Enlightened Living

Mindfulness practice in everyday life.

Michael J. Formica, MS, MA, EdM is a psychotherapist, social scientist, and educator in Westport CT. He is an Initiate in the Shankya Yoga lineage. See full bio

July 20, 2008, Spirituality

Comments on "How Labels Limit Us and We, In Turn, Limit Our Own Potential"

How Labels Limit Us and We, In Turn, Limit Our Own Potential

By Michael J. Formica on July 20, 2008 in Enlightened Living

One of the core tenets of both Buddhism and Vedanta is the rejection of categories and labels. By contrast, we have come to rely on roles and labels to define ourselves. The shortfall of this lies in its limitation. In thinking, "I am this" or "I am that", we have lost sight of the ability to dignify ourselves by the simple statement, "I am". Nowhere is this more apparent than in what has become the seeming cultural imperative of defining ourselves as our disorder. Read More

recovering faster

Submitted by farouk on July 21, 2008 - 3:13am.

i guess that one of the factors that can help people recover is separating themselves from the disorder for if they thought that they are the disorder, then will think that they can never get rid of it

Narrative Therapy

Submitted by Rachel on July 21, 2008 - 12:50pm.

This post reminds me of narrative therapy. When we talked about narrative therapy in my psychology classes, we talked about how if a person views their disorder/symptom as something that exists outside of them, that person can feel that they have more power over the disorder and can fight it off. I can see the benefit in this kind of therapy because it helps bring an abstract thing (eating disorder, depression, etc.) that can be overwhelming, down to a person/monster/whatever that you are fighting. It helps the disorder seem smaller, and something that you can overcome. However, I also think that viewing a disorder as something outside of you can make the disorder seem more uncontrollable. If it exists outside of you, then it has its own mind and will. It seems to me that if a disorder exists within you, it can be contained and controlled. I am not advocating labeling a person as a disorder, because I agree that is more destructive than anything. Perhaps I am misunderstanding something about this, but I would like to hear more thoughts about it.

Duality...

Submitted by Michael J. Formica on July 22, 2008 - 4:53am.

Rachel: Given White and Epston's description of narrative therapy, and the notions that underlie that description, I can see how you would draw a parallel between this conversation and that modality. In fact, narrative therapy is a perfect example of the labeling process -- not only does it create a label, it makes it into a 'thing', creating the self-same duality that a Buddist or Integral psychological perspective is trying to deflect. So, you were correct in drawing the parallel, and I am hoping that you indeed recognize that I am talking about its opposite. I, too, believe that our 'reality' (whatever that is...and I mean that both literally and metaphysically) is shaped by our expectations, assumptions and ideas about the way the world works -- that's called social constructionism or the social construction of reality ((Berger and Luckman, '69) -- and a core element of my disseration)), but, where narrative therapy suggests that we use those things in order to heal, my perspective is that we change our relationship to those things in order to heal. In the case of narrative therapy, the process dignifies and solidifies dysfunction -- and, frankly, that's going to work for a lot of people because most people live with a dualistic mindset. Did you notice that NT is most effective with disorders of self-perception and cognition (like anorexia, ADHD and schizophrenia)? My suggestion is that we change the way we think about the world and ourselves in the world, and in the process address how that thinking causes our dysfunction to manifest. Change the engine of the source, and you change the manner, degree and depth of manifestation. Blessings, Michael