I picked up this 2007 book in the bargain bin and liked it.
I'd like the people of this country to get out of the Age of Oprah. The feely-wheely, victimized, avoidance of responsibility is killing us. There is whole industry of excuse making ready to explain why you can't deal with life, not to mention the government and legal renumeration to help you continue in your trauma. All under the guise of bottomless empathy, always understanding your bad behavior, never listening to your lies. Absolutely, never holding you accountable for your words, action or deeds.
Before the Age of Oprah, there was a decade of Assertiveness Training. 'Ass' being the same root as Asshole. While presented to pull shy people out of their shell or being comfortable with body image, it was hijacked by Corporate America in order to pump up the bottom line, people be damned, it is money that counts. It worked, the workplace became a bunch of assholes, all assertive, and all soul crushing.
The human wreckage that this caused were welcomed into the arms of Oprah. All the New Age HooHa, Secret fairy dust, delving deeply into your emotions and reliving your pain, again and again, sharing always sharing, everyday she was there for the wronged. Except she didn't provide any real solutions, only short term comfort and entertainment. All fluff, no real stuff.
This book doesn't really cover anything about Oprah, the previous paragraphs are my rant. It does cover well the PTSD diagnosis first applied to the Vietnam vets and later to any old memory contrived or not. Disability payments are an incentive to someone that can't hold a job and has alcohol or drug issues. There was only a small percentage of soldiers that saw actual combat experiencing fatigue, yet thousands collecting PTSD disability. Not politically correct to say, but no one wants to deal with facts, only emotions, in this country.
The grief counselors industry was analysed coming to a conclusion, as I read it, as a complete fraud. Ravenous do-gooders, at best, or cynical oppurtunists at worst. Or, as I see most people in these staged bad made-for-tv production of social crisis, enablers and players in the script. People turn out to be very resiliant in the long run. We are not as weak as modern psychology wants us to be. And stay off their mind bending drugs.
There will always be people that need help. I don't want to, nor do the authors want to, dismiss real problems. It is time to throw off Therapism and Man Up or Woman Up, Find your backbone, Quit blaming, shaming and complaining. Take responsibility for the words coming out of your mouth, your emotional abuse delivered and help someone who truly needs help.
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