On World Mental Health Day (October 10th)

 

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

October 10th of each year is considered a day dedicated worldwide to mental health. It was established in 1994 by the World Federation of Mental Health and the World Health Organization, in order to raise public awareness of mental illness issues. This is because mental illnesses are constantly increasing, to the extent that experts are talking about a global "epidemic" of mental disorders, such as those related to depression or alcohol consumption. And in our country, things are not better. There are statistics that show that 10 to 12% of the total population of all ages suffers from mental illnesses, while as for adolescents, there is their expressed statement (2 out of 5) that they are not satisfied with their lives and do not feel generally "well".

The Shocking Advice of Saint Paisios the Athonite to a Physician

In his book Holy Mountain (Αγίων Όρος), Metropolitan Nektarios of Argolidos refers to a certain physician who asked Saint Paisios the Athonite (+ 1994) the following question:

"Elder, there are certain patients that I don't know what to do with, whether I should send them to a priest or a doctor?"

He responded:

"You will see, that not all are for the priest nor are all for the doctor. One you will send to the doctor, another to the priest, and another to the bouzoukia*."

Characteristics of the Extremist Personality

By Profesor Tariq ibn 'Ali Al-Habeeb

First: Is there an extremist personality?

Second: Are there specific characteristics for the extremist personality?

Third: Can extremism in individuals be the result of genetic aptitude or of social and political circumstances?

This paper is not a comprehensive research but rather a journey to the different types of personalities to verify the researcher's proposition:

"Immoderation and extremism are not the inherent in certain personalities, for mere personalities cannot be extreme. Extremism is an intellectual ideology more than a psychological need. It is a separate idea which people choose and are attracted to mostly for social reasons."

Self-Control, and Lack of Self-Control, Is Contagious

January 18, 2010
ScienceDaily

Before patting yourself on the back for resisting that cookie or kicking yourself for giving in to temptation, look around. A new University of Georgia study has revealed that self-control -- or the lack thereof -- is contagious.

In a just-published series of studies involving hundreds of volunteers, researchers have found that watching or even thinking about someone with good self-control makes others more likely exert self-control. The researchers found that the opposite holds, too, so that people with bad self-control influence others negatively. The effect is so powerful, in fact, that seeing the name of someone with good or bad self-control flashing on a screen for just 10 milliseconds changed the behavior of volunteers.

Technological Aesthetics and the Therapy of the Triodion

By Protopresbyter Fr. Thomas Vamvinis

Technological Assistance to Illness

In the press we have seen references to a book by British psychotherapist Susie Orbach, titled Awakening Beauty. It is a book written to help mothers communicate properly with their young daughters on issues related to body image, self-confidence and self-esteem.

Book Review: "Our Necessary Shadow: The Nature and Meaning of Psychiatry"

Unable to give a satisfactory materialist explanations to free will, consciousness and the immaterial mind, psychiatry has been on a downward spiral in recent years as a science, though it once enjoyed high status among the sciences. Below is a link to a review from the Washington Post of Our Necessary Shadow: The Nature and Meaning of Psychiatry, by Oxford social psychiatrist Tom Burns, which tries to unpack the problems, while defending psychiatry as a legitimate medical specialty:

Book review: ‘Our Necessary Shadow,’ on the nature of psychiatry, by Tom Burns

The Science (Fiction) of the 10 Percent Brain Myth

Science Fiction movies hardly ever employ valid or good science, but lately a string of movies have come out of Hollywood that build off the myth that we only use ten percent of our brains. A few years ago Limitless played off this myth, and more recently Transcendence and Lucy. However the complexity of the brain is based on the fact that it is a vast network that works as a whole to be able to do what it does. One could just pass this myth over as silly if it wasn't for the fact that the majority of Americans actually believe it to be true. A study last year from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research concluded that 65 percent of Americans accepted the 10 percent myth as fact. Unfortunately, even when Mythbusters proved this myth was not true, they still conceded by saying we only use 35% of our brain, which is also not true. No doubt the internet has done much to spread this myth, along with the equally mythical right brain/left brain dichotomy, but one could also point out that a common feature in all the films mentioned is that when we are able to use all the functioning of our brain, we almost have god-like qualities. It is a secularists dream of self-deification realized. It is no wonder that the origins of this myth lie in thinkers who are popular among New Agers, which is a belief system centered on self-deification and realizing the god within us all.

Big Brother or Big Father? : An Analysis of a Reality Show

The following article was published in January of 2002 in Greece and gives a brief yet interesting analysis following the conclusion of the first season of the Greek version of the popular television reality show Big Brother, which aired in the fall of 2001 and in the U.S. is shown every Summer.

By His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos 

of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

The "television game show" Big Brother which was aired as a "reality show" and considered a risk to a known television channel has now completed. There have been many reviews by accredited journalists and other scholars on the new phenomenon, which, of course, we are not going to mention here.

The Foundations of Orthodox Psychotherapy

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos

I have examined the subject of Orthodox Psychotherapy early in my life and published at least six books, which have been translated to other languages, and I have also examined it in other books of mine. In today’s presentation I will focus on some points of relevance to the present Conference.

1. THE TERM “ORTHODOX PSYCHOTHERAPY”

The term I used in my first book, published in 1986, caused considerable reactions – positive and negative – and thus I have had to explain it on various occasions. I will present some of these explanations here.

A Conversation on Psychiatric Illnesses and Demonic Possession with Elder Epiphanios Theodoropoulos

Elder Epiphanios was asked:

"Many Christians maintain that psychiatric illnesses are due to demonic influence and, with this viewpoint, they reject the use of psychiatric medicines. What do you have to say about this position?"

Elder Epiphanios Theodoropoulos On Psychoanalysis

Elder Epiphanios Theodoropoulos was asked:

"Elder, it is known that a percentage of psychiatrists considers continence during a young age as a cause of psychiatric illnesses. What can we answer them?"

He answered:

Elder Paisios On Clergymen Who Employ Psychology

Those who are not well spiritually are certain clergymen who study psychology in order to help people's souls (with human skill). The strange thing is that their teachers, the psychologists, neither believe in God nor accept the existence of the soul; and if they do, they do it in their own way (almost all of them). These clergymen reveal through their actions that they are spiritually ill and need patristic examinations. After being cured, they will discern for themselves this ill spirit and, at the same time, they will come to know Divine Grace. From then on, they will use divine energy instead of human arts to cure suffering souls.

Elder Paisios the Athonite, Epistles, p. 107.

Research Finds Repressed Memories Don't Exist

By Karen Berkman
September 6, 2010
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The idea that traumatised people, especially the victims of child sexual abuse, deliberately repress horrific memories goes all the way back to the 19th century and the theories of Sigmund Freud himself.

But now some experts are saying the evidence points the other way.

Seven Thoughts That Are Bad For You

Our personalities do more for us than determine our social circles. Temperament can impact a person's physical health.

"The idea that behavior or personality traits can influence health is one that's been around for a long time. We're just now getting a handle on to what extent they do," said Stephen Boyle of Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.

From those with a chill demeanor to the completely frazzled types, mental factors are ultimately tied to physical health. And while a highly neurotic person might deteriorate more quickly than others, not every character trait will kill you. Some might even boost lifetimes.

Alexandros Papadiamantis and Sigmund Freud

By Metropolitan Hierotheos

of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Surely, between Papadiamantis and Freud there is no special relationship, although they were almost contemporaries. Papadiamantis lived between 1851-1911 and Freud between 1856-1939. Papadiamantis was a novelist and ethographist who presents the people of tradition, and Freud was an Austrian neurologist, the founder of Psychoanalysis, who presented the internal conflicts of people, but also the role of the unconscious and repression "as an expression of mental disorders". Papadiamantis is akin to Dostoevsky, who critiqued western Psychology.

Secular Psychotherapy and the Therapeutic Method of the Orthodox Church

Is secular "psychotherapy" compatible with the principles and the anthropology 

of the Orthodox Church?

An interview with Dr Jean Claude Larchet(*), University Professor who holds a doctorate in the Humanities, and has studied Psychopathology, Philosophy and the Eastern Church Fathers, and has also had clinical experience in psychiatric hospitals.

This is a transcribed excerpt from “Radio-Paraga”, a program on the official radio station of the Church of Greece. It was broadcast on Sunday, 6 February 2000, under the title: “Is Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy a Science?”. The program was presented by Father Konstantinos Stratigopoulos.

+++

Fr K.S.: Thank you for being with us tonight. The subject of our broadcast is psychotherapy according to the Eastern Church Fathers versus secular “psychotherapy”. Since you are an expert in this field, we would like to ask you a few questions. In your opinion, is secular “psychotherapy” compatible with the principles and the anthropology of the Orthodox Church?

Fear of the Devil in the 1980's and Today

 By John Sanidopoulos

Anyone watching TV in the mid-late 1980's remembers the Satanic Panic commercialized by the media. Unable to understand the changing trends in culture that began in the 1960's, blame went to the devil and his "followers". Maybe it was the end of the Cold War and Reagan-era conservatism or maybe it was Heavy Metal music and Horror movies, but back then you could hardly go a day without seeing some overly sensationalized tabloid headline that spoke about shocking satanic rituals, or childhood sexual abuse tied to devil worship. Reports of the latter would later prove to be false, since no evidence was ever found and the only cases reported were the result of so-called repressed memories recovered through hypnosis. Personally, I think all this only made some people more fascinated with "the dark side" and sinister conspiracies, even those who opposed them, and to speak against the devil in society was a way to show this fascination. It also gave society a scapegoat to place blame on when easy answers couldn't be found elsewhere.

Derren Brown's Experiment on the Effects of Subliminal Advertising

Believe In God, Not Yourself

"Nowhere does the Gospel tell you to believe in yourself, but to believe in God - that God can help, that God can heal. Some people, however, take this the wrong way, and say, 'Man has powers, and must believe in himself.' To believe in one's self contains either egoism or demonism."

- Elder Paisios the Athonite

"The Century of the Self" (4-part Documentary)

The Century of the Self is an award-winning British television documentary series by Adam Curtis. It focuses on how the work of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, and Edward Bernays influenced the way corporations and governments have analyzed,‭ dealt with, and controlled ‬people.

"This series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy." —Adam Curtis' introduction to the first episode.