Mss Study Group #1: Discussion Overview

In the interest of sharing the journey of our very special "Mss Study Group," the following notes are offered as they will be presented for discussion in Mss Study Group #1, to be held on Friday, February 28, 2020.

Update: March 1, 2020

Here is a brief report on how our first Mss Study Group turned out.

It is our hope and our intent that the whole of our discussion will be recorded and can then be made available either by recording, download or transcript. We will keep our online readers updated on details.

In the event that our plans are successful, you may be able to look forward to copies of the original, unedited manuscript becoming available through our New Horizons/Small "Zones of Peace" eBay store, should we believe it to be of benefit, along with recordings etc. of our discussions.

Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions: Transforming The Rebellious/Survivor Inner Child, 

Chapter One: Overview, Circa 1991

Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions: Transforming The Rebellious/Survivor Inner Child, circa 1991, was written, originally for the addiction recovery genre, with an emphasis on non-ingested chemical addictions (i.e. relationship and personality addictions) with a special focus on the collusion between the passive addict, or co-dependent personality, and the aggressive or power addicted personality. 

This original text, virtually unedited, begins in Chapter One with a discussion of the rampant personal alienation most addict-types experience that thrusts the underlying forces of their addict-function living into the overdrive of survival instincts out of control.

Taking issue with the commonly held view that chemical addiction is solely-based on a disease, Ms. Rosen-Jones and her former mentor, psychiatrist Martin G. Groder, M.D., the original architect of the Groder-Rosen Addiction Development theory (GRAD), seek to establish an alternative, biologically-based perspective for understanding what the GRAD theory identifies as a survivor/addict personality that, in their shared opinion, offers a differing perspective regarding the diagnosis and treatment planning for this personality type that may be regarded as more of a health model rather than a disease model.

The Prologue

Drafted, initially, when Ms. Rosen-Jones was in her mid-forties the "Prologue" presents a picture of a rather naive Marcia/Anastasia, albeit a budding and brilliant scholar, that held Dr. Groder in such high esteem as to have, unfortunately, positioned her for the power abuse and sexual harassment by Dr. Groder that was to, eventually lead the Groder-Rosen collaboration to its painful demise in 1990, eventually resulting in Ms Rosen-Jones filing an ethics charges in 2018 regarding these inappropriate and damaging actions on his part with the International Transactional Analysis Association (ITAA) of which they were both members, Dr. Groder as Marcia/Anastasia's supervisor, she as his trainee.


The Prologue, while rather embarrassing to me (Anastasia) at this late date, is of note today, from a historical perspective, given the commencement of Ms Rosen-Jones' student-teacher relationship with Dr. Groder while she was in her 39th year when it began and he was already internationally known as an ITAA Teaching Member as well as a prominent expert for his work in establishing the Asklepeion Therapeutic Community Model within the Federal Corrections system (Scroll down on the wikipedia page to section on U.S.). 

Based on its historical benefit, more will be discussed and noted here, regarding the Prologue as discussion unfolds in the Mss Study Group.

Mss Study Group Announces: Surviving The U.S.A., Original Unedited Version

This coming Friday, Part one of the ten parts that make up the whole of my (Anastasia's) still unpublished Random House Trilogy, will start on its way to, at last, being published, hopefully in 2022. The initial phase will start off with the New Horizons/Small "Zones Of Peace" Board of Directors, also known as the Elite Truth Or Dare GAME players (i.e. the Truth Squad) working with me (Anastasia) from here forward to accomplish this end by studying, discussing, applying and updating my original Random House manuscript, new working title SURVIVING THE USA, Circa 2016 -- Fwd, with a very special Mss Study Group.

Preliminary discussions among us suggest that what we will endeavor to do will be rich and rewarding in its process, personally and on behalf of the two non-profit organizations I have founded, New Horizons Support Network, Inc. and the Small “Zones of Peace” Inc.

Given that I have always assumed that if forward progress was to be made on this aborted publishing project of mine, due to my becoming blind in 1998 through 2006, just as I was in the final phase of editing for release, I envisioned the effort as a completely solo act on my part. So, my board members  unexpectedly joining me, is quite the blessing!

For now, while we will keep our eyes on our intended destination, hard copy publication, we will not neglect to luxuriate in the magnificence the process will bring us. Our intentions will, however, never veer away from our more altruistic motivation to offer from a certain knowledge base, all of that which has gone into the development and application of the GRAD theory, developed initially by Marty Groder and expanded beyond by myself, Anastasia.

While we are setting off  on the adventure of our Mss Study Group,  board members will be considering if and how we might share both our journey and the original, unedited manuscript in the service of benefiting our interested online readers and other followers of our New Horizons/Small "Zones of Peace" programs and projects.

Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions, Chapter One, Part 3A: Considerations

In the very center of our deepest pain lives a warrior part of each of us. In its most uncivilized form we might call it our killer side – the inner convict, savage or Hitler part of us. Eric Berne called it the “Little Fascist”.  Its origins are biological. Its inter-psychic and interactive manifestations are behaviorial, emotional and psychological.

It is this biological, psychologically manifest portion of humanity that Eric Berne, M.D., the creator of Transactional Analysis (TA) theory and treatment, described this way –

….whoever is not aware of this force in his personality has lost control of it. He has not confronted himself and cannot know where he is headed. What Do You Say After You Say Hello?  Eric Berne, M.D.

To better understand Berne’s meaning in these words, let us consider several additional aspects of this issue.

In civilized people it (“The Little Fascist”) is usually buried beneath a platform of social ideals and training, but with proper permissions and directives, as history has shown again and again, it can be liberated into full bloom.

(For a full discussion on "The Little Fascist" see What Do You Say After You Say Hello?, p.268. Eric Berne, M.D.)

I have interpreted this point of Berne’s, advanced through up-to-date brain/mind research, neurological and psychological findings as well as my own research. Thus I came to discover what I hold to be the essential message here for personal and collective healing and transformation. 

The central issue is that the killer potential that is biologically and psychologically in all of us must be recognized, healed and transformed if emotionally stable people and a healthy society are desired.

My summation of this circumstance, presented in the "About This Book" section titled “Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions” offers further explanation on this, as offered briefly below.

This book is a primer on the mysterious capability of the personality’s most powerful biological influence, the survival instinct, described in terms of the basic principles of Transactional Analysis (TA).  

This mysterious capability of the personality’s most powerful biological influence that I sometimes call the Force manifests itself in the form of a rebellious or defiant aspect of the Inner Child. We identify this facet of the Inner Child as the Rebellious Survivor Child, Rebellious Survivor Inner Child (RSC), Survivor/Addict or Adrenalin Addict. It can be used for good or ill.

For an expanded introductory, you are advised to please read “Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions: About This Book.”

Now If these premises of Berne, Groder and myself make logical sense to you, the points we need most to consider are these –

Question: How can these premises be most useful?

Anastasia’s Answer: Of course, I am biased so I suggest you follow along with me here on “Exploring Your Dark Side: The Adventure Of A Lifetime” to expand your comprehension of these premises.

Question: Then how do I/we proceed after that?

Anastasia’s Answer:

Begin by taking the “Do You Have A Survivor/Addict Personality?” inventory. This will give you an opportunity to discover the where and how of this mysterious capability as it lives in you as a vast storehouse of potential power.

Then keep reading what I am posting here and on New Horizons two other sponsored blog sites (New Horizons Small “Zones of Peace” Project and Anastasia The Storyteller. There are enough suggestions and hints of “how to” on these to keep you busy applying them for a good long time while we take up the next steps on our journey.

Don’t neglect to dig in deeply to what has already been posted on our topic, the Inner Warrior/Dark Side/Light Side etc. on these sites.

Think global, act local with what you learn here. (In other words apply, apply, apply!);

If you need assistance and/or guidance, ask Anastasia The Super Sleuth. (A bit like saying, take two aspirins and call me again in the morning, if you still have a headache.

You can leave your questions or comments here or write me, personally, at: SuperSleuthDSW@aol.com.

Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions, Chapter One, Part 2: Challenges

Anastasia’s Introductory Comments on Chapter One, Part 2: Challenges.

The following section is a complete and total revision of a corresponding part of the original text of Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions (Book 1, 1990 – 1991). It incorporates an introductory portion from Exploring Your Dark Side: TheAdventure Of A Lifetime (Book 3, 1998).

Because the following has been written without editing as a first draft for the manuscript revision now in progress to accommodate this blog site, expect to view it in updated versions on a semi-regular basis..

Chapter One: Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions

Challenges

Having stated my basic premises for writing this book, we will now need to address the challenge of how the book will take up the most evident problems of our being a nation of adrenalin addicts with the accompanying consequences of that circumstance. 

Remedying the underlying anguish; the alienation and isolation from human connectedness at the core of all addictions, will take us a far distance toward our destination; personal and collective transformation. 

Yet a major obstacle to the objective reveals itself almost instantaneously -- the inordinate resistance and lack of motivation existing in the majority of our world population to addressing the enormity of the problem of -- adrenalin addictions and their attendant consequences.  

A quote from Neale Donald Walsch spotlights the dilemma –

How is it possible that 6.9 billion people can all claim to want the same thing (Peace, secuity, opportunity, prosperity, happiness, and love) and be singularly unable to get it?

The answer to the quandary is almost self-evident if one basic fact is closely examined.

Built into our DNA, humans are uniquely equipped with a wonderful capacity for personal transformation as well as self-destruction. It is our human nature, unlikely to change without a dramatic alteration in that DNA. The same equipage that produces these extremes can also enable the mundane.

In summary this fact of our uniqueness as humans can be stated thus –

The personality’s most powerful biological influence – your survival instinct – has a mysterious capability. It can help you to either reach the highest levels of consciousness, health, compassion and spirituality or to self-destruct.

The challenge of a life for each and every one of us is to be better than we are. And in the summing up to leave this world behind us better than we found it. How to achieve this is part of the wondrous mystery that grants us this opportunity; the sacred and the holy that is larger than life.

The "how" embodies faith, courage, hard work, determination, passion, discipline and Love.

Love being the sacred ingredient that binds all together, it is the element that made a shaman of me as I dealt with extended blindness, trauma and extensive losses, not unrelated to the blindness, taking me down into the darkest parts of myself – and -- high into the sky and beyond to the Light.

You have this capability in you too.

This book is about that wondrous capacity, unique to humans. It is offered, thus, as a primer, on how to best use the inimitable personal power of the survival instinct. 

This capacity is described in this book in terms of the basic principles of Transactional Analysis (TA), the theory that originated the concept of the Inner Child or Child Ego State, its original term.

My overarching goal here is to assist and guide each and every would-be traveler that seeks me out – through my writings, radio shows, public presentations and private consultations -- to reach these heights. And to aid each on in being able to approach and embrace the depths with courage and a minimum of distress, with as much a sense of safety and security as I can offer.  With this text as your guidebook – and – myself as your guide, I offer these resources to you.

Besides the resource of my personhood, I will be introducing you to a series of trail maps that I have found to be most beneficial for my own journey, both personally and professionally. These trail guides come from four main sources.

• Basic Transactional Analysis (TA);
• Advanced TA as derived from Martin G. Groder, M.D. who originally authored them;
• My advancements of Marty’s work that became the Groder-Rosen Addiction Development theory (GRAD); and
• The ancient teachings of Ahmsta Kebzeh as taught by Murat Yagan, the last living Elder of this tradition. Murat died in December, 2013.

The main map we will be using for our adventure is shown as the diagram accompanying this article. It is a derivation from a much more complex version designed by Murat Yagan.

It is offered here in this modified adaptation in order to simplify your introduction to it. The details of this map will be referenced and discussed in the text of this book, item by item.

The original form of the diagram, Murat's Chart of Ascension, will be offered as Murat created it later in my presentation of this text.

Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions, Chapter One, Part 1: Alienation

Anastasia’s Introductory Comments on Chapter One, Part 1: Alienation.

The introduction to the original manuscript (1990 – 1991) has been revised here for this blog site. Originally the introduction to this chapter was written to be included in the burgeoning addiction recovery genre of literature that was in its heyday during this time period.

My work at the time was primarily as a psychotherapist, using the Transactional Analysis and Gestalt therapy models. My focus was on relationship and personality addictions, working with individuals, couples and families –- and – most importantly interweaving that private work with a therapeutic community treatment approach that included regular ongoing support groups.

Today I no longer do private therapy nor do I run a therapeutic community. Rather I have enhanced the skills I formerly used, expanding them into applications for community development and violence prevention consulting and training.  Community discourse has become one of my most fulfilling and prized advancements from this growth.

The original introduction, as it was, seems outdated for the impact I would like your reading of this book to have. So I have tried here to retain, at this writing, some of the essentials of that former introduction while updating this text for the general population as opposed to an addiction recovery culture.

Always, then and now, my focus was and is on the addict personality whose base line addiction is to adrenalin.

In a culture such as ours this includes better than 99% of the population. I am hard pressed to find the rare few in our society who are the exception.

This is the character of the survivor/addict personality as I have come to know it.

Now, I offer you my first attempt at translating my earlier work into today’s culture and its problems.

(The original manuscript version, 1990 – 1991, is the one in the hard copy. Should you wish to purchase it, details are at this link.)

Chapter One: Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions

1.      Alienation

All day long, into and throughout the night, online activity persists ceaselessly; the new way of being with people that has almost no need of people at all; faceless, formless, often anonymous nonentities, serving as relationship substitutes. Thus the alienation and isolation that often troubled earlier generations have now been replaced by laptops, smart phones and whatever else emerging generations latch onto next.

Still the words of “The Rose” --

It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance 

(Words continued below and incorporated with the artwork below.)

--  continue to endure as aching reminders of the dearth of human and spiritual connectedness throughout our country. At rock bottom the emptiness knows no class, racial or economic distinction. Lawyers, doctors, elected officials, the disenfranchised as well as the privileged, human and spiritual disconnect is without limitations.

Adult men and women, college and high school students, tweens and little ones know in the very depths of their tiny beings the psychic deprivation pervading this country, in the midst of what passes for abundance for some.

If examined carefully the desperation for authentic human contact and caring, lying closely guarded, exists in all of us, especially in the most avid of on-liners, out of awareness other than to the most astute.  Emotional nourishment, stability and security once expected from marriages, families or other intimate partnerships has all but fallen by the wayside.  This is America, the land of the free and the home of the brave in the new millennium.

We have a new way of ME-ness living that reveals just how far the people of this country are willing to go before they will take a pause, consider that there is something wrong with this new way of life and reach out to others to reestablish communities that work well together.

On the other side of the coin is the likelihood that the troubles we currently face in our society and politics actually come to us as a gift, pressing us to right what is wrong on a human level. With the aid of our information resources and the vast social networks available we, now, have opportunities as never before to understand the personal and interpersonal underpinnings of what makes humans tick, optimally.

All of this provides us, additionally, with tools with which to challenge – and – rectify the lack of human excellence that evolution and our efforts to date to civilize ourselves have failed to achieve.

Appraising our current social and political circumstances and the emotional/psychological and practical survival crises they represent, many of us find ourselves forced to look ever more deeply at the human and spiritual structures that support our lives, or fail to, as the case may be.

In doing this a re-evaluation of our values, priorities and lifestyles are called up for investigation. Thus our current crises, for those who allow it, provide us with a much-needed catalyst propelling personal, communal and spiritual growth.

Sharply confronting our gravest problems such as police brutality, racial and economic disparity and the terrorism that threatens our country’s boundaries, the very fiber of our lives comes regularly under close scrutiny these days, including, of course, the dreaded ills of violence, drugs and alcohol abuse and their origins in the dysfunctional family, neighborhood and community. 

Today, however, these might even stand a fighting chance to be rooted out, at least for some who are the most fortunate. Optimally, someday in generations to come even violence could be obsolete as we learn enhanced ways of relating and coping.  

Coming next: Part 2, Challenges: How this book addresses the problems

  

Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions, Chapter One

Anastasia’s Reflections on Chapter Artwork 

Chapter One: Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions

Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions builds upon a number of basic assumptions or premises. 

(The artwork below depicts what I see and feel about these assumptions. See artwork at bottom of page.)

These assumptions/premises include –

• Every person has an instinctual survivor trait embedded in their biological and psychological nature, manifesting itself, most explicitly, through his/her personality in interpersonal relationships. Thus becoming an intrinsic part of the world surrounding them;
• This personality aspect, at its core, is a savage relic of human existence, typically buried beneath a “platform of social ideals,” that serves to mask this potentially deadly trait;
• Masking -- one of the survival instinct's protective manifestations -- serves humanity on certain levels which will be discussed in this book, Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions, yet simultaneously defeats its highest aspirations;

But it doesn't have to be this way!

• For the purposes of this book, this survival instinct, manifest by way of the personality, is identified as the Rebellious Survivor Inner Child (RSC) or the Force in its unadulterated state;
• In its tainted form we call it the Dark Side, the Dark Side Warrior, Little Fascist or inner Convict self;
• In its purified state we refer to it as the Light Side, the Spiritual Warrior, Inner Spiritual Warrior or Compassionate Warrior.
• Love, compassion, caring, connection and balance are pathways out of the Dark into the Light.
• This book is offered as a guidebook for would-be adventurers who would have it otherwise than the Dark; that humanity could and would ascend to its higher nature.

For stories on my personal experiences with the Inner Warrior side of me, visit Anastasia The Storyteller blog site and Anastasia The Storyteller RadioShow.

For articles and practical application ideas based on this book, Surviving (Adrenalin) Addictions, visit the blog site of New Horizons Small “Zones of Peace” Project and The Possible Society In Motion Radio Show.

(The artwork displayed for this chapter and throughout the book in its entirety was designed specifically for this book by artist, Persephone. The artwork and the accompanying epigraph are the symbols I selected to best represent how I see and feel the presence of the Dark Side.)