Stupid Pathogen: Damaged Executive Function

The pathogen can’t reason.

The set of damaged information structures in the attachment system, damaged by childhood trauma, the pathogenic structures that are at the root of this family conflict pathology moving across generations, that pathogen shuts down frontal lobe “executive function” systems for logical reasoning, foresight, and planning.

That’s why I call it the “stupid pathogen” – I’m highlighting this symptom feature of the trauma pathogen, it’s inability to track logical reasoning.

The reason it’s unable to reason, is that unresolved trauma needs to alter reality in stressful situations in order for the person to remain emotionally and psychologically organized and regulated. If the trauma-impacted person doesn’t alter reality perception, then they’re going to collapse into painful psychological and emotional disorganization.

So the trauma-impacted brain alters reality perception as a coping response to stress. And reasoning, logical reasoning, gets in the way of that.

If the person needs to alter what reality is, then they can’t be held within the confines of structures like logical reasoning. So the brain inhibits the operation of these systems for reasoning. Have you ever watched Monty Python’s She’s a Witch? Logical reasoning is lost in trauma pathology.

As we’ve been resolving our trauma across historical generations, our reasoning is getting better (Childress & Pruter, 2019; deMause, 1974; Grille, 2013), look… the industrial revolution, the information revolution.

“I got better.”

But we’re still rippling trauma, and it’s captured by the symptom feature of ignorance. The trauma pathogen shuts down frontal lobe executive function systems for logical reasoning.

Ever say or hear this said to the allied parent:

“What do you mean you can’t “force” the child to xyz?  Can you “force” them to go to the dentist, can you “force” them go to school?”

That’s people responding to the “illogic symptom” of the trauma pathogen. I use it in my clinical interviews, the “illogic symptom,” it’s one of the symptom features of unresolved trauma – the inability to track a logical sequence; damaged frontal lobe, unresolved trauma.

The other thing the frontal areas of the brain do, the executive function systems, is they anticipate into the future – it’s the executive function systems that do all the “what if” scenarios needed to plan ahead.

That’s why 18-20 year old young people are okay with reasoning, their frontal lobes are mostly active, but it’s their anticipation, planning, and foresight that are still fragile until about 22-24. It’s a brain maturation thing… frontal lobes for reasoning and foresight-planning are the last to develop (Sapolsky)

A Web of Lies

The pathogen has three defenses, it hides, it seeks allies, and it attacks threat to put the threat of exposure on the defensive.

The pathogen lies.  All the time.

It fluidly “creates” its reality, remember what I just said about it needing to alter reality to remain regulated?  The pathogen lies – that’s it altering reality.  The point of my repeating “all the time” is to indicate that, yes, indeed, it is ALL the time… because it is a symptom feature of the pathology – the lies (distorting-altering reality).

It’s not actually “lies” so much, it is a symptom feature of delusional pathology, the continual fluidity and distortion to consensual reality… it constantly twists and distorts reality, that’s the impact of unresolved trauma.  It’s analogous to a “black hole” in the psychology of the person, we can’t see it directly but we can see its effects, its influence on surrounding gravitational bodies, it distorts reality.

The pathogen loves ignorance, that’s it’s ally.  It uses ignorance to hide.  Ignorance believes the lies.

The pathogen hates knowledge.  Knowledge knows reality, knowledge sees the lies.  The pathogen can’t understand knowledge, it’s reasoning systems are shut down.  The pathogen fears knowledge, it can’t understand knowledge.

The pathogen hates knowledge.  Ignorance is the ally of the pathogen.

And knowledge, then, becomes the anti-viral agent that cleanses the pathogen’s allies from the system.  When we require knowledge, the allies of the pathogen in professional psychology, the ones with their own unresolved trauma (called “counter-transference”), won’t be able to understand knowledge.  What will they do?

They will resist, and then they will flee.  The pathogen is timid, you see, it’s afraid.  It hides and savages because of its fear, it manipulates and controls, and it hides.  When it is exposed, however, when it is seen… it is afraid.  The allies of the pathogen will not stand their ground on ignorance, there is no ground to stand on.

Their frontal lobe reasoning systems are shut down… stupid pathogen… does she weigh as much as a duck?  When knowledge is required, ignorance will move on, into other cracks in the dark fabric of unresolved trauma.  But it will be gone from here.  We are cleansing the pathogen by cleansing ignorance from professional psychology.

We are standing on true, and just, and proper grounds, anchored in the established foundations of professional knowledge, Bowlby, Minuchin, Beck, van der Kolk, Tronick, anchored on the bedrock foundations of professional practice as codified in the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct for the American Psychological Association (Standards 2.04, 2.01, 2.03, 9.01a, 3.04a, duty to protect, Principle D).

The allies of the pathogen will resist the application of knowledge… because learning knowledge is beyond their capability.  They only survive in a professional world were everyone makes up whatever they want.

Know and apply actual knowledge?  Uh-oh.  The pathogen-brain, a brain with unresolved trauma, can’t know knowledge…  the frontal lobes are not working.

That’s AB-PA.  It’s an anti-pathogen, anti-viral agent.  It’s entering the meme-scape (Dawkins) of professional psychology, it is designed to cleanse the allies of the pathogen (ignorance) from professional psychology… it’s knowledge… AB-PA… Foundations… is the application of knowledge.

No “made up” stuff – no “new theories” – no, stupid pathogen… it’s the application of knowledge.

Once ignorance is gone, and once knowledge is applied, the lies are exposed, truth and reality are fully evident, we stop the pathogen’s pathological manifestation of its unresolved trauma, and we fix things so the children can have their normal childhoods back.

Children need love from mom, lots and lots of mom-love, 100 mom-love – and children need love from dad, lots and lots of dad-love, 100 dad-love.

This is not complicated.  Diagnosing the pathology is incredibly easy… when we apply knowledge.

Ignorance will solve nothing.  I know.  Ignorance is an ally of the pathogen.  Of course, ignorance will solve nothing.  It wants nothing solved.

Ignorance is the pathogen’s ally.  The pathogen loves ignorance… and hates knowledge.

Changes.  Knowledge.

Well guess what’s on the way, stupid pathogen… knowledge.  Betcha didn’t see that one coming, did ya?  I know, damaged foresight and planning – not a clue as to what’s coming, no anticipation, very now-focused orientation.

A trauma-impacted brain that contains the pathogen-structures is very now-oriented, whatever works now, whatever needs to be said now, truth and reality are irrelevant – now, constantly regulating themselves now.

No frontal lobe for planning.  That’s why none of your families have treatment plans… no foresight or planning.

Written treatment plans require foresight and planning.  The pathogen-brain won’t be able to do that.  Unresolved trauma is inhibiting frontal lobe executive function systems for foresight and planning.

So… let’s start asking for written treatment plans.  That will be spot-on the vulnerability of a trauma-impacted pathogen brain, the ally of the pathogen.

The pathogen thinks this is “new theory” – that’s what it’s been playing for 40 years with the Gardnerian PAS “experts” – “new theory.”

Now it thought it had a “new theory” again – Dr. Childress (Gardner) and AB-PA (PAS).  I know, stupid pathogen.  Because you can’t reason, and you don’t have knowledge… because knowledge doesn’t make sense to you… too complicated, all that knowledge stuff… keep it simple.

That’s the pathogen-brain of unresolved trauma, damaged frontal lobe executive function systems for logical reasoning and foresight-planning.  What AB-PA does is inputs a… meme-structure… an intervention… a catalytic agent… that divides brains in professional psychology.

One set of psychology brains will see the knowledge and apply the knowledge.  AB-PA will be adopted by them, because they understand that there is no such thing as AB-PA, there is only knowledge, the scientifically established knowledge of professional psychology.  They know knowledge, they apply knowledge… that is an attachment-based model of “parental alienation” (pathogenic parenting surrounding divorce).

A second set of brains will be unable to learn and comprehend knowledge, Bowlby, Minuchin, Beck. These are the brains of ignorance, that make up things, that lack knowledge, that are the pathogen’s allies of ignorance in disabling the immune system response of professional psychology to a pathology-toxin of severe family conflict.

When ignorance is the “expert,” we are in the world of unresolved trauma… if she weighs as much as a duck, she’s a witch, the ignorance of trauma, damaged frontal lobe reasoning and executive function systems.  Truth and reality become fluid constructs, supposed knowledge housed in the anointed “experts” of special understanding, the “inquisitors” and “evaluators” judging human frailty.

Science is based on research.  Dr. Childress is not strong enough to leverage change in systems, no “new theory” provides solution.  With AB-PA, however, I stand on the shoulders of Galileo, Newton, Faraday, Darwin, Bohr, Bowlby, Beck, Tronick… science.

In the world of science, questions are answered… “What does the research say?” – then that’s the answer. 

Not what do “experts” say… that’s not science.  Opinions are all very interesting in that they might lead to research, but opinions are not relevant… what does the research say?  Even Einstein got it wrong sometimes (cosmological constant), everyone does, even Aristotle, even Issac Newton, even Freud, everyone.  We don’t do “expert” – we do science.  It’s called science.  We follow where the data and research leads.

What does the research say?  That’s the answer. Whatever the research says… that’s the answer to whatever the question is. That’s called science.  The scientifically established knowledge of professional psychology: Bowlby, Minuchin, Beck, van der Kolk, Tronick.

Returning from Complex Trauma

We’re cleansing professional psychology of the pathogen’s allies.  The pathogen uses their ignorance to hide beneath its lies.  Bye-bye.  Knowledge is required, as is planning and foresight, written treatment plans.

Stupid pathogen. It’s not “new theory” – it’s Dr. Childress.  I’m a clinical psychologist.  That’s all.  That’s enough.

A clinical psychologist knows everything there is to know about the pathology they work with… including you, stupid pathogen.  I see you as clear as day.  I know you’re afraid, nothing bad will happen, everything is going to be okay, for everyone.

Unresolved trauma rippling through generation; AB-PA.

The application of knowledge, Bowlby, Minuchin, Beck.

Craig Childress, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist, PSY 18857

Monty Python: She’s a Witch