character structure | Charles Konia, M.D.

People’s Difficulty In Recognizing The Emotional Plague

People’s inability to recognize the existence of the emotional plague as a highly destructive and contagious medical disease is related to the fact that there is currently no scientific knowledge of the bio-emotional forces that govern human social life.

What must be known and understood is that differences in human armor produce differences in the way the emotional plague is misperceived and misunderstood. These differences correspond in a general way to the pattern of armor of people belonging on the left and right of the socio-political spectrum. Those on the left (liberals) live mainly in their superficial layer or facade. For them, the idea of the emotional plague is meaningless because the function of the liberal’s facade is to defend them from being aware of their destructive, middle layer (from where the emotional plague originates) and so the plague does not seem to exist for them. (The liberal’s unawareness of the plague is partly why they are an effective tool that leftist radicals can use at will to carry out their destructive social agendas.) Those on the right (conservatives) have better contact with their middle layer and their core. For conservatives, the idea of the emotional plague is real but it is perceived in a distorted form. They view the plague not as a true medical disease but as a moral human failing. They think of it in terms of “good” and “bad” human behavior and that the illness can be addressed by rational political dialogue. However, the plague is not good or bad. It cannot be stopped by political means. Like any other medical disease, the plague is embedded in the biophysical structure of plague-ridden people. The farther they are to the right of center, the more righteous and irrational are their thoughts about the plague. This view of the plague is worthless from a therapeutic standpoint since a moralistic or righteous approach can never be used to combat a contagious medical condition. (It is reminiscent of the irrationally fearful ways some contagious medical diseases, such as leprosy, syphilis and the bubonic plague, were treated before the modern era in medicine.)

Humanity cannot possibly come to grips with the emotional plague and recognize it as a deadly medical illness because their armor prevents people from seeing and thinking without distortion about problems in their individual and social lives. This is why the disease will remain a mystery and continue to ravage society until a sufficient number of qualified social scientists appear on the scene who can take an honest look at themselves and deal with the emotional plague as a true medical illness.

April 15, 2012
Categories: character structure, emotional plague, Medical Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, socio-political character . Tags: conservative, human armor, liberal, medical illness, orgonomic sociology . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 1 Comment

The Socio-politics Of Race Relations In America

In order to understand social phenomena, one has to be knowledgable of the underlying bio-emotional and characterological forces that determine human behavior. There is an important but poorly recognized difference in the relationship between blacks and whites according to whether they are on the right or left of the socio-political spectrum. Originating from the biological core, the social relationship among blacks and whites who have a conservative character structure is a live and let live attitude. ( Black leftists typically look upon black conservatives who believe that, with contempt as if they were selling themselves off to the ” white man.”) By contrast, the relationship among blacks and whites who have a leftist character structure is tainted by pre-existing character attitudes derived from their secondary destructive layer which are brought into play and are acted out socially and politically .

And this is where the social mischief starts. White leftists displace their unconscious feelings of guilt onto blacks by indulging the black’s underlying feelings of inadequacy and their sense of entitlement. This permits the blacks to feel as if they are somehow a special people ( a reaction formation.) Black leftists, on the other hand, respond to this condescending attitude on the part of white leftists by expressing their contempt and resentment verging on hatred of whites. From an instinctual standpoint, both parties have their neurotic feelings satisfied. The whites are left with a good feeling having appeased their guilty consciences while the blacks have expressed their unconscious sadistic impulses toward whites. The dynamics of this relationship between black and white leftists is played out on all social levels ranging from the promotion of affirmative action programs in education and the workplace, to the election of incompetent and highly destructive politicians to public office. The problems in 21st century America are not primarily racial. Race is used by leftist blacks and whites for the sole purpose of generating socio-political conflict.

March 3, 2012
Categories: character structure, emotional plague, Politics, Social Sciences . Tags: Black conservatives, Black leftists, White conservatives, White leftists . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 1 Comment

What’s Wrong With The Teenage Mind?

In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal (Jan. 28-29, 2012) entitled, What’s Wrong With The Teenage Mind?, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, Alison Gopnik ascribes much of the troubles modern teenagers have in coping with the world to the teenager’s brain. Ms. Gopnik attempts to understand teenage behavior by way of localized pathways in the brain such as “reward centers” and ” control systems” that underlie certain behavioral functions.

That the brain is involved with the teenager’s behavior or that the interaction between the teenager with the environment is important in the kind of behavior that is exhibited goes without saying. These statements about the brain are insufficient to explain the erratic, dysfunctional behavior of many teenagers today.

What is left unsaid is the effect that the dramatic changes that have occurred with the transformation of Western society from authoritarian to anti-authoritarian and the mechanistic-mystical world view that accompanies it has had on the lives of everyone, including and especially teenagers. The breakup of the past authoritarian social order and its underpinning, the authoritarian family based on sexual repression, has been replaced by a social order that is even more inimical to life than its predecessor. To make matters worse, all that was painstakingly gained in psychiatry in the past, including the knowledge of human psycho-sexual development (the disturbances in which account for much of what is troubling teenagers today) has been completely thrown out in the practice of psychiatry.

In fact, the practice of psychiatry today has regressed to where it was over 100 years ago when the subjective workings of the mind was equated in a one-to-one fashion with the objective operation of localized brain functions. Modern psychiatry is as far away from understanding the problems of teenagers as it was then. Meanwhile, thanks to our anti-authoritarian social order, the level of social pathology manifested by everyone including teenagers has escalated to a far greater extent compared to where it was then. These social developments can only be understood as a direct manifestation of higher levels of emotional plague activity in today’s world.

February 12, 2012
Categories: accurate diagnosis, Biological Sciences, character structure, Child Rearing, emotional plague, Politics, Social Sciences, socio-political character . . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 1 Comment

The Portrait Of A Political Demigod

According to The Random House Dictionary, a demigod is more than human. He is a deified mortal. Many politicians appear to be demigods when they are campaigning for public office, but once the election is over, they stop acting like that, whether they have won or lost. The true political demigod, on the other hand, has a constellation of permanent characteristics that is unique. 1) He has no history of a stable, consistent work function prior to entering politics. 2) Politics is a substitute for genuine work. 3) His political mission is entirely self-serving to fit his preexisting ideological world view. 4) He has an overriding hatred of and a need to change the established world order with grandiose schemes of a heaven on earth. 5) He is convinced of the infallibility of his belief system. 6) The success of his campaign strategy is based on promising the electorate anything and everything for the sole purpose of gaining power over them.

This strategy is designed to cement a powerful identification of the demigod with the electorate. Once he has succeeded in this strategy, the demigod has attained a godlike stature. He can do no wrong in the eyes of the populace. Demigods can appear on both sides of the political spectrum. In today’s anti-authoritarian society with the marked shift of the political mainstream to the left of center, demigods are likely to appear from the political left. Barack Obama is a recent example of the appearance of a demigod from the political left.

Obama’s choice of work before entering politics was that of a political activist. According to his wife Michelle, Obama was a community activist exploring the viability of politics to make [social] change. ” The solution to every problem,” according to a reporter who studied Obama’s projects, ” was a distribution of government funds.” Until he became a full time legislator in 1996, Obama’s primary focus of work was Acorn, the largest radical organization in the United States. The infallibility of his belief system originates entirely from his highly developed intellect. At the height of his election campaign, he announced: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” Just prior to his entering the White House, in a moment of candor he said: ” We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” In his election campaign he appealed to the entire electorate and promised that if he were elected president he would finally put an end to the political divisiveness that was tearing America apart. Once elected, however, he did exactly the opposite. He immediately proceeded to ram his socialistic medical agenda (ObamaCare) down the throat of the American people (which he later said will be for the good of everyone) and dramatically increased the authority and spending power of the Federal Government at the expense of the private sector.

Personally, he exhibits overt contempt for American policies internationally and for hard working, decent American people in general. The effect of this attitude is to chastise Americans. An emotional plague tactic, it is an attempt to induce an unconscious sense of guilt and paralysis and to make Americans feel that whatever they are doing is somehow wrong. According to him, Americans have to change their ways. If they would only follow him, President Obama is the one capable of redeeming Americans of their evil past deeds. He is also the only one capable of providing all Americans with an illusion of economic security while, at the same time, making them ever more dependent and under the control of the Federal Government with people like him at the top.

The problem that confronts us is not the political demigod. It is the helplessness of armored people that makes it possible for demigods to regularly appear on the social scene. The political interaction of the demigod with helpless, socially dependent people who are emotionally out of touch with themselves is what enables the demigod to exist.

February 2, 2012
Categories: character structure, emotional plague, Politics, Social Sciences, socio-political character . Tags: Barack Obama . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 2 Comments

Functional Thinking Is Neither Left Nor Right

People’s individual and socio-political character armor are the primary forces determining destructive human interactions. Unfortunately,the effect of human armor on irrational thinking and behavior is not generally recognized. The harmful effects of armor lead to two ways of thinking: mechanistic or mystical. These correspond in a general way to the political ideologies of the Left and the Right. Political leaders and others who think ideologically to the left of center of the political spectrum think mechanistically; they view human beings and society as if they were a kind of machine that can be controlled and manipulated through outworn socialist schemes from the top. They have no trouble recognizing the limitations of the political Right. Political leaders and others who think ideologically to the right view humans mystically, assuming that there is some higher, mysterious purpose governing human life. They have no difficulty recognizing and opposing the destructive socialist policies promoted by the Left. When these opposing ideologies rigidify as they have today,American society becomes riven and is in danger of being destroyed.

It is not enough to see the shortcomings of the Left or the Right. Functional thinking allows one to recognize the limitations of both political ideologies and to see that they are components of a unified and mutually exclusive system of thought characteristic of all armored humans called “mechanistic-mysticism”. These thought systems always function to oppose one another and this is why there can never be any reconcilement between them.
According to functional thinking and contrary to popular belief,the political center is not absolute and static. Depending on social conditions it can shift to the left or right. In today’s anti-authoritarian society the political center has shifted far to the left. Therefore, from a functional perspective, many of those who are on the political right actually belong on the true center in their political thinking and attitudes. This is why they are often capable of making rational sense when it comes to politics.
Functional thinking permits one to step out of the prevailing, narrow mechanistic-mystical worldview. It provides the possibility to have a clear perspective and understanding of the world we live in and of the way certain severely armored individuals are able to bring about the social chaos and destruction,the operation of the emotional plague,that we are currently witnessing.

December 8, 2011
Categories: character structure, emotional plague, Politics, Social Sciences, socio-political character . . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 2 Comments

The Relationship Between The True Liberal And The Pseudo-liberal Characters

In today’s anti-authoritarian era, it is especially useful to understand the dynamics of the social relationship between the true liberal and the pseudo-liberal/communist character. It is generally believed that liberals and pseudo-liberals are one and the same. Those on the left also believe that they honestly share the same political goal of bringing about a better world. These dangerous errors originate from superficial similarities in the structures of these two very different socio-political political character types. In fact, the pseudo-liberal takes advantage of this popular misconception and uses the idealistic beliefs of the true liberal to further his own socialist socio-political agenda. Lenin understood the political function of the liberal character for facilitating a communist takeover in Europe very well. He referred to liberals as “useful idiots”.

This relationship between the true liberal and the pseudo-liberal/communist is illustrated in the recent Occupy Wall Street movement. The true liberal rightly protests the criminal practices of people in the financial and business world that have recently surfaced. By identifying himself as a true liberal, the emotional plague in the person of the pseudo-liberal character injects his venom with the same worn out anti-Wall Street, anti-capitalist nostrums that he has been peddling for ages. The result is that the true liberal’s rational concerns about corruption in the business world are lost. The emotional plague paralyzes rational thinking. By not recognizing that Occupy Wall Street is an outbreak of the emotional plague, the public cannot effectively contain its social destructiveness.

October 22, 2011
Categories: character structure, emotional plague, Politics, Social Sciences, socio-political character . Tags: Occupy Wall Street . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 5 Comments

Protest Movements, Then And Now

From a historical perspective, there is an important difference between the protest movement of the 1960s and the current Occupy Wall Street protest movement. This can be understood as a result of the transformation of society from authoritarian to anti-authoritarian that occurred around that time. Both protest movements originate from a serious disturbance in the two basic functions of human life, sexuality and work.

The protesters of the 60s were a a product of the authoritarian social order. Initially, they were a highly idealistic group of young people who wanted sexual freedom (a core function) and to be rid of the shackles of conventional morality. Tragically, the movement ended in disaster individually, because most of these youngsters were too disturbed emotionally to achieve sexual happiness and socially, because the movement was taken over and used for political purposes by leftist ideologues. These were the reasons for the failure of the so-called sexual revolution.

By contrast, today’s protesters are a product of the post-1960s, anti-authoritarian social order. Unable to take advantage of the enormous amount of freedom and opportunity that is readily available to them in America, they want the exact opposite. Many of them evidence a severe disturbance in their work function because the thought of working to have what they want never seems to occur to them. Instead, they want the security of being taken care of by the government. In sharp contrast to the earlier protesters, security is more important to them than freedom. This is the reason that a large majority of these protesters are leftist ideologues.

The Wall Street protesters are an emotionally far sicker bunch than the protesters of the past. Having no contact with their core, the energy behind their protesting comes entirely from their middle layer as bratty destructiveness. The last thing that these protesters need is to have their childish behavior encouraged. This is exactly what the Obama administration seems to be doing. If economic conditions continue to worsen, as they most likely will if Obama is reelected in 2012, this group has the potential of doing even greater social harm by escalating their interference with public life.

October 20, 2011
Categories: character structure, Politics, Social Sciences . Tags: Barack Obama, Occupy Wall Street, sexual revolution . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 3 Comments

The Problem With Today’s Psychiatric Therapies

At the root of the problem with all psychiatric therapies is the lack of a functional understanding of a whole series of interrelated, unanswered fundamental questions starting with what constitutes emotional health and sickness? From this question, the following questions logically arise: What are emotions? What is an emotional disturbance? How can emotional disturbances be classified scientifically to provide a rational system of diagnosis and treatment? Without satisfactorily answering all of these questions it is not possible to arrive at a rational, causal method of psychiatric therapy.

Unfortunately, these questions cannot be adequately answered because people’s armored condition prevents them from thinking functionally. Instead, today’s approach to psychiatric therapies falls into two general categories, mechanistic or symptom-based treatment and mystical or “holistic” treatment. Symptom-based approaches to diagnosis, and treatments such as drug therapy and behavior therapy are superficial and of limited value. From an etiological point of view, any symptom can appear in any diagnostic category. The holistic approach does away with the problem of symptoms by focusing on the patient’s “wellness” and the “whole patient” but it evades the problem of diagnosis altogether.

From a functional view, the clinical significance of any symptom is the function that it serves in relation to the individual’s particular character diagnosis. Therefore, understanding the patient’s character structure comes before the significance of the symptom can be understood. This is why it is not possible to correctly treat a psychiatric disorder from a curative point of view without first having established an accurate diagnosis.

Rather than deriving their clinical thinking from their clinical observations, armored therapists force their observations to fit into their preconceived mechanistic-mystical ways of thinking, thereby doing a grave disservice to their patients as well as bringing about the destruction of a once highly respected profession.

September 18, 2011
Categories: accurate diagnosis, character structure, Medical Sciences, Politics, psychiatric therapies, Social Sciences . Tags: accurate diagnosis, character diagnosis, psychiatric therapy . Author: Charles Konia, M.D. . Comments: 1 Comment