Positive Intention and Hardware

[Simple Guy]

Is a presupposition of positive intention for behaviors more, less,
about the same, in terms of usefulness for you, where dementia
or other brain impairment is present? Those commenting, please
indicate whether your comments are informed by first hand working
experience with others.

[Connie]

About the same. My only firsthand experience with brain impairment/injury is my sister's getting her skull smashed in in a car accident. Yes, there is a positive, higher intention there. I don't know precisely what it IS, but it's there. Probably more than one.

[Merlin]

Positive intent, well yes.
But the mind can and does make mistakes!
Cancering for instance.
It's a positive intent, but a mistake
So is ALS, diabetes, myopia, etc.
For that matter, so is smoking, alcoholism, drug addiction, etc.

[skip]

Which positive intent are you asking about?

Consciously or unconsciously no one ever does anything against their best interest.

BUT!

They will make sacrifices for what they think is greater gain. And that includes things against their personal best interest, up to and including things painful even to the extent of death.

AND

They can make mistakes because of poor judgement and lack of information.

AND

They can hold beliefs and values that mitigate against them in some contexts.

SO

People can and do, do things that are against their interest and or harmful to themselves, still conforming to the concept of positive intent.

OR

You might be talking about the theraputic notion of positive intent where it is theraputic for a therapast to FIND some positive intent behind someones behavior in order to bring about or enhance a theraputic effect.

Remember it is very easy to confuse intent with results. But it is a mistake. ;)

skip

[Terry]

I suspect this question was provoked by the comments about intent behind a client who comes to us for minor problems such as smoking, and if so it is important to recognise the difference in our aproach to different clients and different problems. Dementia is not something that anyone wants conciously, and brain damage is most likely not brought on by any subconcious intent. After all, who would throw themselves off a motorbike at high speed, and smash their skull intentionally?...:) Anyone who did so would be looking for death, not a damaged brain....
In the event of dementia, my own aproach would be to show honest concern for the future of my client, confidence that I have the knowledge and the skill to help them to the fullest, and get to work at once. Regression may be an option depending on the situation described to me, and I suppose that might be considered as finding "intent", the poster must decide how and why the question was posed.

[Simple Guy]

Hi Merlin,

Yes, mistakes happen.

[Simple Guy]

Hi Skip,

Primarily, I was talking about the therapeutic value for a therapist to
find or believe in the presence of positive intent underlying a behavior.
I'm not dismissing the value of the presupposition, even in circumstances
where it would seem likely that the onset/continuance of a behavior
is the result of a capriciousness of brain malfunction, as opposed to
a deliberate expression of conscious and/or unconscious deliberate
intent, though.

[Simple Guy]

Hi Terry,

Actually, the question was provoked by a contrast of two people.
One is a client who is brain healthy. She overcame a refusal to
eat situation with one session of hypnotherapy. The other is not
a client and exhibits symtoms of dementia, largely refuses to
drink water, is dehydrated, and jeoporadizes her health. I agree
that brain damage most likely is "not brought on by any subconscious
intent."

[Jack]

...and a difficult one, SG. My initial reaction was to say that subconscious positive intent was always present until I realised:

1) my reaction was dogmatic in that I have a belief that it is so, and
2) my experience did not point to it always being so in cases of dementia, alzheimer's, schizophrenia and certain types of physical brain damage, and 3) I don't actually have a belief in positive intent as a core value, only as a means to an end.

For there to be positive intent there has to be something which is capable of producing it. Since we know so little about the brain and the idea of consciousness no-one can know with any certainty whether there will always be a positive intent under all circumstances siince we do not know exactly what is producing it.

That should not stop us from behaving as if there is positive intent.

Until the point where there isn't, or at least what we are doing isn't producing the required result, if you see what I mean.

Reduced to its mechanistic basics a behaviour is a set of electrical impulses created by internal and/or external stimulii and applied to particular parts of the brain to create an observable and repeatable routine.

But we all know, or at least believe, that people are not machines, and that brains are not simply bio-electrochemistry. If they were then all unwanted behaviours would be easy to remove with the products of the pharmaceutical industry.

So, the question is whether or not the subconscious of a physically damaged brain can continue to exhibit signs of positive intent, or whether once a brain is damaged beyond the ability to function with normal cognition positive intent is also nullified. Unfortunately there is no answer with any certainty.

Does this matter?

My opinion, no, since any good therapist will adapt to what presents and do whatever is necessary to achieve behavioural change. At the point where the client's problem is immune to all the expertise of the therapist all intelligent therapists will give up. There is no sin in giving up. Continuing to do what does not work is the act of a fool.

It is a good idea to only behave like a fool some of the time, and only ever if necessary.

Jack

[Simple Guy]

Hi Jack,

I agree with almost all of your reply, but for the "no," about this
mattering. :) Like some other myths and other apocrypha,
this does form a backdrop for developing and more developed
hypnotherapists, reflecting in attitudes that affect both client
and therapist. Others reading this, myths don't mean falsehoods,
necessarily.

Btw, of myths, it's unfortunate that probably fewer than 5 percent
of hypnotherapists are adept at the application of myths and
related archetypes to their work. An interest in Jung
and Campbell's work on archetypes, can pay off big time in
efficacy, on some occasions, to an otherwise well equipped
therapist. Just a thread drifted aside. :)

Have an enjoyable weekend.