Response to Responses

• Responses to First Learning about Affect Theory by Jim Duffy a.k.a. J.C.D., 2/28/97
  
  

"a type of response to my own newfound unconcealed interest-excitement that triggers my shame insofar as a noncomprehending response from another can prematurely abate my interest-excitement" .... well-put, Jim! I can relate to that. Happens to me all the time. I supervise a bunch of therapists and have one colleague with whom I have been studying Affect Theory for a couple of years. Everyone else sort of rolls their eyes when they hear us discussing it. "There they go again" is a comment often heard in our offices. It has been an uphill battle, but more and more, people are beginning to hear what we are saying and...better yet...we have a small group of graduate students doing their interships with us who are really expressing interest.

My own idea of what the problem is goes something like this: We are all so used to being within a society that shames people for having feelings that in order to GET what is happening and understand Tomkins' ideas, one has to have de-toxified his or her own shame and jumped outside of the shame bubble (so to speak). It's really easy to jump back in where it's comfortable before you have fully grasped the significance of Affect Theory and developed a method of explaining it that is undaunted by the most shaming of colleagues who may think you are nuts!!! Don't give up!!

• Thank You Margaret by Jim Duffy, 2/28/97