tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20406961.post7399023032188907789..comments2023-06-07T09:13:41.693-05:00Comments on Episcopal Chaplain On the High Ground: Free From BondageMarshall Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02807749717320495495noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20406961.post-79328729518773080722007-04-11T11:21:00.000-05:002007-04-11T11:21:00.000-05:00bls, I agree with you; but it's still a hard conce...bls, I agree with you; but it's still a hard concept. First, we're heavily acculturated to a "bootstraps" mentality, and often feel threatened by the thought that anything might be out of our control. So, encountering someone who is certainly out of control is frightening to some folks.<BR/><BR/>The same issue, sadly, can be applied to abuse victims. How often have we heard the question of why an abused spouse stays with the abuser? <BR/><BR/>Some of us fear for ourselves losing that sense of rationality, and so fear what seems to us irrational. But in all these cases, we're not talking about folks who are really irrational, so much as limited in perspective. Within the world as they see it, their behavior is logical. It's their premises that the rest of us would question. What you note, and I would affirm, is that it isn't that easy to reset the premises. It isn't that easy to help another person find a new vision of himself or herself. Even a more positive self-image can feel like a threat to what self-image the victim has maintained in the face of fears and struggles and bondage.Marshall Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02807749717320495495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20406961.post-42087067814961042902007-04-09T14:43:00.000-05:002007-04-09T14:43:00.000-05:00I can understand the idea that the "disease concep...I can understand the idea that the "disease concept" might be construed as "letting people off the hook" for what ought to be considered a moral failing.<BR/><BR/>The problem, though, is that so many of the people I've known in recovery were abused dreadfully - both physically and emotionally, and sometimes sexually - as children. You just can't claim that people like this are flouting societal norms and ought to straighten up and fly right; what they are doing is self-medicating in order to survive long enough to get some help. <BR/><BR/>So many people are just plain damaged, and thus the notion of "moral failing" just can't apply. I really think many people don't appreciate how difficult it is to deal with the world under the burden of that sort of background. This is why, also, recovery often takes such a long time and involves numerous relapses; people have to start from scratch in rebuilding their own psyches. It's really very difficult.blshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627725321531151309noreply@blogger.com