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The shrink from planet zob. psychiatry for a mad world. an extract from the book.
Recognising the Problem - Resistance It is something of a cliché, but it is often
said by therapists that the first step in healing a client is that the client has to
recognise there is a problem. And here Dr Zab is confronting Hugh with some of the problems
which form part of the global catastrophic disorder. But when Hugh is presented with
some facts, we see Hugh go into denial.
Denial is a defence mechanism first postulated by Sigmund Freud, where a person faced with
uncomfortable truths may flatly deny the facts, even in the light of overwhelming evidence.
Freud’s daughter Anna classified denial as a mechanism in an immature mind, presenting
problems for learning and dealing with reality. And here Hugh Manitee’s mind is as it
was before therapy is really underway – immature.
In studies of the grieving process, the late psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross identified
that people who were told they were going to die would go through different stages:
denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance1. The stages do not always
occur in every person, or may occur in a different order, but the first of the stages is sometimes
denial. These same stages often apply to people who are going through therapeutic changes
as well.
Hugh is lost at sea, confused. But somewhere deeper in his psyche where he sees the uncomfortable
truths which Dr Zab showed him, he has an inkling that this is going to be difficult
for him, and he instinctively heads towards denial.
Hugh still thinks, or hopes, that Dr Zab is mistaken. But of course Zab’s highly developed
mental map can see the links between Hugh and the world; Zab knows Hugh is ill, and
so he is not easily deflected from his course however strongly Hugh argues with him.
Denial is one of the mechanisms which therapists group together under the term resistance.
Again, the term was first introduced by Freud to describe an instinctive opposition
to having unconscious material brought into the conscious mind. It can take many forms,
but may manifest itself in the client criticising the therapist, or failing to listen to or
understand the therapist; the client may arrive late or miss appointments, may remain silent,
may forget the fee, or the client may drag the discussion down into a debate on semantics
or abstract philosophy. There is a myriad array of tactics which a typical client may
use to avoid the therapeutic process.
Resistance is such a powerful phenomenon, that it is surprising that it is not discussed
more often not only in psychology books, but in any book which aims to make the world a
better place. To some extent, resistance is so ubiquitous that it may be difficult
to see. The thing which people are resistant to is truth. The resistance phenomenon
is usually to defend our mental maps, which in turn is powered by our genetic make-up.
We will learn more about the genetic causes of resistance in coming chapters.
If it wasn’t for psychological resistance, therapy could be completed in a matter of
days or weeks rather than months or years. Therapists have a stock piece of advice
for their clients to try to dissolve some resistance, advice which is so valuable it
has become another cliché. It is: you have to want to change. If the client doesn’t
want to change then therapy cannot take place. What we see in Hugh’s reaction to the
unpleasant truths of the world is a typical response from ordinary people, when confronted
with those truths. People often don’t want to change, which is why healing the world
is such an enormous task.
In our story, when Dr Zab confronts Hugh with the realities of the GCD, the therapy is still
in an early stage, and Hugh’s mental map is still faulty. His neurons have never
been programmed to see the link between his actions in his ordinary world in Great Yarmouth
and global problems such as poverty or climate change. Remember that the mental map adapts
slowly, so it will take time for Hugh to be able to see more clearly that there is a link
between his actions and global problems. Getting Hugh Manitee to acknowledge he has a problem
is the first stage in fixing the world.