Viruses, Treacle-wading, Scans, Re-tuning, Re-booting
An Af-x client, Jeanette, once said that her interpretation of what the therapy meant to her was that it was like when your computer steadily picks up viruses over a long time, slows down or completely stops, and in order to bring it back to full function, you have to do a virus scan, sweep and re-tune.
Now we "affectology thinkers" are not all that comfortable to use a metaphor that compares the immensely hyper-dimensional and complex organization of the brain and mind with a simple (in comparison) computer, but this metaphor of viruses, scans and re-tuning is close to the mark. At least, it is as apt as the scope of this site would allow us to describe the process. So let us have a quick glance at the meaning of viruses and scans in this case. Mind Viruses?
In the last few decades, science has described that the human unconscious mind operates almost solely by replicating certain "packages" of information and establishing them as 'truth' within how the mind operates and drives our external (and internal) functioning. These 'packages' may be as broad as particular whole belief systems or as simple as a certain song that keeps popping into your mind without trying. These are described as memes, a technical term that is defined as 'any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator'. Ideas replicate as memes.
While "virus" by real definition is not necessarily a destructive entity but one that is well-capable of self-replication, in the case of psychotherapy, it's a beautiful analogy for 'the ideas that we pick up through life that are not in our best interests but nonetheless slow down the nature of our contentment and joy of life'. It may be said that these negative messages - often unknown to our conscious minds - cause our happiness to dull; our life-pulse to erode and often make us feel as though we are wading through treacle. So, over the term of our lives (up to now) – and even very early in our development, our minds become infected by viral messages that easily become firm beliefs. These messages, if they are directed at eroding our natural power to be content and peaceful within ourselves, go on to slow our potential; to ‘sludge up’ our minds and belief systems. Science shows unequivocally that whatever is held in the belief systems of the mind definitely transfers to the health and well-being of the body! And of course this applies also to our emotional states, mental states, attitudes and normal everyday reactions to the world around us. This is a concept perfectly described in White's book, Beat Depression the Drug Free Way. _
So, WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE VIRUSES OF THE MIND? Just as we need a virus sweeper – virus cleaner – to get our computers
back on track, it is obvious that we need to do a similar thing to
allow our minds (and consequently our whole selves) back to a state
where we can go forward in life freely and not be affected by beliefs
and viral information that locks us into a treacle-wading way of being.
Jeanette, an ex-client of White's who we met at the top of this page, says - "Over the years of your life, the mind learns many unproductive ways to live. This Af-x work is like doing a virus sweep on your computer. Get rid of the rubbish that's slowing you down and become happier and far more effective!" This then, is the aim of the Af-x and Clinical Affectology Process
Intelligent psychotherapy for intelligent emotions |
_- AND NOW -
You can proceed to the next sub-page in the "Therapy" section
and read about the tricks the mind plays in therapy. Click here.
You can proceed to the next sub-page in the "Therapy" section
and read about the tricks the mind plays in therapy. Click here.
__If I accept
you as you are, I will make you worse; however, if I treat you
as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Poet and Philosopher
as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Poet and Philosopher
_