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CCI BLOG

January 11th, 2017

1/11/2017

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 A Efficacy of Narrative Therapy

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In the world of analytical left brained (L-directed thinkers) individuals who thrive upon using their linear logical abilities, narratives provide a unique process of imagining, planning and explicating a deeper sense of who they are (Pink, 2005). It taps into self-knowledge and expands the meaning of experiences and places them in context mirroring our value sets, our true self, and what we yearn to become.
 
Norman (1994) argues, L-directed thought attempts to generalize or “strip” the emotional value of subjective emotions that encapsulate meaning. Narratives “capture the context [and] emotions” that frames decision-making offering a greater understanding of its importance. They offer a platform to pursue meaning in what our stories tell us about ourselves.
 
Narratives have been recognized by Xerox, NASA, and medical schools as a vital process to depart from reductionist thought to a more holistic way of understanding individuals. They recognize that we filter, retain, and compress years of experience, thought and emotions that may be extrapolated on paper to illumine, “who we are and what we are about” (Pink, 2004, p.115). Narratives develop a process of pathway thinking that reconstructs the “artifacts” of our lives.
 
The efficacy of its application is that knowledge (L-Directed) is often insufficient to confront a transformative crisis resulting in resistance to change. Trauma creates cognitive blockages that serve as defense mechanisms deployed to protect one’s self. In response, the narrative process normalizes dysfunction (Hammer et al, 2012). Hall and Powell (2011) contend that the chronicling process draws together divergent elements of the self that construct an “overarching self-narrative” that amplifies meaning (p. 2).
 
Larsson, Lilja, Braun, and Sjoblom (2013) contend narratives offer a subjective inquiry into “the psychological worlds of individuals,” where they implicitly draw from experiences that express the realities of their life (p. 1,286). This empowers them to objectify the problem itself as distinctly separate from themselves (Beck & Beck, 2011). Hammer, Dingel, Ostergren, Nowakowski and Koenig (2012) argue the biological or pathogenic approaches have the propensity “to become dominant narratives of addiction” (p. 712).
 
Formatively, this offers individuals utilizing narrative therapy
the opportunity to engage in a subjective process that has the propensity to circumvent impasses. Narratives animate experiential strengths used to address challenges drawing upon the right brain (R-Directed thinking) to actualize pathway thinking. This creates a path to reconcile methods of change (R-Directed) in order for the left brain (L-Directed) to logically implement change itself. This represents an integration of both hemispheres where individuals inhabit both worlds (Pink, 2005).
 
Cognitively, this builds a new subjective understanding that false narratives found may be reconstructed from this newfound knowledge. It is an emotional response to past behavior that is incongruent with that dynamic tension between the “real self” and the “ideal self,” or who they wish to become (Boyatzis & McKee, 2006). It is a holistic process that allows individuals to validate their strengths as a mechanism to change.
 
Finally, McLeod (1997) argues the narrative is “at the heart of the [therapist’s] work,” taking a constructionist position (p.54). Deconstructing disrupts automatic thoughts and enables individuals to rethink who they are and who they strive to become. Intentional change is a healing process where emotional insight from recollections offers a pathway to “overcoming suffering,” and in that change process meaning is found (Frankl, 2006). It reveals a subjective understanding that each individual is of inestimable value and that intentional change holds new meaning to a life filled with purpose.
 
Blair Hollis M.A. GCDF BCCC
Crossroads Consulting, Inc.
 
Resources
 
Beck, J. S., & Beck, A. T. (2011). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond. New York:
            The Guilford Press.
 
Boyatzis, R., & Mckee, A. (2006). Intentional change. J. Org. Exc. Journal of Organizational
Excellence, 25(3), 49-60. doi:10.1002/joe.20100
 
Frankl, V. (2006). Man’s Search For Meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.
 
Hall, J. M., & Powell, J. (2011). Understanding the Person through Narrative. Nursing Research
and Practice, 2011, 1-10. doi:10.1155/2011/293837
 
Hammer, R. R., Dingel, M. J., Ostergren, J. E., Nowakowski, K. E., & Koenig, B. A. (2012). The
Experience of Addiction as Told by the Addicted: Incorporating Biological Understandings into Self-Story. Cult Med Psychiatry Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 36(4), 712-734. doi:10.1007/s11013-012-9283-x
 
Larsson, S., Lilja, J., Braun, T. V., & Sjöblom, Y. (2013). Chapter 1. Introduction: Using
Narrative Research Methods for the Analysis of Use and Misuse of Alcohol and Drugs. Substance Use & Misuse, 48(13), 1286-1293. doi:10.3109/10826084.2013.814979
 
McLeod, J. (1997). Narrative and psychotherapy. London: Sage Publications.
 
Norman, D. (1994). Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the
Machine. New York: Persus.
 
Pink, D (1994). A Whole New Mind. NY: Penguin.
 

 
 
 

 


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1/10/2017

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Differentiating the Meaning Drugs Hold For Addicts From the Greater Meaning Found in Recovery

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"The only thing that will truly change the addict’s deep, emotional attachment to their drug and the personal meaning they give it is something deeper, more personal, more emotionally and more spiritually meaningful. The only way to compete with the meaning that drugs have for the addict is to validate that meaning and then help the addict find greater meaning from things in recovery" (McCauley & Reich, 2007).
 
There are many reasons individuals reach out to drugs or alcohol but the primary underlying factor is a sense of meaninglessness or isolation. Life has lost its meaning and substances offer a means to temporal relief from their condition. Despite valiant attempts to resolve this disconnect by self-directed methods, individuals just want a pathway that embodies purpose.
 
Neurobiology
Neurobiology instructs that protracted substance abuse affects the brains ability self-regulate inappropriate behavior. This skews our thinking into believing we can manage substance use and that it is a mechanism that subdues our anxiety sufficiently to offer balance. Yet, this only perpetuates the problem until the addict admits that they are powerless to quell this behavior.
 

If addicts uses substances that are attractors to sooth this consternation, then they assign meaning to it as an attachment. The greater their use, the greater it holds meaning in subduing the emotional strife they are experiencing. This creates a circular causality that entraps them in a cycle of distorted thinking. The paradox here is that we are each endowed with a drive to find purpose but when that pathway is obscured by horizontal stressors, they are drawn back to the false narrative that substance relief is the only pathway left.
 
Abstract Versus the Tangible
Many individuals have difficulty grasping a spiritual understanding and require science to evidence that this is not just an abstract approach, but one grounded in something tangible. So, consider what it is that we process as meaningful and something phenomenological such as love. Why are we born with something so pervasive that it connects us to something or someone other than our self? 
 

What is it about the nature of a mere family pet such as a dog that is hard-wired with the propensity for unconditional love, even when we may be unworthy of it? Where does this come from? It is not endowed in all of creation, nor is it something that evolved from anything we can explain. So, for the person adversely impacted from experiences in church, or simply as a nonbeliever, neurobiology offers this platform for further explanation.
 
Spiritual Approach
This approach of submission and acceptance is rooted in the belief that (1) we are hardwired to find purpose and (2) that substances do not hold the key to that actualization (Newberg, D'Aquili, & Rause; May, 1988 ). The twelve-step method and its counterparts each hold that meaning is ascertained through an existential self-understanding and that we are meant to connect in relationships.

On a deeper level this manifests the belief that there is a greater power at work that created everything we see, feel, and touch. Expanding upon this, meaning is found in tapping into the understanding that we were designed to channel our gifts to impact the lives of others and find relation with that greater power.
 

Neurotheology has bridged science with religion to map the brain and validate cerebral activity using fMRI's during prayer (Newberg, 2010). It inculcates the idea that science is beginning to evidence that mankind was designed to connect with this higher power. If we zoom out for a moment and consider this notion, then this suggests that we are never alone, and that there is a greater power at work in this world that seeks to connect with us. This opens a doorway to an alternate pathway, to a spiritual attachment that supersedes the meaning of attachments to substances themselves.
 
Method
Submission or acceptance that we are constrained by substances leads to the proposition that lifting up or objectifying our weaknesses can be discharged and replaced with the meaning that living free of substances holds (May, 1988). This requires guidance to comprehend how to work through a process of intentional change. However, the foundational element here is recognizing there is hope.
 
Conclusion
The mechanism for transformative change within the mind of the addict is that an alternative pathway has more profound meaning than an attachment to substances. It is an attitudinal personification that substances hold no promise for sustainability. It progresses to an understanding that somehow we are not alone.

​In this transformative struggle this belief empowers meaning in change itself. It embodies that we were born with the capacity to reconcile our past and move forward to something greater. In that visioning, we find meaning and purpose that offers the resilience to stay the course worthy of that new pathway thinking.
 
Blair Hollis M.A. GCDF BCCC
Crossroads Consulting, Inc.
 
Resources
 
Newberg, A. B. (2010). Principles of neurotheology. Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Pub.
 
Newberg, Andrew B., Eugene G. D'Aquili, and Vince Rause. Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief. New York: Ballantine, 2001.
 
May, G. G. (1988). Addiction and grace. New York: HarperCollins.

McCauley, K.T., & Reich, C.A. (2007). Addictions: New understanding, fresh hope, real healing. Salt Lake City, UT: Institute for Addiction Study.

 

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January 10th, 2017

1/10/2017

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​To Know Where You Are Going, You Have to Know Who You Are and Where You Are in Life

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The greatest obstacle to discerning a meaningful pathway in life is the “self.” Call it pride, call it ego, or call it a blindside, no one has it all together. Consequently, our individuative growth is skewed, offering a distorted understanding of who we are.
 
Our goals are subjectively influenced by our environment. What we process from the media and others shapes us into manifesting a perception that we must have the next iPhone, look a certain way, or drive a certain car if we are to be successful and accepted. If we live witnessing others who possess what we do not, it impacts our state of mind for not having what we implicitly feel we need.
 
In our early years, did we morph into adorning identities from others to fit into a particular peer group? If so, have we not in some way stuffed down who we are in exchange for adding layers of psychosocial traits to meet the expectations of others? So, as we progressed we added a bit of others to who we are leaving much of who we are in our past.
 
So, subconsciously we operate as if we have it all together, when in fact we constrain the inner tension about this ambiguity that reveals we really don’t know ourselves or what happiness really is. Nevertheless, we strive to find what may be an arbitrary vision of what delivers joy only to feel unfulfilled.

Pursuing goals that we envision as worthy endeavors, yet represent an uphill battle, may elicit feelings of depletion. This could lead to a sense of isolation that leads to depression. We may question the purpose of this pathway and what it ultimately delivers in terms of emotional rewards. 

The consternation we feel necessitates pealing back the layers of who we are. We need time to discern what drives us, why certain value sets have always been components of our worldview, and how expressing our uniqueness in what we do may coalesce into what resembles an avocation worth pursuing in life. This prompts the distinctive questions that requires subjectivity and objectivity.
 
Admitting we are struggling to find that pathway is the first important step in resolving this impasse. Committing to developmental self-inquiry into who you really are, what is truly causing our discontent, and how this reframes a new way of looking at our life is the second step to finding joy.
 
Being willing to work through self-reflection brings clarity. Recognizing that intentional change is necessary demands honesty and a willingness to objectively understand that pathway thinking compels us to own a new way of living. Do we have the courage to ask for guidance, to dive deep into revealing your blind spots, and to find meaning in a transformative process? Then this could be the most important new year’s resolution we could make that will forever change our life. In that choice, we will know where we are going in life.
 
Blair Hollis M.A. GCDF BCCC
Crossroads Consulting, Inc.


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January 04th, 2017

1/4/2017

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Mental Health: Six Dimensions of Wellness

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Individuals in pursuit of goal-oriented endeavors frequently obfuscate the reality of the multiple dimensions of wellness and their role in offering the balance we require in life. Focusing on a singular dimension directly impacts other facets of ourselves and the lives of others. It is important, therefore, to illuminate the dynamic importance that each contributes to wellness and sustaining that equilibrium in life.
 
To expand upon this Hettler (2016) defines wellness as:
 
“an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence.”
 
The following represent the six dimensions of wellness:
 
Occupational
The occupational dimension of wellness identifies personal satisfaction and improvement (goal orientation) in one’s life avocation. At the core is the belief or hope that one’s development is manifest in an attitude about their work; that it has purpose (vocational identity).
 
Physical
The physical dimension of wellness focuses on optimizing health and recognizing those substances that inhibit maintaining a proper balance to sustainable mental health.
 
Social

The social dimension (intrapersonal-interpersonal) of wellness illuminates that engaging or contributing to others or our community nourishes us and affects how we see ourselves.
 
Intellectual
The intellectual dimension of wellness (multiple intelligences) identifies one’s unique cognitive architecture that empowers individuals to understand how to problem-solve, contribute to affecting change, and impacting the lives of others.

Spiritual
The spiritual dimension of wellness represents an inherent hard-wired drive to find meaning and purpose in our personal and professional lives. It is a subjective yearning to find our calling in this world and to connect our multifarious attributes in a way to leave our mark on this world. In many ways, it is a search for something beyond ourselves to actualize this and to find harmony in living.

Emotional
The emotional dimension of wellness is an actualization and acceptance of our emotions and attitude about one’s self and life. This extends to discerning how our attitude affects behavioral management. Pathway thinking inculcates the confluence of feelings, beliefs, and values all that influence behavior.  
 
Synthesis
The central binding agent of these six dimensions is hope. Hope is the manifest belief that we are endowed with inborn intelligence (intellectual) to function in life roles (occupations) where deployment of inherent talent impacts others (social). The positive or negative effect (emotional) of our endeavors influences self-efficacy and our mental state (physical) that drives our behavior. To place all of the above in context, we search for the meaning of who we are and what we do in life. This represents an existential validation of self and serves as a mechanism to reconcile our role in this world (spiritual). Ultimately, developing wellness requires a process of critical self-inquiry grounded in the belief that we find meaning through making adjustments in these six dimensions, that tune our attitude and corresponding behavior. In that pursuit, attenuated wellness offers the richness of fulfillment and purpose.
 
Blair Hollis M.A. GCDF BCCC
Crossroads Consulting, Inc.
​

Source: (National Wellness Institute, 2016).
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