July 26, 2009

Indulging craziness

By James Lewis
I'll bet this has happened to you. Some friend or relative is a little bit nuts -- maybe they just are, or maybe they have been burned by painful experiences. So they get very anxious about imaginary threats and outraged by imagined injustices. Maybe they're paranoid because they're smoking dope, or they drive drunk because they're young and stupid and think it's cool.  Or maybe they're just jealous of people who look happier, or prettier, or have better toys. It's just ordinary human folly. And to keep the peace, we indulge their craziness. That's our biggest mistake. That's why we are in such trouble as a people and a culture. We have been taught to indulge craziness. It's supposed to show that we're  "compassionate". Psychiatrists know this: If you let crazy folks set the rules, you have to get crazy right along with them. It doesn't matter if your client is crazy for good reasons. The cause doesn't matter one little bit.   Good therapists are taught...(Read Full Article)