The New York Times had an op-ed piece* about the difficulties of changing a delusional (let’s say “strongly convinced”) person’s belief. Subject of the piece was the writer’s friend’s refusal to allow his children to receive a vaccine of any kind. Anchor of the piece was its promotion of a therapy technique called Motivational Interviewing. The writer believes that the nuanced and respectfully open-minded questioning that identifies that process can often slide someone off his bent soapbox and onto a more reasonable (true) perspective. The person will “find his own intrinsic motivation to change.” The paper was kind enough to publish my comment on the op-ed:
Some false convictions – delusions – are safe-making commitments that prevent loss of identity, loss of a sense of self. These would be personality disordered and psychotic delusions. A Narcissist (Trump) absolutely must believe he is the one superior person, as that’s the seamless shell of escapism that keeps him from feeling his developmental abort. Other false convictions, such as love of Trump, might be changed if the person could go to their deep pain, in regressive therapy, and let it finally come out. I became an organically empathetic person in a single afternoon when I reached my core pain: libertarian to humanist. And there are those convictions based on bad mood, stubborn attitude, that might be changed when the person simply feels happier about his life. There are individuals who’ve “hated Blacks” (without ever having personally known any) who come to see with compassion once they themselves have received compassion.
Only one person “liked” this explanation. I believe that’s because it undermines people’s conceit of intellectual superiority and touches the tender underbelly: People commit their consciousness to the poorly evidenced or the non-evidenced because they are emotionally troubled, not because they are cognitively dimmed. Readers of the Times want to believe they are better, more logical thinkers rather than know the truth: that they are relatively healthier feelers.
Do you think Motivational Interviewing will help them see that?
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* (By the way, the technique proved ineffective. The anti-vaxxer friend didn’t change his mind – https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/opinion/change-someones-mind.html.)
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Comments are welcome, but I'd suggest you first read "Feeling-centered therapy" and "Ocean and boat" for a basic introduction to my kind of theory and therapy.