Tuesday,

March 3, 2020

YouTube.  Some will say since every case of depression

is different it's no use to try to help people in any broad way with their owndepression.  It has to be onlyindividual, only by a professional.  Andprofessionals are great, when you can afford one and have time for one and whenthey know what they're doing.  But to saythat there shouldn't be any broad knowledge about psychology, to say thereshouldn't be any DIY psychology, would be like saying there shouldn't be aYouTube for fixing cars.  YouTube isgreat for fixing your own car.  Sometimesthat's the best option, and it's good for people to be able to do their ownstuff if they can and want to.  I sayit's the same with psychology.  Give thepower to the people.  Don't have to takeaway professionals, but why feel like the power has to be consolidated in paidprofessionals when there are so many things a lay person can do him orherself?  That's what I say.  Just like people can fix their own cars ifthey want to, let people do their own psychology if they want to.  We can do a lot.  I'm not saying all of it, all the time, justdon't take away our ability to do that. Let knowledge flow freely.  ($170for a DSM book!) 

Was reading in [a book]. He says since we’re actively producing our emotional problems, we can eliminate them at their source. (Through the means discussed in this book.)  a few things. You’re saying the source is our self betrayal. Is that the source, or is it just an aspect, a necessary ingredient, an essential part of the mechanism, like I’m saying?  Then you’d be saying everybody’s emotional problems is caused by self-betrayal. You focus on that thing, like it is the sole cause and therefore the sole solution. Don’t do that. Then you’re stuck, which you are, saying the only thing to do is to stop self-betraying, which is not directly possible) and everything else is futile to do, which is not true. Surely self-betrayal, or to me self-deception and all, is only an essential ingredient, helpful to understand but not necessarily the thing to focus on, or to try to directly do.

What

can we do?  Read the talk Beware of Prideand go through the ways we can humble ourselves. Notice that none of the wayshe says are “will yourself to be humble” or “stop being prideful”. We don’t doit directly, we do it kind of indirectly. Even Terry Warner says on p 299, “wecannot get ourselves emotionally unstuck no matter how we might try. We cannotdo it by denying or repressing our feelings or by willing ourselves to feeldifferently—feelings are subject to our indirect but not our directcontrol.” 

Also,

if you say our emotional problems are caused by self betrayal, don’t you haveto say depression and anxiety are caused by self-betrayal?  How can you separate the emotional problemsthat are higher in degree than others? 

Thirdly,

there are no means discussed in the book, except the two I've said before - thewriting exercise and asking forgiveness for failing to forgive.  But those two things can be done in the wrongway too, so you're left with nothing. 

It’s

tempting to see these insights about self-deception involved in depression andanxiety and think that self deception is the root cause of depression. I wouldcaution against that, and say that it is a necessary part of it, but not theroot cause. If you say it is the root cause, what can you do about youremotional problems, except somehow stop self-deceiving?  You might not be able to act on thatdirectly, right?  The thing you need tofocus on may be completely different - forgive the person, pray for the powerto forgive (the person or yourself), prepare more, organize better, get moresleep, change your job, do something fun once in a while, enjoy the peopleyou’re with, go to the temple more, pray, read the scriptures, go to church,fast, whatever it might be for you. See a therapist, take medication, whatever.Can’t all those things help you not be stressed and depressed and thereforestop self-deceiving and self-betraying in that way?  (Well medication might be more a treating ofthe symptoms?)

Saturday,

Mar 7, 2020

Hmm.

When you see how self deception and pride are at the heart of emotionaltroubles it is natural to think that they are the cause and the solution,right?  But something doesn’t smell rightabout that. Like I’ve said before, those things are just part of the mechanism.Internal combustion. But the reason your car isn’t going, while it is true thatinternal combustion isn’t happening correctly, may be something electrical, orgas related, or whatever. You don’t do a compression check every time your carstalls. Yes, compression has to be there, but you troubleshoot smarter thanthat.

I hope

that analogy is somewhat helpful. I’m just trying to say that while pride,while self-deception, while going against the light (or self-betrayal), whileself-justification may be a part of all mental illness and depression andanxiety, surely it is not the proper thing to focus on. Maybe don’t lose focuson it, or remember that it’s part of it, maybe keep it in mind, but don’tnecessarily make that the primary cause.

A

discussion of causality is in order. If you think about it, isn’t there no suchthing as a single cause for anything? Isn’t everything caused, so to speak, by multiple factors?  And when we say that something causes anotherthing we are really saying it is the primary causing factor?  The one that stands out, the one we need topay the most attention to? 

What

caused the airplane to crash?  Well alack of lift, right?  Well of course,that goes without saying!  But theprimary cause, or the one that stands out, the one we should pay attention to,is going to be something different, right? Ice on the wings. A mechanical failure of any number of types. Piloterror of any number of types. An electrical error of any number of types.Analyzing the black box is a whole science (if it has one). Surely so ispsychology. It’s not just always self-betrayal, or pride, or self-deception.Those things go without saying.

Monday,

Mar 9, 2020

It’s an interesting question, and one worth considering, whether there’s a concrete action that can be taken to address the issue, or whether there isn’t. Some say that since any concrete action, basically, can be done insincerely, it’s basically no use trying. The only action to do is to stop self-betraying. But that’s not right, is it!  Though it’s true that any particular action can basically be done two ways, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it, if that’s what’s right for you. The Light of Christ can be your guide, surely!  There must be SOMETHING each person can do in each situation to address whatever issue it is, maybe even if the answer sometimes includes being patient. That’s what I have to think.

Even

you say to ask forgiveness for withholding forgiveness. As if that couldn’t bedone insincerely!  Of course it can!  And that one other thing you say to do (inthe whole book!) - some writing exercise. You have to admit EVERYTHING can bedone in 2 ways. Including those 2 things you suggested. So what can we do?  Surely the Spirit knows. Surely it isdifferent for each person, and surely there are multiple things a person couldpossibly do in at least many situations, if not all. A writing exercise.Prayer. Fasting.  Address the person.Internally let something go. Exercise. Sleep better. Eat better. Ignoresomething. Pay attention to something. Remember something. Forget something.SOMETHING.  Surely!

This

deserves some more discussion. And examples. Read your scriptures, go tochurch, go to the temple, something. Maybe more than one thing.

And is

it not true that somewhere deep down, we know what to do?  Hmm. Might need some help from the Holy Ghostor somebody or reading something to know what that is. But surely we know itsomewhere all along.

I keep

using the term self betrayal, to be compatible with other ideas I’m jumping offfrom. But I don’t love the term. I don’t think it’s really accurate. It makesthe self be the thing that is betrayed, it makes the truth that we go againstcome from the self. But the truth comes from God. So God betrayal would be moreaccurate, Or light of Christ betrayal. But then you have the word betrayal too.To betray someone is to do a Judas Iscariot did to Jesus Christ. You arefriends with somebody and you turn them over to evil, or something. Anyway it’snot the most helpful idea for what we do when we go against the truth.

Wednesday,

Mar 11, 2020

You

gotta admit guys, this is fun!

Tuesday,

Mar 17, 2020

This

question of "what can we do??" is big.  Big, big. Turns out we're always talking about that.  We're always wondering about it.  I know I am, especially.  We may not always like the answer.  And I think of how people say "justdon't worry about it," and how that's not always possible for everybody,or whatever.  The answer might be thatyou can't always escape your problems right away.  The thing you can do, or things, might be moreindirect and choices made at off-times. Times outside the moment of alarm. We may not like that.  I know Idon't.  Hmm.

Again,

I think of President Benson's talk "Beware of Pride".  Many things we can do, to humbleourselves.  Most of them are in theoff-moment, if you know what I mean. Outside the moment of great alarm. 

Wednesday

And he

doesn’t list them as things to do to escape or prevent depression