The Very Best Authorities…

            The very best authorities now agree that the unconscious mind was a dead end. 

But then, again, the very best authorities are not able to do anything useful with a patient’s mind.  The very best authority can’t do anything effective for Julie or Ralph or Winnie when they come in for help with their mind.  Could it be that he or she is not an authority after all?  Since when is an authority someone whose sole mantra is negativity and hopelessness.  Doesn’t sound like an authority to me.  Sounds like a humbug.

            A real authority is someone who can create a measurable, conclusive, positive effect in the field that he is an authority in.  An authority on cars can fix cars.  An authority on teeth has patients with healthy teeth.  An authority on software can create and repair software that help people do their work.  It has nothing to do with how many letters he has after his name or with how flashy his advertising is or with how many people have voted him an expert or with his ability to quote other authorities and sound authoritative.  It all comes down to effects.  Can he create an effect or can’t he?

            So if someone proclaims himself an authority on bipolar disorder, I say, “Great.  Here’s a patient diagnosed with bipolar disorder.  Fix it.”  And by “fixing it”, I don’t mean suppressing it – or the patient – with drugs.