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PROMOTING EMOTIONAL HEALTH AND CLEAR THINKING
Editorial: Volume 7, No. 1 — 2000
... springs eternal
WHEN winter comes, can spring be far away? Unfortunately, not enough of us take such a positive attitude to life. It is far too easy to take a pessimistic and negative view and to focus, for instance, upon the number of people not coping with current accelerated rates of technological and social change: the explosion of clinical depression, the rise in anxiety disorders, addiction, family breakdown, etc. But we must also retain our awareness of the converse side of the coin; that, despite the amazing rate of change, the majority of the population is actually coping. Many people are adapting extremely well to the incredible pressures brought about by changes we are all encountering.
It is interesting to reflect on how far we need to look into human prehistory to discover a rate of change and an explosion of activity that matches what we are observing today. We could, for example, go back to the dawn of civilisation, some 40,000 years ago. Before that, for an enormous period of time, about 100,000 years, little appeared to happen to homo sapiens. Suddenly, and in many parts of the world, human creativity burst forth for the first time.
Virtually overnight there was an explosion in new tools and technologies, wonderful original works of art appeared on cave walls, and intricate carvings and weavings were created. Story and myth also came into being (we can tell from the figurines and the types of mythological creatures that appeared). Clearly the brains of humans changed, developed new abilities and started to function as we do today. In other words, people discovered that they could separate, at least some of the time, from their animal, reactive ways of responding to the environment.
Could it be that we are now seeing the human race negotiating another major step forward in its evolution – one that would take us nearer towards completing our potential as a species? And if we are, is that change likely to be connected to the fact that we can put a lid on our emotions; that the higher neocortex is able to hold the emotions in check, so that we can be more flexible in our thinking and in how we react to the world?
Clearly, people who are coping with the accelerating rate of change can tolerate ambiguity more easily and have the flexibility of thinking required to do so. And many of those are expanding the realm beyond crude emotional arousal that kept us too closely linked to the animal kingdom.
To have flexibility of thought, and the ability to see things from many points of view, requires an escape from the trap of black and white thinking which is driven by the emotional brain, the activation of the flight or fight reflex itself. As good therapists know, it is only with the calming down of the primitive emotions and the activation of the neocortex that flexibility of thought, intuition, creativity and the ability to adapt more easily to change, come to the fore.
And when that happens, prejudice and dogma, cruelty and hate crumble away.
Enough people now know that any form of strong emotional arousal leads to black and white thinking which, in turn, leads to prejudice and limited thought patterns and inflexibility of behaviour. Sometimes it seems as if prejudice and dogma are taking over the world as fanatical religious fundamentalists, greedy politicians and exploitative businesses fight one another. But there is a move in the opposite direction, and therein lies hope.
The explosion of creativity that is driving technology also, of course, extends to psychotherapy and counselling. We are seeing new ideas, new tools and new flexibility of thought patterns going hand in hand with the growth of a genuine holistic view from which therapy can work.
The Editors
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