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A Social Brain A Social Brain Interpretation of Interpretation of Psychotherapy Psychotherapy Research Committee Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell Gardner, Beverly Sutton, Other committee members: Russell Gardner, Beverly Sutton, Jacob Kerbeshian, Fred Wamboldt, Morton Sosland, Alan Jacob Kerbeshian, Fred Wamboldt, Morton Sosland, Alan Swann, Johan Verhulst, John Looney, Doug Kramer, Michael Swann, Johan Verhulst, John Looney, Doug Kramer, Michael Schwartz, Carlo Carandang Schwartz, Carlo Carandang
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Page 1: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

A Social Brain A Social Brain Interpretation of Interpretation of PsychotherapyPsychotherapy

Research CommitteeResearch CommitteeGroup for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP)Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP)

John BeahrsJohn Beahrs

Other committee members: Russell Gardner, Beverly Sutton, Jacob Other committee members: Russell Gardner, Beverly Sutton, Jacob Kerbeshian, Fred Wamboldt, Morton Sosland, Alan Swann, Johan Verhulst, Kerbeshian, Fred Wamboldt, Morton Sosland, Alan Swann, Johan Verhulst,

John Looney, Doug Kramer, Michael Schwartz, Carlo CarandangJohn Looney, Doug Kramer, Michael Schwartz, Carlo Carandang

Page 2: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Sources for this PresentationSources for this Presentation• Based primarily on Beahrs JO: A social brain

interpretation of psychotherapy. Psychiatric Annals 2005; 35(10):816-822

• Revised & updated © JO Beahrs, April 7, 2008 • Incorporates subsequent work:

-Beahrs JO: Assessing attributive causation in psychiatry: psychotherapeutic results correlate with self-therapeutic activity. Clinical Neuropsychiatry 2006; 3(2):154-161-Beahrs JO: The infrastructure of complex culture in humans, scientific article in advanced preparation-Beahrs JO: Psychotherapy and the Human Dilemma, book manuscript in advanced preparation

Page 3: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

IntroductionIntroduction

• Mental dynamics vary with social milieu: – Permits therapeutic correction, if disordered,– by reframing their functions in the social milieu

• A “sociodynamics” concept– Causation proceeds from external internal – Points to underappreciated research areas– Can guide more effective psychotherapy

Page 4: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Presentation will:Presentation will:

1. Address problems in traditional psychodynamics

2. Define constituents & rationale of sociodynamics

3. Review two underappreciated basic sciences

4. Show how a research-based conceptual framework aids treatment planning & practice.

Note: all psychiatric treatment interactions utilize social influence & sociodynamics

Page 5: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Organization of PresentationOrganization of Presentation

1. Problems in traditional psychodynamics

2. Two underemphasized sciences

3. Constituents & rationale of sociodynamics

4. How does a research-based conceptual framework aid treatment planning/practice

Page 6: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Physics Metaphor in PsychotherapyPhysics Metaphor in Psychotherapy

• Definition: Psychotherapy

= technologies that improve disordered psychological realities via applied social skills

• Traditional psychodynamic theory interprets these through internal mental mechanisms – Mechanistic causation metaphor of classical physics– Sx’s social effects seen as “secondary” gains & costs

Page 7: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Problem with Physics MetaphorProblem with Physics Metaphor

• Psychotherapy’s proven efficacy & efficiency arise – Because patients’ “psychological realities”

vary with their social context1 – Which can be reframed2,3 – This reframability contrasts with the context-

independent “objectivity” of classical physics4 – Hence, different causal rules must apply

Page 8: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

SociodynamicsSociodynamics• Sullivan,5 Berne,6 Erickson,3 Watzlawick et al7

• Sociodynamics focus on social influence • Clinicians ask:

– “What social payoffs do the symptoms provide?” – “What social reinforcers keep sx complex going?”

• External “interests” take priority over

internal “drives” as causal forces8 • Adaptive modules or life strategies9 replace

defenses as modulators or determinants

Page 9: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Sociodynamics = Social CausationSociodynamics = Social Causation

• “Social brain” calculates/recalculates a person’s interests within his or her social milieu– Assesses one’s strategic armamentarium for

strengths & weaknesses – Selects strategies most likely to win one’s interests – Largely outside conscious awareness (Unconscious)

• Sx’s social payoffs = primary, not 2o gains 6,10 – Underlying “mental states” = secondary adaptations– Designed by brain in order to facilitate one’s strategy

Page 10: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Consciousness & VolitionConsciousness & Volition• Are highly anomalous to classical mechanism

– Further undermining the mechanistic metaphor

• Defined by contrast between polar opposites: – “Unconscious” awareness and “involuntary” action

• The opposing poles feel as if distinct, but • Attempts to separate conscious from

unconscious or voluntary from involuntary “A/not-A Absurdities” – In which one pole is shown to be “really” the other4,11

Page 11: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Examples from Hypnosis ResearchExamples from Hypnosis Research

• Illusion of choice – Post-hypnotic suggestion may be – experienced & defended as if a free choice12

• Hypnotic non-volition – May be constructed easily by voluntary actions1,13

• Conclusion: A/not-A absurdities – Experienced volition is “really” involuntary– & Involuntary action is “really” voluntary14 – Same holds for conscious & unconscious

Page 12: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

ParadoxParadox

• How do the dualities of consciousness & volition

with their polar opposites,

• Though illusory,

• Remain ubiquitous & come to define human experience?

Page 13: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

The Illusion of Conscious WillThe Illusion of Conscious Will1212

• New data: subjective volition can be– Decoupled from skeletal muscle movement– Does not cause our “voluntary” actions12

• “Volition” must serve other functions

• Such as regulation of social interaction12,14

Page 14: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Internal Experience Internal Experience Deception Deception

• The fact that these data contrast so starkly with everyday experience suggests that a component of self-deception may contribute to the dynamics of our internal mental experience

Page 15: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Sociodynamic HypothesisSociodynamic Hypothesis

• Human mentation = sociodynamic & complex– (1) involves at least 2 primary interacting parties – (2) occurs concurrently on more than 1 level

• Cultural transmission needs > 2 interactants – Third parties mediate, legitimize & extend – All communicate concurrently on > 1 levels

• “Mental states” tacit social agreements – Added on after-the-fact, outside of awareness – Experienced as if substantive and causal

Page 16: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Levels of InteractionLevels of Interaction

• Berne: “overt” versus “covert” levels– roughly = “conscious” & “unconscious”6

• Watzlawick et al: overt “content”

& covert “relationship” levels7

– 1st = open information exchange,

pastiming, & negotiation – 2nd a hidden web of mutual suggestion

• Defines personal identities & relative social status7

• Generally ratified by 3rd party observers3,7,15

Page 17: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Levels & PsychotherapyLevels & Psychotherapy

• Incongruity between these levels

psychotherapeutic focal points6

• Therapist strategy– Search patients’ social networks for self-

reinforcing patterns of mutual suggestion– & how these patterns become pathogenic – Pursue ways to redefine & redirect them

• Toward healthier patterns • That also become self-sustaining

Page 18: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Organization of PresentationOrganization of Presentation

1. Problems in traditional psychodynamics

2. Two underemphasized basic sciences

3. Constituents & rationale of sociodynamics

4. How does a research-based conceptual framework aid treatment planning/practice

Page 19: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Underemphasized Essential Underemphasized Essential Basic SciencesBasic Sciences

1. Human evolutionary biology– How did natural selection shape the quirks

and foibles of “human nature”?16 – Evolutionary biology clarifies the selective

pressures that guided human evolution

2. Social influence research – How social milieus influence the form and

direction of our evolved mental phenomena

Page 20: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Social Influence ResearchSocial Influence Research

• Studies17 of • Persuasion• Ideology • Socialization • Advertising

• Hypnosis = paradigmatic data set18

Page 21: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Beahrs ArticlesBeahrs Articles

• Tacit contracting for reciprocal autonomy & shared self-deception

• Contributes to “unconscious” awareness & “involuntary” action14 to– “Psychological structures”15 – Social etiquette21 – Specific psychopathologies22

– Malleability of personal memories23

Page 22: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Psychosocial Trauma as IllustrationPsychosocial Trauma as Illustration

• Effects of psychosocial trauma – Another set of specific scientific questions and

treatment dilemmas

• Relates these 2 scientific data bases both – To one another – To neurobiology

Page 23: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

ReciprocityReciprocity• Homo sapiens cooperates to a unique

extent among complex species– cooperation must be achieved in the face

of conflicting interests8

• Reciprocity = bedrock of cooperation among unrelated people– One can benefit from doing a costly favor

for another– Provided the favor is or will be returned19

Page 24: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Reciprocity is VulnerableReciprocity is Vulnerable to Defection & Deceit to Defection & Deceit2020

• Discriminative skills (specific individuals and their behaviors)

• Episodic and semantic memory

• Police functions

• Social emotions – E.g., love – E.g., moralistic rage

Page 25: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Shared Self-Deception Hypothesis Shared Self-Deception Hypothesis

• All parties want to pursue self-interest, beyond group norms & thus punishable

• By direct reciprocity, they grant one another wiggle room for self-interest:14 – Labeled as “freedom” & “autonomy”– Enhances common interest & social bonding

• Concealed by shared self-deception

• Enforced by threat of counter-betrayal

Page 26: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Illustrations of Tacit ContractsIllustrations of Tacit Contracts

• Shared social self-idealizations – E.g., “Sacred” or “politically correct”– Conceal sordid social reality that actually happens– Tacit social contract: aversion to whistleblowers

• Summary: one often detects others’ deceits – But tactfully acts deceived and respects the taboo– Often denies awareness even to the self

• “Conscious” parallels what’s open to discussion, • “Unconscious” = what really happens & is taboo

Page 27: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Taboo Vs. Accurate AwarenessTaboo Vs. Accurate Awareness• Subtle & important point: • Awareness remains, but

is hidden even from its bearer• This process predicts the anomalies of

– An “unconscious” that’s “really” conscious • at another level, and vice versa

– Sociodynamics that masquerade as psychodynamics• the illusion of conscious will

– Equilibration through mutual suggestion • individuals’ “conscious” parallels social self-idealizations • “unconscious” parallels what really happens, but is taboo

Page 28: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Social Influence Social Influence

• These sociodynamics pervade all human relationships

• They manifest themselves most dramatically in poorly-understood interactions that we call “hypnotic”15,18

• Hypnotic-like phenomena and transactions pervade everyday living, so

• Hypnosis provides a research paradigm

Page 29: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Hypnotic Transactions ExemplifyHypnotic Transactions Exemplify

• Hypnotists’ illusion of control-conceals dependency on subjects’

response for what to do next • Subjects’ illusion of non-volition

-conceals the fact that only they decide

whether and how to respond24 • These vividly-experienced illusions

reinforce one another, like a folie a deux15

Page 30: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

33rdrd Parties Parties Social Reality Social Reality

• Legitimization by 3rd parties

emergent “psychological reality”14,15

• Social influence data17,18 – Show that hypnotic elements pervade all

waking mentation & social intercourse1,4,11 – Hypnosis = non-hypnosis & vice versa– I.e., the A/not-A absurdities follow

Page 31: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Mutual SuggestionMutual Suggestion

• All communication carries elements of overt information exchange & covert mutual suggestion in tension3,4,6,7

• One can not avoid influencing and being influenced by mutual suggestion

• Any more than one can avoid communicating7

Page 32: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Psychosocial EntanglementsPsychosocial Entanglements

• Mutual suggestion creates entanglements

• These extend from dyadic interactions to determine an entire society’s mores

• Largely outside of awareness, individuals adjust personal beliefs to these mores – These social mores are coercive – Awareness of what is socially “taboo” tends to

be suppressed in one’s “unconscious”8,14,15,21

Page 33: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Psychodynamics EmergePsychodynamics Emerge

• What is inherently social and contractual becomes experienced as if it comes from within– as though it were internally driven

Page 34: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Psychodynamics = “Real”Psychodynamics = “Real”

• At an emergent “psychological” level – Through the vividness of experience– Extent to which they are shared – Intensity with which they are mutually

legitimized and defended by all participants

• & gain further stability– From subsequent “commitment” processes– that make individuals more trustworthy25

Page 35: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Psychodynamics = 2Psychodynamics = 2oo Adaptations Adaptations• Not primary drivers,

– e.g., “conscious will” = non-causal12

• Secondary adaptations, – to primarily social pressures– which arise primarily from reciprocity & deceit

• Social functions – conscious will as “emotion of authorship”12 – convention for holding people responsible14

Page 36: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

PsychopathologyPsychopathology

• People who fail to enact psychodynamics competently – do not adjust well, suffer, – & impose their suffering on others

psychopathology

• Many patients are inept at or violate reciprocity • Anomalies described earlier arise from the

necessary roles of deception and self-deception

Page 37: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Further Evolution of our MindsFurther Evolution of our Minds

• Once stabilized, yet-unidentified neurobiological mechanisms will have evolved to implement these processes

• “Consciousness” can then acquire new functions, such as long term planning8

• “Volition” may then mark those behaviors for which we hold offenders culpable12,14

Page 38: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Cultural Relativity of Cultural Relativity of PsychodynamicsPsychodynamics

• All cultures develop their idiosyncratic psychodynamic models, whose specific content vary over a yet ill-defined range26

– Not as primary causal drivers, but as secondary adaptations to the pressures of reciprocity in human evolution

Page 39: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Narrative Summary I.Narrative Summary I.

• The psychological anomalies described earlier arise from the necessary roles of deception and self-deception: what is inherently social and contractual becomes experienced as if internal drives. Psychodynamics thereby do become “real”, at an emergent “psychological” level, through the vividness with which they are experienced, the extent to which they are shared, and the intensity with which they are mutually defended by all participants.

Page 40: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Narrative Summary II.Narrative Summary II.

• They are further stabilized by subsequent “commitment” processes that make successful individuals more trustworthy.25

• Once so stabilized, yet-unidentified neurobiological mechanisms will have evolved to implement these processes.

Page 41: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Trauma and Re-Enactment Trauma and Re-Enactment

• Psychological trauma intensifies and rigidifies these processes.

• Re-enactment evolved as a learned instinct?• Promotes adaptive rehearsal for emergencies

that recur episodically and occasionally, and • Becomes pathological in rapidly changing

milieus such as today’s advanced cultures27

Page 42: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Neurobiology of Re-EnactmentNeurobiology of Re-Enactment

• Re-enactment resembles chemical addiction, and

• may operate through opioid, dopaminergic and related systems activated by trauma

• Which thus serve to reinforce its effects.

Page 43: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Sociodynamics of Re-EnactmentSociodynamics of Re-Enactment

• Trauma ruptured relationships Extends to others through “contagion.”28 Hypnotizability is enhanced,29 and • Patterns of mutual suggestion are now driven by

the coercive power of traumatic affect. • We often feel drawn either to “validate” others’

traumas or to deny them, and either way, • to denigrate those who do the opposite.30

Page 44: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Trauma Trauma Intractable Conflict Intractable Conflict

• Competing groups reinforce themselves with hypnotic-like folies a deux, each strengthened by enmity with the other.

• Each increases the trauma: “ratifiers” fan the flame (positive reinforcement); “deniers” traumatize those who seek social validation.

• Intractable conflict may result• Traumatic re-enactment is its fuel• Without it, frontal lobes will learn to inhibit it31

Page 45: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Trauma Trauma Self-Deception I. Self-Deception I.

• Some traumatized individuals adjust their projected self-image downward, thus

• Assuring social dominants they’re no threat• Image is made congruent by self-deception a real posttraumatic disorder22

-driven by traumatic affect & neural reinforcers

-socially ratified by mutual suggestion

Page 46: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Trauma Trauma Self-Deception II. Self-Deception II.

• Real illness & “illness role” often diverge.

• E.g., posttraumatic dissociative d/o’s.22

• Here, therapists may do better

-not to validate the illness role, but

-challenge intact competencies.15,22,32

-within limits of safety

• in contrast to tx. of major mental illness

Page 47: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Psychotherapy: Psychotherapy: General ImplicationsGeneral Implications

• Most psychotherapies are sociodynamic• Whatever be their stated rationale. • “Mental states” constitutional givens,

neurobiology, experience, and social influence • As per Engel’s biopsychosocial model.33

Page 48: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Sociodynamic Perspective I.Sociodynamic Perspective I.

• Emphasizes the social pull more overtly

• Looks toward mutual suggestion for

-sources of symptomatic behavior,

-payoffs and reinforcers thereof, &

-focal points for tx. intervention.

Page 49: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Sociodynamic Perspective II.Sociodynamic Perspective II.

• Utilizes 3 anomalies of psychological reality: • 1st: the evolved tension between our

-sense of autonomous personhood &

-hypnotic-like social entanglements• Here, psychotherapists

-respect autonomy via informed consent & contract for tx. roles, goals, & behavioral safety

–in a way that utilizes indirect suggestion to imply optimum mental health to begin with.34

Page 50: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Sociodynamic Perspective III.Sociodynamic Perspective III.

• 2nd: mental realities vary with the act of defining them responsibility to reframe them toward positive change.

• 3rd: causation works in opposing directions -defying attempts to define the primary cause, - granting flexibility to intervene at “focal points” that are

sometimes remote from the target of desired change.4

• Breaking up self-reinforcing vicious circles = the key element-particularly relevant when traumatic reenactment is in play.

• Therapists challenge individual patients to -identify problem-maintaining reenactment behaviors, -voluntarily abstain from them, replacing them with coping

skills-just as is done in the treatment of the addictions.

• Therapists support significant others in standing firm against patients’ passive control, thus further reinforcing health.10

Page 51: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Relevant Initial Questions for Tx.Relevant Initial Questions for Tx.

• What does this patient want therapist to believe? • How does this symptom predictably affect others? • What preferred strategies does this patient deploy? • How do these cause problems in his/her current milieu? • What principally reinforces one’s symptoms? • How can the treatment redirect these reinforcers? • How can one redefine this symptom complex

-to increase the odds of + therapeutic change -occurring as if by itself, and safely?

To identify focal points for potent tx with enduring benefit

Page 52: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Utilizing significant othersUtilizing significant others • Assessing and utilizing patients’ immediate social

context provides great instruction to the treater. I often invite new patients’ permission to bring a spouse or significant other to an early followup session, with explicit intent not to do couples therapy, but to hear how the patients are perceived by knowledgeable third parties, extending the assessment to other perspectives. Often the other’s report provides corroboration, but often not. When not, I now understand the context far more clearly, relatively soon, and interventions may become self-evident. Simply inviting the collateral visit respectfully implies an intention to keep the option open of viewing the problem from other perspectives than the presenting narrative only. This covert suggestion enhances therapeutic leverage for therapeutic change.

Page 53: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Intentionality of Patients’ Narratives Intentionality of Patients’ Narratives

• Less the whole truth & nothing but; more

• How patients want to be perceived.

• Keeping this in mind helps us to shift

-from problematic questions like truth,

-to more productive questions, such as

• Identifying the patients’ social context, preferred strategies, and how these work or instead reinforce their problems

Page 54: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Passive Control DynamicsPassive Control Dynamics• Therapists may identify “symptoms as power tactics,”

-bolster significant others’ ability to stand firm, -thus putting the ball back in patients’ court.10

• Referring families for support in standing firm: -of substance abusers to Al-Anon-of acting out pts to mental health centers to learn

“tough love” and related strategies. • Neutralizing problem-maintaining social reinforcers

desirable therapeutic change• Most patients welcome family involvement.

-when not, many report what family would say, -enabling one still to address potential social

payoffs

Page 55: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Implying Health and Competency Implying Health and Competency

• “Treat another as he is, and he will remain as he is. If we treat him as what he ought to be and can be, then he will become what he ought to be and can be.” (attributed to Goethe).

• = indirect suggestion, the “relationship message” that pulls the person in the relevant direction.7

-parental approaches imply pts’ impairment, and invoke child-like mental states.6

-providing informed consent presumes their ability to make personal decisions, implying health & competency whatever the diagnosis.34

Page 56: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Informed Consent as TherapyInformed Consent as Therapy

• Far more than just a legal obligation, giving informed consent is a potent therapeutic technique that pulls patients toward the greater health that the process implies.34 This process illustrates how treatment can utilize the suggestive component of communication even while negotiating at the most overt conscious level. Milton H. Erickson utilized this type of indirect suggestion most explicitly,3 though he stated it was just “common sense psychology.”

Page 57: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Transference & Standing Firm I. Transference & Standing Firm I.

• Psychoanalysis is a sociodynamic tx.

• Concentrates interpersonal entanglement into a dyadic treatment relationship.

• “Transference” describes a hypnotic-like relationship in which patients re-enact symptomatic relational schemas.35

• This process creates a focal point for a comprehensive “working through.”

Page 58: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Transference & Standing Firm II.Transference & Standing Firm II.

• Critical to its efficacy is that the analyst stand firm against reinforcing disordered schemata.

• This requires that patients use other tactics.10 • In other words, the treatment interdicts and

redirects vicious circles . • Other techniques often accomplish this more

efficiently, without the associated dependency.

Page 59: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Tx. Boundary-Setting I.Tx. Boundary-Setting I.

• Eric Berne provided a potent antithesis to “why don’t you, yes but” transactions, instead asking

-“That’s an interesting problem; how are you going to solve it?”36

• Within this single communication, the therapist permits face saving, respects contrary motivations, speaks to more competent levels of function, declines to ratify a problem-maintaining behavior, asserts interpersonal boundaries and redirects responsibility onto the patient.

Page 60: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Tx. Boundary-Setting II.Tx. Boundary-Setting II.

• When declining to ratify perceived helplessness or to intrude on patients’ autonomous domain, treaters lessen the risk of regressive dependency, while enhancing their relational stimulus value.

• Paradoxically, by explicitly disavowing the role of essential change agent, treaters actually become potent stimuli for therapeutic change.

Page 61: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Strategic Self-TherapyStrategic Self-Therapy32 32 I. I.

• This dynamic may be used as tx modality• Useful for posttraumatic disorders with extreme

tension between help-seeking and help-rejecting behavior, at high risk of malignant regression.

• = “strategic self-therapy”32 (SST)

-patient = change agent

-therapists = consultant only

-independent system = crisis resource

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Strategic Self-TherapyStrategic Self-Therapy32 32 II.II.

• Engagement phase: psychotherapists -de-emphasize their role as primary change

agents,-turning responsibility back onto the patients

• SST Proper: patients challenged to define themselves: -who they are, what they stand for, where they’re

headed – their goals, perceived roadblocks and plan -the very act of defining their personal identity

serves to redefine and thereby change it.

• Utilizes the reframability of psychological reality• Often proves safe & cost-effective for high-risk patients.

Page 63: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Reframing Reframing per seper se

• Strategic2,10,32 and cognitive37 therapies place more emphasis on utilizing reframability as a locus of change in its own right. Strategically, the treater gains rapport at hidden levels through relabeling a liability as an asset, a setback as an opportunity, or resistance as autonomy; casting character traits in more favorable light; and cautioning that any change should be well informed and not done too hastily.2,3,4,10

Page 64: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Criteria for ReframingCriteria for Reframing• Although seemingly “paradoxical”, appropriate

positive reframing is 1. equally or even more true, 2. feels better, and 3. implies desirable behavior change.

• There can be no positive reframing for blatantly destructive and disrespectful behaviors.

• Here, one confronts and holds patients responsible for their behavior, while continuing to reframe basic personal attributes positively.4

Page 65: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Training Recommendations I. Training Recommendations I.

• Add evolutionary biology and hypnosis to psychiatry & psychology core curricula

• Evolutionary biology: I particularly recommend

-Trivers & Alexander on reciprocity and deceit help to understand how anomalies of consciousness and volition evolved.8,19,20

-McGuire & Troisi offer a broad evolutionary framework for general psychiatry.38

Page 66: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Training Recommendations II.Training Recommendations II.• Hypnosis It is equally essential that budding

psychotherapists learn the core essentials of clinical and experimental hypnosis, They are thereby enabled to recognize and redirect hypnotic phenomena when they spontaneously occur, to master the therapeutic power and learn the limits of reframing within controlled settings, and to gain confidence in the full range of the applicability of this technique.3,4,15,18,24,39,40 Respected professional societies provide ongoing forums in all of these areas.

Page 67: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Summary I. Summary I. • “Sociodynamics” describes mental dynamics and

psychotherapy more accurately than the traditional term, “psychodynamics”. Internal “mental states” arise from external social causes, more than vice versa.

• A person’s brain calculates that individual’s interests in relation to his or her social milieu, assesses the strategic armamentarium for strengths and weaknesses, selects strategies likely to improve the odds of success, then brings beliefs, desires and behaviors into congruence.

• All occurs largely outside of conscious awareness.• Two lines of research data are particularly relevant to

this process, evolutionary biology and social influence, both curiously underemphasized in current psychiatry.

Page 68: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Summary II.Summary II.• These data point toward the likelihood that

consciousness and volition arise as shared self-deceptions that promote social cooperation where interests otherwise conflict.

• Shared self-deception hypothesis predicts the anomalous duality of consciousness and volition

• Confirmatory data from reciprocity, hypnosis, and psychological trauma converge to show that

• Mutual suggestion mediates the social and psychological domains.

Page 69: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

Summary III.Summary III.

• Most importantly, psychological realities vary with how they are socially framed. Psychotherapy is made possible by therapists’ resulting ability to reframe patients’ symptomatology in its social context. It may be rendered more effective and efficient by identifying social payoffs of patients’ symptoms, utilizing significant others, redefining patterns of mutual suggestion to imply optimum health, and identifying symptom-reinforcing behavioral complexes that can be modified at biopsychosocial focal points toward greater social functionality, behavioral safety, and personal wellbeing.

Page 70: A Social Brain Interpretation of Psychotherapy Research Committee Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) John Beahrs Other committee members: Russell.

References I.References I.• 1. Spanos NP: Hypnotic behavior: a social-psychological interpretation of amnesia, analgesia, and

“trance logic.” Behav Brain Sci 9:449-502, 1986• 2. Watzlawick P, Weakland J, Fisch R: Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Poblem

Resolution. New York: Norton, 1974• 3. Erickson MH; The Collected Works of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. Edited by Rossi EL. New York:

Irvington, 1980 • 4. Beahrs JO: Limits of Scientific Psychiatry: The Role of Uncertainty in Mental Health. New York:

Brunner/Mazel, 1986 • 5. Sullivan HS: The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry. New York: Norton, 1953 • 6. Berne E: What Do You Say After You Say Hello? New York: Grove Press, 1972• 7. Watzlawick P, Beavin JH, Jackson DD: Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of

Interactional Patterns, Pathologies, and Paradoxes. NY: Norton, 1967• 8. Alexander RD: The Biology of Moral Systems. Hawthorne, NY: DeGruyter, 1987• 9. Barkow J, Cosmides L, Tooby J (Eds.): The Adapted Mind. New York: Oxford • University Press, 1992 • 10. Haley J: Strategies of Psychotherapy. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1963• 11. Beahrs JO: Unity and Multiplicity: Multilevel Consciousness of Self in Hypnosis, Psychiatric

Disorder, and Mental Health. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1986• 12. Wegner DM: The Illusion of Conscious Will. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002• 13. Barber TX: “Hypnosis”: an alternative paradigm, in Hypnosis: Research Developments and

Perspectives. Ed. by Fromm E, Shor RE. Chicago/New York: Aldine-Atherton, 1972, pp. 115-182• 14. Beahrs JO: Volition, deception, and the evolution of justice. Bull Am Acad Psychiatry Law 1991;

19:81-93

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References II.References II.• 15. Beahrs, JO: Hypnotic transactions, and the evolution of psychological structure. Psychiat Med

1992; 10(1):25-39 • 16. Dennett DC: Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life. • New York: Touchstone, 1995 • 17. Zimbardo PG, Leippe MR: The Psychology of Attitude Change and Social Influence. New

York: McGraw-Hill, 1991 • 18. Sheehan PW, Perry CW: Methodologies of Hypnosis: A Critical Appraisal of • Contemporary Paradigms of Hypnosis. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1976 • 19. Trivers RL: The evolution of reciprocal altruism. Quart Rev Biol 46:35-57, 1971• 20. Trivers RL: Social Evolution. Menlo Park: Benjamin Cummins, 1985• 21. Beahrs JO: Ritual deception: a window to the hidden determinants of human politics. Politics

and the Life Sciences 1996; 15:3-12 • 22. Beahrs JO: Dissociative identity disorder: adaptive deception of self and others. Bull Am Acad

Psychiatry Law 1994; 22:223-237• 23. Beahrs JO: Memory as power: who is to decide? J Am Acad Psychiatry Law 1999; 27:462-470 • 24. Gill MM, Brenman M: Hypnosis and Related States: Psychoanalytic Studies in Regression.

New York: International Universities Press, 1959• 25. Nesse RM (Ed.): Evolution, and the Capacity for Commitment. New York: Russell Sage

Press, 2001• 26. Lillard A: Ethnopsychologies: cultural variations in theories of mind. Psychol Bull 1998; 123:3-

46• 27. Beahrs JO: The evolution of post-traumatic behavior: three hypotheses. Dissociation 1990;

3:15-21

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References III.References III.• 28. Terr LC: Too Scared to Cry: Psychic Trauma in Childhood. New York: Harper & Row, 1990 • 29. Spiegel D, Hunt T, Dondershine HE: Dissociation and hypnotizability in posttraumatic stress

disorder. Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:301-305• 30. Beahrs JO: Posttraumatic polarization in psychiatry and law. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law

1999; 27:335-343 • 31. LeDoux JE: Emotion, memory, and the brain: the neural routes underlying the formation of

memories about emotional experiences, such as fear, have been traced. Sci Am 1994; 270:50-57

• 32. Beahrs JO, Butler JL, Sturges SL, Drummond DI, Beahrs CH: Strategic self-therapy for personality disorders. J Strateg Syst Ther 1992; 11(2):33-59

• 33. Engel GL: The clinical application of the biopsychosocial model. Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:535-544

• 34. Beahrs JO, Gutheil TG: Informed consent in psychiatry. Am J Psychiatry 2001; 158:4-10• 35. Freud S: Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. Edited and translated by Strachey

J. New York: Norton, 1979 (originally published in 1921)• 36. Berne E: Games People Play. New York: Grove Press, 1964 • 37. Beck AT, Freeman A, and Associates: Cognitive Therapy of Personality Disorders. New

York: Guilford Press, 1990 • 38. McGuire MT, Troisi A: Darwinian Psychiatry. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998• 39. Hilgard ER: The Experience of Hypnosis: A Shorter Version of Hypnotic Susceptibility, New

York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1968• 40. Spiegel D, Spiegel HX: Trance and Treatment: Clinical Uses of Hypnosis, 2nd ed.

Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publications, Inc, 2004


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