Di life script currency analysis

Results





One and Only ++

Feelings +

Power +

Sex ++

Beauty +

Booze ++

Food +++

Violence +

Words ++



Analysis



Food

Games - Obesity, anorexia, bulimia

Stage - Oral

Lifestyle/occupation - body builder, dietician, cook, calorie counting, mother

Illness - stomach problems, mouth ulcers, IBS,

Therapist - eating disorders, weight loss counselling, alcohol/drug/cigarette counselling

Personality - Schizoid, borderline, antisocial, narcissistic

Issues - can life and death, control, sexual avoidance issues.







As this is an oral issue stage the consequences can vary considerably. Some who have an oral stage fixation can have few difficulties at all and have a work life like Jamie Oliver. On the other hand there can be very real life and death issues. This can result from over eating, under eating or highly restrictive diets and exercise regimes that can be dangerous. Or drug issues like alcohol and cigarette addictions can all result from oral stage fixations.



In females there can be issues around sex. Sometimes (but not all ways) the anorexic woman is protecting herself from sex (and a sexual relationship) by making herself unattractive to males and trying to make herself prepubescent again. The overweight woman may be also trying to make herself unattractive to males so as to avoid sex.







Dependency in relationships can be problematic. The two extremes by either being overly dependent on others or never being dependent on others. Oral stage issues can respond well to therapy and can include working out the relationship dependency issues in the transference with the therapist.



Graffiti

Engage the enemy in therapy.

I have talked before about certain treatment strategies that I do with things like panic attacks and eating disorders.

If a person presents with panic attacks I will at some point ask them to have a panic attack there in the session with me. Some look at me in disbelief, state that they came here to stop having panic attacks and refuse but most will go through with it and produce the panic to varying degrees.

Others who may be bulimic I will get them to make a homework contract to throw up at least once this week. If their purging is not a physically harmful levels that is.

In the past I have tried to explain the theory behind this and never really felt that I have explained it adequately. I have not been satisfied with my explanation. The other day I was relaxing in front of the TV, surfing the channels with my remote and I happened on an interview with Mel Brooks.

He talked about a number of things including the parody that he does of Adolf Hitler in one of his comic sketches called the Hitler Rap.

This has caused quite a controversy as some argue that making fun of Hitler trivialises what he did to the Jews in the second world war. As he explained why he did such a parody I realized he was explaining exactly why I ask the panic attack sufferer to have a panic attack. There he was saying precisely why I do what I do.

If one gets to know thy enemy and engage thy foe then it disempowers them. If one only ever addresses the topic of Hitler in very sombre and serious ways then that is making him to be more important. To engage Hitler in a funny way reduces his impact and importance was the basis of Mel Brooks’ argument.

When a client comes to therapy the first thing they do with the therapist is spend a great deal of time and energy defining the problem, discussing its causes, seeking to stop it, remove it, side step it and so forth. All this focus on the problem in one way empowers it. It makes it even more important in the person’s mind.

Hence I suggest the client at times engage the foe and produce a panic attack, or for the bulimic to go and purge. Panic attacks come and panic attacks go, nobody has ever gone crazy or died from a panic attack, throwing up is throwing up, not the end of the world. It disempowers the enemy (the symptom). It is not something of great awe and immensity.

The other point that is different from Mel’s parodies is that it also defines the therapeutic relationship. If I as the therapist also hold the problem in great awe and dread, such that it must be avoided at all costs, then the client has the therapist and the therapeutic relationship confirming the belief in the power of thy enemy. If I suggest to the client they go and do purging homework they see that I am not overawed by it.

I certainly understand that it is a painful problem for the individual and empathise with that but it does not fill me with fear and dread. This will also have a disempowering effect of the problem in the client’s mind. Hence my rule of thumb about treating eating disorders, never spend more than 50% of any session discussing food, weight, eating and so forth. Talk about other non food related matters.

Graffiti

Family systems and illness

Family systems theory as described by Haley (1980) provides further insight into how people can display suicidal behaviour and not necessarily have made the suicide decision. In any relationship with two or more people there is a ‘system’ that develops between them. When the two (or more) personalities meet, over time they work out how to be in the relationship for them. For example one party will take over some roles and the other party will take over other roles.

This can be described in terms of ego states. In a relationship between mother and son the mother may take over the Parent and Adult ego states in the relationship and the son may respond primarily from Rebellious Child ego state. Over time they will work this out often with both parties not even being aware of it. In a family of five members each one will also work out their various roles and positions in the family.

All families develop a system that works for them

Some family systems operate such that one party needs to be ill. If the daughter of the family is ill then all the other family members know what to do in terms of their roles and responsibilities. Examples of types of illness that can originate from a dysfunctional family system can be self harming, drug use, depression and panic attacks eating disorders and suicidal behaviour.

In such circumstances if the daughter is making suicidal statements, gestures or attempts then that is how that family functions. For instance mother and father may start to co-operate and unite against the common cause of the daughters suicidal ‘illness’. It allows them to focus on the daughter and thus they can put to the side their own marital problems.

If the daughter stops making suicidal gestures then mother and father are again confronted with their own relationship so there can be subtle pressure on the daughter to remain suicidal. Having worked in drug rehabilitation this is not an uncommon scenario when one hears the drug user refer to himself as the black sheep of the family.

In such situations when working with the suicidal daughter one can encounter resistance from other family members because if the daughter changes (ie stops being suicidal) then the whole family system has to change. Every person has to alter to some extent and systems will resist change as they strive to achieve homeostasis. Some only have to alter slightly and those who have considerable psychological investment in the daughter being suicidal may be quite resistant to the change.

Treatment of such suicidal people is thus complicated as it involves the person restructuring their relationship with the other family members and that maybe difficult especially if the child is living at home and cannot move out. This also provides an extra avenue of investigation when making a suicide risk assessment.

As is common in the field of psychology often the different approaches whether they may be psychodynamic, organic or systems all tend to take the stance of one size fits all. In this instance all suicidal people are a result of a dysfunctional family system. It is indeed unfortunate how the alternative theories do this as with the human psyche, rarely one size fits all. From my experience of working with the suicidal sometimes the family system is very important and at other times it is only a minor influence. However in assessing and understanding the suicidal person it is very wise to make an assessment of how the suicidal thoughts and behaviour fit for the family system that the person currently lives in.

It is also possible for the individual to have made the suicide decision in childhood and be in a family system where they take the sick role of being suicidal. If that is the case then the risk level of a suicide attempt would certainly increase.

In systems theory every system is naturally homeostatic and will seek to balance itself. Thus it will also avoid or resist change as the balance is disrupted and it is not homeostatic.

So if family member number two changes then that forces all other members to change in some way as well. That change can be anything such as becoming depressed, stop being bulimic, start taking drugs, winning the lottery to becoming assertive. If you change then the system becomes unbalanced and all others have to change so that they system can become homeostatic again.

If you are feeling depressed or anxious that means all those in your ‘family system’, or your inner circle of closest people, are in some way contributing to your depression or anxiety. Indeed if you are feeling happy and joyous they are also contributing to that as well. In systems theory there is no such thing as an ill person, instead it is the system that is ill. If your partner is suffering depression then you are contributing to that in some way as part of the system.

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