Moderation in Free-Fall?

The Romans dominated the ancient world but were astute enough to ape the Greeks in matters of the mind, replicating their ideas and even their pantheon of gods, admittedly with token name changes. Ever practical, they were loath to reinvent the wheel.

Arguably, the most memorable Greek philosophical nugget is the concept of moderation. At Apollo’s temple in Delphi the inscription read “nothing in excess,” and Aristotle himself claimed it was the path to what we now call self-actualization. Moderation after all, is the middle ground and hence reasonable, ideally equidistant from the extremes, should adjustment be required.

Therefore, in all things be moderate.

?Society has polarized to the point of dysfunction.

Now we still encounter moderation; as some may exercise or consume food moderately and may also be measured in their response to rudeness. But we do experience a lack of moderation in thinking.

Society has polarized to the point of dysfunction. Patterns of thought increasingly mimic the dynamics of social media with an attachment to the extreme, and desperate attempts to extract ‘likes' and approval, the pinnacle being a statement that goes viral. Reason, on the other hand, evidently no longer 'translates into sales.'

?Even the opening salvo of a discussion is often itself inflammatory, and the very stance of some may be radical, launching a rapid race to the bottom and slide into outrage.

?The destructive impact on mental health is obvious.

?...“nothing in excess,...”

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the most effective psychotherapy studied in medicine, and efficacious for nearly every mental condition outside the psychoses. When moderation takes a back seat in social discourse, so many of the unhelpful thinking patterns (cognitive dissonances) become evident such as emotional thinking, catastrophizing, black and white thinking, overgeneralizing, and unsurprisingly polarization itself, among others. All of these cognitive dead-ends tend to seethe in a swamp of hostility and distress with predictable sequelae.

On first learning that CBT had become less effective in very young adults, I was skeptical but now, am less so. This relative loss of moderation in thinking, coupled with a (consequent?) trend of increasing suspicion and aversion towards seeking social interaction are disquieting.

?Given our collective alarm at the current prevalence of mental disease, will these maladaptive behaviours receive urgent due consideration or could ‘zero tolerance’ yet be applied to everyday conversation?

#moderation #tolerance #CBT #inextremis

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