Skip to main content

Have a Go Spaghettio! and Psychological Immunisation

 

Ms. Kylie Smithers, Eductaor

Paxton Popoffalot of Wassup? News here. I’m speaking with Ms Smithers, a Rational Emotive Behaviour Educator in the fifth of five chats about Have a Go Spaghettio! an early childhood, Rational Emotive BehaviourTherapy based pedagogy for early childhood educators, counsellors and learners.

We were talking about helping the victim in the bullying dynamic when we last spoke. Would you like to talk to this Ms Smithers?

“I came across a quote attributed to Jonas Salk, creator of the polio vaccine who said to Martin Seligman,  

"If I were a young scientist today, I would still do immunization. But instead of immunizing kids physically, I'd do it your way. I'd immunize them psychologically. I'd see if these psychologically immunized kids could then fight off mental illness better. Physical illness, too."

I found this interesting and in terms of Success Helper/Brain Friend thinking, or in REBT terms, rational thinking, unconditional self-acceptance would be the antidote to beliefs that undermine confidence i.e., conditional acceptance of self, a Success Stopper/Brain Bully habit of thinking. Once identified, the at risk victim, is given a strong dose of ‘I’m worthwhile crocodile’ attention,’ the Red Success Have a GoSpaghettio! Success Helper. “

What does this look like, how is this analogous to the idea of ‘immunisation? Asks Popoffalot.

“From what I can gather when one is immunised the body is rendered resistant to an infectious disease via vaccination. The vaccine ‘trains’ the immune system to recognise and fight viruses and germs that can harm us. Unconditional self-acceptance (Red Success Helper thinking) learning would be the ‘vaccine’ that ‘trains’ the mind to ‘know’ that a healthy ‘self’ doesn’t ‘need’ the approval of others. The child will learn to know that their sense of ‘OK-ness’ doesn’t rely on the assessment of others, they will develop confidence and this attitude will communicate to others strength and personal agency.”

So, teaching unconditional self-acceptance (USA), which you say is a Have a go Spaghettio! Success Helper core belief will effectively inoculate the young person against the bully contagion.

“Yes. The more the child is exposed to the idea of USA, throughout their schooling, and at home, they will eventually get to what Albert Ellis calls, Emotional Insight (EI) where a person automatically lives by the USA principle and can conserve or keep their unconditional self-acceptance status. There are many ways that the young bully victim can be supported in this endeavour, in class, across the school and at home. The goal is to embed the Red Success Helper way of thinking or believing deep in the child’s mind, a psychological bulwark against potential harm, disappointment and unfairness.

Perhaps I can expand on this some time and talk about the practical things a school can do for the potential victim in a bullying scenario. Thanks for your attention Mr Popoffalot.”

Mr Paxton Popoffalot, Wassup? News

You’re welcome Ms Smithers. This is Paxton Popoffalot for Wassup? News signing off from Oondooroo Junior Primary School, in outback South Australia.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Grieving the Loss of Self When Narcissistic Feed Dries Up

Professor Sam Vaknin is an authority on narcissistic personality disorder. His videos are informative and well communicated which helped my understanding of this condition. A narcissists  'feed' dries up when the supply of others adulation and affirmation withers and stops. A crisis ensues when the narcissist realises that incoming approval has diminished and their idealised self is under attack. The contrived and carefully constructed 'self' is no longer acknowledged and valued by external sources. They cease 'to be' because the sources feeding their self sees through the narcissists grandiose and phony veneer. (see  Ms. Prudence Putty-Nose  ) The self they have concocted and which demands the positive regard and affirmation of those they have trained to adore them, is but an irrational virtual representation of the real world. There's a disparity between the narcissists version of reality and how things really are, projecting a world of fantasy replayed on...

Have a Go Spaghettio! and The ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance

  Albert Ellis's ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance is a paradigm within Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT). It provides a framework for understanding how our thoughts, beliefs, and events interact to influence our emotional and behavioural responses. Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) is a psychoeducational teaching and counselling model. The ABC model is a tool used within REBT to help individuals identify, challenge, and deconstruct irrational beliefs and to construct new, more efficient ways of thinking and believing. Have a Go Spaghettio! is an early childhood approach to social, emotional, and behavioural learning based on REBT and the ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance paradigm. It teaches young learners that they make (construct) their own habits of thinking that in turn make their emotional and behavioural responses to events. Early learnings about their thinking nature will provide the tools with which they can learn to think about their th...

APPROVALISM – the philosophy of the ‘love slob’

An approvalist is one who practices the philosophy of Approvalism. An approvalist lives life for the service of others seemingly without thought for self, ministering to the needs of others, making life ‘better’ for them. A good approvalist needs to do for others and her worth is measured according to how others view her and how helpful she can be to others. Approvalists say ‘yes’ to others demands and requests and are ultra sensitive to the needs of others (they must be rescued and saved). If they don’t perform to their own lofty expectations or (quelle catastrophe!) others don’t seem to value them (as they should) then they tend to harshly judge themselves as being ‘bad’ and may down themselves harshly! They will think, ‘I should have known that he needed support. I should have been there. I should have done better. I am a loser. It’s my fault he is in such a mess.’ They may also experience deep anger and direct it towards those ‘who do not appreciate me, after all shouldn’t they ...