Cost vs. Income of Neuroses, an example.

Janov's Reflections on 

The Cost of Neurosis (click to access!)

My comments:

The Cost vs. Income of Neuroses

Your economic scenario regarding the drunken driver in your neighborhood sounds, at first sight, very specious. However, it is based upon a logic with so many contradictory consequences, that my human sympathy, will turn out to be the widow’s mite, left for you.

I’m sorry, Art, but the income made by neurotics are tremendously much bigger than the cost of them. The old, neurotic, American “dream” to make a fortune / become a millionaire and then become independent and (due to the unending nature of neuroses, even richer, etc.) has for generations had the cost of “your drunken driver” as a non official, slightly annoying surcharge in its general spreadsheet. I could go on writing so much about the importance of alcohol and neuroses as a source of income, that your famous fish would drown many times in its deluge of “wealth” creation. 

The enclosed statistics, over the proportion, of the US population, by education, who used alcohol in the previous month, speaks for itself. Looking at the statistics there seems to be evidence that the more being stuffed into our left brains, the more painkilling alcohol we need!

Proportion of US population by education who used alcohol in previous month:

Collage graduate               67%

Some collage                     60%

High school graduate        55%

Less than high school        37%

An interesting fact is that, in spite of the high American alcohol consumption, the US has dropped 23% since 1990 and that abstention is much more common in the US than in any other Western Country. 35% of all Americans are abstainers. A large number of states continued their own state prohibition after 1933. There are also millions of Americans who currently support the concept of prohibition. 

However, I think that PT, in spite of its curing potential, will have a hard time to compete with religious revival movements and Alcoholics Anonymou’s bodies. Their method, like cognitive therapists, to repress the alcoholic’s pain, “forgive” him and to reestablish him within their own often strong an well established organizations, creates a subjective well being supported by the majority. Some even become presidents...

Jan Johnsson