Migraines and Dreams

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Question:

Automatic responses are created by evolution and have self-protective functions. They are activated whenever consciousness fails to protect the organism for any reason. For example, all types of pain warn consciousness about harms so that they are dealt with consciously. Some responses, such as fear and anxiety, warn consciousness about harmful events even before any part of the body is actually hurt. Migraine symptoms warn consciousness about harmful events that consciousness underestimates and ignores, being busy trying to secure gains wherever this seems to be possible and easiest. The unconscious which produces the automatic responses thinks and expresses its thoughts by means of concrete analogies. Therefore migraine headache carries the following message in analogic form: "Get wise! Do not ignore harmful events! Terminate them!" The analogy is with hitting one’s head for making a severely self-harming mistake. Eye pain means: "Don’t be blind to harmful events!" Nausea and vomiting mean: "Do not tolerate ugly events!" The unconscious tries to tell consciousness which events the symptoms are related to by determining the timings and intensities of the symptoms. Thus, a symptom is a response to an event that preceded it and is intense in the measure that event is harmful. When the harmful event is continuous or is regularly repeated, symptoms become periodic. By observing such relationships, the migraineur can discover the harmful event that his or her unconscious forces him or her to terminate by producing symptoms. Dreams too are automatic self-protection responses like symptoms, but they carry much more diagnostic and therapeutic information and ideas than symptoms do. Therefore a migraineur’s dreams say much about the harmful events that he or she is not dealing with and therefore the production of symptoms become necessary for self-protection. A migraineur can learn from her or his dreams what her or his unconscious wants her or him to do or not to do for realizing self-protection. She or he may even learn from her or his dreams how she or he can terminate and prevent the harmful events. In addition to his or her spontaneous dreams, a migraineur can prompt his or her unconscious to produce dreams full of diagnostic and therapeutic information and ideas. To realize this, he or she has to ask himself or herself the following questions repeatedly when he or she gets to bed to sleep: "What mistake am I making? How am I hurting myself? What am I doing wrong?" Dreams thus induced are easier to understand and are more convincing than spontaneous dreams because they answer conscious questions. Consequently, I recommend migraineurs to do the following: 1. Find out which events started your symptoms for the first time and which events currently start, terminate, or change your symptoms in any way. Use this information to terminate your symptoms. 2. Question yourself in bed as explained above. 3. Try to interpret your dreams as explained below. 4. If you can learn from your dreams what your unconscious wants you to do or not to do to protect yourself, comply with its requests, but scrutinizing your behavior to prevent harmful consequences. In any case, do not ignore the events that hurt you and the request of your unconscious related to them. 5. If you do not understand the meaning of your dreams, you can still profit from them by reviewing them repeatedly. This is called "dream rehearsal" and is empirically shown to have therapeutic effect. DREAM INTERPRETATION 1. A complete dream contains three types of thought: (a) the presentation of the harmful events that consciousness does not deal with adequately; (b) the explanation of the causes of those harmful events; and (c) the proposition of the means of terminating and preventing those events. These three types of thought are in three different temporal parts of the dream, but one or two parts may be missing or may be implicit in another part. The harmful event is always present in explicit or implicit form, because it is the cause of the production of the dream. 2. A complete dream begins either with the presentation of the harmful event or the explanation of its cause. It ends with the presentation of the solution when one is found. 3. The presentation of the problem carries negative affect. The solution of the problem is accompanied by positive affect. 4. The three parts of a dream are identified by their location in the dream and the affect each one carries. 5. A dream that contains only the presentation of the harmful event is an anxiety dream and serves to warn consciousness about that event. 6. Dreams use the concrete analogic language of the unconscious like symptoms. 7. A dream analogy acquires meaning in the context created by the dreamer’s life experiences and the general meaning of the part of the dream in which it is located, as explained above. 8. The "manifest dream" contains all the information needed in therapy. The "latent dream," which is made of the events from where the images and analogies were taken, obeys the same rules as the manifest dream explained above. 9. There is no disguising, lying, and imaginary wish fulfillment in dreams. 10. The meaning of a dream can be expressed as a message issued by the dreamer’s unconscious and addressed to her or his consciousness. I can help anyone to interpret her or his spontaneous and induced dreams if she or he wishes. Migraineurs can try this method of therapy without telling me or anybody else about it, but only some will be able to cure themselves; others will need assistance. Altan

Response:

The wonderful thing about this line of reasoning is that it can’t be proven or refuted. I once read the entire works of Freud and came to the same conclusion. At the end of the day, I junked the whole system because I intuitively felt that I could do better with entirely different methods. I dreamed of a manager last night that I knew 10 years ago. She was polling her team for when they will take vacation, and I told her the week containing July 4th. Do you think I’ll have a migraine today? Kidding aside, resolving psychological issues has been and probably always be a good way to reduce stress. It applies to the more general cases and not just to migraines. I object more to your attitude. You come across in an aggressive and peevish way. It’s really distasteful. Erik – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Automatic responses are created by evolution and have self-protective functions. They are activated whenever consciousness fails to protect the organism for any reason. For example, all types of pain warn consciousness about harms so that they are dealt with consciously. Some responses, such as fear and anxiety, warn consciousness about harmful events even before any part of the body is actually hurt. Migraine symptoms warn consciousness about harmful events that consciousness underestimates and ignores, being busy trying to secure gains wherever this seems to be possible and easiest. The unconscious which produces the automatic responses thinks and expresses its thoughts by means of concrete analogies. Therefore migraine headache carries the following message in analogic form: "Get wise! Do not ignore harmful events! Terminate them!" The analogy is with hitting one’s head for making a severely self-harming mistake. Eye pain means: "Don’t be blind to harmful events!" Nausea and vomiting mean: "Do not tolerate ugly events!" The unconscious tries to tell consciousness which events the symptoms are related to by determining the timings and intensities of the symptoms. Thus, a symptom is a response to an event that preceded it and is intense in the measure that event is harmful. When the harmful event is continuous or is regularly repeated, symptoms become periodic. By observing such relationships, the migraineur can discover the harmful event that his or her unconscious forces him or her to terminate by producing symptoms. Dreams too are automatic self-protection responses like symptoms, but they carry much more diagnostic and therapeutic information and ideas than symptoms do. Therefore a migraineur’s dreams say much about the harmful events that he or she is not dealing with and therefore the production of symptoms become necessary for self-protection. A migraineur can learn from her or his dreams what her or his unconscious wants her or him to do or not to do for realizing self-protection. She or he may even learn from her or his dreams how she or he can terminate and prevent the harmful events. In addition to his or her spontaneous dreams, a migraineur can prompt his or her unconscious to produce dreams full of diagnostic and therapeutic information and ideas. To realize this, he or she has to ask himself or herself the following questions repeatedly when he or she gets to bed to sleep: "What mistake am I making? How am I hurting myself? What am I doing wrong?" Dreams thus induced are easier to understand and are more convincing than spontaneous dreams because they answer conscious questions. Consequently, I recommend migraineurs to do the following: 1. Find out which events started your symptoms for the first time and which events currently start, terminate, or change your symptoms in any way. Use this information to terminate your symptoms. 2. Question yourself in bed as explained above. 3. Try to interpret your dreams as explained below. 4. If you can learn from your dreams what your unconscious wants you to do or not to do to protect yourself, comply with its requests, but scrutinizing your behavior to prevent harmful consequences. In any case, do not ignore the events that hurt you and the request of your unconscious related to them. 5. If you do not understand the meaning of your dreams, you can still profit from them by reviewing them repeatedly. This is called "dream rehearsal" and is empirically shown to have therapeutic effect. DREAM INTERPRETATION 1. A complete dream contains three types of thought: (a) the presentation of the harmful events that consciousness does not deal with adequately; (b) the explanation of the causes of those harmful events; and (c) the proposition of the means of terminating and preventing those events. These three types of thought are in three different temporal parts of the dream, but one or two parts may be missing or may be implicit in another part. The harmful event is always present in explicit or implicit form, because it is the cause of the production of the dream. 2. A complete dream begins either with the presentation of the harmful event or the explanation of its cause. It ends with the presentation of the solution when one is found. 3. The presentation of the problem carries negative affect. The solution of the problem is accompanied by positive affect. 4. The three parts of a dream are identified by their location in the dream and the affect each one carries. 5. A dream that contains only the presentation of the harmful event is an anxiety dream and serves to warn consciousness about that event. 6. Dreams use the concrete analogic language of the unconscious like symptoms. 7. A dream analogy acquires meaning in the context created by the dreamer’s life experiences and the general meaning of the part of the dream in which it is located, as explained above. 8. The "manifest dream" contains all the information needed in therapy. The "latent dream," which is made of the events from where the images and analogies were taken, obeys the same rules as the manifest dream explained above. 9. There is no disguising, lying, and imaginary wish fulfillment in dreams. 10. The meaning of a dream can be expressed as a message issued by the dreamer’s unconscious and addressed to her or his consciousness. I can help anyone to interpret her or his spontaneous and induced dreams if she or he wishes. Migraineurs can try this method of therapy without telling me or anybody else about it, but only some will be able to cure themselves; others will need assistance. Altan

Response:

Alton, do you suffer from migraines? have you? Bear www.amazon.com/shops/inland_canal_general_store www.cafeshops.com/everythinggoes

Response:

I dreamed I was riding, in a South Dakota field, and the sweet grass whispered to me as I rode. Oh the sun it was at midday, it shown hot across my face, and our land lay still in grace, just a crystal silent place, before you came… *JCY* ~Sage

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Automatic snippered…it’s that bandwidth thingy again.

Response:

You are right in thinking that a theory cannot be tested by investigating its origin, that is, by seeing whether it is deduced correctly or not. The reason is that a theory is not deduced from anywhere, it is constructed on the basis of empirical knowledge by using INDUCTION. To repeat, a theory is not DEDUCED but INDUCED, and therefore a theory is not tested by investigating its origin but by evaluating its consequences. A theory that is consistently useful in explaining, predicting, and controlling the observed phenomena is considered correct, or rather usable. Freud’s theories are not useful in doing any of these, as explained below. Also, my post that you replied was intended to present my findings to migraineurs so that they can use them in self therapy. I provided no proof to keep the post short and easily usable. I presented proofs in my other posts. For example, I reported several case histories that support my theory. In my books, articles, and conference lectures I have presented more than 2000 proofs of my theory. FREUD’S THEORY OF DREAMS Freud tried to deduce his theory of dreams by saying, "The mind can do nothing but fulfilling wishes, hence dreams constitute wish fulfillments." The ultimate aim of the mind can be wish fulfillment, but to terminate a failure and the resulting harms, (1) these must be recognized, (2) their causes must be discovered, and (3) then the means of terminating them can be found. These are in fact the three parts of a complete dream, as I explained in my post that you replied. Freud ignored the first two parts and erroneously thought that the third part was imaginary wish fulfillment. He was thus wrong about all three parts of dealing with failures and harms in dreams and in real life. He rightly used induction too in constructing his theory, but did not test the result properly. To make dreams fit his theory, he had to use the idea of disguising and other ad hoc ideas in interpreting them. For example, when a dream said "closed," he claimed that it meant "open" by making an "inversion" to hide the related repressed unacceptable wish from consciousness. It is evident that by using devices like this, any event can be interpreted in any way one wishes. As I mentioned, anxiety in dreams is attached mainly to the presentation of the harmful problem to mean, "This is the harmful problem that you have to acknowledge and resolve." More generally, anxiety in dreams means, "This is bad for you." Freud claimed that anxiety in dreams arose when a repressed unacceptable wish was fulfilled without being sufficiently disguised. On the other hand, he interpreted the so called "incest" dreams as wish fulfillments. He ignored that if his theory was correct, incest dreams should be accompanied by the highest anxiety, and that therefore his theory is wrong, because such dreams are pleasurable. They are found revolting in the waking state by being erroneously interpreted as wish fulfillments. Thus, the existence of "incest" dreams too proves that Freud’s theory of dreams is wrong. FREUD’S THEORY OF SYMPTOMS Up to the age of 40, Freud maintained that hysteria was caused by being sexually abused in childhood through seduction. This was empirical knowledge although it is called the "seduction theory." But when he discovered that he too was sexually abused in his childhood, notably by his nurse maid, he began to claim that hysteria was caused by unacceptable sexual wishes that were repressed. He knew that this was a lie, but he upheld the lie as a defense mechanism that he needed for alleviating his moral and physical pains caused by his memories of abuse. He also wished to use this lie as a therapeutic tool in treating his hysterical patients. This lie about the cause of hysteria, which is called the "fantasy theory," became the core of the whole psychoanalytic theory of mental disorders and dreams, because he shaped the theoretical parts of his dream theory to support his fantasy theory of hysteria. Thus, the psychoanalytic theory is a lie produced to serve as a defense mechanism and a therapeutic tool. But it failed to cure patients in most cases. Freud’s conception of symptoms in general has always been wrong. Even in the years he maintained the seduction theory of hysteria, he viewed symptoms as physiologically caused harmful products. For example, he explained anxiety in the waking state as caused by an unknown physiological process that transforms sexual excitation to anxiety when sexual satisfaction cannot be achieved. After he switched to the fantasy theory, he claimed that symptoms served to fulfill both the unacceptable wishes of the unconscious and the acceptable wishes of consciousness simultaneously in disguised forms. After age 70, he understood the self-protective functions of fear and anxiety. He said that anxiety was a danger signal that prepared the person to perceive and cope with dangers of unknown origins and types, while fear did the same thing in relation to known dangers. But he failed to see that all automatic responses, including all symptoms and dreams, have self-protective functions, and that, moreover, his new functional explanation of anxiety and fear contradicted his whole psychoanalytic theory which explained symptoms as mentioned above. Thus, Freud’s fantasy theory of hysteria and his theory of mental disorders reached through its generalization are lies, and his theory of dreams is simply wrong. Nevertheless, his writings are full of much valuable observations although he always placed the emphasis on wrong events, interpreted them wrongly, and distorted a few events. Whatever is right in his writings fits my theory. Altan

Response:

I object more to your attitude. You come across in an aggressive and peevish way. It’s really distasteful. Erik

and he’s arrogant and narrow minded also. and he wants a letter from me… fun! LOL Karen

Response:

I dreamed of a manager last night that I knew 10 years ago. She was polling her team for when they will take vacation, and I told her the week containing July 4th. Do you think I’ll have a migraine today?

Everyone dreams every night, but only some people have noticeable symptoms. This shows that dreams, which are automatic self-protective responses like symptoms, can be produced in relation to problems, or failures, that are not necessarily harmful enough to cause the production of symptoms. However, because your 4th of July dream appears to be produced after you read my message about migraines and dreams, it may be dealing with your unresolved problem that necessitates the production of your migraine symptoms. Therefore I will interpret your dream in this context. Taking your vacation in the week containing 4th of July means the following in the concrete analogic language of the unconscious and dreams: "Participate in social activities. Share happiness with others." You don’t apparently do this and lose much because of it. Therefore you need automatic protection through dreams and symptoms. You are probably a notorious introvert, an isolationist, or even somewhat snobbish. The choice of the location of the dream scene must be meaningful too. Try to remember an event in which that manager was involved and in which your exaggerated introvert behavior became quite noticeable and even harmful. If this diagnosis is correct, you can free yourself from your symptoms by following the advice contained in your dream, as I interpreted it. I must mention that migraineurs, including you, are treating me quite unfairly. They criticize me but provide no information about themselves, which I could use to cure them and thus prove that my theory and method of therapy are correct, useful, and usable to cure others as well. Think of how much time therapies by others take without producing any positive results in most cases. Kidding aside, resolving psychological issues has been and probably always be a good way to reduce stress. It applies to the more general cases and not just to migraines.

Migraine symptoms or the symptoms of any other psychological disorder are not caused by stress. Stress is caused by the failures and harms that necessitate the production of symptoms for self-protection. To repeat, the symptoms that are automatic responses have always precise self-protective functions. Reducing stress by "resolving psychological issues" is not enough to bring about the cure. This is why most therapists fail today. The particular self-harming problem that a patient’s unconscious wants to be resolved needs to be discovered and resolved or at least to be dealt with consciously. Psychological "stress" is a bogey that is invented rather lately and serves more to hide ignorance than to expose the truth. In old editions of encyclopedias "tension" appears in lieu of "stress" and provides more real information than "stress" does in modern editions. I object more to your attitude. You come across in an aggressive and peevish way. It’s really distasteful.

This is so because I expose honestly and in a straightforward way the kind of truth that consciousness prefers to ignore, besides failing to be like your parents and grandparents. I am absolutely sure about the correctness of my general assertions, but my views on the problems of particular persons may not be completely correct because I find myself obliged to express views without having sufficient information about them. Altan

Response:

As I explained in my message to Erik, every dream is not related to symptoms, because dreams can deal with failures and harms that are not severe enough to necessitate the production of self-protective symptoms. But if your dream is related to your symptoms, which is highly probable, its meaning may be as explained below. Besides, the unconscious usually busies itself with the most important problem. "The sweet grass whispered" to you to tell you stories like your sweet parents and grandparents did in your childhood. "The sun shone hot across" your face like your parents and grandparents caressed your face. The land that "lay still in grace" is the happy world of your childhood. I disturbed the "crystal silent place" where you lived, or tried to live, because some of my messages have probably reminded you that you have to behave in a more adult way. Sage, you are apparently yearning for the super happy days of your childhood, and your unconscious finds this attitude harmful. Do you find most people inconsiderate, aggressive, and peevish like you find me, as suggested by your alias "Sage?" You are probably suffering from tension headaches, possibly with neck pain. This is what I can suggest on the basis of the information you have provided about yourself. Altan

Response:

do you suffer from migraines? have you?

I don’t suffer from migraines, but this does not keep me from understanding what migraineurs go through. The reason is that I have discovered the nature, causes, meanings, and functions of all automatic responses and have been able to terminate them by persuading the patients to acknowledge their harmful problems and to deal with them consciously instead of repressing them. Symptoms vanish fast when consciousness takes over their functions. Altan

Response:

I think this discussion is pointless. Let me just wish you good luck. Erik – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The wonderful thing about this line of reasoning is that it can’t be proven or refuted. I once read the entire works of Freud and came to the same conclusion. At the end of the day, I junked the whole system because I intuitively felt that I could do better with entirely different methods. You are right in thinking that a theory cannot be tested by investigating its origin, that is, by seeing whether it is deduced correctly or not. The reason is that a theory is not deduced from anywhere, it is constructed on the basis of empirical knowledge by using INDUCTION. To repeat, a theory is not DEDUCED but INDUCED, and therefore a theory is not tested by investigating its origin but by evaluating its consequences. A theory that is consistently useful in explaining, predicting, and controlling the observed phenomena is considered correct, or rather usable. Freud’s theories are not useful in doing any of these, as explained below. Also, my post that you replied was intended to present my findings to migraineurs so that they can use them in self therapy. I provided no proof to keep the post short and easily usable. I presented proofs in my other posts. For example, I reported several case histories that support my theory. In my books, articles, and conference lectures I have presented more than 2000 proofs of my theory. FREUD’S THEORY OF DREAMS Freud tried to deduce his theory of dreams by saying, "The mind can do nothing but fulfilling wishes, hence dreams constitute wish fulfillments." The ultimate aim of the mind can be wish fulfillment, but to terminate a failure and the resulting harms, (1) these must be recognized, (2) their causes must be discovered, and (3) then the means of terminating them can be found. These are in fact the three parts of a complete dream, as I explained in my post that you replied. Freud ignored the first two parts and erroneously thought that the third part was imaginary wish fulfillment. He was thus wrong about all three parts of dealing with failures and harms in dreams and in real life. He rightly used induction too in constructing his theory, but did not test the result properly. To make dreams fit his theory, he had to use the idea of disguising and other ad hoc ideas in interpreting them. For example, when a dream said "closed," he claimed that it meant "open" by making an "inversion" to hide the related repressed unacceptable wish from consciousness. It is evident that by using devices like this, any event can be interpreted in any way one wishes. As I mentioned, anxiety in dreams is attached mainly to the presentation of the harmful problem to mean, "This is the harmful problem that you have to acknowledge and resolve." More generally, anxiety in dreams means, "This is bad for you." Freud claimed that anxiety in dreams arose when a repressed unacceptable wish was fulfilled without being sufficiently disguised. On the other hand, he interpreted the so called "incest" dreams as wish fulfillments. He ignored that if his theory was correct, incest dreams should be accompanied by the highest anxiety, and that therefore his theory is wrong, because such dreams are pleasurable. They are found revolting in the waking state by being erroneously interpreted as wish fulfillments. Thus, the existence of "incest" dreams too proves that Freud’s theory of dreams is wrong. FREUD’S THEORY OF SYMPTOMS Up to the age of 40, Freud maintained that hysteria was caused by being sexually abused in childhood through seduction. This was empirical knowledge although it is called the "seduction theory." But when he discovered that he too was sexually abused in his childhood, notably by his nurse maid, he began to claim that hysteria was caused by unacceptable sexual wishes that were repressed. He knew that this was a lie, but he upheld the lie as a defense mechanism that he needed for alleviating his moral and physical pains caused by his memories of abuse. He also wished to use this lie as a therapeutic tool in treating his hysterical patients. This lie about the cause of hysteria, which is called the "fantasy theory," became the core of the whole psychoanalytic theory of mental disorders and dreams, because he shaped the theoretical parts of his dream theory to support his fantasy theory of hysteria. Thus, the psychoanalytic theory is a lie produced to serve as a defense mechanism and a therapeutic tool. But it failed to cure patients in most cases. Freud’s conception of symptoms in general has always been wrong. Even in the years he maintained the seduction theory of hysteria, he viewed symptoms as physiologically caused harmful products. For example, he explained anxiety in the waking state as caused by an unknown physiological process that transforms sexual excitation to anxiety when sexual satisfaction cannot be achieved. After he switched to the fantasy theory, he claimed that symptoms served to fulfill both the unacceptable wishes of the unconscious and the acceptable wishes of consciousness simultaneously in disguised forms. After age 70, he understood the self-protective functions of fear and anxiety. He said that anxiety was a danger signal that prepared the person to perceive and cope with dangers of unknown origins and types, while fear did the same thing in relation to known dangers. But he failed to see that all automatic responses, including all symptoms and dreams, have self-protective functions, and that, moreover, his new functional explanation of anxiety and fear contradicted his whole psychoanalytic theory which explained symptoms as mentioned above. Thus, Freud’s fantasy theory of hysteria and his theory of mental disorders reached through its generalization are lies, and his theory of dreams is simply wrong. Nevertheless, his writings are full of much valuable observations although he always placed the emphasis on wrong events, interpreted them wrongly, and distorted a few events. Whatever is right in his writings fits my theory. Altan

Response:

I don’t suffer from migraines, but this does not keep me from understanding what migraineurs go through

BULL!!! if you have never had a broken leg you have no basis in your understanding to know what a person with one is feeling,,same goes for migraines,, you imagine that you think you might know what is the cause and you could not be farther from the truth,, migraines and living with migraines can cause a whole load of psychological problems,,not the other way around as you seem to believe www.amazon.com/shops/inland_canal_general_store www.cafeshops.com/everythinggoes

Response:

Giggle, Sage is her name…for real! Karen

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I dreamed I was riding, in a South Dakota field, and the sweet grass whispered to me as I rode. Oh the sun it was at midday, it shown hot across my face, and our land lay still in grace, just a crystal silent place, before you came… As I explained in my message to Erik, every dream is not related to symptoms, because dreams can deal with failures and harms that are not severe enough to necessitate the production of self-protective symptoms. But if your dream is related to your symptoms, which is highly probable, its meaning may be as explained below. Besides, the unconscious usually busies itself with the most important problem. "The sweet grass whispered" to you to tell you stories like your sweet parents and grandparents did in your childhood. "The sun shone hot across" your face like your parents and grandparents caressed your face. The land that "lay still in grace" is the happy world of your childhood. I disturbed the "crystal silent place" where you lived, or tried to live, because some of my messages have probably reminded you that you have to behave in a more adult way. Sage, you are apparently yearning for the super happy days of your childhood, and your unconscious finds this attitude harmful. Do you find most people inconsiderate, aggressive, and peevish like you find me, as suggested by your alias "Sage?" You are probably suffering from tension headaches, possibly with neck pain. This is what I can suggest on the basis of the information you have provided about yourself. Altan

Response:

Altan, I normally wouldn’t wish a migraine on anyone, but those that have not experienced them don’t know of the monster of which we speak. You’re ideas may change somewhat if you ever do have a true migriane. They truly suck! Karen

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – do you suffer from migraines? have you? I don’t suffer from migraines, but this does not keep me from understanding what migraineurs go through. The reason is that I have discovered the nature, causes, meanings, and functions of all automatic responses and have been able to terminate them by persuading the patients to acknowledge their harmful problems and to deal with them consciously instead of repressing them. Symptoms vanish fast when consciousness takes over their functions. Altan

Response:

Karen, at first I thought he meant what you said here, but because he made references to what I’ve said concerning his behavior, which I haven’t said, I think possibly, he thinks I’m you! LOL! I know we’re close, but that close? Oh dear, could he be right, am I suffering from MPD? Please Karen, post right away and tell me, but gee, if you do, how will I know if it’s really you or me? …or both of us? Whew, what a day! Hugs (you and me) Sage

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Giggle, Sage is her name…for real! Karen I dreamed I was riding, in a South Dakota field, and the sweet grass whispered to me as I rode. Oh the sun it was at midday, it shown hot across my face, and our land lay still in grace, just a crystal silent place, before you came… As I explained in my message to Erik, every dream is not related to symptoms, because dreams can deal with failures and harms that are not severe enough to necessitate the production of self-protective symptoms. But if your dream is related to your symptoms, which is highly probable, its meaning may be as explained below. Besides, the unconscious usually busies itself with the most important problem. "The sweet grass whispered" to you to tell you stories like your sweet parents and grandparents did in your childhood. "The sun shone hot across" your face like your parents and grandparents caressed your face. The land that "lay still in grace" is the happy world of your childhood. I disturbed the "crystal silent place" where you lived, or tried to live, because some of my messages have probably reminded you that you have to behave in a more adult way. Sage, you are apparently yearning for the super happy days of your childhood, and your unconscious finds this attitude harmful. Do you find most people inconsiderate, aggressive, and peevish like you find me, as suggested by your alias "Sage?" You are probably suffering from tension headaches, possibly with neck pain. This is what I can suggest on the basis of the information you have provided about yourself. Altan

Response:

Altan, you missed it dude, I wasn’t telling you my dreams, I was singing a song with only a tiny message. *JCY* are the intitials of the artist. ~Sage (or I think I am…)

Response:

You are just to funny my friend! Now we have discussed MPD before and if you remember we decided that it wasn’t MPD it was the little aliens that live in our computers talking to each other. Altan doesn’t understand things like that though. Hey! Has anyone checked HIS neck? scary scary! Karen

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Karen, at first I thought he meant what you said here, but because he made references to what I’ve said concerning his behavior, which I haven’t said, I think possibly, he thinks I’m you! LOL! I know we’re close, but that close? Oh dear, could he be right, am I suffering from MPD? Please Karen, post right away and tell me, but gee, if you do, how will I know if it’s really you or me? …or both of us? Whew, what a day! Hugs (you and me) Sage Giggle, Sage is her name…for real! Karen I dreamed I was riding, in a South Dakota field, and the sweet grass whispered to me as I rode. Oh the sun it was at midday, it shown hot across my face, and our land lay still in grace, just a crystal silent place, before you came… As I explained in my message to Erik, every dream is not related to symptoms, because dreams can deal with failures and harms that are not severe enough to necessitate the production of self-protective symptoms. But if your dream is related to your symptoms, which is highly probable, its meaning may be as explained below. Besides, the unconscious usually busies itself with the most important problem. "The sweet grass whispered" to you to tell you stories like your sweet parents and grandparents did in your childhood. "The sun shone hot across" your face like your parents and grandparents caressed your face. The land that "lay still in grace" is the happy world of your childhood. I disturbed the "crystal silent place" where you lived, or tried to live, because some of my messages have probably reminded you that you have to behave in a more adult way. Sage, you are apparently yearning for the super happy days of your childhood, and your unconscious finds this attitude harmful. Do you find most people inconsiderate, aggressive, and peevish like you find me, as suggested by your alias "Sage?" You are probably suffering from tension headaches, possibly with neck pain. This is what I can suggest on the basis of the information you have provided about yourself. Altan

Response:

Karen, You and others think that I don’t know how terrible migraine symptoms can be. In reality, I know better than anybody else how powerful the unconscious which produces the symptoms is and what a tyrant it can be. You can hate me for saying this, but please read the rest of this message. A person can be not only tortured by his/her unconscious but also killed by it, as explained and exemplified below. The supreme goal of the unconscious is to keep the mind operating, at least to satisfy the most basic needs of the organism. It tries to terminate and prevent failures and harms because they prevent healthy mental operations and can even prevent the functioning of the mind totally. The phenomenon called "experimental neurosis" illustrates the fact that the accumulation of memories of harmful failure can prevent even actions that are necessary for bare survival. This means that each mental disorder, meaning each set of symptoms, or each syndrome, serves principally to prevent a more severe mental disorder, or a more severe syndrome. When the unconscious sees no way of keeping the mind functioning even for satisfying the most basic needs, it does not hesitate to cause death, including its own death. Examples are below. From a case history included in DSM-IV CASE BOOK. A young man has been forced by his father for many years and at every occasion to do the opposite of what he wished to do. One day he woke up from an afternoon nap, took his father’s shotgun, and shot himself. He was saved. When asked why he tried to kill himself, he said that he did not do it, and that a strange force controlled his body and tried to kill him. The strange force was his unconscious which had concluded that his mind would not be able to continue to operate with such a load of failures and had decided to reverse the goal of surviving. This reversal would serve not only to terminate the failures but would also eliminate the failure aspect of previous experiences through the generalization of the operation of goal reversal. Goal boosting, goal dropping, goal reversing, and the external attribution of failures are the four strategies used by the unconscious to prevent the harmful effect of failures on mental health. A migraine sufferer gave birth to a dead infant for no organic reason. I discovered that her unconscious considered her unfit to be a mother for psychological reasons and therefore killed the infant to protect her sanity. Her migraine symptoms served to correct her character traits that made her unfit to be a mother. She complied with the requests of her unconscious and thus freed herself from migraine symptoms and also had a baby. Please do not underestimate your unconscious. In fact, you cannot do it if you understand that your unconscious is producing your symptoms. The issue can be not only terrible pain or no pain but also life or death. When symptoms succeed to do what they are produced to do, the unconscious terminates them automatically. In cases in which this looks possible, the expression "with good prognosis" is added to the diagnosis. Altan

Response:

Altan, you missed it dude, I wasn’t telling you my dreams, I was singing a song with only a tiny message. *JCY* are the initials of the artist.

Dream thoughts are produced by the right brain which is "the unconscious" in the present context. The unconscious right brain is also the singing brain. When someone who needs a psychotherapist meets one, her/his unconscious tries to convey to the psychotherapist information related to her/his problem that she/he is trying to ignore and therefore needs a therapist’s help. The unconscious has to bypass conscious control to realize this. This is what happened to you Sage-for-real. Because you abstained from reporting to me your dreams, your unconscious made you sing that song to inform me about your problem. So, why don’t you comment on the diagnosis I presented in my earlier message on the basis of your song? If here is any mistake in that diagnosis, your unconscious will correct it in subsequent dreams that you will have by questioning yourself in bed about the mistake you are making. Freud’s patients often produced dreams that refuted his psychoanalytical diagnoses, but he misinterpreted their dreams just like he misinterpreted their symptoms, both on the fantasy, or wish fulfillment, hypothesis. Altan

Response:

I’m sorry Altan, I really can’t take you seriously, and I doubt the majority here does either. I picture you in a cell somewhere, (or you have been), and living in isolation, and preying on people who suffer to make MONEY. BTW, have you become rich in your endeavors? On one hand I could say hey, more power to you, but on the other hand I think it’s a travesty to make money on the desperate and/or mentally challenged. My mind is probably as analytical as yours, but I know when to break free. You are so deep inside of yourself. You need to come up for air, give it a try! ~Sage

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Altan, you missed it dude, I wasn’t telling you my dreams, I was singing a song with only a tiny message. *JCY* are the initials of the artist. Dream thoughts are produced snip

Response:

Hi, Here is a link to Wisconsin Public Radios audio archive of Jean Feraca. I think some of you here will find this very interesting. http://www.wpr.org/webcasting/ideas_audioarchives.cfm?Code=hoe Go to the show dated 12/16/03 and listen. It is an interview with Lynne McTaggert about the zero point field. Just so this thread is not totally pointless ENJOY – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I think this discussion is pointless. Let me just wish you good luck. Erik The wonderful thing about this line of reasoning is that it can’t be proven or refuted. I once read the entire works of Freud and came to the same conclusion. At the end of the day, I junked the whole system because I intuitively felt that I could do better with entirely different methods. You are right in thinking that a theory cannot be tested by investigating its origin, that is, by seeing whether it is deduced correctly or not. The reason is that a theory is not deduced from anywhere, it is constructed on the basis of empirical knowledge by using INDUCTION. To repeat, a theory is not DEDUCED but INDUCED, and therefore a theory is not tested by investigating its origin but by evaluating its consequences. A theory that is consistently useful in explaining, predicting, and controlling the observed phenomena is considered correct, or rather usable. Freud’s theories are not useful in doing any of these, as explained below. Also, my post that you replied was intended to present my findings to migraineurs so that they can use them in self therapy. I provided no proof to keep the post short and easily usable. I presented proofs in my other posts. For example, I reported several case histories that support my theory. In my books, articles, and conference lectures I have presented more than 2000 proofs of my theory. FREUD’S THEORY OF DREAMS Freud tried to deduce his theory of dreams by saying, "The mind can do nothing but fulfilling wishes, hence dreams constitute wish fulfillments." The ultimate aim of the mind can be wish fulfillment, but to terminate a failure and the resulting harms, (1) these must be recognized, (2) their causes must be discovered, and (3) then the means of terminating them can be found. These are in fact the three parts of a complete dream, as I explained in my post that you replied. Freud ignored the first two parts and erroneously thought that the third part was imaginary wish fulfillment. He was thus wrong about all three parts of dealing with failures and harms in dreams and in real life. He rightly used induction too in constructing his theory, but did not test the result properly. To make dreams fit his theory, he had to use the idea of disguising and other ad hoc ideas in interpreting them. For example, when a dream said "closed," he claimed that it meant "open" by making an "inversion" to hide the related repressed unacceptable wish from consciousness. It is evident that by using devices like this, any event can be interpreted in any way one wishes. As I mentioned, anxiety in dreams is attached mainly to the presentation of the harmful problem to mean, "This is the harmful problem that you have to acknowledge and resolve." More generally, anxiety in dreams means, "This is bad for you." Freud claimed that anxiety in dreams arose when a repressed unacceptable wish was fulfilled without being sufficiently disguised. On the other hand, he interpreted the so called "incest" dreams as wish fulfillments. He ignored that if his theory was correct, incest dreams should be accompanied by the highest anxiety, and that therefore his theory is wrong, because such dreams are pleasurable. They are found revolting in the waking state by being erroneously interpreted as wish fulfillments. Thus, the existence of "incest" dreams too proves that Freud’s theory of dreams is wrong. FREUD’S THEORY OF SYMPTOMS Up to the age of 40, Freud maintained that hysteria was caused by being sexually abused in childhood through seduction. This was empirical knowledge although it is called the "seduction theory." But when he discovered that he too was sexually abused in his childhood, notably by his nurse maid, he began to claim that hysteria was caused by unacceptable sexual wishes that were repressed. He knew that this was a lie, but he upheld the lie as a defense mechanism that he needed for alleviating his moral and physical pains caused by his memories of abuse. He also wished to use this lie as a therapeutic tool in treating his hysterical patients. This lie about the cause of hysteria, which is called the "fantasy theory," became the core of the whole psychoanalytic theory of mental disorders and dreams, because he shaped the theoretical parts of his dream theory to support his fantasy theory of hysteria. Thus, the psychoanalytic theory is a lie produced to serve as a defense mechanism and a therapeutic tool. But it failed to cure patients in most cases. Freud’s conception of symptoms in general has always been wrong. Even in the years he maintained the seduction theory of hysteria, he viewed symptoms as physiologically caused harmful products. For example, he explained anxiety in the waking state as caused by an unknown physiological process that transforms sexual excitation to anxiety when sexual satisfaction cannot be achieved. After he switched to the fantasy theory, he claimed that symptoms served to fulfill both the unacceptable wishes of the unconscious and the acceptable wishes of consciousness simultaneously in disguised forms. After age 70, he understood the self-protective functions of fear and anxiety. He said that anxiety was a danger signal that prepared the person to perceive and cope with dangers of unknown origins and types, while fear did the same thing in relation to known dangers. But he failed to see that all automatic responses, including all symptoms and dreams, have self-protective functions, and that, moreover, his new functional explanation of anxiety and fear contradicted his whole psychoanalytic theory which explained symptoms as mentioned above. Thus, Freud’s fantasy theory of hysteria and his theory of mental disorders reached through its generalization are lies, and his theory of dreams is simply wrong. Nevertheless, his writings are full of much valuable observations although he always placed the emphasis on wrong events, interpreted them wrongly, and distorted a few events. Whatever is right in his writings fits my theory. Altan

Response:

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Response:

I picture you in a cell somewhere, (or you have been), and living in isolation, and preying on people who suffer to make MONEY.

I presented a tested method of psychotherapy which is self-applicable. You can cure yourself by using it and not tell me or anyone else about it. I also offered free help to those who may request it. How can I make money that way? You obviously believe that everybody is selfish and bad, which is a behavior caused by being excessively mistreated in the past. This behavior can necessitate the production of migraine symptoms as warnings and punishments aiming to correct this self-harming behavior. Human society exists because most of the needs of an individual are compatible with the needs of other individuals, and they even support each other. You have been losing much by isolating yourself from this cooperation, and this is probably why you are having headaches. Posting messages to the migraine group without accepting to cooperate with someone who offers free help is obviously not accepted by your unconscious as sufficient cooperation with good will. You accused me of living in isolation to hide the fact that this is what you have been doing. This is the defense mechanism called "projection." Defense mechanisms are produced under the control of consciousness and serve to distort and hide the truth, whereas symptoms and dreams are produced by the unconscious and are always truthful. All wise, successful, and rich persons I met busied themselves more with realizing successes and gains together with those who worked with tem than with worrying about the successes that others might realize. You are doing the opposite — overlooking your interests and betraying your name. Why don’t you secretly try the method of self-therapy I described? My mind is probably as analytical as yours, but I know when to break free. You are so deep inside of yourself. You need to come up for air, give it a try!

I don’t doubt your analytic ability. On the contrary, I believe that you expect too much of it and are frustrated with the results you obtain. This is the condition in which even the psychologists are today. There are too many analytical "schools" but none trying to integrate, or synthesize, what is discovered through analysis in order to see the big picture. And the big picture is this: THE SYMPTOMS THAT ARE AUTOMATIC RESPONSES HAVE PRECISE SELF-PROTECTIVE FUNCTIONS, INCLUDING THE SYMPTOMS OF MIGRAINE. Analyzing a patient and expecting her/him to be cured is like dismantling a car engine to find what is wrong with it and failing to reassemble it correctly with repaired or replaced parts. Modern analytical therapists — which means all psychotherapists — are no more skilled that an auto mechanic portrayed by Jerry Lewis, because they don’t see "the big picture" which exposes how the mind works in relation to failures and harms. Altan

Response:

I picture you in a cell somewhere, (or you have been), and living in isolation, and preying on people who suffer to make MONEY. I presented a tested method of psychotherapy which is self-applicable. You can cure yourself by using it and not tell me or anyone else about it. I also offered free help to those who may request it. How can I make money that way?

I don’t know, a webpage perhaps, can you tell *me*? You obviously believe that everybody is selfish and bad, which is a behavior caused by being excessively mistreated in the past.

To the contrary, I always look for the good in people, even you, Altan, are you perhaps projecting here? This behavior can necessitate the production of migraine symptoms as warnings and punishments aiming to correct this self-harming behavior. Human society exists because most of the needs of an individual are compatible with the needs of other individuals, and they even support each other. You have been losing much by isolating yourself from this cooperation, and this is probably why you are having headaches. Posting messages to the migraine group without accepting to cooperate with someone who offers free help is obviously not accepted by your unconscious as sufficient cooperation with good will. You accused me of living in isolation to hide the fact that this is what you have been doing. This is the defense mechanism called "projection." Defense mechanisms are produced under the control of consciousness and serve to distort and hide the truth, whereas symptoms and dreams are produced by the unconscious and are always truthful.

I’m well aware of defense mechanisms and projection, neither of which I was applying to you. I’m far from isolated, and I suppose I pictured you that way because you obviously spend many hours alone in your own head. This is usenet Altan, and along with many wonderful people, it’s filled with scammers, spammers, leeches….working from a prison cell was actually how I pictured *you* and I was not accusing you…curious perhaps. (Can you tell me honestly that you are not?) I’m sorry if I’ve insulted you in some way, I have little mental pictures of almost everyone here. Who are you Altan? I don’t mean name/names, I mean who is the person behind the eclectic mind? You’ve posted to ASHM off and on for years, would it be possible to share a little of *you*? Snip Altan

Be well Altan, and if you ever should suffer from migraine, you’ll have support here. ~Sage

Response:

THE SYMPTOMS THAT ARE AUTOMATIC RESPONSES HAVE PRECISE SELF-PROTECTIVE FUNCTIONS, INCLUDING THE SYMPTOMS OF MIGRAINE. Altan

Do you have peer reviewed research published in a professional journal that I could go read so as to verify your theory? — Kiyoshi – The reverse side also has a reverse side

Response:

Giggle, Sage is her name…for real!

Altan, you missed it dude, I wasn’t telling you my dreams, I was singing a song with only a tiny message. *JCY* are the intitials of the artist.

Sheesh. This guy isn’t real. This turkey comes wrapped in paper, too: http://mbn.dk/s/index.php?id=92913 Caveat emptor, is all I can say to that. To Altan, I have a hint. It’s two words, and the last one sounds like "cough". Dennis

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