CHAPTER X: The First Bad Effect of Mis-storage
Most of us have assumed that we were “over” a distress experience, that soon after it had ended we were “back on our feet again.” Actually, this should and could take place, and the discussion of how to get it to take place is the main purpose of this book.
Probably because of the way in which human cultures and civilizations have developed, this real recovery from the effects of distress experience rarely takes place.
Instead, the residue of information mis-storage left by the distress experience remains mis-stored. Two important effects result.
The first of these effects is quantitative. In ordinary language, we are not as intelligent as we were before the distress experience left this mis-storage upon us. Part of our originally vast, genius-sized intelligence is left tied down, inoperative.
It is not just that there is now a certain area of experience where we no longer think very intelligently. That is true; but there is also an overall lowering of our total capacity to think flexibly, to handle our environment well.
This quantitative effect will not be noticed by us when we are still young. Apparently we have so much more of the capacity available than we usually call upon that we don’t miss the lost portion during our youth.
This quantitative effect will be noticed later in life, however. As many distress experiences accumulate and are re-enforced by re-stimulation (which we will discuss later) the growing lack of capacity to think may be noticed.
We might call the noticing point “middle age,” although it arrives in the teens for some and in very advanced years for others. Many persons seeking help describe this lack spontaneously in their initial interview.
“I’m losing my grip” is a favorite description. “Running out of slack” is another common one. “These last years seem to have taken all the starch out of me,” said one person. “I’m not the man I used to be and I’m beginning to think I never was,” said another. “I don’t seem to have what it takes any more” is common.
These descriptions are quantitative in nature and express awareness of a loss of ability for coping with the environment. This first effect, the quantitative loss effect, will usually not be noticed in youth.