http://www.nationalreview.com/...eser200507051415.asp

I thought this was interesting enough to read all the way through, although my impression without reading the book is that the authors didn't really do their homework when it came to differentiating the actual work of psychotherapy from the temptation to politicize its purpose. Of course, "psychotherapy" covers many models and millions of therapists with diverse personalities; however, recent research quantifies substantial change as the various paradigms find their common ground (which, not suprisingly, includes openness to an existentialism requiring considerations of spirituality). As cognitive behavioral and psychodynamic and their various short-term versions converge in the research, what appears to be the strongest feature of measurable growth/change is via the access of innate resilience through the attachment relationship, the later being replicated in meaningful ways in the therapeutic alliance.

Like any authentic attachment relationship, values arise in therapy mostly through the understanding, respect and trust generating true intimacy. As I've observed it among friends and their families where attachment relationships are sound, there is an enhanced ability to discern the polarities of life and accept paradox, and in the political sphere this would involve seeing both right and left without having to split them in order to avoid chaotic emotion that in the far left or right often obscures critical thinking. IOW, when a decision is made and action taken, the value of the other side can still be held in awareness for whatever it may still contribute.

In the far left and far right, there is a kind of projective identification going on, where what one fears interpersonally is caricatured via an external image and alliance to it. Hence, leftists generate the poverty they march against in protest, and extreme conservatives endorse an institutional involvement of religious influence in public/government life that would weaken their own religious freedoms.

I�m certainly not going to be the one to volunteer to read that book, WC. But it�s interesting how so much about the phenomenon can be exposed by someone�s attempt to justify such liberal "tribal" behavior. But really, since when has society not been about trying to instill certain values, habits, and behaviors in other people? The honesty, at least as far as I�m concerned, is that conservatives are up front about it. Yes, we want limited government because too much government is dangerous to our liberties and government entitlement programs undermine the spirit of the individual. Yes, we want the family structure to be strengthened and honored, and for reasons that we feel are self-evident. (BTW, no, that does not mean jailing homosexuals.) There are a number of values that conservatives hold and they will not only tell you what these values are, they will tell you their opposite. Contrast that with liberals. They can not or will not be up front and honest about many of their policies and beliefs. While conservatives view their philosophy as artificial, although thoughtful and logical, constructs, the liberals feel their views are almost wholly natural, without construction, and without prejudice. Why, they feel their way of thinking is the most natural thing in the world. Any other form of thought, according to their outlook, has to be justified. Their way of thinking does not.

From the get-go, liberalism is a pushy, obnoxious, rights-bashing, straight-jacketing sort of tribalism. It can�t stand up to reason. It must be forced on others via emotion and intimidation. It is, by and large, a philosophy that, because it denies human nature and shoots for Utopia, ends up not elevating humanity but sinking it in the psychosis of tyranny. On the other end of the spectrum, there is a in-built hatred or "worst case scenario" view of humanity that always assumes the worst and therefore usually gets it. It knows not how to truly appeal to our better selves, although it will try to appear to do so in the midst of its bullying.

No, WC. I ain�t got the stomach to read that book and do a full report. But I�ll be there for ya, bud, if you decide to do it. You�re definitely going to need a support group.