On the Spiritually Ill.

On the Spiritually Ill.

' 

"Disorder" seems to imply permanence and genetic determination. "Neurosis", as Jung used it, refers to a temporary symptom of entirely psychological (not psychiatric) mal-adaptation, such as Frankl's Noogenic Neurosis (the result of not having Meaning in one's life). I really hope that what you said about the diagnostic manual's decision to "up-date" the term is not true.'

By rejecting all neurosis as being genetic in origin we marginalize the Neurotic. The Neurotic is isolated from Society, taught to believe that he must fend for his self without support from others. This renders him a likely social deviant. The disorder to begin with is entirely constructed and imposed. As every attempt the individual makes to assert his lost humanity is rejected on the grounds of this Ad Hominem [“He is sick, so clearly what he says cannot have rational value”], he becomes more neurotic as the environment grows more Kafkaesque. Strangers and even friends re-enforce the notion that he requires treatment simply because they feel justified in his mis-treatment. He is VISIBLY neurotic, but no one wants to help him along his path to psychological recovery by resolving the deep underlying cognitive dissonances of his Absurd situation which make it hard for him to function and find sense in any thing. The situation was from the beginning entirely mental, but we labeled it physical so that we would not have to address our own mental insecurities and uncertainties.

Dm.A.A.