Sunday, May 27, 2007

The Seat of the Unconscious?

there is good evidence that what we call the unconscious is actually "lodged," so to speak, in the nonverbal -- but also transverbal -- right brain. Every patient comes into treatment with what I call a "likely story." This explicit story is located in the left brain, the seat of language, aristotelian logic, and linear time. However, the right brain has its own story to tell, but how do you tell a story in the absence of verbal language? You do so in the form of symptoms, or quirky character traits, unexplainable likes and dislikes, unaccountable mood storms, obsessions, compulsions, or self-defeating behaviors that the left brain is powerless to stop. This is because every self-defeating behavior is ipso facto a self-fulfilling behavior for a part of the mind of which we are not consciously aware. "There's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all," sang Zimmie.

--Dr. Robert Godwin

5 comments:

Mary Lois said...

Yet another clever but pointless comment by the Gagmeister.

Anonymous said...

Agreed. What could possibly be the point of self-understanding? It only interferes with unconscious acting out, and where's the bloody pleasure in that?

Anonymous said...

What if one's unexplainable like happens to be being "pampered" by Harem Girls, is this considered to be a "self-defeating behavior?" ;-)

Anonymous said...

Mary Lois I agree with you.
I think Black Adder summed up the gagmeisters rantings perfectly in two immortal words. UTTER CRAPP

Anonymous said...

Mary,

Still smarting over the smackdown we received over on Bob's blog over a year ago are we?