Existential therapy, by focusing on choice, authenticity and what Satre called 'being condemned to freedom' helps clients eventually leave therapy with an increased tolerance for the uncertainty of life. Medelowitz and Schneider (2008) claim: "More sure of oneself, one embraces the challenges and responsibilities of life without knowing precisely what lies beyond" (p.322).
Despite the existentialists claim that they brought a flexibility and dogma free approach to therapy, it seems to me the above quotation is only really a paraphrase of something Freud had said some 100 years prior: "you will see for yourself that much has been gained if we succeed in turning your hysterical misery into common unhappiness."
Perhaps Woody Allan (nee Allen Konigsberg) highlighted the gains one can make in existential therapy best: "...mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to utter hopelessness and despair, the other to total extinction. Let us hope we have the wisdom to choose correctly."
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Engagement and inattention
Many people all over the world identified with the struggle in South Africa. The struggle for the rights and human dignity of the majority of South Africans rightly and fortunately attracted passive and active sympathy from people around the world. But once the struggle was no longer sexy, and dissolved into the ambiguity of a post-Apartheid dispensation where crime. corruption, misgovernance and perhaps a national discourse dominated by falsehoods have created (or perpetuated) an unstable, unsafe and unequal society, people have lost interest. (it is an inescapable irony that many of the things white racists predicted would happen in a post apartheid dispensation have) Wellwishers around the globe still cite Mandela as an example of a secular saint, but beyond that feel no responsibilty for what has materialised.
I wonder if the same kind of dynamic is perhaps kicking in with other trendy causes, such as the Palestinian one? Some people may do their best to reshape or replace Israel, in the name of the assertion of Palestinian dignity, and then, if the Jewish homeland is dismembered or so emasculated that it is eventually replaced by another corrupt or fundamentalist or dictatorial Moslem state, people in Scandanavia and San Francisco will shrug their shoulders and turn back to their lives...
I wonder if the same kind of dynamic is perhaps kicking in with other trendy causes, such as the Palestinian one? Some people may do their best to reshape or replace Israel, in the name of the assertion of Palestinian dignity, and then, if the Jewish homeland is dismembered or so emasculated that it is eventually replaced by another corrupt or fundamentalist or dictatorial Moslem state, people in Scandanavia and San Francisco will shrug their shoulders and turn back to their lives...
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Fee Structure For Counsellors and Therapists
In keeping with the trend towards the commodification of everything, and as a service to both counsellors and their clients, we have created an itemized tariff structure which makes it very easy for both parties to know exactly where they sit.
Basic services
Passive listening - $ 5.00
Active Listening - $15.00
Collusion, flattery, and lying - $20.00
Unconditional positive regard without empathy - $50.00
Unconditional positive regard with empathy - $70.00
depression - - $100.00
anxiety and depression - $150.00
anxiety with depression and suicidal ideation - $200.00
Ambivalence - $50.00 or $70.00
Transference
Positive transference - $20
Negative tranbsference - $200.00
Conter transference - 10% discount
Reflection - youre wondering what the rates are?
Psychoses
visual hallucinations - ^&@#(*&%*
auditory hallucinations - 200 rupees
insomnia - night sessions available, special rates
projection - this will be discussed somewhere where the illuminati cannot track us
angry outburstswithout spittle - $60.00
with spittle - $90.00
catharsis - $150.00
catharsis & allowed to assume foetal
position on floor - $300.00 (includes blanket)
Interpretations
Adlerian, Jungian or Freudian - $20/interpretaion
Kleinian - add 10$/per interpretation
(10% rebate on invalid interpretations)
Seating arrangements
Economy chair without arm rests - $20.00/hour
Comfortable wing back chair - $35.00/hour
empty chair - the price will be negotiated with the chair itself
Throne (for narcissists) - $70.00/hour
Those with low self esteem may sit on the floor for free
Optional Accessories
Tissues - 5c per tissue
Lavender scented tissues - 10c per tissue
Truthtelling - priceless
Basic services
Passive listening - $ 5.00
Active Listening - $15.00
Collusion, flattery, and lying - $20.00
Unconditional positive regard without empathy - $50.00
Unconditional positive regard with empathy - $70.00
depression - - $100.00
anxiety and depression - $150.00
anxiety with depression and suicidal ideation - $200.00
Ambivalence - $50.00 or $70.00
Transference
Positive transference - $20
Negative tranbsference - $200.00
Conter transference - 10% discount
Reflection - youre wondering what the rates are?
Psychoses
visual hallucinations - ^&@#(*&%*
auditory hallucinations - 200 rupees
insomnia - night sessions available, special rates
projection - this will be discussed somewhere where the illuminati cannot track us
angry outburstswithout spittle - $60.00
with spittle - $90.00
catharsis - $150.00
catharsis & allowed to assume foetal
position on floor - $300.00 (includes blanket)
Interpretations
Adlerian, Jungian or Freudian - $20/interpretaion
Kleinian - add 10$/per interpretation
(10% rebate on invalid interpretations)
Seating arrangements
Economy chair without arm rests - $20.00/hour
Comfortable wing back chair - $35.00/hour
empty chair - the price will be negotiated with the chair itself
Throne (for narcissists) - $70.00/hour
Those with low self esteem may sit on the floor for free
Optional Accessories
Tissues - 5c per tissue
Lavender scented tissues - 10c per tissue
Truthtelling - priceless
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Steal these ideas!
Did you see that film?
Which one?
That Italian one...or maybe it was Yugoslavian
He goes somewhere, they meet, then she comes backtell me more
it was by that director, you know the one who also did that film about the war, Golub, Hiroslav was it, maybe Miroslav
ah yes, i think i know, it was called the lost, or the damned
yes, something like that...the forgotten maybe. Anyway this one was very good. After they leave it turns around completely and both of them discover each other's past.
Was that the one with Marcellioni?
I think so....Marcellioni...Martrevioni...something like that. He was superb. And at the end the both leave.
Silence
they're making some amazing stuff these days,eh?
________________________________
slovakian vs slovenian...never quite sure where they are...ok slovakia must have been Checheslovakia, but was slovenia transylvania. or am i getting completely mixed up?
__________________________________________
A therapist is seeing someone in prison, a sociopath, who has been ordered into therapy, and wants them to become soft and vulnerable. But he knows that in the abnormal context of prison it is taking away the shield and armouring that protects them, and leaving them "naked", so to "heal" the client is to place them in danger. Another dimension is that the prison authorities exert great pressure on the therapist to collude with their judgement, to slap a label on the client so that they can put him into a higher security wing or remove certain priviledges.
As they explore the client's past, with a focus less opn what he did and more opn what was initially done to him...
____________________________________________
VARIATION
A Jewish therapist/psychologist with a young neo-Nazi or Moslem ganster who has been ordered into therapy after killing a man who he thought was Jewish.At first there is complete non-compliance, while the therapist wrestles with his own demons (a son who suicided). Quite early in the process the young man realises the therapist is Jewish and hurls a string of abuse at him. The therapist tells their supervisor they cannot continue, but then regrets this decision and decides to continue:
I don't want you to abuse me
Fuck you Jew cunt
[Now how does he repond? with a feel good for the audience physical assertion of his boundaries as per Robyn Williams in Good Will Hunting, or a more subtle response....?]
For example he leaves the room, and the client has to come for every session and sit there on his own for 50 minutes..which he does for five or so sessions, each time abusing the therapist, each time the therapist gets up and leaves, eventually the client stops with the abuse because he is bored, so they sit facing each other in silence.
Lets see if we can find something we can agree on, says the therapist, fishing for something on which to begin building a therapeutic alliance...
We can agree that you're a Jew cunt. He folds his arms defiantly across his chest. The psychologist gets up....
wait..wait...sit down
The psychologists sits
You married, eventually the client offers?
If I were married what would that mean to you?
Nothing, I was just making conversation. But if you're going to do that
psychology bullshit on me I won't.
The therapist considers this:
Yes I'm married
Long time
17 years...do you call that long?
Yes that's long.
Why do you ask?
______________________
Children, along with water proofing and stranger danger classes (ironical since most abuse happens in the family from perpetrators familiar to the recipient of the abuse) could be given advertisement proofing training as well
___________________
Which one?
That Italian one...or maybe it was Yugoslavian
He goes somewhere, they meet, then she comes backtell me more
it was by that director, you know the one who also did that film about the war, Golub, Hiroslav was it, maybe Miroslav
ah yes, i think i know, it was called the lost, or the damned
yes, something like that...the forgotten maybe. Anyway this one was very good. After they leave it turns around completely and both of them discover each other's past.
Was that the one with Marcellioni?
I think so....Marcellioni...Martrevioni...something like that. He was superb. And at the end the both leave.
Silence
they're making some amazing stuff these days,eh?
________________________________
slovakian vs slovenian...never quite sure where they are...ok slovakia must have been Checheslovakia, but was slovenia transylvania. or am i getting completely mixed up?
__________________________________________
A therapist is seeing someone in prison, a sociopath, who has been ordered into therapy, and wants them to become soft and vulnerable. But he knows that in the abnormal context of prison it is taking away the shield and armouring that protects them, and leaving them "naked", so to "heal" the client is to place them in danger. Another dimension is that the prison authorities exert great pressure on the therapist to collude with their judgement, to slap a label on the client so that they can put him into a higher security wing or remove certain priviledges.
As they explore the client's past, with a focus less opn what he did and more opn what was initially done to him...
____________________________________________
VARIATION
A Jewish therapist/psychologist with a young neo-Nazi or Moslem ganster who has been ordered into therapy after killing a man who he thought was Jewish.At first there is complete non-compliance, while the therapist wrestles with his own demons (a son who suicided). Quite early in the process the young man realises the therapist is Jewish and hurls a string of abuse at him. The therapist tells their supervisor they cannot continue, but then regrets this decision and decides to continue:
I don't want you to abuse me
Fuck you Jew cunt
[Now how does he repond? with a feel good for the audience physical assertion of his boundaries as per Robyn Williams in Good Will Hunting, or a more subtle response....?]
For example he leaves the room, and the client has to come for every session and sit there on his own for 50 minutes..which he does for five or so sessions, each time abusing the therapist, each time the therapist gets up and leaves, eventually the client stops with the abuse because he is bored, so they sit facing each other in silence.
Lets see if we can find something we can agree on, says the therapist, fishing for something on which to begin building a therapeutic alliance...
We can agree that you're a Jew cunt. He folds his arms defiantly across his chest. The psychologist gets up....
wait..wait...sit down
The psychologists sits
You married, eventually the client offers?
If I were married what would that mean to you?
Nothing, I was just making conversation. But if you're going to do that
psychology bullshit on me I won't.
The therapist considers this:
Yes I'm married
Long time
17 years...do you call that long?
Yes that's long.
Why do you ask?
______________________
Children, along with water proofing and stranger danger classes (ironical since most abuse happens in the family from perpetrators familiar to the recipient of the abuse) could be given advertisement proofing training as well
___________________
Monday, September 12, 2011
The Bullies of the BSD "Campaign"
From my point of view the BSD campaign is divisive, polarizing, profoundly unconscious (its based on projection rather than ownership), and profoundly reactive. Its blanket condemnation of Israelis, without distinguishing between those who priorities places - mostly burial places (kever Avot, the 3rd century synagogue in Jehricho) above people, and those who prioritise an abstract "am yisrael" above the need for peace and stability that most Israelis express - this blanket condemnation of all Israelis and Zionists makes "settlers" of us all.
As such the BSD com-(pound)-pain is less likely to reduce human suffering than to increase the energy blockage that swirls around the Israeli-Palestinian wrestle-embrace. Making the other wrong is never fertile ground for change. But perhaps the people who align themselves with it aren't interested in reducing suffering, but in making themselves "right"?
Rather than being coerced and intimidated many people (such as myself) will go out of their way to
a) Buy Israeli products and support Israeli owned businesses
b) Support political parties that promote an even handed approach to the conflict, rather than a punitive and predjudiced one
I also suggest that people look to make contact with Hindu communities in your towns and cities, and establish Jewish Hindu cultural exchange programmes, as there is a natural affinity between the two cultures (despite the ultra-orthodox's misguided labelling of some forms of Hinduism as 'avodah zara" - "idol worship" - but how would they know, they've never stepped outside their mental ghetto to find out, and anyway the ultra-orthodox are no more representative of the Jewish people than the Assad regime is representative of ordinary Syrians.
As such the BSD com-(pound)-pain is less likely to reduce human suffering than to increase the energy blockage that swirls around the Israeli-Palestinian wrestle-embrace. Making the other wrong is never fertile ground for change. But perhaps the people who align themselves with it aren't interested in reducing suffering, but in making themselves "right"?
Rather than being coerced and intimidated many people (such as myself) will go out of their way to
a) Buy Israeli products and support Israeli owned businesses
b) Support political parties that promote an even handed approach to the conflict, rather than a punitive and predjudiced one
I also suggest that people look to make contact with Hindu communities in your towns and cities, and establish Jewish Hindu cultural exchange programmes, as there is a natural affinity between the two cultures (despite the ultra-orthodox's misguided labelling of some forms of Hinduism as 'avodah zara" - "idol worship" - but how would they know, they've never stepped outside their mental ghetto to find out, and anyway the ultra-orthodox are no more representative of the Jewish people than the Assad regime is representative of ordinary Syrians.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Its Curtains!
Here are some great texts suitable for Jewish Kirtans:
1) Bilvavi - letting go of ego (i.e your stories)
Bilvavi mishkan evneh, lehadar kevodo
uvmishkan mizbeach asim lekarnei hodo
ulner tamid ekach li et eysh haakeydah
ulekorban akriv lo et nafshi, et nafshi hayechida
I will build a sanctuary in my heart, to beautify His presence
and in this sanctuary I will place an alter, to receive His majesty
and for an eternal light I will offer up the fire from the binding of Isaac
and as a sacrifice (giving up the lesser to come closer to the greater) I will offer up my singular being
2) Adon Olam - all or any part - Eternal One
3) Yedid Nefesh - beloved of my soul
4) Telihim Chaf Gimmel - Psalm 23
5) Ana Bekoach -
6)Adoshem Hu Elokim - the Lord is G-d
7) Ayn od milvado - There is nothing besides Self
8) Keyl Rachum ve Chanun - Merciful One
9) Hallelu
10)Shabos Kodesh (the tune of the Moshav Band)
11) Rachmana d' anei, deanei le'anyei
12)Shema
13)Selected verses from anim' zmirot
14)Barechi Nafshi
15)Kaddish
16)Return return
17) Pitchu li shaarei tzedek - moshav band tune
open the gates of cosmic balance/I will enter, with gratitude to the Divine/ thank you for you have answered/and become my salvation/the stone that the builders despised/ has become a corner stone/this is from Jah/ it is amazing in our sight/ this day, this moment, is as G-d as it gets/ we will delight and take joy in it
18) Avinu Malkeinu - our father, our king!
19)Kol Galgal
20) Ki Va Moed - Carlebach - now is the time
21) Yivneh Beyto - Carlebach
22) Listen listen listen (to my heart's song)
23) Shifchi kamayim - Carlebach
24) Ken bakodesh
25) Lev Tahor
26) Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh - done responsively
ie. leaders: kadosh, kadosh, kadosh
devotees: kadosh kadosh kadosh
leaders:adoshem tzevaot
devotees:adoshem tzevaot
leaders:meloh chol haaretz kevodod
devotees:meloh chol haaretz kevodo
and repeat upping tempo slightly
27) חסד מופלא
קול דממה דקה
שפדה נפשי השבויה
הייתי עיור, הרגשתי חסר
חסד מופלא
מה מתוק הצליל
28)Krakow Niggun
29)
Chanting these word sounds may help to reintroduce G-d consciousness to many people,or states of excitement and or bliss and or repose. To chant shemot (names) of the divine is to be in love with devotion, with the spell of surrender, which is why Krishna Das can chant the name of Jesus ("open up the gates of the church and let me out of here/ too many people have died in the name of christ for anyone to hear the call") and see it merely as a synonym for boundary-less love, which anhilates all effort and all artificially maintained difference.
To get a sense check out Kirtan Rabbi, and Reb Krishna (nee Jeffry Kagel)
1) Bilvavi - letting go of ego (i.e your stories)
Bilvavi mishkan evneh, lehadar kevodo
uvmishkan mizbeach asim lekarnei hodo
ulner tamid ekach li et eysh haakeydah
ulekorban akriv lo et nafshi, et nafshi hayechida
I will build a sanctuary in my heart, to beautify His presence
and in this sanctuary I will place an alter, to receive His majesty
and for an eternal light I will offer up the fire from the binding of Isaac
and as a sacrifice (giving up the lesser to come closer to the greater) I will offer up my singular being
2) Adon Olam - all or any part - Eternal One
3) Yedid Nefesh - beloved of my soul
4) Telihim Chaf Gimmel - Psalm 23
5) Ana Bekoach -
6)Adoshem Hu Elokim - the Lord is G-d
7) Ayn od milvado - There is nothing besides Self
8) Keyl Rachum ve Chanun - Merciful One
9) Hallelu
10)Shabos Kodesh (the tune of the Moshav Band)
11) Rachmana d' anei, deanei le'anyei
12)Shema
13)Selected verses from anim' zmirot
14)Barechi Nafshi
15)Kaddish
16)Return return
17) Pitchu li shaarei tzedek - moshav band tune
open the gates of cosmic balance/I will enter, with gratitude to the Divine/ thank you for you have answered/and become my salvation/the stone that the builders despised/ has become a corner stone/this is from Jah/ it is amazing in our sight/ this day, this moment, is as G-d as it gets/ we will delight and take joy in it
18) Avinu Malkeinu - our father, our king!
19)Kol Galgal
20) Ki Va Moed - Carlebach - now is the time
21) Yivneh Beyto - Carlebach
22) Listen listen listen (to my heart's song)
23) Shifchi kamayim - Carlebach
24) Ken bakodesh
25) Lev Tahor
26) Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh - done responsively
ie. leaders: kadosh, kadosh, kadosh
devotees: kadosh kadosh kadosh
leaders:adoshem tzevaot
devotees:adoshem tzevaot
leaders:meloh chol haaretz kevodod
devotees:meloh chol haaretz kevodo
and repeat upping tempo slightly
27) חסד מופלא
קול דממה דקה
שפדה נפשי השבויה
הייתי עיור, הרגשתי חסר
חסד מופלא
מה מתוק הצליל
28)Krakow Niggun
29)
Chanting these word sounds may help to reintroduce G-d consciousness to many people,or states of excitement and or bliss and or repose. To chant shemot (names) of the divine is to be in love with devotion, with the spell of surrender, which is why Krishna Das can chant the name of Jesus ("open up the gates of the church and let me out of here/ too many people have died in the name of christ for anyone to hear the call") and see it merely as a synonym for boundary-less love, which anhilates all effort and all artificially maintained difference.
To get a sense check out Kirtan Rabbi, and Reb Krishna (nee Jeffry Kagel)
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