Author Topic: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”  (Read 33135 times)

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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #30 on: February 25, 2010, 08:25:20 PM »
Quote from: "SEKTO"
Greetings.  You know, I do own a copy of this book, though have not read it yet.  Perhaps soon I shall do so, and will offer my thoughts when it's done.
:shamrock:  :shamrock:
Hey have you read that book yet, I'm still waiting...lol
 :shamrock:  :shamrock:
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Offline Ursus

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #31 on: February 25, 2010, 08:33:56 PM »
Quote from: "SEKTO "
Agreed. Please limit discussion of Elan, to the Elan forum. Later I'll split this thread and move things over there.
With all due respect, I worry that you run the risk of diluting the significance of program overlap by censoring discussion. I myself have found this thread quite stimulating and it has given me a number of new insights.

If you are going to excise all mention of non-Daytop programs from the Daytop thread, folk may perhaps not make the connection of the historical role Daytop plays. Likewise of all programs which also played a role in the formation of Daytop itself.
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Offline Inculcated

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #32 on: February 25, 2010, 08:47:38 PM »
Everybody can step off SEKTO’s ass because he just happened to be doing something I requested and Danny agreed with that the discussion relating to Élan groups is sorely needed in the Élan forum and would not be easily found by visitors in a Daytop/Casriel thread.
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“A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free”  Nikos Kazantzakis

Offline Anonymous

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #33 on: February 25, 2010, 09:00:27 PM »
Though if we can possibly open a line/connection from Daytop to Elan that would be good, I am not sure about how to do this but we need to establish the blend. Daytop (Joe Ricca/resident/Director) and Elan (Joe Ricca/Owner). Most people I know do not really know this. Joe Ricca was in Daytop what 65-66 these articles are from that era and Joe did bring alot of therapy influence from Daytop.
Inculcate was right in her assessment that these posts I posted needed to be moved to the Elan forum. I did say this or infer this.
 :shamrock:  :shamrock: ...........Danny
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Offline SEKTO

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #34 on: February 25, 2010, 09:05:25 PM »
Relax, Inculcated.  It's all good.  The thread stays as it is.  Let's stay on topic, however; that is, let's limit our discussion to that of DAYTOP and Casriel-related matters only.
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Offline Ursus

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #35 on: February 25, 2010, 09:18:32 PM »
Quote from: "SEKTO"
Relax, Inculcated.  It's all good.  The thread stays as it is.  Let's stay on topic, however; that is, let's limit our discussion to that of DAYTOP and Casriel-related matters only.
Hmmm. Casriel did not operate nor influence in a vacuum.
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Offline SEKTO

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #36 on: February 25, 2010, 09:34:15 PM »
Quote from: "Ursus"
Quote from: "SEKTO"
Relax, Inculcated.  It's all good.  The thread stays as it is.  Let's stay on topic, however; that is, let's limit our discussion to that of DAYTOP and Casriel-related matters only.
Hmmm. Casriel did not operate nor influence in a vacuum.

You're right.  They're all interrelated.  Let's just stay focused; that's all I am saying.
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Offline Anonymous

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #37 on: February 25, 2010, 09:39:44 PM »
Quote from: "Inculcated"
Bitte  Gast,
Have you read Crazy Therapies (Singer/Lalich)?
 
I’m not sure why so many Germans seem to embrace the primal scream n’ snuggle bit, but I noticed that too. Kinky ?
The ISBP “Bonding psychotherapy” conference was held in Bad Grönenbach, last may.

There seems to be no dearth of reference material out there on the interthingy about Casriel’s contributions.
Some articles are vituperative and others praise loud Quacks of approval.

More info. re: Casriel and New Identity Process (basically build your own personality disorder, IMO).
http://www.skepdic.com/therapy.html -From Abracadabra to Zombies (See also Janov for NIP)
:shamrock:  :shamrock:  :shamrock:
If you look at the last sentence here above in the parentheses you will see the name Janov, that is where my whole post started. I had not seen that name in years and I was instantly motivated to write.
Joe Ricca was in Daytop during this time of Casreil and The Primal Therapy, I know this from conversations with Joe concerning Primal Screams (as we called them). Long story to much for my head right now. Just wanted to give a reason why I went ahead and posted here. Yet the idea put forth by Inculcate is valid also. Sekto I hope this helps you to understand where this all started. Thanks Bro.....
 :shamrock:  :shamrock: ...........Danny
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Offline SEKTO

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Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
« Reply #38 on: February 25, 2010, 09:42:07 PM »
You're welcome.  Isn't it, Joe Ricci?
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Offline Ursus

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Janov and Casriel
« Reply #39 on: February 25, 2010, 09:50:08 PM »
Janov and Casriel are both mentioned in this document, albeit not for the non-paying viewer (purchase of full-length download available from link):

    Integrating Intensely Emotional Methods with Psychodynamic, Gestalt, Cognitive, and Behavioral Therapeutic Elements Part One:
    Emotional Freedom versus Emotional Control


    Author: Nolan Saltzman a
    Affiliation:      a Director, Bio Psychology Institute, New York, NY, 10028,
    DOI: 10.1300/J294v07n01_08
    Published in: journal Psychotherapy in Private Practice, Volume 7, Issue 1 June 1989 , pages 57 - 65
    Formats available: PDF (English)

    Abstract
    Part One: Emotional Freedom versus Emotional Control describes Bio Psychotherapy as an integration of intensely emotional methods with techniques of many therapies, also involving a few endogenous techniques. Intense emotions are elicited in a setting where they meet with validating responses (EEVR). Clinicians can adopt similar procedures to intensify and/or complement their own approaches. Indications and counterindications are given for the use of intensely emotional methods. Part Two: Anthony Goes Public is a case treatment integrating psychodynamic, intensely emotional, Gestalt, cognitive, and behavioral therapeutic components. The role of transference is discussed.[/list]
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    Offline Anonymous

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    Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
    « Reply #40 on: February 25, 2010, 09:52:15 PM »
    Quote from: "SEKTO"
    You're welcome.  Isn't it, Joe Ricci?
    :shamrock:  :shamrock:
    LOL....Yes it is, sorry.........
     :shamrock:  :shamrock:...........Danny
    Hey I went back and looked and we did start to get off on a Elan thing there.
    Got'cha.....
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    Offline SEKTO

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    Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
    « Reply #41 on: February 25, 2010, 09:57:02 PM »
    Quote
    Hey I went back and looked and we did start to get off on a Elan thing there.
    Got'cha.....
    Indeed.  Thank you, Danny.
    « Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

    Offline Awake

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    Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
    « Reply #42 on: February 26, 2010, 12:21:17 AM »
    Janov  is just as much a quack as Casriel I think, but they each do express how they are separate in their philosophies. Janov’s theory of ‘primaling’ is virtually identical to hypnotherapy’s use of abreactive therapy and  Bleuler and Freud’s development of the Cathartic Method. The difference is that hypnotherapy would view it as entering a subject into a deep trance and modifying or installing new beliefs into their deep unconscious structuring of reality, and Janov believes that the age-regressed, sobbing, screaming individuals ARE their ‘primals’, or ‘those little children’, like there is a person literally trapped inside that has been let out. These days you are more likely to see that this view of Primal therapy has been pretty much abandoned but still is paired with any other number of therapies under the name “Primal Integration”.

    One thing about Casriel is that he stressed (in his book, A Scream Away from Happiness) the philosophy of ‘as if’. If you are (‘are’ meaning ‘ your symptom is’) a homosexual, addict, not-sexually flirtatious enough for your husband, etc. you are supposed to act ‘as if’ you are(n’t). This philosophy of ‘as if’ is not his own. I have read this exact phrasing ‘as if’ within Chales Diedrichs (Synanon’s) philosophy also. The popularity of the Philosophy of ‘As If” can be traced to ...

    “Kelly, George A. (1905-1967), American psychologist. Kelly developed a theory of personality known as personal construct psychology, whose focus is on the distinctive ways in which individuals construct and reconstruct the meanings of their lives.
    http://www.pcp-net.org/encyclopaedia/kelly.html

    “Personal Construct Theory (PCT) represents a coherent, comprehensive psychology of personality that has special relevance for psychotherapy. Originally drafted by the American psychologist George Kelly in 1955, PCT has been extended to a variety of domains, including organizational development, education, business and marketing, and cognitive science. However, its predominant focus remains on the study of individuals, families, and social groups, with particular emphasis on how people organize and change their views of self and world in the counseling context.

    Philosophy of "as if"  
     
    George Kelly (1964/1969) advocated adopting an "as if" position towards knowledge. That is, he encouraged people to try out different constructions of events in order to see what might happen when they act "as if" these constructions are so. This "as if" position nicely complements Kelly’s seminal notion of constructive alternativism, which holds that there are an infinite number of ways to construe the world. In order to gain a fresh and potentially transforming perspective, all people need to do is loosen their constructions of something, entertain novel possibilities for construing it another way, and then test out these new possibilities by acting "as if" these new constructions are true.
    http://www.pcp-net.org/encyclopaedia/as-if.html

    Janov, in The Primal Scream P. 229, has a section...

    “Psychodrama

    A technique used widely in group therapy by a variety of therapists is Psychodrama. I would term Psychodrama the ‘As If’ game. The patient takes a role designated by the therapist and acts ‘as if’ he were someone else or himself in a special role such as talking back to his boss. The patient may take the role of his mother, father, brother, or teacher....”
    Although I think Janov is no different than the other therapies he criticizes for precisely the same reasons (basically re-routing the neurosis). Ultimately I side with hypnosis on this one.  

    (He wrote a book about the various therapies he was contending with here (hypnotherapy, behaviorism, humanism, Rational Emotive Therapy, Transactional Analysis etc). Actually I thought this was a really interesting read, again I would evaluate him under his own microscope. GRAND DELUSIONS Psychotherapies Without Feeling by Dr. Arthur Janov Posted June 2005 on primaltherapy.com http://www.primaltherapy.com/GrandDelus ... ntents.htm )

    One more important point on Janov is that he viewed all defenses as neurotic. He would see many successful people in society who’s successful behavior is actually neurotic, or derived out of a neurotic defense (i.e. repression, dissociation). But traditional psychotherapy would view that as healthy development.

    “Freud bequeathed us with the notion that the person with the strongest defense system is necessarily the one who can best function in society. Primal theory indicates that the healthiest people are those who are defense free. Anything that builds a stronger defense system deepens the neurosis.” – The Primal Scream, Arthur Janov 1970 p.20

    There is alot more about Casriel and his book that are interesting, in terms of the historical connections that can be made with other methods, therapies, and philosophies, but when comparing to Janov, I think these are important distictions.

    Compare this.:

    “Janov distinguishes the "primal" from emotional catharsis or abreaction, an abreaction being (according to Janov) a "pseudo-primal" [18]. A primal may be referred to as a "connected feeling" but a complete connected feeling will usually take months or even years to feel, in many primals.[15] It should be noted that "abreaction" or "catharsis" as used by other psychologists does not mean a false or unconnected feeling. Psychiatrist Anthony Storr claimed that Primal Therapy techniques have much in common with abreaction [19].

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primal_therapy

    And this application is comparable to Janov also.

    "Hypnotherapy in Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD)
    Ph. D. Irina Holdevici
    Bucharest "Titu Maiorescu" University, Romania
    Department of Psychology

    In the present paper a short term eclectic psychotherapy model, based on clinical
    hypnosys, for patients suffering from PTSD, is presented.

    The rationale for using hypnosis in PTSD consists in the analogy between trance state
    and the spontaneous state produced by psychological defence mechanisms activated in
    trauma victims: dissociation, increased suggestibility and narrow focused attention
    (Spiegel, 1993).

    The model includes the following strategies:

    ??inducing and deepening of the trance state;
    ??age-regression and abreaction (catharsis) of the traumatic event;
    ??suggested amnezia;
    ??memory modifications;
    ??relabelling (the traumatic event receives a positive connotation - a destiny trial);
    ??ego-strengthening and specific suggestions aimed at symptom reduction;
    ??guided imagery technique focused on relaxing scripts;
    ??post-hypnotic suggestions;
    ??mental restructuring;
    ??self-regulation techniques.

    The aim of the psychotherapy consists in regaining a controlled access to the traumatic
    memories and modifying them in a less stressful form.”
    -
    And look at some more recent viewpoints from Primal therapy.

    “If we believe, as Michael Broder (1976) suggests, that the primal process consists of five phases: Commitment, Abreaction (catharsis); Insight (cognitive-affective restructuring); Counter-action (fresh behaviour in the world); and Pro-action (making real changes); then it must be the case that the later phases are just as important as the earlier ones. In other words, working through is just as significant as breaking through.

    The glamorous part, and the controversial part, of our work is the 'primal', the cathartic breakthrough; but in reality the process of integration is necessary and equally exciting in its quieter way. For example, it is a great thing to get to the cathartic point of forgiving one's mother; it is another thing to start treating women decently in daily life, as a result of this.

    http://primal-page.com/johnr-1c.htm
    --
    And this is an article about Casriels’s New Identity Process that COMES FROM THE PRIMAL PAGE! (I think this is like Primal therapy, in terms of Janov’s vision, has accepted it’s own failure.)

    The New Identify Process (NIP) and other forms of emotive psychotherapy embrace the healing tradition of catharsis--intense emotional expression is elicited within a contained therapeutic environment. This emotive therapy follows in a direct line from the earliest forms of ancient healing arts through recent scientific studies exploring the link between body and mind. The challenge for clinicians in answering the criticism about the use of catharsis is to conceptually bridge past and present in evaluating emotive methods…..

    First, a bit of history. Although the use of catharsis was a key element of treatment during the first 200 years of early psychotherapy (with Mesmer, Charcot, Janet, and Bruer), Freud's rejection of this cathartic method within psychoanalysis and his reliance on free association, "The talking cure" as a sufficient form of abreaction, spread until dominating the field. By 1920, methods of emotive psychotherapy moved to the fringes of conventional psychological practice. Freud gave as one of his reasons for rejecting emotive methods his frustration as a neurologist in trying to theorize about the workings of emotion. Although some of his colleagues continued to rely on methods of catharsis (notably Ferenczi, Brown and Reich) and although a second wave of interest sparked the development of additional methods in the early 1950's (by Janov, Lowen, Perls, Casriel and Jackins) the academic literature continues to reject catharsis, following Freud. Methods of emotive psychotherapy, when mentioned, are usually discounted as unproved and ineffective at best, or counterproductive and harmful at worst. Currently, the criticism of emotive therapy is based on the results of often flawed, past research about catharsis.
    http://primal-page.com/pert.htm"

    Now compare that with a more modern approach from the hypnotherapeutic tradition.

    Journal of Heart-Centered Therapies, 2003, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 105-122
    ? 2003 Heart-Centered Therapies Association
    105

    Hypnotic Trance in Heart-Centered Therapies
    David Hartman, MSW and Diane Zimberoff, M.A.

    Abstract: This article traces the roots of the use of trance states in Heart-Centered therapies.
    A discussion of traditional hypnosis includes Brown and Fromm’s (1986) proposed four
    treatment approaches with hypnosis: symptomatic hypnotherapy, supportive egostrengthening
    hypnotherapy, dynamic hypnotherapy, and hypnotherapy of developmental
    deficits. We review several ways of defining hypnosis, and Holroyd’s (1990) nine trance
    characteristics. Ericksonian and NLP techniques that fit well with the Heart-Centered
    approach are calling to awareness senses within the body, which encourage the client to
    exclude external stimuli and focus on internal realities; stating permission to the
    unconscious mind either for searching memory archives or for expression of unaccustomed
    feelings and experiences; and nonverbal cues such as changing voice patterns and modeling
    appropriate trance behaviors. We also review some of the hypnobehavioral approaches and
    behavior modification techniques utilized in Heart-Centered therapies, including systematic
    desensitization, modeling, anchoring, sensitization or aversion, flooding and implosion,
    role-playing (behavioral rehearsal), assertive training, and observational learning.

    Primary topics
    1. Traditional hypnosis
    2. Ericksonian and NLP techniques
    3. Hypnobehavioral approach and behavior modification

    Utilizing an altered state of consciousness in psychotherapy provides a
    powerful added dimension to the process. Hypnotic age regression
    accesses a much deeper level of material than cognitive psychotherapy can
    by following an affect bridge from a current intense emotion back to earlier
    and more traumatic antecedents of that emotion (Watkins, 1971). The
    experience is one of re-living, releasing and integrating the memory, not
    just remembering and analyzing it. Experimental evidence verifies that the
    most effective age regressions are those associated with highly affective
    events (Nash et al., 1979).
    http://www.heartcenteredtherapies.org/g ... Trance.pdf

    And probably the oldest know usages of catharsis in psychotherapy.

    “The so-called "cathartic method" was a treatment for psychiatric disorders developed during 1881-1882 by Joseph Breuer with his patient "Anna O." The aim was to enable the hypnotized patient to recollect the traumatic event at the root of a particular symptom and thereby eliminate the associated pathogenic memory through "catharsis."
    Reading the case history of Anna O., one sees that the method developed gradually. At first, Breuer limited himself to making use of the patient's self-induced hypnotic states in which she would strive to express what she preferred to avoid talking about when normally conscious.

    To move the treatment along faster, Breuer began use hypnosis, which he had not regularly employed previously.
    Freud and Breuer filled out the notion of catharsis with the concept of "abreaction"—a quantity of affect that was linked to memory of a traumatic and pathogenic event that could not be evacuated through normal physical and organic processes ….

    Tired of poor results and of the monotony of hypnotic suggestion, by 1889 Freud appears to have decided, in treating Emmy von N., to employ "the cathartic method of J. Breuer." But failure to regularly induce hypnotic states inclined him by 1892 to give up hypnosis, which his patient Elisabeth von R. disliked. He asked her to lay down and close her eyes but allowed her to move about or open her eyes as she wished, and he experimented with a "pressure technique": "I placed my hand on the patient's forehead or took her head between my hands and said: 'You will think of it [a symptom or its origin] under the pressure of my hand. At the moment at which I relax my pressure you will see something in front of you or something will come into your head. Catch hold of it. It will be what we are looking for.—Well, what have you seen or what has occurred to you?" (Freud 1895d, p. 110). This procedure "has scarcely ever left me in the lurch since then," (p. 111) Freud added, claiming that this was the case to such an extent that he told patients that it could not possibly fail but invariably enabled him to "at last [extract] the information" (p. 111)

    His explanation of the difficulties that patients experienced during treatment to defend themselves against pathogenic memories would come to be known as "resistance," while the concept of "transference" would emerge from his understanding of Breuer's sudden termination of Anna O., or the time that a patient, upon waking from hypnosis, threw her arms around his neck.

    Catharsis and abreaction, even while still observed during psychoanalytic treatment, no longer constitute therapeutic aims as in 1895. However, they remain prominent in several psychotherapeutic techniques, such as in "Primal Scream" therapy and certain types of psychodrama.

    http://www.enotes.com/psychoanalysis-en ... tic-method

    .... So I guess you have to ask yourself why you think THEY are doing it to you.
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    Offline Awake

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    Re: Dr. Dan Casriel “A scream away from happiness”
    « Reply #43 on: February 26, 2010, 12:41:24 AM »
    -Here are some parts of Casriels transcript of therapy from A Scream Away From Happiness. I found them hauntingly resemblant of my experience, maybe some of you will think so. One thing to keep in mind is in Casriel’s book the subjects lived in their own homes, didn’t share their full names with each other (first names only unless by choice), and were there by choice. -

    p. 15“Casriel: Ok, who has a feeling? Who wants to work?

    Vilma: I do. I don’t feel good. I don’t feel sexual at all. When I don’t want to screw, my boyfriend gets mad and stomps out. It happens twice a week.

    Nancy: Happened last last month too didn’t it?

    (There’s no response. Vilma nods yes.)

    Nancy: What did the group tell you Vilma?

    Vilma: That I was angry, because Mitchell wouldn’t marry me. And that I didn’t want to screw because I was angry.

    Casriel: Is it true? What do you think?

    Vilma: But I’ve told him several times I’m angry. It doesn’t do any good. He doesn’t pay attention to me.

    Casriel: You don’t seem angry. Are you angry right now?

    Cathy: (Screaming) Vilma, I can’t stand your turned off tone- you never get to a feeling. Scream you bitch! If your angry get angry.

    Vilma: (standing up to scream) I’m angry.  I’m angry. I’m ANGRY.

    (Vilma continues to scream for thirty five seconds. She is performing an exercise she has seen others do in group.)

    Peter: The hell you’re angry! Your about as angry as a pussycat! If you’re angry, sound angry like this!

    (Peter let’s out an intense scream that last for ten seconds…..)

    Cathy: That’s not all ,Peter. Go on.

    (Peter continues to scream….)

    Casriel: Go on, scream it all out Peter.
    (Peter screams again, this time with some tears in his eyes. Cathy rises and takes him in her arms and he begins to scream with pain. Finally, there is only the sound of his sobs.)

    Casriel: That’s your pain, Peter. It’s okay. It brings people close to you when you show it. Look around the room and see for yourself. All your life you felt alone because you couldn’t show your real feelings. Now you’re not alone.

    (There is a pause of thirty seconds while Peter checks the eyes of everyone in the group…..)

    Casriel: What do you see Peter?

    Peter: I Don’t know. People feel close to me I guess.

    Nancy: Try again!

    Peter: People feel what I feel, I mean.

    Casriel: How about that they love you? Can you say that?

    Peter: (after a pause) Well, I guess some of the people do.  Nancy does, I think. But not everybody.

    Casriel: Who doesn’t feel close to you?

    Peter: Vilma.

    Casriel: Vilma, how do you feel about Peter?

    Vilma: (Looking at Casriel.) I feel close to him. I felt his anger and his pain.

    Casriel: Tell Peter

    Vilma: I feel close to you Peter

    Peter: (Looking into her eyes) Okay, I have a little trouble believing that, but I trust what you say.

    Casriel: You CAN trust it Peter. People want to share your feelings with you. Your openness is a pleasurable thing for people to experience.
    ( as the goup continues, Peter goes to a few people who embrace him.)

    Casriel: You seem angry, Cathy. What’s going on with you?

    Cathy: I am angry, Dan.

    Casriel: What are you angry about?

    Cathy: I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to scream. I’m angry. I’m Angry. I’m ANGRY! I’m AANNGRYYYEE!

    ( Cathy screams for more than a minute… She stops out of breath)

    Casriel: What are you angry at Cathy? Try to talk about it. I think it’s important.

    Cathy: I don’t know. I’m just angry. At my parents. At my brother. At the principal of my school. At the turned off people I had as friends. At the whole damned world!

    Casriel: I feel your anger. It is very real. But who is hurting you?

    Peter: (interrupting) My god damn parents pushing me and nagging me and lecturing me!...
    ….
    Casriel: Push it out Nancy.

    Nancy: (Sobbing) What’ll I yell?

    Casriel:  Just make a louder sound. Push it out. Hold her Barry.

    (Nancy’s scream is a loud screech of pain.)

    Casriel: More louder.

    (Nancy begins to sound like a wounded animal. She continues to scream five, six, seven times and then there is quiet.)……

    Casriel: Why don’t you get down on the mat, Nancy – get those historical feelings out.

    (Mats are placed on the floor during some non verbal emotional excercises……

    ….Roger:Work Nancy. You’ve been choked up about Patricia and your mother for weeks….

    Casriel: Get to the mat and work!

    Nancy: All right , I’ll try

    (the mats are brought out. When an individual is working on the mat, group members gather around the person to provide emotional and sometimes physical help.)

    Nancy: What do I do?

    Casriel: What do you feel like doing?

    Nancy: I feel a bit silly.

    Cathy: You Damn Bitch!

    (She gets up and leaves the group of people kneeling around Nancy on the mats.)

    Casriel: Begin by expressing a sound, Nancy. Just yell! The sound will get to the feelings.
    (
    Nancy screams three times)

    Casriel: I can feel your anger in that sound.

    Peter: I do too.

    Barry : I agree there’s  anger in your yells.

    Casriel: What do you feel (about this), Gretchen?

    Gretchen: I’m not sure I qualify as judge. But I sense your anger too Nancy.

    Casriel: Why don’t you try really letting go of the anger, Nancy? You’ll enjoy feeling free.

    (Nancy is now given instructions on how to relax and let out a sound….. Now the temper tantrum begins. Nancy is screaming wildly and thrashing all over the mat.)……

    Cathy: (From the far corner of the room) You’re a no good, controlling cunt! I knew you couldn’t get to that feeling!

    Nancy: (sitting up) And you’re a bratty adolescent girl with a nasty tongue….
    ….
    Casriel: Yell out what you need. Allow that little girl to express her need full measure!

    Nancy: I need you! I need you!

    Casriel: How old do you feel when you say that?

    Nancy: Six, Seven, maybe eight

    Casriel: What did you call your mother then?

    Nancy: Mommy.

    Casriel: Say: Mommy I need you.

    Nancy: I need you mommy. I NEED you. Mommy, I need you!.....MOMMMMMYYY!.......(The room is frozen in silence. Cathy is crying. Nancy is oblivious to her surroundings….. She cries again. Now the emotional barriers between many members of the group dissolve.)

    ….Casriel: Let’s work on that anger….Peter: Stop thinking – and work!

    Casriel: Just scream cathy. Your feelings will come out in the scream. Come on – Yell! The sound will find the feeling and the feeling will uncover your thoughts.

    (Cathy begins to scream…. After nine screams Cathy is breathing deeply, but is still very much aware of herself and her environment.)….

    Peter: Stop controlling and let go.

    (Cathy screams…. Cathy is now sobbing)

    Peter: (Hugging Cathy) It’s OK Cath, It’s OK. It’s your pain that you feel.

    Casriel: It really is Cathy…..

    Cathy: ( Laughing as she cries) It’s good to feel my pain, and not to be frightened by it…..

    (Cathy now goes over to Nancy, hugs her, and kisses her on the cheek.)…..


    A SCREAM AWAY FROM HAPPINESS, DANIEL CASRIEL M.D. : “SCREAM THERAPY” –THE GROUP PROCESS THAT PROMISES TH REVOLUTIONIZE THE TREATMENT OF MENTAL DISORDERS. 1972.

    Contents:
    1.   A Scream away from Happiness …1
    2.   Group in action …11
    3.   An analysts journey from couch to encounter: Synanon and encounter goups… introduction of the marathon… screaming…
    4.   Emotional health
    5.   Beyond the symptom: The New Identity Group approach to symptoms… Survival based feelings.
    6.   The Human need for Bondedness

    7.   A character disordered society …120

    8.   Neurosis and Character disorder: (dissociative reaction… “fight, flight or freeze” reactions to pain and danger… “freeze” and “secondary encapsulation”, Psychosis (R.D.Laing: The Divided Self- false self)

    9.   The limitations of psychoanalysis and individual psychotherapy

    10.   Triangular man: Behaviors, feelings and attitudes: Behavior (Gestalt Therapy, Perls, Synanon), Feelings, Attitudes (“AS IF” behavior)

    11.   Acceptors and Rejectors: … 202 (Identity development of the Child, The Rejector Personality (Thinker), The Acceptor Personality (Feelers), Rejectors vs. Acceptors, Neurotics or Character Disorders.)

    12.   The Process : breaking Tabboos, Structure, Leaders, Marathons : (Basic Rules, Structure and Dynamic, Projection and transference, Peer Group Leaders (Catalysts), Marathons, Being Responsible to ones feelings)

    13.   Signals: The Foundation Of The Group Therapy Process: (Perls, Esalen (Human Potential Movement)

    14.   The Process: Excercises : (Fear excercises( confession, the ‘secret’),  Anger Excercises, Pain excercises, Love excercises (learning to ask for love), Pleasure excercises (giving love freely, spontaneously)

    15.   From Now On: (Dangers of group therapy, Can group embracing get out of hand? Can group become a way of life? The possibility of cultism?)… 276
    « Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

    Offline Ursus

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    Hans Vaihinger - Philosopy of As If
    « Reply #44 on: February 26, 2010, 01:57:08 AM »
    Quote from: "Awake"
    One thing about Casriel is that he stressed (in his book, A Scream Away from Happiness) the philosophy of 'as if'. If you are ('are' meaning ' your symptom is') a homosexual, addict, not-sexually flirtatious enough for your husband, etc. you are supposed to act ‘as if’ you are(n’t). This philosophy of 'as if' is not his own. I have read this exact phrasing 'as if' within Chales Diedrichs (Synanon's) philosophy also. The popularity of the Philosophy of 'As If" can be traced to ...

    "Kelly, George A. (1905-1967), American psychologist.
    Kelly developed a theory of personality known as personal construct psychology, whose focus is on the distinctive ways in which individuals construct and reconstruct the meanings of their lives.
    http://www.pcp-net.org/encyclopaedia/kelly.html"
    Mmmm. I would beg to differ with you on George Kelly being the source. He published very little during his lifetime, and what he published was so dense it was almost unreadable for any but the very dedicated. Moreover, if I read correctly, it required all sorts of mathematical modeling to understand from a theoretical POV. He had very little influence on the trends in psychology during his time save perhaps the most esoteric circles of academia. He certainly did not have influence to speak of when it came to popular culture.

    Rather, I propose the construct/philosophy of "as if" came from the German Kantian scholar Hans Vaihinger (1852–1933). In fact, Vaihinger wrote the book on it, literally -- Philosophie des Als Ob (Philosophy of As If), which was published in 1911, although allegedly written in the late 1870s.

    George Kelly himself wrote, "...Vaihinger began to develop a system of philosophy he called the "philosophy of 'as if' ". In it he offered a system of thought in which God and reality might best be represented as paradigms. This was not to say that either God or reality was any less certain than anything else in the realm of man's awareness, but only that all matters confronting man might best be regarded in hypothetical ways." *

    Vaihinger, in turn, credits numerous predecessors, in particular the influence of Jeremy Bentham's Theory of Fictions.

    One of the more important initial conduits through which the concept of "as if" eventually reached the masses through the Human Potential movement may well have been Alfred Adler, who apparently was quite influenced by Vaihinger, though I doubt he was the only one in said position.

    I also doubt that Charles Dederich read much philosophy or psychology (I could be wrong!), but I'm sure he paid some attention to what was going on at Esalen.


    * Kelly, G. A. (1969). The language of hypothesis: Man's psychological instrument. In B. Maher (Ed.), Clinical psychology and personality: The selected papers of George Kelly (p 149). New York: John Wiley. (Original work published 1964)
    « Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
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