“Gunnysacking, huh?” The rehab counselor looks directly
into Brandon’s eyes. “Know what? I think the problem is really
low self-esteem. One of your parents was abusive, right?”
“Well, yeah,” Brandon says. “My dad used to yell at me a
lot, especially when he was drinking.”
“It’s a well-known fact that people with abusive alcoholic
parents have problems with anger. First thing you have to do is
get your wife to read this book that tells what adult children of
alcoholics are like, so she’ll understand. Then you need to learn
how to quit gunnysacking and get those feelings out.”A week later Brandon got ticked off at his rehab counselor because
he was charged for a missed appointment. He didn’t gunnysack; he got his
feelings out. His counselor was not impressed—he told Brandon to quit
whining.
With the popularity of recovery, the two universes—mental health
and 12-step—are leaking into one another. Rehab counselors are treating
substance abuse and mental illness bundled together into a dual diagno-
sis. Psychologists, no longer concerned with overidentification, are declar-
ing specialties in disorders they themselves are recovering from.
Though there are benefits from cross-fertilization between models,
it has also created some disturbing mutations, like psychologists who act
like press agents for the syndromes closest to their hearts, and portray their
clients as victims, deserving of accommodation, if not reverence; or rehab
counselors who tell depressed people to get off their pity pots.
Handicap or Hang-up?
Should we treat people with mental disorders as handicapped? Should
we make accommodations for them; that is, change the rules or the
shape of the playing field so their disability puts them at less of a disad-
vantage? Or should mental illnesses be treated as hang-ups, distorted
perceptions and ill-considered choices, for which people must take
responsibility themselves? Do we help most by helping them, or stand-
ing aside and letting them face the natural consequences of their
actions?
44 ❧Emotional Explosions