A Steadfast Tribute

In 1893 my maternal great-grandfather helped build the Lynn Grove Methodist that was rebuilt in 1948 by my grandfather in conjunction with other congregants. 

Austin Cut Stone endows the exterior of the sanctuary. The pulpit built by my great-grandfather remains impervious to time’s wear. Behind the pulpit an embellished stained glass window of Jesus walking on water pointing heavenward attests to God’s glory while below etched on a bronze plate the names of three soldiers lost to the community during WW II reflect the frailty of man.  

Grandfather became Superintendent of the Sunday School when he was 18-years old and continued in that capacity until shortly before his death at the age of 86. A life-long learner open to all ideas and a social liberal, he remained a steadfast Methodist who insisted that God’s grace acts on man to prepare him to receive repentant grace and rejected any theology that did not make man’s actions central.

While time eventually erodes all exteriors well-founded convictions can remain resolute.

What is Dialectic Behavior Therapy?

Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT) is the amped, bumped, pumped, jacked, e-ticket ride to mental health. It is a hot topic at social gatherings. Everybody is talking about it. Everybody is using it. And rightfully so.

Well-designed evidence-based research has shown that DBT effectively treats borderline personality disorder, depression, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.

But what is it? How does it work? DBT aims to help patients recognize maladaptive behavior and choose more effective ways to manage personal conflicts and stress.

Dialectic or dialectics is a fancy way to describe how discussions regarding different points of view can lead to a deeper, better, improved way of thinking about conflicts. 

Remember Socrates from freshman philosophy? He ambled around ancient Greece exposing false beliefs by asking a bunch of questions. These questions helped people think more clearly. DBT uses the Socratic method to understand and change maladaptive behavior. 

The therapist is a kind, gentle ally who accepts and validates the patient's feelings while at the same time, through a series of non-confrontational questions, helps the patient find better ways to manage feelings.

Let me be more specific by discussing five major elements to DBT: 

1. Corrective Emotional Response: A trustworthy therapist who demonstrates non-possessive warmth (love without controlling behavior) and genuine respect for the patient helps the patient correct a distorted view of his/herself that enables the patient to learn self-soothing behavior. 

2. Meditation and relaxation techniques to manage stress. 

3. The patient practices changing thoughts to have better feelings. For example if a patient says, "Everybody hates me" the therapist may respond with these questions:

• Really?
• Everybody? 
• Who told you that?
• Where did you learn that?
• How do you know?
• When did you discover that?
• What makes you say that?
• Can you name a specific person who hates you?

4. Improving Responses to Day-to-Day Events: The patient keeps a daily journal that records events, feelings and thoughts generated by daily events. The therapist asks a series of questions to enable the patient to learn better ways of handling conflict.

5. Developing Emotional Skills: Through a series of questions the therapist explores the what, where, when, why, and how of conflict and stress. The therapist teaches skills to deal with stress and interpersonal conflict in the following areas: 

• Evaluation of distorted thinking: The patient is helped to see different viewpoints in a conflict. 
• Dealing with stress: The patient learns to manage emotions that are triggered by distressing events, including those that cannot be immediately resolved. 
• Dealing with interpersonal conflict: The therapist teaches the patient to maintain healthy relationships. The patient learns that certain rules of society must be followed to get along in the world and to break social, ethical, and moral rules leads to self-destruction. The therapist helps the patient find ways to fulfill emotional needs while allowing others to fulfill their needs.
• Developing emotional stability: The therapist may respond to maladaptive behavior by asking  a set of questions:
• What are you thinking (or doing) right now? 
• Is what you are thinking (or doing) helping you?  
• What thoughts (or actions) can help you feel better about yourself? (Several options may be formulated until the best solution is discovered.) 
• Will you commit to changing your thoughts (or actions)? 
• How will you demonstrate that you have committed to change?

As I was writing this article I began to realize that these techniques could help me improve my response to day-to-day events. Indeed it may help all of us to question our thoughts and actions and thus learn to respond to stress in a more beneficial way. 

False Arguments

One or two of you may find what is written below interesting. Most of you would do well to skip this claptrap.

On the first and third Monday of every month I meet with three highly intelligent people to discuss theology books. Boring yes, but in Appalachia other choices are limited to a pool game or a meth party. 

During yesterday's discussion I asked a question that received no answer so I did some research that lead to some random thoughts. I put those thoughts into an email that I sent to my friends. Here is what I wrote:

Yesterday I asked what an argument based on a false premise is called. Well…it’s called--duh--a false premise. 

I read the following in an Wikipedia article about a false premise that I thought was interesting:

"A false premise is an incorrect proposition that forms the basis of an argument. Since the premise (proposition, or assumption) is not correct, the conclusion drawn may be in error. 

"For example, consider this syllogism, which involves a false premise:

• If the streets are wet, it has rained recently. (premise)
• The streets are wet. (premise)
• Therefore it has rained recently. (conclusion)

"This argument is logically valid, but quite demonstrably wrong, because its first premise is false - one could hose down the streets, the local river could have flooded, etc. A simple logical analysis will not reveal the error in this argument, since that analysis must accept the truth of the argument's premises. For this reason, an argument based on false premises can be much more difficult to refute.

"Another feature of an argument based on false premises that can bedevil critics, is that its conclusion can in fact be true. Consider the above example again. It may well be that it has recently rained and that the streets are wet. This does nothing to prove the first premise, but can make its claims more difficult to refute." 

The point is this: when we discuss books, ideas or concepts we need to keep in mind that many of the arguments we read or hear are based on a false premise.

Another problem is an ad hominem fallacy that is directed against a person rather than the position the person maintains. Facebook debates are filled with ad hominem arguments.

Another fallacy is post hoc ergo propter hoc —"after this, therefore because of this” whereby people confuse an association with a cause. This fallacy is often found in longitudinal medical studies and causes a NY Times heading one year saying “Coffee Causes Cancer” and the next year “Coffee Prevents Cancer.”

This post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy also means that just because I associate with you smart guys does not mean that I am smart. I just write things like this to cause you to to think I am smart.

Heart Calling

I have been taking online guitar lesson from Andy Crowley. This Brit dude is a fantastic instructor and in my view he offers the absolute best way to learn the guitar.... And many of his lessons are absolutely free.

But free guitar lessons are not what I want to write about here. Instead, I want to make an observation on one of the asides Andy made during his instruction on playing power cards.

Andy said that he became infatuated with learning to play the guitar as a six-year old when he saw the movie, Back to the Future. His heart flipped when Marty McFly said to the band, "Alright guys, this is a Blues riff in B, watch me for the changes and try to keep up. OK?"

From that day on Crowley's heart was set on learning the guitar.

Many times the correct choices we make go way back to our childhood. Our heart tells us so.

Likewise our heart often helps us make the right choices when we are adults.

Many brain neurotransmitters are also found in the heart. Can our heart think better than our brain? I don't know.... But when the heart calls it's a good idea to listen.

Resolutions

Emptying an cobwebbed filing cabinet I found tucked away in a dusty folder a 4X6 index card with RESOLUTIONS 1965 in bold red pencil at the top of the card. Here were the commitments of a 21-year old 54 years ago: 

1.  Pray for guidance in life, for love, thanks for what I have, etc.
2.  Read Bible & have daily devotions
3.  Go to church both morning and evening
4.  Participate actively in M.S.M. (I can't remember what M.S.M. was)
5.  Try to become more sincerely interested in others; show a sincere love of life. Let happiness show.
6.  Attend school functions, especially Invitation to Learning
7.  Study vocabulary nightly
8.  Study faster and more efficiently
9.  Read Time Magazine weekly
10.  Do exercises nightly

Much later when our children were teenagers we would gather every New Year Eve to write our goals for the next year. We divided the goals into career (school) goals, self-improvement goals and spiritual goals. We sealed the goals in an envelop and would open them the next New Year Eve to see how we did.

I had always been a big written goal setter until 10 years ago. Interesting!? I have been sort of floundering since then. Maybe I should write some.