Therapist Struck Off

LOUGHTON: Arts therapist struck off

11:15am Tuesday 2nd June 2009

Comments (11) Have your say »

By Edmund Tobin »

AN arts therapist who fell asleep during sessions with patients, swore at them and suggested one take advantage of “unlimited sex” has been struck off.

Derek Gale, who practiced at the Gale Centre, in Whitakers Way, Loughton, also smoked cannabis in front of patients, made a number of them help rebuild his practice, and wrote to one signing himself “daddy”.

The Health Professions Council’s Conduct and Competence Committee has been hearing evidence against Mr Gale since March with four former patients making allegations against him.

Among allegations upheld by the HPC are that he read one patient, JB, a bedtime story while playing with her hair and pinging her bra strap.

During a one-to-one therapy sessions with the same client he told her he was writing a novel in which the main character was a therapist who “Gets f***** in every way” and “gets f***** by the client.”

Mr Gale also admitted he told the patient a fantasy he had of dropping his trousers in front of his ex-wife.

He asked another client, GD, to cut his hair for free, and told other members to help him re-build the Gale Centre.

During the hearing Mr Gale described himself as “A ‘non-mainstream’ practitioner who adopts a confrontational and provocative position in relation to his clients in both individual and group settings”.

The committee heard that Mr Gale often went on holiday with another client, broke another patient’s confidentiality by telling his group she was self-harming, and failed to keep full notes.

Its report summary states: “The Panel has come to the firm view that he has a cavalier attitude towards the needs of clients and the requirement to follow guidelines.

“Mr Gale’s current fitness to practise is impaired because a person who is capable of adopting this attitude represents a significant risk to clients who may come his way, and that there is this risk with some potential clients is not negated by the acknowledged fact that he has helped people.”

Mr Gale has been struck off the HPC’s register.

Speaking to The Guardian after the hearing, one former client, who asked not to be named, said: “It was what we were hoping for. It was a long and difficult case and they did their job admirably.

“I don’t think he’s fully aware of the damage that he does, and it’s a concern. I think we all survive these things but it’s taken a long time to come to terms with the fact and impact it’s had on my life. The HPC verdict has offered a certain amount of closure but it’s a concern that he continues to practice.”

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Below are some comments that are sadly not unlike those discussions we have all witnessed taking place on the blogs, online forums, and websites surrounding Christopher Hansard. For those who were not victims themselves who maintain friendships it is hard to believe that their “friend” can be equally manipulative and predatory as he can be “kind” and seemingly “generous”.

However the reality remains. A reality severely and possibly irreparably distorted for those lost in Hansard’s world of “Spirituality, Self-help, and Self Knowledge”

LOUGHTON: Arts therapist struck off

11:15am Tuesday 2nd June 2009

Comments (11) Have your say »

By Edmund Tobin »

AN arts therapist who fell asleep during sessions with patients, swore at them and suggested one take advantage of “unlimited sex” has been struck off.

Derek Gale, who practiced at the Gale Centre, in Whitakers Way, Loughton, also smoked cannabis in front of patients, made a number of them help rebuild his practice, and wrote to one signing himself “daddy”.

The Health Professions Council’s Conduct and Competence Committee has been hearing evidence against Mr Gale since March with four former patients making allegations against him.

Among allegations upheld by the HPC are that he read one patient, JB, a bedtime story while playing with her hair and pinging her bra strap.

During a one-to-one therapy sessions with the same client he told her he was writing a novel in which the main character was a therapist who “Gets f***** in every way” and “gets f***** by the client.”

Mr Gale also admitted he told the patient a fantasy he had of dropping his trousers in front of his ex-wife.

He asked another client, GD, to cut his hair for free, and told other members to help him re-build the Gale Centre.

During the hearing Mr Gale described himself as “A ‘non-mainstream’ practitioner who adopts a confrontational and provocative position in relation to his clients in both individual and group settings”.

The committee heard that Mr Gale often went on holiday with another client, broke another patient’s confidentiality by telling his group she was self-harming, and failed to keep full notes.

Its report summary states: “The Panel has come to the firm view that he has a cavalier attitude towards the needs of clients and the requirement to follow guidelines.

“Mr Gale’s current fitness to practise is impaired because a person who is capable of adopting this attitude represents a significant risk to clients who may come his way, and that there is this risk with some potential clients is not negated by the acknowledged fact that he has helped people.”

Mr Gale has been struck off the HPC’s register.

Speaking to The Guardian after the hearing, one former client, who asked not to be named, said: “It was what we were hoping for. It was a long and difficult case and they did their job admirably.

“I don’t think he’s fully aware of the damage that he does, and it’s a concern. I think we all survive these things but it’s taken a long time to come to terms with the fact and impact it’s had on my life. The HPC verdict has offered a certain amount of closure but it’s a concern that he continues to practice.”

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galefriend, loughton says…
7:22pm Tue 2 Jun 09

Having read the news with great sadness regarding Mr Gale, I would like to respond on behalf of the hundreds of clients that he helped over the years that did not come out of the hate filled woodwork that plotted against him. I have known him for 35 years, our children grew up together and at no stage have I percieved any wrongdoing.Mr Gale was not perfect and was also a little unconventional but why keep returning for sessions, paying for them and then complaining about his approach and quite frankly some of the allegations were bizarre to say the least. At no stage of the reporting has there been a balanced view it was a witch-hunt by a group of people who should have gone for a more conventional route to deal with their therapy needs and perhaps accepted what was being said to them. I hope you are all happy with the result, I know a very kind, very loyal, very sympathetic man in Loughton who isnot this evening. Rock on HDG

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Galecult, Loughton says…
10:20pm Tue 2 Jun 09

Those who are defining themselves as friends of Gale should also note that the panel of the HPC also acknowledged that Mr Gale had helped people in the past but overwhelmingly accepted that his cavalier attitude to good practise is a risk to his clients – afterall how would you feel if you’re GP doctor told you that it would be good for you if you both got naked and went on holiday together? How would you feel if your GP made those type of suggestions to your wife or daughter and charges you large amounts of money for the privelege?

Such Pretty Prose For A Sexual Predator

Christopher Hansard’s books and current blog are little more than pretty prose written by a man who could not live any more in contrast to his own words…

Doctor-Patient Sexual Assault And Abuse

by OWJN

August 2008

The sexual abuse of patients by health care professionals is a clear abuse of power. Health care professionals provide services to people, often when they are ill or in need of assistance. One judge outlined the dynamics of sexual abuse by doctors particularly well in a 1998 decision that was quoted in “What about Accountability to the Patient?” (see below):

“She went to him for help at a time when she was particularly vulnerable and insecure. He had the professional knowledge to help her, but instead used that knowledge to manipulate the situation to his own advantage, playing on [her] lack of confidence, her search for a positive father-figure and her sexual inhibitions. In these circumstances, as has been attested by Dr. Jackson and Dr. Freebury, [the patient] could not exercise free will. Her participation in sexual activities with Dr. B. [a psychologist] was not based on any understanding on her part as to what was really happening. He kept her in a constant state of confusion as to whether his advances were part of her treatment, evidence of his love for her, or something else. This was coupled with her overwhelming dependency on him, which he let develop unchecked, so that she was rendered incapable of coming to her own assessments or conclusions. There could be no genuine consent in these circumstances. Therefore everything from the initial touching to the hugging , kissing, fondling, masturbating and finally intercourse were all forms of battery.”

The judge continued, citing from Madame Justice McLachlin’s decision in Norberg v.Wynrib (1992), 92 D.L.R.(4th) 449 (S.C.C.) p.497): “I agree with McLachlin J. that ‘…where such a power imbalance exists it matters not what the patient may have done, how seductively she may have dressed, how compliant she may have appeared, or how self interested her conduct may have been – the doctor will be at fault if sexual exploitation occurs.’”

Task Forces on Sexual Abuse of Patients

In 1991, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) commissioned a task force to prepare an independent report on the sexual abuse of patients by health care professionals.

The Task Force on Sexual Abuse of Patients made many powerful recommendations. These recommendations led to the government introducing a law (Bill 100) that made changes to the Regulated Health Professions Act. The goal of these amendments was to eradicate the abuse of patients by health care professionals.

The amendments defined the sexual abuse of patients for the first time, implemented many of the Task Force`s recommendations, and established new procedures and standards for responding to and preventing sexual abuse of patients by health care professionals.

Until the original Task Force in 1991, patient sexual abuse by health care professionals was mostly ignored, denied, or misunderstood. For this reason, one of the most significant achievements of the original Task Force was that it made patient abuse public and, by making the abuse public, made it a little bit easier for patients to make their voices heard and pursue justice against their abusers.

Despite Bill 100, most of the original Task Force’s recommendations were never implemented. In 2000, Elizabeth Witmer, who was then the Minister of Health and Long Term Care, appointed the Special Task Force on the Sexual Abuse of Patients. This second task force was made up of the original task force members. In June 2001, the Special Task Force released its report, entitled, “What about Accountability to the Patient?”

The Special Task Force’s report made 34 recommendations, including:

enacting a patients’ bill of rights to make the 21 regulatory colleges that are responsible for receiving, processing, and investigating sexual abuse complaints work more efficiently together;

creating a “Public Access Centre” to help process patient inquiries and complaints;

upholding a zero tolerance philosophy of patient sexual abuse;

requiring immediate reporting of abuse; and

requiring each regulatory college to prepare an annual report.

The Special Task Force recommended that health care professionals continue to be self-regulated. In other words, a health care professional who is accused of sexually abusing a patient is judged by his or her peers when the regulatory body decides whether to, for example, revoke that professional’s license to practice. Health care professionals are subject to these kinds of proceedings as well as criminal proceedings if they abuse patients.

In coming to its recommendations, the Special Task Force noted that “[t]o truly understand the impact of this particular type of violence to our society, however, it must be placed within an unfortunately broader context of violence against women and children, and some men, within Ontario and Canada… Though men and boys can be and are abused, the data available to us confirms that women and girls are subject to the highest incidence of abuse, including sexual abuse as patients.”

more…

Therapy is supposed to be a safe place. A setting wherein the client can relax his/her everyday protective stature in the hopes of exploring and resolving painful psychological issues. A place where the client “is encouraged to open herself completely to the presumably benign and therapeutic influence of the therapist’s professional skill.”¹ Where it is the sole responsibility of the care provider to ensure their care affords the client no harm. Many therapists are reputable professionals. Unfortunately some therapists do abuse their clients. The Task Force on Sexual Abuse of Patients reports that “23% of the incest survivors who go for help end up being abused sexually by their “helpers”.”²

*As was the case for many of the clients of “Dr. Christopher Hansard”, Author of The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking, The Tibetan Art of Serenity, and The Tibetan Art of Living – Wise Body, Wise Mind, and Wise Life. A man who claimed to be a “Master Physician of Tibetan Dur Bon Medicine” for nearly 20 years!

Tibetan teachings delivered by a man who received no such teachings himself. A man whose sexual addiction and delusions of grandeur drove him to present an entirely fabricated story in order to gain trust from those he would later assault, harass and abuse.

more…

(1984). Psychoanalytic Psychology, 1:89-98

The Sexually Abused Patient and the Abusing Therapist: A Study in Sadomasochistic Relationships

Sydney Smith, Ph.D.

Coming to light with increasing frequency are cases in which psychoanalysts and psychotherapists engage in sexually abusing behavior toward their patients. Some observers of this sordid situation have suggested that the very nature of the therapeutic or analytic relationship, with its counterplay of nonverbal transference attachments, makes the therapist susceptible to falling into the role of seducer. This paper describes cases in which the sexual contact becomes injurious and traumatic for the patient. It explores the psychological dynamics of such cases, looks at the possible conscious and unconscious motives of the therapist, and relates those issues to the pathological background of the patient.

[This is a summary or excerpt from the full text of the book or article. The full text of the document is available to subscribers.]

Copyright © 2009, Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The author of this book is a psychiatrist, and the survivor of sexual and emotional abuse by the psychiatrist who was her therapist. She employs two voices in the writing of her book: the first part of each chapter is a narration of her own experiences as a victim of abuse; the second part, an account of her journey as a psychiatrist towards understanding the meaning of the abuse and how to heal from it. Her journey includes having a second, very different, experience of therapy; listening to the stories of other survivors of abuse by health professionals; reading published accounts of such abuses; making her story public to professional and general audiences; being a member of a group dedicated to combating sexual abuse by therapists; talking to colleagues who have treated victims of abuse by health professionals; culling ideas from the literature on trauma and abuse; and treating patients who are themselves survivors of abuse by health professionals.

Her book is a powerful blend of the personal and the professional that penetrates the ‘conspiracy of silence’ that still holds sway and prevents victims from getting the compassion, understanding, support, and financial and legal aid that they deserve.

About the Author
P. SUSAN PENFOLD is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.

• Sex in the Therapy Hour: A Case of Professional Incest by Carolyn M. Bates on 7 pages
• Sexual Exploitation in Professional Relationships by Glen O. Gabbard on 6 pages
• Sexual Involvement With Therapists: Patient Assessment, Subsequent Therapy, Forensics by Kenneth S. Pope on 5 pages

Ethics in Psychotherapy and Counseling by Kenneth S. Pope

Discusses:

• sexual involvement with therapists
• subsequent therapist
• practices regarding erotic

Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse

Whilst most people would rightly assume that cults represent a major problem in North America, few realise the enormity of the problem in Great Britain and the rest of Europe. In the U.K. there are well over 500 cults in operation which means that on a per capita basis the problem is the same as that of the U.S. In Eastern Europe, since the collapse of the ‘iron curtain’ cults are also flourishing by exploiting (and removing) the new found freedoms given to the average citizen.

Cults are operating throughout the fabric of contemporary society. Cults have made inroads into the religious and medical communities and  even advertise in the media.

without an understanding of the basics, a counsellor may overlook cultism as the source of a client’s difficulties and even look for deficiencies in the individual as the root cause of the problems. Other carers, with the best intentions, may recognise that recent cult involvement is at the heart of a client’s difficulties, but enter the counselling with many assumptions about cults that are unfounded and erroneous. This lack of understanding impairs progress and can be extremely harmful to the very person one is trying to help.

There are many myths associated with an understanding of the general cult phenomenon today. One popular notion suggests that to become a member of a cult you have to be experiencing a personal problem. This school of thought further postulates that the prospective cult member must be a lost, searching soul with no faith, who may be unstable and suffer from low self-esteem. It continues with the idea that he is likely to be an uneducated teenager, who may have a history of mental illness and/or joined the cult in order to fill a void in his life. The reality is vastly different.

By far the majority of people who are recruited into cults are in fact normal and healthy. They usually come from economically advantaged family backgrounds, have average to above average intelligence and are well educated, idealistic people, with no prior history of mental illness. Their spiritual perspectives vary greatly. Some have a strong faith and some do not.

People of all ages are influenced and many are professionals. It appears that anyone can be recruited. For rather than joining a cult they are actively recruited. No one wakes up in the morning and says “it’s about time I got involved in a cult” and goes out looking for one. Instead they become unwitting victims of deception and subtle techniques of psychological manipulation.

These techniques of mind control used by cults to overpower the unsuspecting are many and varied. They include food and sleep deprivation. Trance induction is common and achieved using hypnosis or prolonged rhythmical chanting. Another popular tool is bombarding members with conditional love. This love is removed whenever there is a deviation from the dictates of the leader. It is known as ‘love bombing’. Guilt and fear are also used to bring about conformity along with isolation from rational reference points, as well as a removal of privacy, so there is no time to think and reflect on the issues and activities experienced thus far. These techniques are employed against the individual in an atmosphere of intense group pressure to conform at all times to the desires of the leader.

A list of 26 cult methods of psychological coercion is as follows:

Hypnosis Peer Pressure Love Bombing Rejection of Old Values Confusing Doctrine Metacommunication Removal of Privacy Time Sense Deprivation Disinhibition Uncompromising Rules Verbal Abuse Sleep Deprivation Replacement of Relationships

Chanting Confession Financial Commitment Finger Pointing Flaunting Hierarchy Isolation Controlled Approval Change of Diet Games No Questions Guilt Fear Change of Dress Codes

The victim is broken down physically and mentally so as to become highly vulnerable to the suggestions and wishes of the group and its leader. This process is likely to take only three or four days with the average person in the average group. The end result is a sudden, drastic personality change in the individual. The cult tries to equate this with ‘conversion’. However, Conway and Siegelman describe the change of personality as ’snapping’ (Conway & Siegelman, Snapping. New York: Delta Books, l979). The new personality is unable to reason, to choose, to critically evaluate and is dependent on the cult to interpret reality and his reason for living.

Even with the right help the typical ex-cultist still faces more than a year of pain and suffering before he recovers from the damage done by the group. Typical symptoms of withdrawal include confusion, depression, disorientation, insomnia, amnesia, guilt, fear, floating in and out of altered states, suicidal tendencies and violent emotional outbursts. Most were outlined by Conway and Siegelman in their paper “Information Disease,” Science Digest, January 1982. An ex-member may even bear physical scars that serve as a constant reminder of his experience.

It is obviously a difficult recovery time for former members, but it is made easier if they are made aware of what it is they are experiencing. When ex-cultists experiencing the above symptoms are brought to the realisation that their suffering is quite normal, there is a tremendous sense of relief expressed. This is another area where a counsellor can be particularly helpful. It feels so good to feel normal again, even if only normal at this stage in the fact that they are suffering as they heal, like thousands of others before them.

They can soon be helped by carers to realise they are not alone, that their current situation is understood and has been documented in a growing body of literature published by other pioneers in this field including Dr John G. Clarke Jnr., Dr Margaret Singer, and Dr Jolyon West.

Before beginning counselling the counsellor needs to be sure that it was indeed a cult and not a sect in which the person was enmeshed. A sect may be described as a spin-off from an established religion or quite eclectic, but it does not use techniques of mind control on its membership. However, a cult can be defined as follows:

Definition of a Cult A cult has all of the following characteristics: It uses psychological coercion to recruit, indoctrinate and retain potential members. It forms an elitist totalitarian society. Its founder leader is self-appointed, dogmatic, messianic, not accountable and has charisma. It believes ‘the end justifies the means’. Its wealth does not benefit its members or society.

There are two distinct categories into which most cults can be classified. Whilst most people have heard of ‘Religious Cults’, few are aware of ‘Therapy Cults’. Victims of both groupings require the same counselling skills, but it is useful to understand the differences between the two classifications even if only to help recognise these groups as being cults. The two types of cults are as follows:

Religious Cults	Therapy Cults
Communal living common. Members usually leave or do not join society’s workforce. Average age at the point of recruitment is in the low 20’s. Registered as religious groups. Appear to offer association with a group interested in making the world a better place via political, spiritual or other means.	Communal living rare. Members stay in society’s workforce. Average age at the point of recruitment is in the mid 30’s. Registered as ‘not for profit’ groups. Appear to offer association with a group giving courses in some kind of self improvement or self help technique or therapy.

For many of Christopher Hansard’s former victims of abuse the coercion, intimidation, and manipulation described above will be all too familiar. As for  those he may be engaging with sexually currently, or who he has recently threatened or intimidated in any way. You are not alone. Though he may tell you that you are the only one, or that the sexual practices you are partaking in with him are meant for your own good and are spiritual, they are not. Christopher Hansard has found a way to ensure his sexual addictions will always be fed and his ego nurtured. For him it is survival. With the help and support of his therapists and media, he will be guaranteed a steady supply of ‘willing’ and ‘consensual’ victims.

What is possibly the worst part of this ongoing scenario is that he also manages to manipulate those around him into feeling sorry for him, drawing out their sympathy and presenting himself as the victim of harassment when he has sexually coerced his patients into granting him sexual favours,  intimidated others into continuing fruitless treatments, and frauded countless people out of their time and money by presenting himself as a “Tibetan Master of Dur Bon Medicine” and even calling himself “Doctor”.

Christopher Hansard never had a teacher, he was never trained in the arts of Tibetan Medicine. He was however trained as an actor in New Zealand long ago. In 1992 if not before, his wife came home one day to find all her house plants hanging from the ceiling and her husband claiming that they were Tibetan medicine and bid her not to question him. Even at that time, friends and acquaintances tried to get him psychiatric help, but he refused. The illusion he had only just begun to create was too good to give up. He set up his own clinic in Adam and Eve Mews and began almost immediately recruiting apprentices, most if not all of which he slept with telling them they were taking part in sacred practices and teachings with him, most of which he had drawn forth from his own practice and were patients or fellow practitioners in his clinic. Most left, only one remained.

Psychological Harassment

Information Association

Psychological Manipulation

Psychological Manipulation and Induced Psychological Illness

As indicated on the home page, psychological harassment and psychological manipulation “mind control” can induce psychological and physical disorders.

When an individual is targeted, the level of harassment usually begins slowly and increases with time.

Anytime someone interacts with you they can influence your thoughts and also manipulate your thoughts.

Usually, people “tune out” the conversations around them. If you are in a crowded room and someone calls out your name they will probably attract your attention and the same goes for other specific words or sounds.

Individual’s can recall or form images. The expression “I get the visual”. When someone talks about or describes a scene you may form an image even if you have never seen what the other person is talking about or describing.

An individual can come in close proximity to another individual and ask a question, If the individual hears the question, whether he is the target of the question or not, his mind can respond with an answer. The answer response can be in different forms such as an image or sound. For example, if the question is what does the person look like? The individual may form an image of the person in his mind. If the question is what is the person’s name? The individual’s mind may respond with the sound of the person’s name.

If someone says leave and slams a desk drawer or hits an object. This is a form of indirect intimidation, an indirect threat of violence. If these actions are repeated it can become a form of conditioning. The next time a person slams a desk drawer or hits an object the person may associate this as a threat.

Classical conditioning can be used to associate different threats to different things. (see also Fear Conditioning)

Bookmarks (sections):
Conditioning your mind Negatively or Positively
Act Happy (condition your mind happy)
Indirect Communication – State of Constant Interrogation
Conditioning Sounds – Hitting Sounds, Conditioning and Fear Conditioning
Conditioning Words – The Identification Word or The Trigger Word
Indirect Threats – Verbal Maneuvering to Hide Direct Threats
Social Queues – Rejection Hurts and can Lower Your Self-Esteem
Smiling and Acceptance (opposite of rejection)
Intrusive Thoughts – Inducing Degrading Images (Degrading Themes)
Psychological Constructions – Constructions, Barriers, and Restrictions
Subtle Attacks – Hidden, Doubtful and Uncertain, Psychological Defenses
Ambiguities – Self Doubt and Uncertainties (A State of Limbo)
Ambiguities – Inducing Self-Doubt and Attacks to Self-Confidence
Metaphorical Speech – Hidden Threats and View on Reality Manipulation
Interpretation and View on Reality Manipulation – The Workplace, The Media, Propaganda, Brainwashing
Fear of Fear and Attacks to the Honor
Responsibility and Vulnerability
Ideation used to Manipulate Victims
Credibility and Psychological Warfare (Psychological Technology)
The Never Ending Test
My Space, Your Space, Not Behind Me
The Domination Game – Who Dominates
Psychological Manipulations used in Covert Type Investigations

Social Queues – Rejection Hurts and can Lower Your Self-Esteem

Rejection hurts, registered as pain by the brain as mentioned on the home page, and rejection can be used in attempts to harm and also lower a person’s self-esteem.

A person’s self-esteem can be lowered or increased by conditioning the person to look only for certain social queues, disregard certain social queues, or by changing the meaning of certain social queues.

Smiling and laughter, social queues, are very important and also have very positive effects on the brain. A tactic often used is to try to condition, associate, negativity to the act of smiling and laughter.

Social queues like smiling indicates acceptance towards the person. A person can be conditioned to associate negativity such as a threat or rejection to a smile. If an individual is repetitively threatened or attacked by individuals that use a devilish or fake smile, that is then gradually reduced to a common smile while still engaging in this behavior, and combined with other tactics to induce paranoia, the result can be that the person will associate other peoples smiles to negativity because they are reminded of the behavior or because they are confused or uncertain as to its intention.

Laughter is associated to joy and acceptance also. Laughter is also a great stress and threat reducer.

A person can be conditioned to associate negativity such as threats, or sarcasm and ridicule using the same tactics, as described above, to laughter.

The desired emotion that victims are usually manipulated towards or led to is anger because of its negative health effects, instead of laughter.

Ambiguities – Self-Doubt and Uncertainties (A State of Limbo)

Humans do not like ambiguities and uncertainties. We like to have certainty and security and ambiguities are also often used to induce insecurity.

Sometimes ambiguities are used to confuse the victim and leave them wondering what it is that they are suppose to do or be doing, or what is the intended meaning. This can also affect the victim by placing them in doubt or used to induce self-doubt and uncertainty, reducing decision making abilities, and can also have the “state of limbo” affect.

The ambiguities can also be manipulated as to hinting at a certain meaning and then modified to hint or indicate another meaning and so on to keep the victim confused or guessing as to what the true meaning of the ambiguities are. This can induce confusion, frustration, and self-doubt.

Ambiguities can also be used for emotional manipulation such as inducing regret for example. One way this is done is by hinting at a certain meaning of what the ambiguities mean with very subtle hints at another and different meaning. After a period of time the meanings can be reversed or what was the subtle meaning can be clarified or made more obvious to the victim to induce regret, self doubt, and also attack or reduce the victim’s self-esteem and self-confidence.

Classical conditioning can also be used with ambiguities. For example the victim can be constantly bombarded with negativity or is lead to the conclusion that past ambiguities also had a negative meaning. Because of the conditioning the person will deduce or assume what is implied follows the same trend or pattern of negativity or theme. (see Conditioning your mind Negatively or Positively)

Song lyrics often use ambiguities so that the listener can apply the lyrics to their own life or view on reality. Ambiguities can also be used to influence a person’s view on reality or in combination to efforts to change a person’s view on reality.

Ambiguities – Inducing Self-Doubt and Attacks to Self-Confidence

A tactic that is often used to attack a persons self-confidence and to induce self-doubt is to ask a question using an ambiguity, when the person answers with a deduction or guess, a negative (wrong or no) is indicated and a more accurate re-question is provided with the correct answer. This is done repetitively to induce self-doubt and attack a persons self-confidence by having them believe that their conclusions or deductions are always false.

Metaphorical Speech – Hidden Threats and View on Reality Manipulation

Sometimes people will use metaphors and metaphorical speech to try to hide different threats or use words that are not obvious in their association to a threatening nature and try to reduce the risk of exposure or criminal evidence.

The meaning of different words can also be changed (sarcasm). For example if two people that hate each other are using the words “I love you”, the intention and meaning of the words used do not have the same meaning or intention as the definition of the words.

Metaphorical speech can also be used to change or manipulate the view on reality of a victim. For example metaphorical speech can be used to describe a certain view on reality or belief that is not the actual reality in an attempt to manipulate the person. (see Ideation in Suicide Factors)

The words “profile”, “psychoanalyzed”, we are going to “fill you up” in the sense of creating a bad or false psychological profile and using psychiatry as a threat is often used. The victim is psychologically harassed and also bombarded with degrading themes such as pedophilia and an attempt to make them believe that they will be labeled a pedophile, sexually confused, or a violent, angry, and dangerous person. The truth and reality is that this tactic is used by the perpetrators in an attempt to protect themselves, discredit the victim, and prevent the victim form coming forward and exposing them.

Another example is referring to the victim as an animal and usually a dog. The attempts made by the victim to expose the perpetrators are then described as trying to “bite”, like a dog, or eat the perpetrators. Using metaphors that are orally oriented are then re-directed towards degrading themes in an attempt to prevent the victim from continuing the behavior of trying to expose the perpetrators. This example of the victim being described as a dog can also imply or insinuate that the person is less then human and can be controlled by a master or as a slave.

A better use of metaphors to describe the situation is that by trying to expose the perpetrators, the victim is using the light (exposure and visibility) and the perpetrators trying to use the darkness (deception).

When your enemy uses the darkness and tries to hide in the darkness, you have to use the light.

Interpretation and View on Reality Manipulation – The Workplace, The Media, Propaganda, Brainwashing

Event or Action -> Interpretation of Event -> Reinforcement of Interpretation
An event or reality -> interpretation of this event or reality -> reinforcement of interpretation and view on reality

In the workplace, employees who are psychologically harassed or psychologically tortured are often described as having the wrong interpretation of events, or having a “perception problem”, a “bad attitude”, and the wrong view of reality. They are then asked to consult a medical professional, a psychiatrist, and are then usually subsequently discredited and classified as having a psychological problem or mental illness.

You may have seen this in the media where something will happen, the media will interpret it in a way that is false according to other media groups or to your understanding of events and evidence, and will then proceed to try to reinforce their view and interpretation on reality or events and evidence.

Conflicting countries or organizations will often use what is called propaganda and their media to interpret their view on reality and events. For example the media in the US, Russia, Europe, China, and Asia may all have different interpretations of events and views on reality that they wish to induce in their audience.

Controlling a victim’s source of information and interpreting reality and events for the victim is also part of brainwashing technologies. An example of brainwashing and psychological attacks is Fear of Fear and Attacks to the Honor. A victim will be lead to believe that the fight-or-flight response is fear, they are then threatened which results in the fight-or-flight response, which is interpreted as fear, you were scared (showing fear to your enemy), and the victim’s honor is then attacked. (see also Degrading Themes)

Interpretations and evidence are not the same. For example if the interpretation of events is that Julius Caesar throw himself on the knifes of the Senators several times, that would contradict the evidence, so ignorance, intelligence, and the ability to interpret the events and evidence correctly and deduce the right view on reality is key and a factor.

For more information please follow the links below

Thank you

Is Christopher Hansard now “Based in Canada”?

Christopher Hansard, Physician of Tibetan Bon Medicine
Master Physician of Tibetan B?n Medicine. Author, educator on ancient Tibetan lifestyle, health, and spirituality. Based in Canada.

According to the above submission from “Healthy Popular.com” he is!

It appears to be a more recent link as it links directly back to his own site.

If you are in Canada, and you have been sexually harassed, assaulted, coerced into granting sexual favours for Christopher Hansard while in his ‘care’ as a therapist, under the title of “Physician of Tibetan Dur Bon Medicine” please contact your local RCMP station and ask them for advice.

Contact Us

VISIT ONE OF OUR PROVINCIAL OR TERRITORIAL WEBSITES

Federal and Provincial Consumer Protection and Information
for Scam Victims in Canada

Federal Consumer Information

BC Consumer Services – I can no longer find any consumer protection services ministry in British Columbia. They seem to refer all concerns to the RCMP.

Alberta Consumer Protection

Saskatchewan Consumer Information

Manitoba Consumer Protection

Ontario Consumer Protection

Office de la protection du consommateur

NB Consumer Protection

NS Consumer Protection

PEI Consumer Protection

Newfoundland Consumer Protection

Nobody “wants” to be a victim!

One of the obstacles that the victims of Christopher Hansard have faced is that he is not part of any regulatory body. Finding out who those who continue to support and ‘protect’ him are regulated with is equally frustrating.

Self-regulating “Professional” bodies that have been set up to deter such offenses or breaches of boundaries and prevent those abuses that Christopher Hansard has been accused of do not make themselves readily available and are numerous in number. What the public may also not be aware of is complementary practitioners can sign up with more than one governing board or regulating body. Therefore if they are expelled or barred from one, they are often still registered or members of another. This poses yet more problems for victims trying to seek justice.

Finding the appropriate regulatory bodies is difficult enough, and then submitting complaints to them has not always been well received as they find themselves having to defend “one of their own”.

The insurance companies want proof, and the victims are questioned once again and called upon to re-live their experiences and in many cases defend their own actions or reactions. Abuses that for some were disguised as “love” though they never left Christopher Hansard’s treatment room and couch. Christopher Hansard told victims that he was in love with them in order to continue to abuse them, and feed his now obvious sexual addiction.

Up until February of 2008, those clients that Christopher Hansard was grooming and engaging with sexually never left his office. For the first time he was able to take his patient relationship ‘public’. The reason the others were not taken public was because he was married and had to keep up that facade as it seemed to help maintain his image and assure victims that they were the “only ones”. He also worked with other practitioners and ‘peers’, and maintained sometimes up to 7 sexual ‘relationships’ at any one time. Each ‘treatment’ or ‘teaching’ relationship had to be kept compartmentalised from the others in order to maintain them all.

It is time to talk about this, and bring it out in the public forum so that more people can understand how this happens, and how this has been allowed to happen for so long.

the Courant welcomes letters and commentary. Please send letters to theCourant@mail.com

*Please be aware that portions of your submissions may be posted anonymously unless otherwise stated.

Boundaries Keep Us All Safe

YouTube Channel Launched

WITNESS2007

Joined: April 27, 2007

Last Sign In: 1 week ago

Videos Watched: 299

Subscribers: 3

Channel Views: 389

WITNESS is the professional boundaries charity. WITNESS aims to promote safe boundaries between professionals and the public in order to prevent abuse. We do this by providing support, education and research services and by working for change.

We want to raise awareness of abuse of positions of trust and exploitation of people by professionals. The films here are both records of events we run and reports about various abuses that make it through to the media.

www.professionalboundaries.org .uk
www.brokenboundariesbook.org

City: London
Country: United Kingdom
Website: http://www.safeboundaries.org.uk

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Giving

“I was very near the edge & traumatised, absolutely traumatised. WITNESS gave me the support I needed, when asking for help from any [other] professional body was not an option.  I felt at all times I was treated with respect and ended every phone call feeling like someone really cared.  I have learnt so much which I will use to enhance my recovery.  WITNESS has saved my life.” WITNESS service user Click here to download a short film about WITNESS’s work. The film was made for the Guardian Charity Award. Windows Media Player(3Mb). stills from the film Please consider helping WITNESS to continue its vital service by making a donation. Regular giving A monthly donation made by standing order gives us the confidence to plan ahead and saves us administration costs.  For UK taxpayers we can reclaim nearly a third extra through the Gift Aid Scheme.  Simply complete the form and post back to WITNESS. Online donations You can make a secure donation right now by credit card, debit card or CAFcard. We use a secure site to process your donations safely and efficiently. Donations by cheque You can send a cheque direct to WITNESS and if you are a UK taxpayer you can download and complete the donation form and we will be able to add thirty percent to the value of your donation. If you would like to talk to someone about making a donation, please call Diana Christian on 020 7939 9919. Thank you for your support. Downloads Donation Form Standing Order Form Susie Orbach reads Radio 4 Appeal

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Why raise money?

“I was very ‘near the edge’ & traumatised, absolutely traumatised. POPAN gave me the support I needed, when asking for help from any [other] professional body was not an option.  I felt at all times I was treated with respect and ended every phone call feeling like someone really cared.  I have learnt so much which I will use to enhance my recovery.  POPAN has saved my life.”

Please consider helping POPAN to continue its vital service by making a donation in one of the following ways.

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A monthly donation made by banker’s order gives us the confidence to plan ahead and also saves us administration costs and we can reclaim nearly a third extra through the Gift Aid Scheme.

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When will sexual coercion and abuse of authority be more than an ‘ethical issue’?

Complementary and Alternative ‘Medicine’ healers

Christopher Hansard has been accused of sexually assaulting and coercing many of his patients since the time he set up an official practice in the Kensington borough of London. However as his own therapist suggested “he is not breaking any laws”

He continues to refer to himself as an author, healer and authority on Spirituality and Tibetan Medicine despite having acknowledged the latter story was fraudulent and a story he made up to explain his own delusions and illness.

When will sexual coercion and such blatant abuse of authority be more than an ‘ethical issue’ and be punishable by law?

National UK Therapists Register

Regulation

Return home
As more and more people choose complementary practitioners alongside orthodox medical treatments, the public and medical profession are becoming more interested in the safe practice and efficacy of complementary therapies. Regulation balances the interests of consumer protection with the profession’s needs for agreed minimum standards and continued innovation and development. Unregulated therapies can be perceived as less safe, for example, due to the lack of nationally agreed training standards and disciplinary procedures. The public’s only course for redress in unregulated therapies is the Common Law – an expensive and long-winded legal action rather than the implementation of a professional disciplinary procedure.

What is regulation?

Regulate v.t
1. To control by rules.
2. To keep in order.

Regulation n.
1. The act of regulating.
2. A rule or order.
(Source: Chambers Paperback Dictionary. Chambers Harrap Publishers, Edinburgh, 1992).

Regulation is defined as a process of controlling something through rules to keep it in order. It is often perceived as negative – words such as “control”, “rules” and “order” do not sit comfortably with therapies whose approach involves an holistic view of healthcare. However, regulation can be a positive development for the complementary therapy professions. In this situation, we can replace the negative terminology with positives such as “unifying”, “professional competence”, “good practice” and “public safety”.

Statutory Regulation and Voluntary Self-regulation

There are two categories of regulation applicable to the complementary therapy professions: voluntary self-regulation and statutory regulation. Statutory regulation is recommended in therapies where there is a higher possible risk to the public from poor practice. Most complementary therapies choose a voluntary self-regulatory system the most appropriate route for their therapy. See future information sheet “What is the difference between statutory regulation and voluntary self-regulation?”

What is Regulation?

Regulation acts as a framework for good practice – outlining minimum standards for accountable, safe and effective practice within a complementary therapy. In the healthcare environment, regulation involves establishing rules and standards for training, practice and registration, as well as the implementation of processes to tackle complaints and deal with disciplinary procedures.

Regulation is
Led and agreed by the profession – it requires openness within the whole profession to work together to agree standards. A framework for safe and accountable practise of complementary therapy. Helpful to the public when choosing a practitioner. Helpful to practitioners by supporting their daily work and identifies good training providers for initial training and continuing professional development.

Regulation isn’t
Government determined or imposed by Europe – British Common Law applies to the practice of complementary therapy. The medical profession imposing it’s standards on complementary therapy designed to undermine innovation and development within complementary therapy. Without help – complementary therapies can access external support from specialist agencies, for example, Skills for Health, the Prince of Wales’s Foundation for Integrated Health and business support agencies.

Regulation Does it have to be a medical model?
Regulation for the complementary medicine professions does not result in the adoption of a medical model of regulation. Each complementary therapy develops it’s own voluntary self-regulatory framework, using the core features of regulation.

Summary

The aim of regulation in the healthcare environment is to protect the public and the profession.

The purpose of regulation is to establish a nation-wide, professionally determined and independent standard of training, conduct and competence for each profession for the protection of the public and guidance of practitioners and employers.

Copyright (c) The Prince of Wales’s Foundation for Integrated Health

Find out more…

The Courant welcomes comments and letters to the editor. Please write to

the courant@mail.com

Can Christopher Hansard be cured of his patterns and addictions?

Adult pathological narcissism is no more “curable” than the entirety of one’s personality is disposable. The patient is a narcissist. Narcissism is more akin to the colour of one’s skin rather than to one’s choice of subjects at the university.

Moreover, the Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is frequently diagnosed with other, even more intractable personality disorders, mental illnesses, and substance abuse.

Adult narcissists can rarely be “cured”, though some scholars think otherwise. Still, the earlier the therapeutic intervention, the better the prognosis. A correct diagnosis and a proper mix of treatment modalities in early adolescence guarantees success without relapse in anywhere between one third and one half the cases. Additionally, ageing moderates or even vanquishes some antisocial behaviours.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder Treatment Modalities and Therapies

Frequently Asked Question # 77

Narcissism, Pathological Narcissism, The Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), the Narcissist,

and Relationships with Abusive Narcissists and Psychopaths

By: Dr. Sam Vaknin

Malignant Self Love – Buy the Book – Click HERE!!!

Relationships with Abusive Narcissists – Buy the e-Books – Click HERE!!!

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The WebSam Vaknin Sites

READ THIS: Scroll down to review a complete list of the articles – Click on the blue-coloured text!
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Question:

Is the Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) more amenable to Cognitive-Behavioural therapies or to Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic ones?

Answer:

Narcissism pervades the entire personality. It is all-pervasive. Being a narcissist is akin to being an alcoholic but much more so. Alcoholism is an impulsive behaviour. Narcissists exhibit dozens of similarly reckless behaviours, some of them uncontrollable (like their rage, the outcome of their wounded grandiosity). Narcissism is not a vocation. Narcissism resembles depression or other disorders and cannot be changed at will.

Adult pathological narcissism is no more “curable” than the entirety of one’s personality is disposable. The patient is a narcissist. Narcissism is more akin to the colour of one’s skin rather than to one’s choice of subjects at the university.

Moreover, the Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is frequently diagnosed with other, even more intractable personality disorders, mental illnesses, and substance abuse.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies (CBTs)

The CBTs postulate that insight – even if merely verbal and intellectual – is sufficient to induce an emotional outcome. Verbal cues, analyses of mantras we keep repeating (“I am ugly”, “I am afraid no one would like to be with me”), the itemizing of our inner dialogues and narratives and of our repeated behavioural patterns (learned behaviours) coupled with positive (and, rarely, negative) reinforcements – are used to induce a cumulative emotional effect tantamount to healing.

Psychodynamic theories reject the notion that cognition can influence emotion. Healing requires access to and the study of much deeper strata by both patient and therapist. The very exposure of these strata to the therapeutic is considered sufficient to induce a dynamic of healing.

The therapist’s role is either to interpret the material revealed to the patient (psychoanalysis) by allowing the patient to transfer past experience and superimpose it on the therapist – or to provide a safe emotional and holding environment conducive to changes in the patient.

The sad fact is that no known therapy is effective with narcissism itself, though a few therapies are reasonably successful as far as coping with some of its effects goes (behavioural modification).

Dynamic Psychotherapy
Or Psychodynamic Therapy, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

This is not psychoanalysis. It is an intensive psychotherapy based on psychoanalytic theory without the (very important) element of free association. This is not to say that free association is not used in these therapies – only that it is not a pillar of the technique. Dynamic therapies are usually applied to patients not considered “suitable” for psychoanalysis (such as those suffering from personality disorders, except the Avoidant PD).

Typically, different modes of interpretation are employed and other techniques borrowed from other treatments modalities. But the material interpreted is not necessarily the result of free association or dreams and the psychotherapist is a lot more active than the psychoanalyst.

Psychodynamic therapies are open-ended. At the commencement of the therapy, the therapist (analyst) makes an agreement (a “pact” or “alliance”) with the analysand (patient or client). The pact says that the patient undertakes to explore his problems for as long as may be needed. This is supposed to make the therapeutic environment much more relaxed because the patient knows that the analyst is at his/her disposal no matter how many meetings would be required in order to broach painful subject matter.

Sometimes, these therapies are divided to expressive versus supportive, but I regard this division as misleading.

Expressive means uncovering (making conscious) the patient’s conflicts and studying his or her defences and resistances. The analyst interprets the conflict in view of the new knowledge gained and guides the therapy towards a resolution of the conflict. The conflict, in other words, is “interpreted away” through insight and the change in the patient motivated by his/her insights.

The supportive therapies seek to strengthen the Ego. Their premise is that a strong Ego can cope better (and later on, alone) with external (situational) or internal (instinctual, related to drives) pressures. Supportive therapies seek to increase the patient’s ability to REPRESS conflicts (rather than bring them to the surface of consciousness).

When the patient’s painful conflicts are suppressed, the attendant dysphorias and symptoms vanish or are ameliorated. This is somewhat reminiscent of behaviourism (the main aim is to change behaviour and to relieve symptoms). It usually makes no use of insight or interpretation (though there are exceptions).

Group Therapies

Narcissists are notoriously unsuitable for collaborative efforts of any kind, let alone group therapy. They immediately size up others as potential Sources of Narcissistic Supply – or as potential competitors. They idealise the first (suppliers) and devalue the latter (competitors). This, obviously, is not very conducive to group therapy.

Moreover, the dynamic of the group is bound to reflect the interactions of its members. Narcissists are individualists. They regard coalitions with disdain and contempt. The need to resort to team work, to adhere to group rules, to succumb to a moderator, and to honour and respect the other members as equals is perceived by them to be humiliating and degrading (a contemptible weakness). Thus, a group containing one or more narcissists is likely to fluctuate between short-term, very small size, coalitions (based on “superiority” and contempt) and narcissistic outbreaks (acting outs) of rage and coercion.

Can Narcissism be Cured?

Adult narcissists can rarely be “cured”, though some scholars think otherwise. Still, the earlier the therapeutic intervention, the better the prognosis. A correct diagnosis and a proper mix of treatment modalities in early adolescence guarantees success without relapse in anywhere between one third and one half the cases. Additionally, ageing moderates or even vanquishes some antisocial behaviours.

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In their seminal tome, “Personality Disorders in Modern Life” (New York, John Wiley & Sons, 2000), Theodore Millon and Roger Davis write (p. 308):

“Most narcissists strongly resist psychotherapy. For those who choose to remain in therapy, there are several pitfalls that are difficult to avoid … Interpretation and even general assessment are often difficult to accomplish…”

The third edition of the “Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry” (Oxford, Oxford University Press, reprinted 2000), cautions (p. 128):

“… (P)eople cannot change their natures, but can only change their situations. There has been some progress in finding ways of effecting small changes in disorders of personality, but management still consists largely of helping the person to find a way of life that conflicts less with his character … Whatever treatment is used, aims should be modest and considerable time should be allowed to achieve them.”

The fourth edition of the authoritative “Review of General Psychiatry” (London, Prentice-Hall International, 1995), says (p. 309):

“(People with personality disorders) … cause resentment and possibly even alienation and burnout in the healthcare professionals who treat them … (p. 318) Long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis have been attempted with (narcissists), although their use has been controversial.”

The reason narcissism is under-reported and healing over-stated is that therapists are being fooled by smart narcissists. Most narcissists are expert manipulators and consummate actors and they learn how to deceive their therapists.

Here are some hard facts:

• There are gradations and shades of narcissism. The differences between two narcissists can be great. The existence of grandiosity and empathy or lack thereof are not minor variations. They are serious predictors of future psychodynamics. The prognosis is much better if they do exist.

• There are cases of spontaneous healing, Acquired Situational Narcissism, and of “short-term NPD” [see Gunderson's and Ronningstam work, 1996].

• The prognosis for a classical narcissist (grandiosity, lack of empathy and all) is decidedly not good as far as long-term, lasting, and complete healing. Moreover, narcissists are intensely disliked by therapists.

BUT…

• Side effects, co-morbid disorders (such as Obsessive-Compulsive behaviors) and some aspects of NPD (the dysphorias, the persecutory delusions, the sense of entitlement, the pathological lying) can be modified (using talk therapy and, depending on the problem, medication). These are not long-term or complete solutions – but some of them do have long-term effects.

• The DSM is a billing and administration oriented diagnostic tool. It is intended to “tidy” up the psychiatrist’s desk. The Axis II Personality Disorders are ill demarcated. The differential diagnoses are vaguely defined. There are some cultural biases and judgements [see the diagnostic criteria of the Schizotypal and Antisocial PDs]. The result is sizeable confusion and multiple diagnoses (“co-morbidity”). NPD was introduced to the DSM in 1980 [DSM-III]. There isn’t enough research to substantiate any view or hypothesis about NPD. Future DSM editions may abolish it altogether within the framework of a cluster or a single “personality disorder” category. When we ask: “Can NPD be healed?” we need to realise that we don’t know for sure what is NPD and what constitutes long-term healing in the case of an NPD. There are those who seriously claim that NPD is a cultural disease (culture-bound) with a societal determinant.

Narcissists in Therapy

In therapy, the general idea is to create the conditions for the True Self to resume its growth: safety, predictability, justice, love and acceptance – a mirroring, re-parenting, and holding environment. Therapy is supposed to provide these conditions of nurturance and guidance (through transference, cognitive re-labelling or other methods). The narcissist must learn that his past experiences are not laws of nature, that not all adults are abusive, that relationships can be nurturing and supportive.

Most therapists try to co-opt the narcissist’s inflated ego (False Self) and defences. They compliment the narcissist, challenging him to prove his omnipotence by overcoming his disorder. They appeal to his quest for perfection, brilliance, and eternal love – and his paranoid tendencies – in an attempt to get rid of counterproductive, self-defeating, and dysfunctional behaviour patterns.

By stroking the narcissist’s grandiosity, they hope to modify or counter cognitive deficits, thinking errors, and the narcissist’s victim-stance. They contract with the narcissist to alter his conduct. Some even go to the extent of medicalizing the disorder, attributing it to a hereditary or biochemical origin and thus “absolving” the narcissist from his responsibility and freeing his mental resources to concentrate on the therapy.

(continued below)

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This article appears in my book, “Malignant Self Love – Narcissism Revisited”

Click HERE to buy the print edition from Barnes and Noble or HERE to buy it from Amazon or HERE to buy it from The Book Source

Click HERE to buy the print edition from the publisher and receive a BONUS PACK

Click HERE to buy various electronic books (e-books) about narcissists, psychopaths, and abuse in relationships

Click HERE to buy the ENTIRE SERIES of eight electronic books (e-books) about narcissists, psychopaths, and abuse in relationships

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Confronting the narcissist head on and engaging in power politics (“I am cleverer”, “My will should prevail”, and so on) is decidedly unhelpful and could lead to rage attacks and a deepening of the narcissist’s persecutory delusions, bred by his humiliation in the therapeutic setting.

Successes have been reported by applying 12-step techniques (as modified for patients suffering from the Antisocial Personality Disorder), and with treatment modalities as diverse as NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming), Schema Therapy, and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization).

But, whatever the type of talk therapy, the narcissist devalues the therapist. His internal dialogue is: “I know best, I know it all, the therapist is less intelligent than I, I can’t afford the top level therapists who are the only ones qualified to treat me (as my equals, needless to say), I am actually a therapist myself…”

A litany of self-delusion and fantastic grandiosity (really, defences and resistances) ensues: “He (my therapist) should be my colleague, in certain respects it is he who should accept my professional authority, why won’t he be my friend, after all I can use the lingo (psycho-babble) even better than he does? It’s us (him and me) against a hostile and ignorant world (shared psychosis, folie a deux)…”

Then there is this internal dialog: “Just who does he think he is, asking me all these questions? What are his professional credentials? I am a success and he is a nobody therapist in a dingy office, he is trying to negate my uniqueness, he is an authority figure, I hate him, I will show him, I will humiliate him, prove him ignorant, have his licence revoked (transference). Actually, he is pitiable, a zero, a failure…”

And this is only in the first three sessions of the therapy. This abusive internal exchange becomes more vituperative and pejorative as therapy progresses.

Narcissists generally are averse to being medicated. Resorting to medicines is an implied admission that something is wrong. Narcissists are control freaks and hate to be “under the influence” of “mind altering” drugs prescribed to them by others.

Additionally, many of them believe that medication is the “great equaliser” – it will make them lose their uniqueness, superiority and so on. That is unless they can convincingly present the act of taking their medicines as “heroism”, a daring enterprise of self-exploration, part of a breakthrough clinical trial, and so on.

They often claim that the medicine affects them differently than it does other people, or that they have discovered a new, exciting way of using it, or that they are part of someone’s (usually themselves) learning curve (“part of a new approach to dosage”, “part of a new cocktail which holds great promise”). Narcissists must dramatise their lives to feel worthy and special. Aut nihil aut unique – either be special or don’t be at all. Narcissists are drama queens.

Very much like in the physical world, change is brought about only through incredible powers of torsion and breakage. Only when the narcissist’s elasticity gives way, only when he is wounded by his own intransigence – only then is there hope.

It takes nothing less than a real crisis. Ennui is not enough.

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Also read

The Narcissist in Therapy

Getting Better

Testing the Abuser

Telling Them Apart

Facilitating Narcissism

Your Abuser in Therapy

Self Awareness and Healing

The Reconditioned Narcissist

Can the Narcissist Ever Get Better?

Narcissists and Biochemical Imbalances

Narcissists, Paranoiacs and Psychotherapists

Homosexual Narcissists

The Inverted Narcissist

The Myth of Mental Illness

Other Personality Disorders

Depression and the Narcissist

The Myth of Mental Illness

The Roots of Pedophilia

The Incest Taboo

In Defense of Psychoanalysis

Narcissism, Psychosis, and Delusions

Narcissistic Personality Disorder at a Glance

Eating Disorders and Personality Disorders

Use and abuse of Differential Diagnoses

Misdiagnosing Narcissism – The Bipolar I Disorder

Misdiagnosing Narcissism – Asperger’s Disorder

Misdiagnosing Narcissism – Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Narcissists, Inverted Narcissists and Schizoids

Narcissism, Substance Abuse, and Reckless Behaviours

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Copyright Notice

This material is copyrighted. Free, unrestricted use is allowed on a non commercial basis.
The author’s name and a link to this Website must be incorporated in any reproduction of the material for any use and by any means.

This article appears in my book, “Malignant Self Love – Narcissism Revisited”

Click HERE to buy the print edition from Barnes and Noble or HERE to buy it from Amazon or HERE to buy it from The Book Source

Click HERE to buy the print edition from the publisher and receive a BONUS PACK

Click HERE to buy various electronic books (e-books) about narcissists, psychopaths, and abuse in relationships

Click HERE to buy the ENTIRE SERIES of eight electronic books (e-books) about narcissists, psychopaths, and abuse in relationships

“A work of fiction intended to elicit praise…”

An Article on Narcissism

Pathological narcissism is a defense mechanism intended to isolate the narcissist from his environment and to shield him from hurt and injury, both real and imagined. Hence the False Self – an all-pervasive psychological construct which gradually displaces the narcissist’s True Self. It is a work of fiction intended to elicit praise and deflect criticism.

The unintended consequence of this fictitious existence is a diminishing ability to grasp reality correctly and to cope with it effectively. Narcissistic Supply replaces genuine, veritable, and tested feedback. Analysis, disagreement, and uncomfortable facts are screened out. Layers of bias and prejudice distort the narcissist’s experience.

Yet, deep inside, the narcissist is aware that his life is an artifact, a confabulated sham, a vulnerable cocoon. The world inexorably and repeatedly intrudes upon these ramshackle battlements, reminding the narcissist of the fantastic and feeble nature of his grandiosity. This is the much-dreaded Grandiosity Gap.

To avoid the agonizing realization of his failed, defeat-strewn, biography, the narcissist resorts to reality-substitutes. The dynamics are simple: as the narcissist grows older, his Sources of Supply become scarcer, and his Grandiosity Gap yawns wider. Mortified by the prospect of facing his actuality, the narcissist withdraws ever deeper into a dreamland of concocted accomplishments, feigned omnipotence and omniscience, and brattish entitlement.

The narcissist’s reality substitutes fulfill two functions. They help him “rationally” ignore painful realities with impunity – and they proffer an alternative universe in which he reigns supreme and emerges triumphant.

(continued below)

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The most common form of denial involves persecutory delusions. I described these elsewhere:

“(The narcissist) perceives slights and insults where none were intended. He becomes subject to ideas of reference (people are gossiping about him, mocking him, prying into his affairs, cracking his e-mail, etc.). He is convinced that he is the centre of malign and mal-intentioned attention. People are conspiring to humiliate him, punish him, abscond with his property, delude him, impoverish him, confine him physically or intellectually, censor him, impose on his time, force him to action (or to inaction), frighten him, coerce him, surround and besiege him, change his mind, part with his values, even murder him, and so on.”

The narcissist’s paranoid narrative serves as an organizing principle. It structures his here and now and gives meaning to his life. It aggrandizes him as worthy of being persecuted. The mere battle with his demons is an achievement not to be sniggered at. By overcoming his “enemies”, the narcissist emerges victorious and powerful.

The narcissist’s self-inflicted paranoia – projections of threatening internal objects and processes – legitimizes, justifies, and “explains” his abrupt, comprehensive, and rude withdrawal from an ominous and unappreciative world . The narcissist’s pronounced misanthropy – fortified by these oppressive thoughts – renders him a schizoid, devoid of all social contact, except the most necessary.

But even as the narcissist divorces his environment, he remains aggressive, or even violent. The final phase of narcissism involves verbal, psychological, situational (and, mercifully, more rarely, physical) abuse directed at his “foes” and “inferiors”. It is the culmination of a creeping mode of psychosis, the sad and unavoidable outcome of a choice made long ago to forego the real in favor of the surreal.

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Copyright Notice

This material is copyrighted. Free, unrestricted use is allowed on a non commercial basis.
The author’s name and a link to this Website must be incorporated in any reproduction of the material for any use and by any means.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Pathological Narcissism

Excerpts from the Archive of the Narcissism List

The Narcissism List Home Page

Philosophical Musings

Write to me: palma@unet.com.mk or narcissisticabuse-owner@yahoogroups.com

For Christopher Hansard, sex is about survival. His survival. It may even be about his evolution. Charles Darwin once said that one must keep re-inventing oneself in order to survive, and that is exactly what Christopher Hansard has done through out his life, and his career as a ‘healer’. Are we about to witness yet another re-invention?

When someone else’s search for “love” becomes your abuse

Love Addiction Part I: The Problem
By Robert Weiss, LCSW, CAS

Healthy romantic love is a unique experience which can encourage bonding, intimacy and the opportunity to play and explore with that special new person.

Romance, with or without sex, encourages personal growth as each new relationship forces new insights and self knowledge. The beginning stages of a potential love relationship can be intense and exciting. Most people easily relate to that “rush” of first love and romance; the stuff of songs, endless greeting cards and warm memories. Healthy intimacy, however, is characterized by more than romance, intensity and sex. Intimacy evolves over time. Loving relationships develop partially through utilizing those first exhilarating times to begin to build a bridge toward deeper, longer term closeness.

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It can be difficult for anyone who is not a love or sex addict to understand how love or sexuality can be exploited or evolve into destructive patterns of addiction and compulsion. Yet for the love and sex addict, romantic love, sexuality and the closeness they offer, are experiences most often filled with pitfalls, anxiety and pain. Living in a sometimes chaotic emotional world of desperation and despair, fearful of being alone or rejected, the love addict endlessly longs for that “special” relationship.

Caught up in the constant search for a partner, the addict’s endless intrigue, flirtations, sexual liaisons and affairs, leave a path of destruction and negative consequences in their wake of his or her behavior. Ironically, the love or relationship usually has few options to resolve these painful circumstances except by engaging in even more searching, creating an escalating cycle of desperation and loss. Just when seemingly “safe” in the rush of a new romantic affair or liaison the troubled Love or Sex Addict grows steadily more unhappy, fearful and bored and ends up pushing their partner away or looking outside the relationship for yet another new intensity or “love” experience.

Thus the cycle begins anew.

Unlike the healthy person seeking partnership and sex as a complement to their life, the love and sex addict searches for something outside of themselves (a person, relationship or experience) which will provide them with the emotional and life stability that they themselves lack. Similar to a drug addict or alcoholic, love and sex addicts use their arousing romantic/sexual experiences in an attempt to “fix” themselves and remain emotionally stable.

When love and sexuality are used as a way to cope, rather than a way to grow and share, partner choice becomes skewed. Compatibility becomes based on “whether or not you will leave me”, “how intense our sex life is” or “how I can hook you into staying”, rather than on whether you might truly become a peer, friend and companion.

Addictive relationships are characterized over time by unhealthy dependency, guilt and abuse. Convinced of their lack of worth and not feeling truly lovable, love and sex addicts will use seduction, control, guilt and manipulation to attract and hold onto romantic partners. At times, despairing of this cycle of unhappy affairs, broken relationships and sexual liaisons, some love or sex addicts may have “swearing off” periods (like the bulimic/anorexic cycles of overeaters). The addict believes that just “not being in the game” will solve the problem; only to later find the same issues reappearing when they re-engage in any type of potential intimacy.

Typical Signs of Love or Sex Addiction Include:

• Constantly seeking a sexual partner, new romance or significant other
• An inability or difficulty in being alone
• Consistently choosing partners who are abusive or emotionally unavailable
• Using sex, seduction and intrigue to “hook” or hold onto a partner
• Using sex or romantic intensity to tolerate difficult experiences or emotions
• Missing out on important family, career or social experiences in order to maintain a sexual high or romantic relationship
• When in a relationship, being detached or unhappy, when out of a relationship, feeling desperate and alone
• Avoiding sex or relationships for long periods of time to “solve the problem”
• An inability to leave unhealthy relationships despite repeated promises to self or others
• Returning to previously unmanageable or painful relationships despite promises to self or others
• Mistaking sexual experiences and romantic intensity for love