Freethought Association of West Michigan
Meeting Minutes for September 13, 2000; #76.
We may have had a record number of attendees to our meeting this time, with many first timers. We welcome them and hope for them to become regulars.
A Business meeting/ potluck social was scheduled for September 17 @ 1:30PM @ the Seavers with all interested welcome to give input.
Well-known skeptic, debunker of claims of the paranormal and magician James "The Amazing " Randi will be speaking @ the Saginaw State University on September 27, 2000. The time has changed to 7PM that evening, so if you are planning on attending, please note this.
That same evening (9/27/00) there will be a debate on school vouchers @ the Wealthy Street Theater, downtown Grand Rapids @ 7:30PM. Dirk N., who made the announcement mentioned that it would be good to have the State/Church separation viewpoint well represented by us. PLEASE NOTE that the regularly scheduled meeting for that Wednesday has been postponed due to this debate.
A volunteer stepped forward to coordinate the last Adopt-A-Highway road clean-up for this year on September 24th @ 10AM, 5000 Plainfield NE. This is done under our group name and gives us positive exposure. Our regular coordinator for this, Dennis M. suffered a back injury so is unable to lead this event.
For more information, questions, suggestions, check our website : http://my.voyager.net/freethought or e-mail us: freethought@voyager.net. All regular meetings are held at the downtown campus of Grand Valley State University in the Calkins Science Building at 7PM on the second and 4th Wednesday of each month. We adjourn, typically, to The Cottage Bar afterwards.
Jeff announced that he had been in attendance at a gathering for freethought/humanist groups in New York sponsored by the Council for Secular Humanism regarding networking within the state with other groups for mutual growth.
The topic for this meeting was "Integrating Medicine & Psychology; Some Conceptual and Practical Issues " and was moderated by Robert W. Collins, PhD, PC., a behavioral psychologist. Dr. Collins passed out to us 3 papers to outline and underscore his presentation and began by talking about the perceived differences in the behavioral and medical approaches and interventions. The former, dealing more with "software " and the latter with the "hardware " aspects. The former is seen as something "in the head, " more nebulous, gossamer and difficult to test for or treat, or perhaps as imaginary or a manifestation of a weakness of character or will. People who are clinically depressed are often seen as merely sad&Mac247;needing only to "snap out of it! " In many cases people are relieved to discover that a problem is "physical " even if this involves a course of surgery and medications, rather than a psychological problem, seeing it as something clearly "fixable " and not requiring a psychological intervention. This was illustrated by a patient who received the "great news " that he had suffered a heart attack, rather than a panic attack. In short the chasm to bridge is one where medicine and biology represent what is real and can be repaired, while psychology is seen as "fluff " and intangible, more difficult to reach, treat and have assurance of a "fix. "
The dualistic approach to mind and body promulgated by Descartes is a very difficult notion to shake for most people. That one informs and influences the other is challenging for many to see and more abstract still when the behavioralist, using techniques of biofeedback, education, exercise & diet and new learning, claims to affect this "stuff in the head " by these methods. Medication, surgery and even genetic manipulation is seen as directly connected and more real. It is becoming clearer how stress, anxiety and aberrant behavioral patterns can affect negative changes on the physiological being but the interventions that address these are often relegated to second class citizenry as mental. We are our experiences as surely as our genetics.
Dr, Collins used the computer analogy to help clarify how the "software " mediates and allows us to interact with society through our learning and experiences. He also used messages from evolutionary biology in his talk, saying that mental and behavioral events are selected by the environment and we can program it and it us. The neural even can program function which takes its form in physical symptoms that can be addressed by a medicalized band-aid or by treatment of the behavior itself and new learning. When the patient does not work on the core issues s/he can emerge with all the same troubles intact and festering even though s/he received medical attention.
The "phantom limb " phenomenon was brought up regarding something that is all too real for the person experiencing this condition but, since the limb that is in pain is literally not there any more to treat, it has been seen as imaginary. It does, of course, have a "real " neurological basis in the "physical " brain but is best treated by behavioral techniques. Dr. Ramachandran, in one book on this phenomenon wrote of a patient who felt the phantom fingernails of his missing hand, digging into his palm. He was treated by looking through a simple device that showed his corporeal hand, in a fist like the phantom one, in a mirror image. So he could actually see both hands represented. He was to concentrate on opening the visible fist, and via biofeedback affected an opening, and subsequent relief to the phantom hand.
We talked about conditioning techniques and the pairing of stimulus to a response to a new association, as well as the research done by Pavlov, Skinner and Thorndyke And we discussed chains of learning that are potent tools in deriving new outcomes or concatenated vicious circles that keep the sufferer entrenched in misery, depending on whether any intervention that addresses the pattern is utilized or not. The thought was expressed that perhaps the high profile disorders, such as ADHD, were an advantage to individuals living in past times but now, with our more structured learning systems, sedentary lifestyle and such, it becomes an affliction. It was quipped that among other things, maybe the carrier for genes contributing to ADHD was more actively mating, perpetuating these genes effectively.
We discussed the different ways to address unwanted behavior in ourselves and others with debate on the weight given to punishment, reward, reinforcement, etc. and how the disparate methods worked, or even if some mentioned were effective at all in the long run. Is the corporeally punished child learning that he did something wrong and to stop the behavior or that those who are larger and stronger are right by virtue of might, to blindly accept authority and avoid consequences of the author of the punishment but fail to generalize the ceasing of "bad " behavior beyond the person who disciplines him? Also some people crave attention enough to suffer physical punishment simply to get that attention, therefore making the punishment a reinforcer for the "bad " behavior.
The talk shifted to intentionality or what has been traditionally seen as from beyond and the weight given to these in causation, how people who suffer from psychological disorders have been labeled sinners or it is the will of a supernatural agency. The behavioral approach has been a threat to the Church, linking the mind and body, not addressing a "soul " and getting people restored through techniques of learning new behaviors rather than seeking salvation through supernatural appeals/ interventions. This led us to discussion of free will, determinism, and how much free will is desirable. How linked are the processes that seem random to something preordained by psychological reinforcers, one&Mac226;s environment, genetic make up, and a whole host of other factors? Is our free agency an illusion in part or entirety? One does not have to believe in an intervening Divine puppeteer to ponder predetermining agents of all one has been leading up to what one does and is now. We got into talk of how the law judges cases of intent as well.
Near the end we discussed the "worried well " and how we are encouraged to have check ups for physical health and even spiritual "wellness " but nothing to that degree is in place for psychological well-being, in the form of weekly services (spiritual) or annual check-ups (medical). Dr. Collins throughout his presentation talked of the importance of giving equal footing to the medical and behavioral interventions for the most effective treatment of the individual.
