National Cognitive Therapy, or We Need Our Collective Heads Shrunk

Last night, President Obama addressed the nation on the topic of terrorism.  His message was not about policy but perspective, and he wisely prescribed a national chill pill.  We will not effectively reduce terrorism threats, he said, with tough talk, or abandoning our values, or giving in to fear.  He was the usual cool, calm, no-drama Obama.

Predictably, conservatives promptly flipped out.  They don't do chill.  They do flame!  They demand action!  If you take them at their word, what all of them really, really want is another ground war.  (They just don't want to vote to authorize it.)

How about you?  Do you want another "conventional" war in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere?  Do you believe another invasion and occupation will succeed in "defeating" a nebulous, stateless foe?

If so, please read this:
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National Cognitive Therapy, by Richard A. Friedman, professor of clinical psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, published 12/6/15 in the NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/opinion/sunday/cognitive-therapy-for-the-country.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

Excerpts:

The message of these attacks is powerful:  You are not safe anywhere.

That is the whole point of terrorism:  to subvert our sense of normal, to make us afraid of improbable dangers and invite us, in our fear, to overreact in ways that are destructive and will not make us any safer.

As a psychiatrist, I talk with many people who are stuck in a cycle of fear.  On the national level, we need a dose of cognitive therapy.

Cognitive therapy identifies mistaken and distorted thoughts that generate distress, and then challenges and corrects them.  What the president needs to say to us -- over and over -- is that although terrible, unpredictable things have happened, the country is not in peril.  Such attacks are incapable of destroying us or bringing down Western civilization.

We would be fools to be unafraid in the presence of threat.  But we cannot allow fear to rule -- or ruin -- our lives.
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Right now, American conservatives are all about playing the fear-card.  They demonize immigrants and refugees, the want to build walls, deport millions, and give religious tests.  They promote hysteria.  They stoke hatred.  They believe it's a winning election tactic.  I hope not, because it's borderline fascism.