If ever I were to publish a dissertation, this would be it.
Angela B. Chrysler 2023
Anna Imagination – The Healing Garden
Thesis:
Cognitive Dissonance is the single cause, the primary catalyst, that leads to trauma, conflict, and pain. Cognitive Dissonance is a prerequisite for trauma and, when the known sources are correctly identified, Cognitive Dissonance can be reversed using Formal Argument and Deductive Reasoning.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is the cure for Cognitive Dissonance and, when combined with meditation and marijuana and/or psychedelics, the rewiring of the spinal cord and nervous system can reverse Cognitive Dissonance through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Correcting Cognitive Dissonance Resolves Trauma.
Correcting Cognitive Dissonance Resolves Pain.
Correcting Cognitive Dissonance Resolves Conflict.
On test subject – Able to correct negative thinking within 2 weeks.
On test subject – Able to correct PTSD within 6 months. 44 triggers down to 5
On test subject – Able to interrupt destructive behavior.
On test subject – Able to mitigate 8 symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder down to 2 within 6 weeks
On test Subject – Able to terminate Stockholm Syndrome immediately under two separate occasions.
By recognizing the emotion, “Cognitive Dissonance,” test subject was able to identify when conflict was developing. Test subject monitored further behavior regarding the feeling of Cognitive Dissonance and applied the Cognitive Behavioral Practice to Cognitive Dissonance.
Test Subject reports the following:
“The feeling that emerged was a feeling of discomfort, buried within the heart. The second place I feel the pain is above my left eye. Always above my left eye. It’s harder to breathe, and I feel confused. As if trying to work through a complicated math problem or proof, there is an immediate mental block as if Spock just detected false premise in his otherwise perfect proof. The feeling, when ignored, grows into pain.
I seek out the false logic and false premise, and I find it, every time, in one of five places: In my Ethics, my Beliefs, my Voice for failing to speak out and defend my self, my beliefs, my perspective, or my actions. Actions of others and/or the Actions of myself, all which are used to build the Perspective. But when anyone of these two things are off, that’s when the pain starts. The longer this emotion is ignored, the stronger the emotion becomes as if the primary emotion is Discord. Discomfort. The Tertiary emotion is Pain. Just Pain.
“The first time I experienced this discomfort was when I was 4 years old. I could not accept that the water in the picture of Heaven was gold water (and if so how was it drinkable), or was it just pure water reflecting the gold streets and buildings. Furthermore, if the apples were gold on the trees, were they solid gold or were just the skins gold? But mostly, I was upset that an “all-knowing and powerful god” could know me so little as to think I valued or even desired a golden tree. My god would know that I value the Nature more than gold.
“That belief altered my perspective on religion, but the action of going to church thereafter, created on-going Cognitive Dissonance that would forever leave me questioning the validity of religion and god.”
What is Cognitive Dissonance?
Cognitive Dissonance is the “bad” or uncomfortable feeling you get when your intuition detects a problem.
Cognitive Dissonance is the conflict between your Cognitive Self, which prevents you from correctly forming an accurate Perspective. Your Cognitive Self is composed of five Elements:
Ethics (Your Ego?)
Beliefs
Voice (Your Id)
Actions (Your SuperEgo?)
Perspective
Test Subject reports the following:
“The Voice is definitely the Id. I feel it. That’s Angel. I don’t know about Ethics or Actions. The rest of those things feel like they come from the logic centers of my brain and not my amygdala. But it wasn’t always that way.”
When these five elements are aligned the Cognitive Self is at peace and harmony. They are balanced. They are open to receive and accept. They are capable of living a calm life.
However, if two or more of these Elements are in conflict, the Cognitive Self creates Dissonance, an advanced emotion to communicate to the Conscious Mind that “Something is wrong.”
However, in our culture, we were unable to identify this emotion, which can be used to lead us to recovery.
Test Subject reports the following:
“Now, when I feel the emotion of Cognitive Dissonance and Discord, I interpret it as a red flag. I pause, walk away from all communication devices. I smoke marijuana and then I meditate, focusing on the mantra “Resolve the Cognitive Discord. Locate the Contradiction.””
“And I do. I locate the inconsistency in the five elements, I use my Voice to communicate the Discord, a discussion corrects the Discord, and I feel at peace. The pain is gone. The Discomfort quiets itself and returns to comfort. I think… I think this is what comfort, discomfort, and pain are. They are the emotion of Cognitive Dissonance, which means… If it’s an emotion, it can be redirected using CBT and Meditation.”
The Role Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Meditation Play In Healing.
Healing is the process of becoming Healthy again. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy implements a type of Meditation that requires one to pause, take a step back, and to redirect the action. This allows the subject to take control of their action, and to choose an action that aligns with their new beliefs and clouded perception. By adjusting the action to match the new planted belief, the Cognitive Discord will diminish, alleviating the patient’s pain.
In Talk Therapy, this is done through dialogue, which mimics guided Dialectical Behavioral Therapy as if to say the patient is not capable of formal argument on their own. Talk Therapists wait for the patient to logically deduce their own perspective. But most therapists are not skilled in this, nor are they educated on the true role Cognitive Dissonance plays in healing, so patients spend their sessions venting and trauma dumping on therapists. This venting and trauma dumping forces the patient to focus on the negative and also resolves little to no Discord in their life.
By identifying the emotion Cognitive Dissonance or Cognitive Discord, it allows the patient to apply the same method of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to the Discord and pause, stop, and redirect.
Meditation is proven to effectively improve our ability to practice and apply Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, while Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is just combining the Eastern practice of Meditation with Western Psychology while adding Formal Argument and Deductive Reasoning per the Western Philosophers.
Cognitive Dissonance is a logical emotion.
Marijuana’s Healing Role in Cognitive Healing.
When inhaled, Marijuana initiates a Meditation practice. Already, the subject has taken their first breath. The patient is primed for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Test Subject reports the following:
“By associating the habit of smoking with stress, smoking actually mimics the art of Meditation, which is why it is such an effective addiction. Because smokers have connected Meditation, deep breathing, with Nicotine. Ironically, if smokers seeking to quit, replace smoking with Meditation, they, more than most, are closer to overcoming their addiction through association of breath.
However, this knowledge can be used to better condition and rewire the nervous system with Marijuana and/or psychedelics. By smoking Marijuana every time a person feels Cognitive Dissonance, the Marijuana will develop an association with breathing. The drug, in turn will release serotonin, and additional calming hormones, and clear the mind to pause, step back, and observe.
Through pausing, breathing, and observation, we can, in that calming state, examine the five elements and review them for Discord and contradiction. Calmly, we can then use our Voice to articulate our findings and communicate the Discord that causes us pain. Resulting in my ability to properly build a healthy perspective.
Trauma is when you are maintaining an unhealthy perspective. “
Cognitive Dissonance is the Sole Cause of All Mental Illness
When Cognitive Dissonance and Discord cannot be resolved, the System sends emotional “Discomfort” signals to the brain, requesting inspection and maintenance of the Cognitive Self. When these signals are ignored, the Discord grows and evolves into pain.
Pain is handled in only three ways:
- Stop the pain.
- Control the pain.
- Avoid the pain.
- PTSD seeks to avoid the pain
- Stockholm Syndrome avoids the pain
- Dissociative Disorder seeks to Avoid the pain
- Addictions seeks to avoid the pain
- Depression seeks to avoid the pain
- Suicidal Ideation seeks to stop the pain
- Narcissists seek to Control the pain
- Pedophiles seek to control pain
- Murderers seek to control pain
- Co-Dependents seeks to control the pain
- Borderline Personality Disorder seeks to Avoid and Control the pain at the same time.
Note: I believe that BiPolar is only when Depression and Borderline Personality Disorder merge, each becoming triggered within the confines of their trauma rules.
With Cognitive Dissonance resulting in so many mental illnesses, instead of focusing on the diagnoses, if steps are taken to review the Cognitive Dissonance, we could locate the contradiction within our Cognitive Self and resolve pain.
In Conclusion
Cognitive Dissonance is the state in which our Cognitive Selves detect discomfort and eventual pain resulting in a lack of maintenance to the Five Elements within the Cognitive Self. Through ignorance, neglect of the Cognitive Self will continue to decline. Mental illnesses will continue to spread.
However, through education, awareness, and attention paid to correct the alignment of the Cognitive Self, pain and discomfort will diminish leaving the subconscious mind free of pain, discomfort, and discord.