A few nights ago, I was up until a far too late hour with a
sibling discussing various topics regarding mental health, addiction, trauma,
etc. As can happen, I found myself going into a monologue about the subjects.
This happens due to a passion that I have for them. Over the years I’ve had
opportunities to attend trainings and supervision on various subjects. What I
find fascinating is when two seemingly unrelated subjects or ideas come
together in a correlational fashion. Therefore, I was discussing these types of
experiences with him. As we continued our discussion, I did not find myself
enlightened by the topic as I had heretofore experienced; but, rather, I found
myself becoming saddened and despondent. I remember the moment when I was aware
of my mood change when I had finished talking about the effects of pornography
and other addictions on the brain and my brother asked, “Is it possible for the
effects to be reversed? Or for the person to experience some kind of full
recovery?” At that point was when I had realized that I had backed myself in a
corner. I had been focusing on the psychological research that I had studied,
which is very negative. In fact, that is one of the complaints of the
psychology field is that it can be negatively focused, which is why Positive
Psychology became a movement. We finished the conversation and I went to bed.
The next morning I was still feeling despondent. I meditated on the “why” of my
mood and realized that I had, once again, focused so heavily on the research
that I forgot about the human aspect of this field. The study of people does not
take into account the people as it looks for correlations in variables. Now, I’m
not saying that research does not carry importance, as research is highly
beneficial, but the people no longer become the focus as the variables and how
they interact with other variables carry more weight. But, I digress.
As I was reflecting on what we had discussed and the sense
of sadness it brought due to the negative results of mental health problems I
had a very strong impression come to my mind. It was simply put “What are you
going to do about it, Jamison?” At that moment, the sense of hopelessness
disappeared and I experienced a feeling of empowerment and I asked myself the question,
“what can I do about it?” The answer, then, was simple. I can keep trying. I
can keep trying to work with people to help them see that despite their
struggles, traumas, addictions, disorders, negative experiences in all of their
forms that they have inherent value just by virtue of being alive and being a
member of the human family. Is that not what counseling is about? Our clients
struggle with various maladies of the human experience which bring them to
question their value. We call these struggles disorders as a means to classify
and measure. But, at the end of the day, do we not all have moments of
depression, anxiousness, traumas, addiction, behavioral outbursts, etc.?
Therefore, what I can do is engage anxiously in a positive cause to try to help
where I am able and hope that my interaction and interventions will result in
an increase of self-awareness. I can provide treatments that are intentional
and purposeful that help give others an idea of the direction they hope to go
that they might liberate themselves from “disorders” with which they are
plagued. And, maybe, along the way I too can learn more about myself, have more
self-awareness, and learn (piece by piece) of my own value as a member of the
human family.
