Building Bridges from "Common Clinical Wisdom" to current culture: Part I: Blood-stained Soil of Arizona
Dear Students:
The following will replace the blackboard discussion section for Week 2 and the blackboard assignment involving the consent form. You will complete the of the exercises posted here instead. There are two parts. Part I may be posted prior to the posting of Part II.
The recent horrific shooting in Tuscon appears to be a case of ideological/political extremism meeting psychological instability. That's a deadly combination. Ideological/political extremism is potentially perilous. Psychological instability is potentially perilous. A combination of the two is exponentially perilous. Ostensibly, it created the perfect storm for the tragic unfolding of the horrific events in Tuscany, Arizona on Saturday, January 8, 2011.
As we consider the multiple factors that likely contributed to the behavior of the alleged shooter, any intervention strategy placed on the table to ameliorate the ensuing malaise, must take into consideration the complexity and multi-dimensional nature of such a sudden, brutal violent rage rampage. Ultimately, some the goals of prospective helpers from the mental health community may include:
a. Reducing the impact, or buffering the blow, of the initial shock of the event on the community as a whole, and on the individuals most directly impacted by the event and
b. Identifying and mobilizing support systems within the community to offer grief relief, leading to equilibrium within the community and within its members.
As political opportunists seek to use this event to position themselves for political advantage, and thus add to the disequilibrium introduced by such acts of unspeakable violence, would-be helpers from the mental health community must commit to a third, broader goal:
c. the promotion of a damage-control dialogue that is reasonably free fromthe deleterious influence of political agendas wrought with ideological bias.
To accomplish these goals, we must go beyond the clinical couch and beyond the confines of the cushy office. We must take psychotherapy to the streets and adopt a multi-faceted approach. In their book, Psychology and Community Health, Heller, K. et all, 1984, the authors, drawing from the work of Eric Lindemann, summarize grief work as involving three basic elements: "emotional catharsis, cognitive reappraisal, and the development of new forms of behavior."
In my own admittedly small way, as a psychologist and a songwriter, I tried introduce a little of each of these ingredients in a new song. Blood-stained Soil of Arizona, is a call to action, from me to my colleagues. Listen to the song, and then answer this: Which of the lines in the song, if any, represent a call for emotional catharsis? Which lines of the song, if any, represent a call for cognitive reappraisal? Which lines of the song, if any, represent a call for new forms of behavior? You win your own personal copy of this song by completing this assignment. If you have any trouble downloading it, let me know and I'll send you an mp3 attachment in an email.
Blood-stained Soil of Arizona
Dr BLT
words and music by Bruce L. Thiessen, Ph.D.,
aka Dr BLT copyright 2011
Categories: psychotherapy, social awareness, PSYU 501, treatment, song analysis, Brandman university, psychology of music, science and music, Dr BLT songs
Which of the lines in the song, if any, represent a call for emotional catharsis?
`If any lines suggest these themes, I would look at those asking compelling questions, such as “Who’s to blame,” and “How do we cleanse the blood-stained soil.” Both of these seem to cry out in rhetorical fashion for answers related to base, emotion-driven issues.
Which lines of the song, if any, represent a call for cognitive reappraisal?
Examples of these types of issues can be found in lines such as “ Its O.K. to disagree,” and “We all bleed the same red blood.”
Which lines of the song, if any, represent a call for new forms of behavior?
These matters are manifested more in an implied sense, rather than anything concrete. New forms can be suggested by pointing out the limits which we are currently using to trap concepts, such as between the two extremes that blame “the political machine,” versus “a case of the insane.”
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I didn't notice any part of the song that represents a call for emotional catharsis. The middle of the song represents a call for cognitive reappraisal. The lyrics say that it doesn't matter if the shooting was done because of insanity or political extremism, but that there needs to be a way to heal the community and how can that best happen. That part also is calling for new behavior.
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Part 1:
- Emotional catharsis line: “hear the bullets fly, see the people die” (As a therapist, having the client acknowledge their sensual experiencing of a traumatic event – what was heard and seen – may help the client express their deep emotional reactions.)
- Cognitive reappraisal lines: “the people ask this question: ‘Who’s to blame’ - the political machine or a case of the insane?” is contrasted with: “the question from this boy in California is ‘How do we cleanse the bloodstained soil of Arizona?” (The psychologist/songwriter is refocusing the question away from “why” and “who” to: “how”. He’s asking the people to redirect their thinking toward cleansing and healing from the emotional trauma.) “We all bleed the same red blood, what’s become of all the love?” (The people are being asked to focus on their common similarities – their humanity and need for love.)
- New forms of behavior lines: “read the news today, there were bloodstains on the page like the bloodstained soil of Arizona” and “it’s ok to disagree, but must blood run through the streets like the bloodstained soil of Arizona?” (The writer is asking for people (journalists in particular) to move away from attack and instead love and heal the hurting.)
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Which lines represent a call for cognitive reapppraisal? I believe the lines that read, "People ask who's to blame? The political machine or the case of the insane". This is to say that how we label something is how it may be interpreted as such. If this shooter had not done what he did he would not be labeled "insane". And so goes for the term "political machine". We must change how we label people and how we see people so that incidents like this will not happen. This is not to say there are not other factors at play here, because obviously there were. But,change must start somewhere--most in our thoughts and perceptions.
Which lines represent a call for new forms of behavior? I believe this is found in the line, "How do we cleanse the blood stained soil of Arizona". There must needs be change!How we do this is to change our behavior. Perhaps caring more, giving more, listening more, take care of each other. Basically, how do change what has happened? Or how do we learn from what has happened. There must be change from every one--change in how we perceive, change in how we behave, change in how we do things.
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I don't see my first posting of "Blood-stained Soil of Arizona" so I am posting it for the second time.
I believe the represent call for a emotional catharsis can be found in the lines of "The resident news today, there were blood stains on the page. Here the community has to see the obvious circumstance this single individual created to all those who have and will continue to suffer.
The next represent call, is the cognitive reappraisal can be heard from the lines of "How do we cleanse the blood stained soil of Arizona? From the "question from this boy in California." Clearly you can understand the sadness that everyone is feeling, not just within the locality of the state of Arizona but across this country. So what do they do now? The new gun law went into effective in January 2011.
The last is, represent call for new forms of behavior, "It's okay to disagree but what blood runs through the streets like blood stained soil of Arizona." The fact that human blood was shed that day could by no means justifies any disagreements. One individual took several innocent lives, and that should not have happened, period. Unfortunately, the previous history of this individual was known and therefore there should have been preventive measures taken to stop this individual. Arizona is considered an 'outlaw' state, and with the new gun laws, a resident of Arizona can carry a concealed gun without a license. However, what does that says about the background check on individuals with mental disorders?
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The first line represents the call for emotional catharsis. "If you hear the bullets fly, you see the people die on the bloodstained soil of Arizona."
"How do we cleanse the bloodstained soil of Arizona?" Represents a call for cognitive reappraisel. "People ask the question who's to blame." Respresents a call for new forms of behavior.
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I found one line in the song that came across as emotional catharsis. The start of the song, "Hear the bullets fly, see the people die..." is a line that captures the theme and the feeling of the song. It acts as an emotional jolt as if to grab the emotional attention of all who hear it.
Cognitive reappraisal is found in two line, "It's okay to disagree..." and "We all bleed the same red blood...". These two lines seem to ad a realistic perspective on the issue. It speaks to the similarities we share in just being human and living life. It reveals that while we look act and feel different and sometimes alone, we are all feeling it from time to time so we are really not as different and/alone as we feel.
New forms of behavior can be found in the line, "People ask this question who's to blame, the political machine or the case of the insane? The question from this boy in California, How do we cleanse the bloodstained soil of Arizona?". This also happens to be my favorite line. In so many words, it tells us that blame seems to be everyone's first step. Rather than pinpoint blame, let's focus on mending the grief, or cleansing the bloodstained soil. Often there is enough blame to go around, and we spend much time and energy seeking it first. Maybe there should be an effort in cleaning the mess before pointing blame, while fingers are being pointed, the stain is setting in.
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Well the song was interesting. I agree with the other students on the emotional catharsis, cognitive reprisal and new forms of behavior. This sad event didn't have to happen. Arizona has a law that could have help this guy get help. Anyone could have reported this guys behavior and an evaluation would have been performed where intervention could have saved the people of Arizona this pain and suffering. I can see how this happened though. Its hard for people to get involved in situations like this. I would like to shed light on the people who had contact with this guy and could have helped. I bet they feel responsible for this tragic event knowing they could have intervened. They will have to try to heal themselves in a different way from the people who actually lost a loved one. The bottom line is ...This community needs healing and compassion. This is a wake up call for the world to re-evaluate both the sane and insane.
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I think the song was a well thought out story of the tragedy that has happened. By using emotions and relieving of emotional tension by using music through a song represents a call for emotional catharsis. The cognitive reappraisal can alter emotional responses by changing one's interpretation of a situations meaning and I think the part in the song that says "Who's to Blame?" makes me think sometimes we blame the wrong people in certain situations. The new forms of behavior would be to heal the community and how that can best happen.
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