TUTORIAL
Hydra Oil: Careless Therapy Labels
A Discussion of
Quackery and Our Duty of Care
Abstract
There is value in identifying and changing careless therapy labels.
Accuracy in naming reflects a caring dedication of one’s understanding.
When therapists don’t know what they’re doing, they inflict harm.
Some are surprised to discover how wrong they have been.
Others intentionally fake expertise for personal gain.
We need to care for people better than this.
PLEASE NOTE
I believe this tutorial to be safe in tone.
That said…
To unequivocally identify quackery, sometimes I will be sharp and firm.
But I will not be not harsh, even in fun, just in case.
Except when calling out intentional quacks.
In such cases, I will sometimes be less reserved (and more amused with myself).
At the very least, the clarification of terms in The Imitation Family of Concepts should be useful on its own, and that section is devoid of any intensely editorializing voice.
Glossary
The discussion of the Imitation Family of Concepts (e.g., echophenomena) has its own glossary.
Interoception is defined at the top of its own section.
Dunning-Kruger Effect: Insufficient knowledge leads people to overestimate their own competence.
A gestalt is the (a) perception of an entity as being a whole that emerges (b) from an understanding of the unified system of relationships that holds between a collection of elements (e.g., symbolic, emotional, psychological, physical, and so on), where that entity is specifically (c) more than just the set/sum of its parts; for example, when three dots (∴) are understood to be a triangle (i.e., more than just a set of three individual dots), then that unified perception of a whole entity is a gestalt.
[German gestalt (“form, shape, figure”)]
Hydra oil is a set of quack products that proliferates from the residue of a fraudulent product (snake oil) that has been debunked.
Semeiognomy is the study of communication in terms of symbol systems (Gk. semeio-) and cognition (Gk. -gnomy), appealing to the symbolic nature of communication.
An ymage is a sensory image that is not just visual in nature (also ymagine, ymaginary, ymagination, and so on).
A quack is someone who practices quackery (i.e., fraudulent medicine).
[Middle Dutch kwaken (“to croak; to boast”) + salve (“salve, ointment”) + -er (suf: agent noun) > Dutch quacksalver / kwakzalver]
Outline
What you Call Something Matters
A Plea for Open-Mindedness in the Beforemath
Recipe for Snake Oil
The Slick Pitch
It’s Still a Duck
Purpose of this Tutorial
Respecting What you Don’t Know
Guideline #1: Consorting with Wizards
Guideline #2: Invite Criticism
Cautious Reiteration
When Figurative Illustration Goes Wrong
“Hysteria”
“Object Permanence and ADHD”
“Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers”
“Lungs are Bellows”
Be Figurative Only When Accurate
Standards for Therapy Names
Don’t Get Hysterical
Opacity
Interlude: Determining some Terms
Semeiognomy: the Meaning of “Meaning”
You are Here
The Imitation Family of Concepts
Imitation
Types of Imitation
Echophenomena
Repetition
Scripting
Automatizing
Innovation: Novel Expressions
Quackery
“Delayed Echolalia”
Oxymoronic Labels: Variably Useful
Complex-Compound Quackeries
“Gestalt” has Nothing to Do with It
“Delayed Echolalia” has Nothing toDo with It
This Point
Up to “This Point”: What it Isn’t
“This Point”
After “This Point’: What it Is
Save the Baby (Cheerleader)?
Honor their Expression
Scaffold Conventional Access
Formalist Linguistics: Blissfully Defined by Cherry-picked Data
The Challenge: What Peters was Trying to Capture
Inability to Segment Time-streams
Why Peters Chose “Gestalt”
Gestalt ≠ Unresolved Mass
More than Words
But What If…
Early Establishment of Symbol Components
Let’s Make some Noise
Perceptual Organization
Perceptual Grouping
Natural Helpers
Start Fuzzy?
Start Small
The Overwhelm
Illustrative Illustrations
Component Gestalts
Change Points
YAE!
Artificial Augmentation of Environmental Segmentation
Compensation
Consistency
And I’m Not So Sure about You
Voice Intensity Spectrum: Kind > Polite > Civil > Firm > Sharp > Danger
Uses and Abuses of Interoception
Mahler’s Interoception Programs
Mahler’s Steps Have Value
(Step 1) Body: notice body signals
(Step 2) Emotion: connect signals to meaning
(Step 3) Action: regulate with an action that promotes internal comfort & health
Mahler’s Concerns
Comfort and Compliance
AAC
Cognition-Based Therapies
Minds
Aversion/Exposure Therapy
Types of Practice
Deficit/Benefit Base
Summing Up this Bit on Mahler’s Concerns
Mahler Summary
A Plea for Open-mindedness in the Aftermath
Appendix 1: Details about Categorization
Atypicality and the Suspicious Coincidence Effect
Blowfish Effect
Appendix 2: ASHA’s Stances are Sometimes Wrong