Psychotherapy and Convincing the Pharisees

• Welcome to the BOL Forum on Evolutionary Psychology by John Grohol, 3/19/97
  • About Evolutionary Psychology by Behavior OnLine Editor, 12/28/96
    
    

I was recently privileged to be contacted by a major clinical publisher about writing a book on "Evolutionary Psychotherapy." However, I was cautioned that the evidence supporting evolutionary ideas in therapy is between "limited" and "nonexistent," (despite 4 eons of consilience!) so I would have to craft a very persuasive argument to convince other psychologists to consider the ideas. I turned down the task -- even on my birthday! -- although the inquiry was perhaps one of the greatest compliments I have ever received.

I had a quadruple by-pass in '89; the warranty is for 10 years. I shall not return to the table. Given the higher probability of a shorter life span (despite 4 marathons in 2 years), I must focus on productive things such as reaching students, non-psychologist practitioners, and some driven but younger types who evaluate methods on utility first and subsequently modify their theories. Thus, drafting chapters for the purpose of "convincing psychotherapists" could be a tragic waste.

Kauffman (1995) described a model that generates flexibility and rigidity in clusters of decisions units as a function of the number of cross connections between them. Generally, if there are too many connections (too much communication), the network becomes highly resistant to change. The network is stable but not frozen if there are 3 such interconnections between logic units; stasis occurs with the 4th connection.

It's tempting to apply the reasoning to professional movements ... there is no reason to believe that people are less bound by math than are neurons or computer systems. Thus, influencing a cohesive group of professionals (or a troop of chimpanzees) is more difficult than is true for more isolated members. The larger groups in psychology and psychiatry will change, however, the mechanisms will be different than that of convincing each member separately.

Kauffman's language of a changing "fitness landscape" applies to clinicians -- medical or not.

Evolutionary thinking will likely start to end run them as its methods (not necessarily the belief system!) are adopted by new members of psychology or by other professionals (writers, ministers, friends, neighbors, dates, even prostitutes) who supply alternative services for highly similar problems.

There is a 50% oversupply of psychologists and other "therapists" ... the survival contest should spur diversity, the seeking of alternative therapies and markets.

"Natural" approaches are gaining popularity. A new GNC outlet opens every day. One new company (founded, ironically, by a guy named "Gould") uses an Amway structure to market "nontoxic, nonpolluting" household products. Their commercial growth is extraordinary. The structure seems to work not because of "environment" but because they market on the basis of personal referral ... an old, old habit for homo sapiens (Ridley 1996).

Naturopaths and others will deliver an ever greater portion of mental health services but under such rubrics as "stress relief."

The "Discovery Channel" and science magazines appear to have relatively good market penetration.

Clinical psychologists can be a highly coherent, self-involved priesthood. There will continue to be several of them two generations from now, practicing as often on the internet as face-to-face. (There are still psychoanalysts. Both disciplines have rare, lovable individuals; neither audience is collectively attractive.)

Our "children," the ones in which we must extent maximum parental investment, are the present undergraduates and graduate students who will be the future "psychotherapists." Although the title may fade, the role will survive because of the nature of nature as well as that of our species. David Buss (rumored to have an undergraduate text near completion), Charles Crawford and anyone else teaching the younger group will play an essential catalytic role. Thus, likely milestones (whomever the author) for the decade may include:

- A best seller (Scott Peck analog) ... will happen fairly soon. The clinical and research audience already follows the popular demand in such things as ADHD. Likely also to be true next for bipolar disorder and certainly for behavior genetics.(1)

- A variety of undergraduate texts ... Buss, Crawford? ... will appear soon.

- A phase of photocopied class notes, internet thefts assembled into class notes (such as the HTMA course book). Happening right now in USA & Canada. The UK and the Germans are certainly much further along. The French may yawn and "what's new?" or recall that Lamarck was French; the Russians will cite Kropotkin ... but such are their respective disorders.

- "Tim" Beck puts a book out on the topic (rumor is that he's deeply interested in evolutionary mechanisms of cognition and emotion and, like the rest of us, has met skepticism from his peers). The me-tooists (not to be confused with a former leader of China!) jump on board. (See above comment about "making bucks.")

So much for the intermediate future. For the shorter term, some people want to use these ideas now in their clinical work. They require some rationales for their personal comfort, that they are not cheating anyone. We also need them for our clients, we need a "story to tell," a need perhaps magnified by our charging money for our time because our adaptations for "cheater detection" seem far more tuned than for spotting altruism (Ridley, 1996 -- although this point can be quibbled). Thus, our possibly evolved sense of fairness dictates a rationale -- a data ladder -- either in or outside of mainstream psychology

NOTE and REFERENCES:

Life Magazine (April 1998) recently put both their editorial toe and a cover story in genetic's pond. The final 2 paragraphs on p. 50 of the Life article are particularly salient and could have been taken from "GrandDad" (posted on this forum).

"A few nights ago, watching my daughter arrange her 37 Beanie Babies by color and species, I felt a shock of recognition -- and glanced over at my wife, who wears the same expression when she arranges Shakespeare's plays in chronological order. My lump of putty is eight now, and I don't need a DNA scan to tell me she has inherited her mother's intelligence, her father's stubbornness, her grandfather's wit. The genes may be familiar but the mix -- thank heavens -- is unique. Warts and all, she is exactly the child I want. (Colt, 1998)

"When I look at her, I see a part of me. When I look at myself, it seems there's less of me that there once was. At a recent party, schmoozing with one last guest on my out the door, I suddenly thought, "I'm acting exactly like my father!" Having spent my youth fighting to forge my own identity, I find, increasingly, that I resemble the very parent against whom I worked so hard to rebel: his social ease, his sense of humor -- and now that I am in my forties, his thinnning hair and slight potbelly. Indeed, as I get older, I feel that instead of adding layers, I am shedding skins. In becoming more like my parents, I am becoming more myself. I am surprised and delighted that it all feels so comfortable -- not an imprisoning but a coming home." George Howe Colt, "Were you born that way?" "Life," April 1998, pp 39-50.

Kauffman, S. (1995) At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self Organization and Complexity. NY: Oxford.

Ridley, M. (1996) The Origins of Virtue. NY: Penguin.

• why surprise? by MIKE, 5/19/98
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