from your loneliness
and sustain new friendships. Your therapy, then, helps you build on these Self-
solidifying experiences to achieve the love relationship you’ve been longing for.
TO HELP YOU TRANSITION FROM
FEELING LONELY TO BEING SOCIALLY CONNECTED
CALL for my Expert, Compassionate PsychoTherapy**
(212) 873-5640
7 days a week, 12 Noon to 10 pm New York City time
IN-PERSON SESSIONS – Manhattan, New York City
TELEPHONE SESSIONS – NYC, all USA states, and WorldWide
**Low, subsidized fees. **You pay only what you can afford.
...and do visit my
PsychDocNYC.com
Your Emotional Comfort Zone
Whether you’re lonely or suffer any other emotional distress or psychiatric
diagnosis, PsychoTherapy will help you feel better and live happier. So don’t
delay. The sooner you get my help, the faster your life will become better
and better.
(c) Copyright 2017 Dr. Helen Borel. All rights reserved.
by Helen Borel, RN,MFA,PhD
Your loneliness comes from many sources. Fortuitously, PsychoTherapy
helps you retrieve the causes of your isolation. It helps you overcome them.
Then it helps you reach out for human contact and succeed in making friends.
Out of your sessions, as a result, you are able to recognize the difference
between toxic people and those who’d make valuable friends.This awareness,
then, enables you to find and keep just the right love partner.
____________________________________________
You CAN build Social Skills, Gain Friends,
and have A True Love Life NOW!
Find out who you really are and how to
connect with others by entering
YOUR EMOTIONAL COMFORT ZONE
at my PsychDocNYC.com
(More therapy-contact info at the close of this article.)
SOME CAUSES OF LONELINESS
Weak or Unreliable Emotional Attachments from a Troubled Childhood
Self reliance and confidence come from an inner emotional steadiness, a
strength in knowing who you uniquely are. This awareness solidifies, slowly
and surely, in the loving, nurturing emotional zone your mother cradles you
in from birth. It further deepens in the atmosphere of loving paternal and
maternal parents who adapt to you and encourage you to be you as you
grow physically, intellectually and emotionally.
But repeated physical abuse or verbal torture from emotionally immature
or mentally ill parents, or other caretakers, disrupts the evolution of your
Real Self which, unbeknownst to you, slips underground into your
Unconscious. And there it remains, protected from harm but unable to
mature further, until PsychoTherapy helps you bring it into conscious awareness.
Then, when you recognize, welcome, and embrace the magnificence of who
you really are, the profound nature of your Real Self, reaching out to others
gets easier.
Abandonment Experiences
Feelings of isolation and loneliness can come from growing up in a one-parent
family, whether your absent parent died or whether he or she deserted your
family. In childhood, you need the perspectives of both a mother and a father to
gain a well-rounded view of your ever-widening world and the other people
in it. Absent some of these crucial positive influences, you will suffer some
low self-esteem issues that could cause you to isolate from others.
This course of your emotional life, with even more overwhelming feelings
of loss, disruption and abandonment, is worsened if you grew up in an
orphanage, or suffered a negative foster care childhood.
Inborn Shyness
This is genetic. Innate Shyness causes hesitation in reaching out to others.
And when others don’t make the first move with a friendly smile, an invitation,
a willingness to converse, engage and interact, a shy person retreats and then
tends to feel more unwanted.
When these unsuccessful socializings repeat again and again, a shy person
assumes this is further confirmation of his/her “unwantedness” and tends to
retreat to a habitual solitariness. Thus sets in motion a repetitive cycle of
Self-Negation and feelings of Low Self-Worth.
High Creativity
Artistic Personalities often appear to be, or are, “loners”. This is not
necessarily because you as an artist prefer to be alone, nor because you are
antisocial.
It’s because, given a 24-hour day, you sleep 8, you work at a salaried job 8,
and, with travel, miscellanea, meals, and more, there’s little time left to paint,
compose, write, invent, etc. Let alone nurture friendships. It’s difficult,
therefore, for you as a creative being to develop the varied interactive skills
necessary to socialize and make special friends successfully.
Negative Self-Talk
This is a habitual mental health problem that everyone falls into at times.
Some people more than others. However, if you tell these self-negatives to
your brain on a consistent basis and if you are determined to believe these
falsehoods about your Self, not only will you lack peace of mind and be
haunted by anxiety and worry, but your ability to engage others and enjoy
their company will be grossly impaired. Like seeing new people through
a trick mirror that misrepresents them. Like seeing your physical self
distorted, too, by your faulty thinking.
Thus, you can’t trust others with your thoughts and feelings, you can’t
allow yourself to get close to others, if you keep convincing yourself there
is so much wrong with you. This is essentially a kind of paranoia, where
you’re convinced others are viewing you as inferior and experiencing you as
defective because you are projecting your own self-negatives onto others
erroneously. This pathologic ideation results in you assuming that others
view you negatively, that they can’t like you, nor care about you, nor love you.
THERE IS A CURE FOR LONELINESS THROUGH PSYCHOTHERAPY
PsychoTherapy helps you retrieve unresolved traumas, abandonments,
misunderstandings. It helps you straighten out distorted memories and
troubled feelings from early childhood when you had neither the vocabulary
nor the emotional development to fully grasp and describe to yourself what
you were going through.
By positive contrast, PsychoTherapy also helps you retrieve buried memories
of some warm, wonderful, loving times that you unconsciously submerged
to protect them from expected future damage.
Once your past sufferings and joys are emerged, through talk and (sometimes)
tears, through laughter and struggles of growth, through actual new life
experiences and dreams, all of your Real Self is free to feel all your Real Feelings
in the present. Now, being more and more open to your Real True Self, you can
more easily interact with others.
At this stage, as you’ll experience it, your PsychoTherapy will concentrate on
what’s happening NOW in your life. It will focus on who you actually are currently
relating to, on how you can achieve your goal of emergence from your loneliness
and sustain new friendships. Your therapy, then, helps you build on these Self-
solidifying experiences to achieve the love relationship you’ve been longing for.
TO HELP YOU TRANSITION FROM
FEELING LONELY TO BEING SOCIALLY CONNECTED
CALL for my Expert, Compassionate PsychoTherapy**
(212) 873-5640
7 days a week, 12 Noon to 10 pm New York City time
IN-PERSON SESSIONS – Manhattan, New York City
TELEPHONE SESSIONS – NYC, all USA states, and WorldWide
**Low, subsidized fees. **You pay only what you can afford.
...and do visit my
PsychDocNYC.com
Your Emotional Comfort Zone
Whether you’re lonely or suffer any other emotional distress or psychiatric
diagnosis, PsychoTherapy will help you feel better and live happier. So don’t
delay. The sooner you get my help, the faster your life will become better
and better.
(c) Copyright 2017 Dr. Helen Borel. All rights reserved.
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