Chapter 21. Simplifications in Understanding Mental Distress and Change

The purpose of this book is to provide a foundation for a simple and predictable treatment approach. However, it’s importantto note that the treatment itself can still be extensive and complex. In the following chapters, I will describe the simplifications that can be made based on our understanding of mental distress and psychological change from a brain-psychological perspective.

From Mental Distress to Biopsychic Elements

We can reduce the formation, development, reinforcement, reduction, and elimination of mental distress to the formation, development, change, and elimination of contact with sensory representations, words, and statements that encompassemotions and trigger psychological pain. This understanding can be put into practice by mapping out the biopsychicelements that underlie and provoke the client’s psychological reactions. By shifting our focus from mental distress as avague phenomenon to examining the specific biopsychic elements that trigger and cause it, we gain a clearer understanding.

From Mental

Distress to the Common Mental State

It is possible to shift our attention from what is abnormal or deviant about mental distress to what it shares with the ordinarymental state. This possibility emerged because of my early experiences as a therapist, where I employed the same methodsto treat various mental distresses.

This simplification is also rooted in research on the mental elements that are shared between the experience of mentaldistress and the normal psychological state. The findings revealed that these states are mentally constructed in the same way, and that what they have in common is more crucial for understanding mental distress than their differences.

What is shared between mental distress and the common psychological state is that they arise, develop, and change through the same mental processes—namely, through the development, change, and elimination of biopsychic elements that encompass emotions. The biopsychic elements that underlie the common state possess the same characteristics as those that trigger mental distress. These characteristics include observability, delineation, accessibility, and their capacity to encompass emotions. Additionally, these biopsychic elements can be stable, malleable, and transformable. As a resultof this situation, it is easier to explore how mental distress is constructed by focusing on the biopsychic elements that anchorit, rather than relying solely on observations and information about the distress itself.

Simplification also stems from research on the mental elements that are shared between the experience of mental distressand the normal psychological state. The results revealed that these states are constructed in a similar manner, and whatthey have in common is more significant for understanding mental distress than their differences.

What both mental distress and ordinary psychological states share is that they arise, develop, and change through the samemental processes—specifically, through the development, change, and elimination of biopsychic elements that encompassemotions. The biopsychic elements that underlie the ordinary state possess the same characteristics as those that trigger mental distress. These characteristics include observability, delineation, accessibility, and their capacity to encompassemotions. Additionally, these biopsychic elements can be stable, malleable, and transformable. As a result of this situation, it is easier to investigate how mental distress is constructed by focusing on the biopsychic elements that anchor it, rather than solely relying on observations and information about the distress itself.

From Illness to Normality

Psychologically induced distress is not akin to somatic diseases. It arises, develops, changes, and is eliminated in the samemanner as the normal psychological state. Therefore, it can be regarded as variations of the ordinary psychologicalcondition. What becomes therapeutically intriguing is not the aspect of the distress that makes it appear as somethingpathological or fundamentally different from the normal psychological state. Instead, it is the fact that both these states are caused by biopsychic elements that form the basis of an individual’s emotions, whether they are ordinary and neutral or psychologically painful.

The pattern of disconnection and connection of biopsychic elements that encompass emotions will also be the same forthose experiencing psychological distress and those functioning normally. In other words, every emotional state is a result of certain biopsychic elements being disconnected from the psychological state while others are connected. However, thecontent and intensity of emotional discomfort and perceived control associated with psychological distress differ betweenthose affected by it and those who are not. By acknowledging that mental distress and the normal psychological state sharefundamental processes and biopsychic elements, we can shift our perspective from perceiving distress as an abnormality to recognizing it as a variation within the spectrum of human experience. This reframing allows us to focus onunderstanding the underlying mechanisms that contribute to both distress and normal psychological functioning.

Moreover, this shift in focus has important therapeutic implications. Instead of solely targeting the aspects that makedistress appear pathological, the treatment approach can be centered around addressing the biopsychic elements that influence emotions and contribute to distress. By identifying and modifying these elements, therapists can facilitatepositive changes and promote psychological well-being.

In summary, this book aims to simplify the understanding of mental distress and change by emphasizing the commonalities between distress and the normal psychological state. By focusing on the shared biopsychic elements and processes, we can gain valuable insights into the construction of distress and develop effective treatment strategies. Through this approach, we can provide individuals experiencing mental distress with a more predictable and comprehensive therapeutic intervention.

From the Unique to the Common in Mental Disorders

Psychiatry has traditionally focused on the unique aspects of mental distress. This is evident in the way different mentaldisorders are distinguished and categorized within international diagnostic systems such as ICD-10 and DSM-IV. Theemphasis lies on the differences between psychological afflictions such as anxiety, depression, grief, aggression, personality disorders, borderline, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychosis, schizophrenia, and so on. As a result, mental distress appears more distinct than it is.

Taking the standpoint that every mental distress is constructed in a similar manner, the focus shifts towards the shared characteristics and mental processes among various psychological afflictions. For example, attention is given to thepsychological material and mental processes common to anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and others. The rationale behind this approach is that what sets one mental affliction apart from another is less significant in understanding thedevelopment and experience of psychological distress than what is shared between different afflictions.

Emphasizing the common aspects of psychological disorders does not diminish the uniqueness of everyone’s experience with their specific affliction. What differs in the experience of various mental disorders are the distressing events the individual has encountered, the number of occurrences, the emotional intensity of these experiences, and the personal significance attributed to them. Also varying is the specific mental pattern that leads to the individual’s particular mentaldistress, the situations that trigger psychological pain, the bodily sensations associated with that pain, and its duration. Understanding these differences is important in comprehending the distinct nature of each mental disorder. However, thesedifferences are not crucial for understanding the overarching pattern of how mental distress is constructed mentally or thetypes of mental processes underlying it, nor for understanding how it can be changed.

Nevertheless, the unique experience of the individual remains paramount to the client. To understand the psychologicaldistress from the client’s perspective, it is essential to access their experience of psychological pain. However, while focusing on the individual, it is crucial not to get lost in the content of their narratives. One must maintain focus on thesimple psychological structure and the biopsychic elements that encompass the client’s emotions.

From the Inaccessible to the Accessible Unconscious

In psychoanalytic and psychodynamic understanding, there are notions that uncovering the deep-seated and historical causes of psychological distress is challenging, partly because individuals, through repression, attempt to avoid contactwith emotionally uncomfortable material. This notion can be simplified. Every psychological problem is something felt, whether consciously focused or unconsciously assimilated, and every problem is expressed in each moment through anemotional, modal, and linguistic element. Any unpleasant feeling can be uncovered by identifying the emotional anchoringof the feeling, either modal or linguistic, and by listening to the client’s words and statements. We do not get closer to thepsychological material that underlies the client’s psychological pain than to the mental elements that encompass this pain.There are no psychologically causative problems or mental causes of psychological problems that are not potentially accessible through the client’s words and statements. All seemingly repressed material consists of biopsychic elements thatare accessible through language if this material has significance for the individual’s emotions. Simplification implies thatto explore the unconscious, we focus on the client’s words and statements that anchor the repressed material. What has beenmentioned here suggests that the difficult accessibility of repressed material appears more as experientially-based and qualified conjectures than scientifically sound claims.

From Many to One Mental Distress with Variations

The fact that psychological distress is a result of mental states built in the same way allows us to reduce the number of mentally-induced psychological disorders to one mental distress with as many variations as there are individualsexperiencing it. All mentally-induced disorders can be analyzed based on variations in the interaction with the same mental phenomenon, namely the biopsychic elements that underpin and trigger psychological distress, whether it is grief,anxiety and sadness, or mental disorders such as obsessive-compulsive thoughts, personality disorders, and schizophrenia.

I differentiate between psychological distress that can be influenced through treatment and psychological distress with a biological foundation that cannot be affected through mental processes. In the latter case, we are dealing with somatic diseases with psychological components. Linguistic brain therapy focuses on psychological distress caused by mentalconditions.

From Enduring Suffering to Repetitive Engagement with Biopsychic Elements

Psychology and psychiatry distinguish between short-term and persistent mental distress. An example of this is when apsychological distress in ICD-10 or DSM-IV is assigned a different diagnosis if it lasts more than a month, even if theclient’s symptoms are the same (Helsedirektoratet, 2011). From a brain-psychological perspective, there is no decisivedifference in the psychological distress, whether it lasts three weeks or two months if the symptoms are the same. The distinction between time-limited psychological pain and enduring mental distress will only reflect the difference in immediate and persistent engagement with biopsychic elements that encompass, anchor, and trigger mental pain.Differences may also be found in the scope and intensity of the mental processes leading to psychological distress, as well asvariations in the mental resource’s clients engage with and differences in their life situations. However, these differences only speak to the possibilities of variation within the same psychological distress, not that we are dealing with distinct psychological disorders.

From Static Mental Distress to Variations in Engagement with Biopsychic Elements

Psychology and psychiatry fail to acknowledge that mental distress can vary from day to day and over time. The fact thatmental distress fluctuates from day to day, hour to hour, and moment to moment is caused by the activation and deactivationof engagement with biopsychic elements through changes in mental focus. The existence of inactive biopsychic elementsthat harbor mental pain implies that they are stored as biology, meaning in the unconscious, but changes in focus can lead to renewed contact with pain-bearing mental elements and retrigger mental distress. Therefore, changes in anindividual’s focus contribute to variations in the experience of mental distress.

Based on this understanding, it is insufficient to simply describe mental distress as a static phenomenon as depicted in the diagnostic systems ICD10 and DSM-IV. Every instance of mental distress varies in intensity due to the fluctuating engagement with mental elements that anchor and trigger mental pain within a moment, an hour, a week, or a month.

From Complexity to Simplicity

Based on the understanding conveyed in the preceding text, complex mental distress arises from engagement with multiple sets of biopsychic elements that harbor psychological discomfort. As a result, mental distress can be divided into distinctand observable psychological elements. At this point, we transition from imprecision to precision in mapping the mentaldistress and from a lack of operationalizability to making the mental distress an operationalizable phenomenon.

From the Intensity of Mental Distress to the Intensity of Biopsychic Elements

The intensity of experiencing mental distress is a consequence of the intensity of the biopsychic elements with which an individual engages. Intense mental pain is thus a result of contact with intensely discomforting biopsychic elements, whilevariations in the intensity of mental distress stem from engagement with biopsychic elements of varying intensity over time.

From Complex Mental Distress to Delimited Biopsychic Elements

While the content of mental distress may be associated with complex experiences, behaviors, and thought processes fromearly childhood to the present day, the experienced mental pain consists of momentary contact with specific delimitedbiopsychic elements that cause the immediate psychological distress. Focusing on these mental elements allows for a directfocus on the triggering cause of the distress and the isolation of experiences and perceptions that once held significance but have now lost their negative power.

This simplification reduces the need for extensive assessment or gathering of information about clients to establish afoundation for treatment. One of the challenges faced by psychology and psychiatry is the accumulation of excessiveinformation about clients’ lives, which can hinder therapists’ ability to distinguish between information relevant to treating the mental distress and information of lesser importance for treatment.

From Historical to Immediate Causes

By recognizing that any phobia or traumatic experience from the past continues to distress a client because the biopsychicelements formed in connection with the traumatic experience still evoke emotions in the present, we can maintain the concept of causality in a historical sense but must focus on the mental elements with which the client is currently engagedto access the historical causes.

From an Imprecise Understanding of Causes to Documented Mental Strategies

Mental strategies are cognitive habits, i.e., ways of thinking that are repeated in specific situations. An example of a mentalstrategy could be as follows: An individual sees a person with whom they have a conflict (visual experience), feels a knotin their stomach (kinesthetic experience), experiences a sense of helplessness and loss of energy (kinesthetic experiences), hears the person’s voice (auditory experience), and feels psychological discomfort (kinesthetic experience).

The mental strategy described here involves perceiving something negative, feeling something negative, hearing something negative, feeling something negative again, feeling something else negative, and then hearing somethingnegative and feeling something negative. This can be a learned mental pattern. The psychological discomfort is sustainedthrough cognitive habits that lead to the activation of biopsychic elements that harbor psychological discomfort. Clientswill have different mental strategies. Understanding the connection between mental strategies and mental distress can facilitate the investigation and modification of the psychological distress.

Note: In translating this passage, I have aimed to retain the original meaning while adapting the language to align with thequality standards expected by a non-fiction book publisher.

From Mental Patterns to Disengaging Biopsychic Elements

Psychological distress is a result of the repetition of specific mental patterns that produce and sustain problems. The realization that modifying mental patterns can alleviate mental distress by changing the intensely discomforting biopsychic elements involved simplifies therapeutic work. Instead of solely focusing on the mental patterns, it becomes possible to investigate and modify the specific elements that maintain problematic patterns. This understanding highlights theimportance of addressing the biopsychic elements to prevent relapse into previous psychological discomfort.

From Social Relationships to Biopsychic Elements

Psychological distress often arises in the context of social interactions with family, friends, or colleagues. Thecommunication and relational patterns of clients are influenced by biopsychic elements accessed before, during, and afterthese social situations. By directly working with the biopsychic elements associated with social experiences, it becomespossible to reduce or eliminate social and relational anxiety.

This approach allows for addressing a client’s relationships without their active participation in therapy. For example,one can work on improving a client’s relationships with family members, spouse, parents, or children. Similarly, it ispossible to address an employee’s relationships with colleagues or supervisors without involving them directly. Additionally, when addressing bullying, the focus can be on the experiences of the victims without involving theperpetrators. However, in family therapy, it may still be necessary to work with larger parts of the family. This ability tomodify relationships and communication patterns by addressing the underlying biopsychic elements simplifies treatment.

From Social Context to Biopsychic Elements

Context plays a significant role in social constructionist and social constructionist traditions. The focus of these approaches is on the interactions and environment within which mental distress occurs. However, they overlook the fact that theclient’s inner psychological reality, characterized by contact with biopsychic elements that encapsulate psychological pain, is the direct cause of their distress.

The biopsychic elements that encompass emotions bring us closer to an individual’s social context. It is important to focuson these elements as they underlie the client’s experience of mental distress. This perspective does not diminish the importance of context in causing distress. However, the therapist’s understanding of the client’s context is inconsequentialto the client, except for the significance of perceiving the therapist as understanding, supportive, and affirming.

From Culture to Biopsychic Elements

Working with clients from different cultural backgrounds can present challenges due to diverse life experiences, codes, and values. These differences can lead to misunderstandings and create distance between the therapist and client. However, in Linguistic Brain Therapy (LBT), conflicts can be eliminated because the biopsychic elements expressed through the client’s language are always rooted in their social, cultural, and economic frame of reference. The therapist’sinterventions are based on the client’s words, while the client’s external context is integrated and underlies their statements.

By simultaneously exploring the circumstances surrounding the mental distress and using the client’s language, the therapist aligns with the client’s self-understanding, avoiding cultural conflicts. Focusing on the biopsychic elements underlying the distress reduces the significance of cultural differences. This simplifies the therapeutic work with clientswho have previously encountered conflicts related to culture and values.

From an Imprecise to a Precise Focus

The therapist’s role in Linguistic Brain Therapy (LBT) is simpler compared to interpretation-based therapeutic traditionsbecause it avoids the need for interpreting the client. The therapist’s task is to affirm and support the client’s experience oftheir situation and explore the connection between their mental distress and the underlying mental elements that trigger their emotions. As a result, general knowledge about mental distress becomes irrelevant in the therapeutic moment, even though it is essential for the therapist’s overall understanding of the client’s psychological state. A crucial competencewhen facing a client is the ability to approach them without preconceptions that dictate how their statements should beunderstood. This can be challenging if one’s foundational understanding comes from therapeutic approaches that consider interpretation as a significant source of insight into mental disorders.

Summary

In summary, the discussed aspects simplify the understanding of mental distress and the therapeutic work in Linguistic Brain Therapy (LBT). The goal of these simplifications is to bring about rapid changes in mental distress by leveraging an understanding of the psychology of the brain. This approach aims to help clients function psychologically and live meaningful lives according to their own terms.