Why Do We Do the Things We Do?

Sounds like a song title doesn’t it? But seriously, have you ever wondered why we do the things we do? Our collection of life experiences contributes to the making of us. We are who we are and we do the things we do based on the residual effects of the things, circumstances and memories of our past. Why do we do the things we do? Close your eyes for a minute and think of a memory. What is the first one that pops into your head? Is it a strong memory? Is it a good memory or is it a bad one? Now consider your frame of mind – right now: Are things going really well for you or, perhaps, not so well. How are you processing what’s going on for you - right now: With a optimistic attitude or with a negative bent? Think back again to the memory you just brought to mind and consider whether what you do or how you do what you do could be driven by underlying unresolved life issues. Dealing with unresolved life issues Where things seem to be consistently not going well, there may be not just one but many unresolved life issues that have stacked up one on top of the other - on top of the next like a precariously balanced pile of pancakes. You’re coping quite well until bang – the pancake stack topples and you just can’t function as well as you would like let alone see yourself going anywhere else but further down. Many mental health practitioners appear to approach the provision of care to their clients from a standpoint of applying a diagnosis which then points them in the direction of various treatment approaches relating to the diagnosis. A cynical view here could be that this can amount to a pigeon holing of clients and a subsequent railroading of treatment. A person centred approach rather than a diagnosis driven treatment plan can mean that a more open view of the whole person in the context of their life history can be considered. This way any relevant and important contributory issues can be considered rather than there being the risk that they can get overlooked or even ignored. Mental health practitioners who find themselves overly oriented towards diagnosis can lose sight of the individuality of the person; the idiosyncratic collection of experiences and circumstances that bring the person to the symptoms with which they present. An example of this may be the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) diagnosis of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). In order to be diagnosed with PTSD one needs to exhibit a certain combination of 17 symptoms. This can be seen as a legal issue more than a mental health issue as to whether one is PTSD or not. In preference, let us talk about traumatic stress which includes those who may tick the right boxes for PTSD but it also includes many others who might not tick the right boxes but are still distressed and have the quality of their lives adversely affected. Unresolved traumatic stress Some things can be very distressing and traumatic for some people that may not affect others in that same way. This is sometimes referred to as sub-syndromal traumatic stress and it is a very useful way thinking about these disturbances.

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