How to Help Others

[Magpie]

I realised that many people seeking professional help in the form of therapy or anti-depressant medication have issues of spiritual rather than material nature. This is in stark contrast to those affected by more tangible neurological degradations or anomalies. How to help them? My intuition tells me "you can't", but I want to know what you say. Can we somehow inspire them to break away from the anxiety and depression? For context, we are considering close relatives & friends, not strangers.

 

[Ziran]

Can we somehow inspire them to break away from the anxiety and depression?

Yes. Definitely.

How to help them?

In general, this is the way I'm doing it:

Just like any practitioner, it begins with observation, ideally an interview. Collecting signs and symptoms, family history and most important consent. After that it's root-cause-analysis. Then, to put it bluntly, I invoke the root-cause with-in myself in a sort of sand-box and play with it until I've gotten to know it sufficiently to deconstruct it. Once I'm able to deconstruct it for myself, I join the afflicted in their world, and show them how to deconstruct it for themself. Where it differs from conventional therapy is the invocation, the manner in which I am "joining in their world", and the techniques I'm using for deconstruction.

Ultimately, successfully helping people in this way is a function of 3 things:

1. how well the practitioner knows themself
2. how well the practitioner knows the afflicted
3. the number of afflictions known and understood to the extent of deconstructing them

anxiety and depression

In particular, these two, I start looking for trauma. Unresolved painful memories. Metaphorical "inflammation" which is sapping their resources. In the past, many used a "demon possession" model which had some therapeutic benefit. I prefer using an inflammation model instead, but, in function, it's still ... the same "old-religion". The metaphorical "demons" which are afflicting them are metaphorically "named" and metaphorically "banished" over and over again.

 

[Magpie]

Yes. Definitely.



In general, this is the way I'm doing it:

Just like any practitioner, it begins with observation, ideally an interview. Collecting signs and symptoms, family history and most important consent. After that it's root-cause-analysis. Then, to put it bluntly, I invoke the root-cause with-in myself in a sort of sand-box and play with it until I've gotten to know it sufficiently to deconstruct it. Once I'm able to deconstruct it for myself, I join the afflicted in their world, and show them how to deconstruct it for themself. Where it differs from conventional therapy is the invocation, the manner in which I am "joining in their world", and the techniques I'm using for deconstruction.

Ultimately, successfully helping people in this way is a function of 3 things:

1. how well the practitioner knows themself
2. how well the practitioner knows the afflicted
3. the number of afflictions known and understood to the extent of deconstructing them

In particular, these two, I start looking for trauma. Unresolved painful memories. Metaphorical "inflammation" which is sapping their resources. In the past, many used a "demon possession" model which had some therapeutic benefit. I prefer using an inflammation model instead, but, in function, it's still ... the same "old-religion". The metaphorical "demons" which are afflicting them are metaphorically "named" and metaphorically "banished" over and over again.

I can recognise that this is a valuable response. I cannot really reply meaningfully though, as I realised this is above my current skillset.