(BTA) This week, a magazine of general circulation in the country published an article on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (OCD’s). Could you tell us something about this subject?
(EE) We like the view of Stanislav Grof who features mental disorders as “spiritual emergencies”, in both senses, fortunately preserved in the translation from English to Portuguese: as urgency and emergency. It is a process of evolution crisis and the individual in transition can develop related dysfunctions to the impetus of evolution, but in the opposite or parallel direction, for not being completely able to follow the direction pointed by the “immanent impulse to transcendence”, as called by the biologists of Harvard the evolutionary impulse inherent to all living beings. It is interesting to notice, most of all, the fact that the brain regions identified as the seat of OCD’s, match the same that have been mapped as those associated to spiritual and mediumistic phenomena: the orbital-frontal region and the basal ganglia of the brain; where the right orbital-frontal had been identified as not only the basis of ESP (Extra-Sensory Perception), as also the “God’s Spot” (*) of the brain; and the pineal gland (at the base of the brain) as the receptive “antenna” of mental waves from other individuals, with or without physical bodies.
We can draw two conclusions of this coincidence: 1) those who suffer from this pathology need God and Spirituality, since such nerve centers are activated; and when an organ is not used for a good purpose, it will be used for the evil; 2) there may be extraneous influences, particularly referring here to disembodied intelligences, upon the mind and brain of the OCD patient, causing the obsessive compulsion. Note, however, that I made a generic statement concerning the first conclusion: everyone who suffers from this disorder needs God and a genuine religious experience, whereas, in regards to the second conclusion, I have put it in hypothetical terms, that is: not everyone is a victim of insidious attacks from entities housed in the extra-physical dimension of life. As those who suffer from OCD feel helpless and terrified before an insecure world, needing to live “rituals”, it is clear that they have a more pronounced need to put themselves in the hands of the Creator, to feel safe and carry on with their lives.
(BTA) Então, essas pessoas estão precisando de Deus…
(EE) So these people are in need of God…
If we want to use a more classical language, not exactly scientific, but psychoanalytical, these people suffer from a disorder that, in fact, indicates a differential and an evolutionary advantage, which, however, appear as a great loss in their primary manifestations. I refer here to the Freudian concept of superego. Individuals with compulsive disorders have a strong awareness of guilt and punishment, and imagine themselves entangled in strong negotiations with their “demanding” inner side, so that tragic events do not happen in their lives or in the lives of other people, as a punitive consequence to a breach of, let’s say, “tacit agreement previously established” (but in gaudy and absurd terms, well showing in a sinister caricature, how ultimately, the superego is extremely destructive and dangerous). Meanwhile, the superego cannot be killed, as it is rooted and crystallized in the deepest structures of these super-developed psyches, already being part of their master-beams, filling them up till the core. At worst, it can be immobilized temporarily. On the other side, the superego must be educated and channeled to the higher manifestations of the super-consciousness, which is benevolent, creative and constructive. The fundamental difference between the superego and super- consciousness is in the fact that the first one crushes in irreversible condemnations of moralist background, obliterating self-esteem and any sense of personal dignity, amid unrestrained chaos of guilt and self-punishment, whereas the second one dignifies, matures and moralizes, but always in the sense of responsibility, of hope in the future, as well as trust in the good and in God, nurturing the creative potentials dormant in the mind and, ultimately, increasing the utilization of the existence in its multi-faceted opportunities; while one who finds himself tied to the tentacles of the superego, feels trapped in a dungeon of endless tortures.
(BTA) Anything else to say about the subject?
(EE) Yes, that the use of medical drugs can undoubtedly be beneficial and serve as therapeutic crutch in more serious cases, yet it is an ephemeral relief, since that it only blocks brain functions that continue to exist, wrapped in the false appearance of a normality chemically induced. This is what is classically called, in medical clinic, of “masking the symptoms”. The root cause of a psychiatric illness is not in the biochemistry of the brain, although this may eventually become compromised, according to the extent of the severity, as also as the chronic extension of the disease. That along with the administration of psychoactive drugs and appropriate psychotherapy, spiritual and religious activities are associated, respecting the complexity and magnitude of the human being, which is not limited to issues of immediate urgency for survival, in the organic plane of life, but which includes much deeper and multifaceted realities. And as today says Neurotheology, an advanced branch of neuro-sciences, as also states for decades, several schools of Psychology and Anthropology, may the OCD patient be led to a genuine religious experience, according to their personal preferences, not necessarily respecting family traditions (which could even be the cause of the disorder). Without God, human beings lose one of the most basic aspects of their humanity. No animal grasps the axiom of the existence of a Creator. No machine, ditto. Only human beings believe and worship Their Wise, Serene and Loving source of existence. And some more sensitive individuals, deprived from meeting this need, not only psychological, but almost physiological (neuro-physiological), end up by triggering malfunctions in the complex mechanisms of the electric-bio-chemistry of the brain, unfolding all sorts of psychiatric illnesses, among them, in particular here speaking, the obsessive-compulsive disorders.
(Dialogue held on May 5, 2004.)
(*)The “God’s Spot”. Eugenia refers to the magnificent work of Dr. Melvin Morse, whose title is the thesis that the book argues about, unfortunately still not translated to Portuguese, which I would recommend to our dear Internet users. The work is really important, especially for those wishing to support their certitudes in the immortality, based on new scientific discoveries, in this case, in the field of neuro-sciences.
(Note of the Medium)