Patterns arise from experiences in which an individual suffers Distress because of some kind of threat and does not succeed in removing the threat through some personal action. This means they do not end up in a positive emotional state--the experience ends with a problem being shelved rather than solved. In such circumstances the individual remembers the characteristics of the situation as a threat and associated with them will be the memories of Distress. When any of those characteristics are met in the future the individual's memory will supply the label 'threat' and the person will then react with the same negative feelings as before. This is called RESTIMULATION.
The feelings aroused will push the person in the direction which minimizes the Distress. The only available responses for this are those of the initial situation and, since the threat was not mastered then, the responses will be inadequate now. The responses are likely to be those the individual produced at the time--commonly cowed or paralyzed ones. Negative feelings activate responses quickly, without aware thought, so the Restimulated feelings will push the person to make the response which minimizes the immediately perceived threat. Although the conditioned responses diminish the Distress they do not remove it. The person is still Distressed; their attention will be preoccupied by this. So they will not be able to make a rational judgement of the situation or think of alternative ways of acting.
The individual has become Patterned; they can only pay attention to the distressing characteristics and they are locked into the previous inadequate response. Note that the new situation may not be threatening in reality. The combination of the rapid action and the Distress still being present means that it is difficult, if not impossible, for the person to learn that the present situation does not contain the threat that the Restimulated situation did (#1). The person may now have the skills to change it, but has no means of finding that out and no access to their skills when the Pattern is running. In addition, the activation of the negative feelings and the Patterned responses will act to further strengthen the Pattern.
Initially Distresses arise in childhood when knowledge of their causes will be inadequate. There may be many repetitions of some situations. This can produce generalizations which result in some Distresses always being Restimulated. The resulting Patterns are labeled CHRONIC and they are often equated with an individual's personality. They correspond to Reich's character armour.
Discharge is the off-switch for distress. There are two ways in which Distressing events can end up with positive experiences. The first way is when the individual discovers how to master the situation by actions which change it so that it's no longer threatening and unpleasant. The second way is when the individual DISCHARGES the negative feelings. Discharge is the name given to active processes which start with the individual in an aroused negative-feeling state and end with them in a positive mind and body state. All humans are capable of Discharging and children do it spontaneously unless stopped by adults. Crying, shaking, raging, yawning, laughing can all be Discharge processes. The particular ones which take place will be those which go along with the experienced feeling, e.g. crying when the feeling is grief, raging when the feeling is anger.
We would say that Discharge is the natural way our bodies deal with negative feelings which persist after the situation that activated them is over. It is possible to discharge Distress after two minutes or after 20 years. In the first case the individual will not become Patterned, in the second case they will start disrupting previously operating Patterns. This occurs because the end result of Discharge is a positive feeling state, in which it is possible to think about, evaluate, and find solutions to previously distressing situations. Co-Counsellors experience this happening spontaneously after Discharge and label it RE-EVALUATION. This phenomenon is so striking that it provided the name of the original Co-counselling organization (Re-Evaluation Counseling). Re-evaluation is the operation of the Person freed from the Pattern.
Go to previous page. Go to next page. Return to How to Change Yourself & Your World.