Andrew McGuigan wrote: > --- Frank Mayhar <frank at exit.com> wrote: > > I have plenty of sympathy for people with disorders, but I will > > emphatically not support their system of denial, no matter how much "good" > > it might appear to do in the short term. > Calling someone's beliefs a "system of denial" is > pretty offensive in and of itself, imnsho. I would > suggest you try to have less sympathy and more > empathy. Perhaps you could think how you would react > if someone reacted to your depression as denial of all > the "good things" you have to be thankful for in your > life. "Think positive", etc, etc. As a depressive > myself, I would find that offensive at least. Sigh. Well, if you would read what I wrote, you would note that I didn't say that the _beliefs_ were a system of denial, I referred to the reaction to a perceived _threat_ to those beliefs. The "system of denial" is the one that prevents the belief system from being threatened. The emotional reaction to such a threat is what exposes the disorder. The result is that the person with such a disorder clings even more tightly to the belief and denies (at a very deep, usually unconcious level) the evidence that might contradict it. This is true whether the belief relates to "I have a personal relationship with God," to "he hits me because he loves me," or to "I don't have a drinking problem." Among many, many others. -- Frank Mayhar frank at exit.com http://www.exit.com/ Exit Consulting http://www.gpsclock.com/