[Paleopsych] violence

[Michael Christopher]

Lorraine says:
>>Not only would society be able to identify
undesirable behavioral tendencies, but individuals
themselves would be able to reflect on why they act 
the way they do. It would have a name.<<

--Good point. A Native American storyteller-therapist
I once met described a man who would go into a trance
when he fought with his wife. His leg would shake
rhythmically and he would say to himself "It's never
gonna change... it's never gonna change". He described
how the man learned to notice the trance as it began
and interrupt it. Others have reported positive
results with mindfulness meditation, which may
increase the ability of the prefrontal cortex to
recognize automatic distortions of thinking and
interrupt them. To me, that sounds a lot more useful
than labeling people "evil". "I'm evil, I'll never
change" is the last thought you want going through
someone's mind if they have a problem with anger. And
if anger stems from shame, thinking "I deserve to be
punished" isn't going to have much positive effect
either, it will only reinforce the shame and the rage
it triggers. The one belief that would have a positive
effect, "I can interrupt this cycle and change the
outcome", is often lost in an avalanche of contempt
and blame. 

>>For her entire life my daughter knew that her
behavior was self-destructive to sociality. Last year
she found a name for her condition, Asperger's
Syndrome.  Since then, she's stopped kicking herself
for her poor social skills and instead is taking
medication that has worked wonders.<<

--I had similar experiences in my teens and 20's,
kicking myself for not being able to express myself
socially. Later, I learned to think of it as a
feedback disorder and was better able to let anxiety
exist without taking it as a sign of inevitable
failure. I discovered I could communicate in text much
better than in speech, because some of the timing and
feedback issues are absent (mistakes in text can be
backspaced, thoughts can come in floods without
overloading speech, no awkward pauses, etc). I could
process much better visually than orally. Before
internet, the only thing that worked was LSD, and only
for a day or two after taking a dose. For some reason,
it enabled me to be fluid and trusting of unconscious
processes, rather than focusing on every detail and
being overloaded with anxiety and mechanical-feeling
perfectionism. It was like the difference between
crawling and flying, but not something I could do
often. 

Do people with Asperger's communicate better in text
as well? What medication helped your daughter?  

Michael

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