JOHN LAMUTH, Phd
John E. LaMuth is a 69 year-old counselor and author native to the Southern California area. Credentials include a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biological Sciences from University of California, Irvine followed by a Master of Science Degree in Counseling from California State University-Fullerton with an emphasis in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling. Postgraduate career choices include social work with abused children and as an educator in the field of psychology. A PhD in Bioethics, Sustainability and Global Public Health was awarded in May, 2018 by the American University of Sovereign Nations (AUSN). John is currently engaged in private practice in Mediation Counseling in the Southern CA area – JLM Mediation Service. John also serves as Professor of Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution at The American University of Sovereign Nations, located in Arizona – USA.
Decoding the Riddle of Mental Illness
(Video)
An overall communicational model of mental illness has conspicuously been lacking due to the daunting conceptual challenges at issue. As with many other such great enigmas, the solution often emerges from advances in a parallel field of inquiry. Here, great strides in Communications Theory prove highly relevant in this regard, particularly that encompassing the field of counseling psychotherapy. In terms of a recent sequence of publications by the Editor, a breakthrough in the understanding of affective (or emotionally charged) language has recently been proposed: wherein incorporating the communicational factors underlying mental illness within a general eight-part schematic: as partially depicted in the compact diagram immediately below.
+ + VICES OF EXCESS MENTAL ILLNESS
(Excessive Virtue (Transitional Excess)
+ MAJOR VIRTUES LESSER VIRTUES
(Virtuous Mode) (Transitional Virtue)
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O - NEUTRALITY STATUS
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– VICES OF DEFECT CRIMINALITY
(Absence of Virtue) (Transitional Defect)
– – HYPERVIOLENCE HYPERCRIMINALITY
(Excessive Defect) (Transit. Hyperviolence)
This diagram actually represents a radical expansion upon Aristotle's enduring Theory of the Mean (originally defined as a more basic three-part model). According to Aristotle’s original paradigm, the realm of the virtues (such as courage) represent mean values interposed between the vices of defect and those of excess: in this case, the vices of cowardice and rashness, respectively.
This grand-unified system of eight overall categories represents an unprecedented contribution to the field of ethical inquiry, expanding Aristotle’s “Theory of the Mean” into an all-inclusive explanation of the emotions in general. Here, mental illness is functionally consistent with an emotional style of communicational dynamic: one that encompasses certain other forms of human communication. Indeed, the extreme symptomology associated with mental illness effectively distorts or exaggerates the overall conceptual framework, generally obscuring the cognitive aspects being communicated. Consequently, the key to understanding these elusive factors ultimately resides in the context of more routine communication, where the various emotional parameters can be more accurately ascertained. A comprehensive and unified model for normal communication has unfortunately eluded identification due to the vast number of possible permutations. As stated earlier in the preface, however, it is here that the newly proposed ten-level hierarchy of virtues/values rightfully enters the picture: offering the potential for a truly integrated model of emotionality in general. The distinctive groupings of virtues and values (defined within this system) all appear linked on an intuitive level, suggesting a clear sense of underlying cohesiveness.