Psychotherapy A Practical Guide
Jeffery Smith
New York Medical College
Valhalla New York USA
www.howtherapyworks.com jsmd@howtherapyworks.com
ISBN 978-3-319-49459-3
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-49460-9
ISBN 978-3-319-49460-9 (eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016961346
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017
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Foreword
The practice of psychotherapy has evolved over more than 100 years through various theoretical explanatory models and, correspondingly, many varieties of therapeutic techniques. Some approaches focus on the centrality of emotion, while others focus on cognition and manifest behavior. Simultaneously, some techniques call for psychotherapist “neutrality” as others call for “active engagement.” Competing volumes on this subject often seem devoted to the demonstration of the “specificity”—implicitly, “superiority”—of a particular psychotherapy model, and hence technique, over others.
To his great credit, Jeffery Smith, MD, takes a stance that can be considered “atheoretical,” or respectful of many different psychotherapy traditions. A welltrained and long-experienced psychotherapist, Dr. Smith focuses on the centrality of the patient-therapist relationship, which remains the central dyadic force in all models of individual psychotherapy. This applies to the rest of medicine too, a fact often neglected in the current era of the “industrialization” of the practice of medicine. It is in the establishment of the psychotherapeutic dyad, with a psychotherapist stance of safety provision, that the patient is able to most fully explore both the emotional and cognitive experiences that underlie so much of psychiatric illness.
Unique to this book, Dr. Smith introduces the concept of the entrenched dysfunctional pattern (EDP) and the affect avoidance model, newly proposed terms that represent a series of explanatory schemas and the resultant avoidance of associated painful affects to describe deficits in the intrapsychic space expressed in clinical symptoms. He uses elements of recent advancements in the neurosciences, including discussion of learning, long-term potentiation, and neuroplasticity, to propose neural network underpinnings of clinical phenomena seen in patients. Pertinent to actual psychotherapeutic technique, he uses the metaphor of the patient’s “inner child” to advise psychotherapists in the exact approaches to patients who have experienced long-term suffering (often the residua of abuse experiences) and to thus assist in targeted psychotherapeutic techniques, particularly as relates to strongly held emotional material. By psychotherapists understanding EDPs and the affect avoidance model, patients can then be effectively guided to examine, break down, analyze, and thus modify dysfunctional emotions and behaviors, ultimately adapting to a higher degree of psychiatric function.
Why a new instruction book on psychotherapy now? The rising degree of economic prosperity and growth in a modernizing and socially interconnected world
surely represents great progress. However, as more people function at a higher social level, the adverse experience of neurotic and social conflict becomes much more manifest at a population level. Such empowered, yet symptomatic, patients will seek out psychotherapy to address these concerns. Simultaneously, diffusion of information technology gives people everywhere prompt access to the latest advancements in the clinical literature. Given the need for more access to, and expectations of success in, psychotherapy, instructional books on the techniques of psychotherapy necessarily need to be accessible to clinicians from various professional disciplines and backgrounds. Dr. Smith’s book, describing in a pragmatic way the elements of various psychotherapy models, provides a synthesis that is as timely as it is concisely written. It will be of value in training programs for beginning psychotherapists and is a helpful resource for more experienced psychotherapists as well. This book should be of particular use in master of social work and psychiatric nurse practitioner training programs, and a valuable addition for clinical psychology doctorate programs and psychiatry residency programs.
Anyone interested in the “how and why” of psychotherapy will find this volume to be an engaging read. For beginning students, the extensive discussion of the momentary experiences within psychotherapy sessions will serve to ground them in basic psychotherapeutic techniques and prepare them for more productive use of psychotherapy supervision of their cases. For the established clinician, the thoughtful organization of this book will serve to buttress the psychotherapist’s existing strengths while inspiring still greater mastery. Finally, teachers of psychotherapy now have a volume that will prove versatile in the areas of basic instruction, technique, and supervision.
With the contemporary pressures to expect all clinical interventions to be patientcentered, cost-effective, and justified in terms of outcomes, Dr. Smith helps to refine the powerful role that psychotherapy will continue to play in the management of psychiatric illness, which is finally being recognized as a major source of disability worldwide. He advances the field of psychotherapy scholarship at a time when we in academic psychiatry need to more fully understand and appreciate the role of this most central of psychiatric interventions.
Dr. Smith has capitalized on his own long experience, seasoned by thoughtful reflection, to develop a remarkably unifying theoretical framework of understanding of disorders of emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, which translates into a cogent and patient-centered approach to psychotherapy. Readers have the opportunity to learn from his experience in this concise yet thoughtfully thorough book, masterfully and lovingly provided for the field to share. We are all enriched by this contribution to the psychiatric literature.
James A. Bourgeois, OD, MD
University of California San Francisco, USA
Acknowledgments
Since this book is, in a way, the culmination of a career, I owe gratitude to all those who have inspired and supported me on my journey. First, and most of all, thanks to Claude, my wife, who stuck with me all the way.
Dr. P., my therapist in college, gave me a taste of what it is to have someone to talk to. Dr. Stilwell took me seriously when I said I wanted to go to medical school. J.C.B. Grant, my anatomy professor, showed us how to discern the natural divisions between structures. Dr. Obeid, “The Ear,” taught how to listen to the heart. Milt Rosenbaum demonstrated how to connect with patients, and Joel Kovel told me to go ahead and “mix it up” with them. Leon Balter not only insisted on rigor when it came to theory but shared his private knowledge of identification with the aggressor. With Eleanor Galenson, I learned to see the world through the eyes of children. John Moneypenny was the recovering alcoholism counselor who introduced me to the wisdom of AA. Dr. H., my therapist, helped me untangle my past.
To my patients I owe enormous gratitude. They taught me, lesson by lesson, a large part of all I know about healing and growth.
I am grateful to Cindy for urging me to write long before anyone else and to Robert Oxnam, my second DID patient, who asked me to write an epilogue to his book, A Fractured Mind: My Life with Multiple Personality Disorder. In doing so, he gave me my first taste of writing for the reading public.
Thanks to Maj-Britt Rosenbaum for giving me the break that started my private practice and to Dr. Jim Walkup, who picked up the baton from there. Since the early 1980s, Dr. Michael Blumenfield has quietly encouraged me on every turn of my pathway, starting with the American Psychiatric Association. He also urged me to join the American Academy of Dynamic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, where I met Jim Bourgeois, my writing mentor. Thanks to John Norcross and SEPI, the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration, for providing a supportive and welcoming intellectual home.
I am grateful to Shelley and Margot, my two development editor sisters who supported and encouraged my writing, and especially to my daughter, Anne, who has been a constant source of warm encouragement.
Finally, Rachel Trusheim, my editor, has been a super cheerleader and subtle helper in shaping and refining this book.
6 A Context of Connection
6.1 A Prototype
6.2 The Ubiquity of Emotional Healing
6.3 Are There Exceptions?
6.4 Mindfulness
6.5 A Proposed Explanation of Mindfulness
6.6 When a Witness Is Necessary
6.7 What if the Therapist Is Overwhelmed
6.8 What About Involuntary EDPs?
6.9 Conclusion .
7 Motivation, Internal and External
7.1 The Special Situation of the Trainee
7.2 What Makes Patients Seek Therapy?
7.2.1 The Chief Complaint
7.2.2 Location of the Problem.
7.2.3 Hopes and Expectations .
7.2.4 Eliciting Expectations
7.2.5 The Inner Child
Outside Motivation.
7.4.1 Leverage
8.6 Developmental Challenges
8.6.1 Self-Other Differentiation
8.6.2 Attachment and Separation
8.6.3 Power Struggles
8.6.4 Crime and Punishment
8.6.5 The Rules
8.6.6 Someday
8.6.7 Later Childhood
8.6.8 Adolescence
8.6.11 Old
Part II What Therapists Do
9 Conducting an Initial Assessment
9.1 Do We Need to Ask Why?
9.2 Working with Uncertainty
9.3 Beginning the Session
9.4 Show, Don’t Tell
9.5 Listening for Style and Content
9.6 Formulating Questions
9.7 Following Leads
9.8 The Patient’s Mind Has the Map
9.9 The “Chief Complaint”
9.10 Spiral Organization
9.11 Listening for What We Don’t Know
9.12 To Get Feelings, Ask for
9.13 What if You Get an Evasive Answer?
10.8 The Three-Step Dance in Perspective
10.9 Second Priority: Understanding
10.10 Many Kinds of EDP
10.11 The Value of Listening
10.12 Beyond the Three-Step Dance
10.13 Putting Words to Feelings
10.14 Tell, Don’t Ask
10.15 When Not to Tell
10.16 Ending a Session
10.17 Phases of Therapy
10.18 Long-Term Resistance
10.19 Discovery, Emotional Healing, and Behavior Change: Three Tasks
10.20 How Long Does Change Take?
Boundaries
Flexibility
Emotion-Heightening Words
Emotion-Lowering Words
13.6 Internalizing vs. Externalizing
13.7 Length and Frequency of Sessions
Part III A Catalog of EDPs
15.4 The Role of Value Systems
15.5 Codependency in Five Easy Lessons .
15.6 Treatment Principles
15.6.1 Hitting Rock Bottom
Key Questions
15.6.3 External Motivation Is Acceptable
15.6.4 Leverage
15.6.5 Anti-craving Medications
15.6.6 The Role of the Therapist
15.6.7 Motivational Interviewing
15.6.8 Pitting Biology Against Biology
15.6.9 Positive Prognostic Signs
16 The First Helper: Emotion
16.1 Introduction: The Three Helpers
16.2 EDP #9: Emotions as Helpers
16.3 Sadness and Tears
16.4 Helplessness and Hopelessness
16.5 Anger
16.6 Panic, Fear, and Anxiety
18 The Third Helper: Thoughts
Other Techniques
19 Involuntary Symptoms: Grief and Depression
19.1 Grief: A Healthy Response
19.1.1 Loss and the SEEKING System
Pathological Grief
19.2 EDP #12: Depression
19.2.1 Some Good News
19.2.2 Focusing on “Major Depression”
19.2.4 Financial Influences
19.3 Melancholic Depression.
20.2 A Brief Catalog of Anxiety-Related Syndromes
20.2.1 Anxiety
20.2.2 Panic
20.2.3 Obsessions and Compulsions
20.2.4 Somatization
20.3 Treatment Principles .
20.3.1 Trying to Control Anxiety Makes It
20.3.2 Medication Treatment
20.3.3 The Behavioral Approach to the Preoccupation
20.3.4 The Emotional Approach to Preoccupation
20.3.5 Mindfulness Helps
20.3.6 Healing the Deeper Layer of EDP
20.3.7 Time Sometimes Heals.
References
21 Involuntary Symptoms: Trauma and Dissociation
21.1 Taking the Mystery Out of Dissociation
21.2 PTSD and Dissociation
21.3 Complex Trauma .
21.4 The Nature of Dissociation
21.5 Multiple Personalities
Layers of Pathology
2.1 Jack
Jack, at 32 years old, just had his first panic attack. He had just returned to work from his lunch break and wasn’t thinking of anything negative. Suddenly, he started to sweat and feel his heart pounding. Thinking he was having a heart attack, his coworkers rushed him to the emergency room. He felt he couldn’t breathe. It was terrifying. The doctor soon reassured Jack that his heart was fine, gave him benzodiazepine sedatives, which he should take every 6 h to calm his anxiety, and recommended that he make an appointment to see a therapist.
During Jack’s first therapy session, he explains that his panic came for no apparent reason. In fact, his life has been going well. He has a good job as a cable installer and, only a few days ago, was offered a promotion. He has a 2-year-old child, and his wife told him last week that she is pregnant with a second one. Taking a history, there isn’t much that is remarkable. Jack was the oldest of four. Life wasn’t so easy for his parents, but they did their best. His father had a small appliance repair business and worked long hours. Coming home late and exhausted, he sometimes drank too much. Jack’s mother shouldered the burdens of the household. For extra money she watched neighbors’ children while Jack took care of his younger siblings. According to Jack, his early life was fine. He was proud to take care of the younger ones and still managed to be an average student. He played sports in high school and was glad to find a good job soon after his graduation. When he met Jane in a bar, she admired his sense of responsibility, and he liked her positive attitude.
With all these good things happening, Jack is baffled about why he might develop a psychological problem at this point in his life. He prides himself on being a good provider and feels he can handle whatever challenges come his way. Not one to complain or ask for help, he was reluctant to see a therapist. Therapy is for weak people, like his sister, who leans on others and takes pills. If he were at all like her, he would hate himself. He would like to limit any therapy to one visit and go on his way.
7 © Springer International Publishing AG 2017 J. Smith, Psychotherapy, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-49460-9_2
2.2 Dividing the Problem
For a therapist, Jack’s case presents two problems. The first is the panic attack itself, which we want to keep from becoming a repeating pattern. The second problem could be thought of as a strength, his self-sufficiency. This reluctance to accept help has been a positive feature of his personality but now creates a serious challenge to working with him. We’ll call these two troublesome issues modules because dividing Jack’s problems into chunks will reduce their complexity and point the way to what to do next. Going forward, we will refer to the two modules as Jack’s personality and Jack’s panic attacks.
2.3 Jack’s Personality
The first module we will have to deal with is actually Jack’s reluctance to engage in treatment. If we fail to make progress with that, then there will not be any treatment. His values, and his strengths, are heavily weighted in the direction of being selfreliant. Not only does Jack not believe in therapy, he would feel genuinely ashamed if he saw himself in any way like his sister. If we start by telling him he needs more therapy, he will run the other way.
From this information, we can conceptualize Jack’s personality as a problem module. Let’s try to form an educated guess as to why Jack feels so strongly about handling things himself. Jack may have learned the value of self-sufficiency from his parents, but he seems to make it the center of his being. Could we understand his value system as originally a way of coping with some difficulty? He says that his early life was “fine,” but the facts don’t entirely fit. It sounds as if being the first child in his family was really quite hard. He had to grow up quickly, and the level of support sounds minimal. If he had complained, he would likely have been rebuffed. A few questions confirm that asking for attention was not well received by his father in particular. By placing emphasis on self-reliance, he aligned himself with his father’s values. Internalizing these values created a shame barrier against any temptation to seek support. Now even anticipation of the shame associated with neediness stands as a deterrent to seeking help, while doing without results in an internal feelings of pride. Today, Jack’s values have become an unhealthy block to receiving the treatment he needs.
Let’s look more generally at how internalizing a value system can start out as helpful strategies and eventually become a handicap. We, like many mammals, are social beings. Our survival as a species depends on keeping the group together. In pack animals, the alpha male must be vigilant for transgressions against his authority and is constantly tested. In humans, unlike our mammalian cousins, guarding the social fabric becomes an internalized function. We put pressure on ourselves to do what is right for the group instead of relying entirely on the leader for discipline. But we don’t start out that way.
Dog owners (alphas in their own right) must watch to make sure their dog doesn’t take over and misbehave. Fortunately, dogs are quite sensitive to discipline so providing it is not too burdensome. Parenting a 2-year-old is similar but much more
2.4 Dealing with Jack’s Reluctance
taxing. Two-year-olds do not yet possess self-control and require constant supervision. Fear of consequences such as a reprimand from a parent is not strong enough to stop a curious toddler. Furthermore, human development is prolonged such that providing constant discipline would make parents’ lives impossible. The pack animal system of control from outside would not work for us.
Instead, humans internalize a set of values. By age three, they want to be “good.” Children work at incorporating values such as self-control that will stay with them for a lifetime. In addition, this system of internal values has a built-in enforcement function. When we follow our values, we feel pride. When we fail to do so, we feel shame or guilt. These powerful emotions provide reinforcement for good behavior. Each person’s values reflect the generally accepted values of the family and culture, along with values specifically tailored and internalized to solve individual problems like Jack’s. In this way, humans’ internal controls are designed to maximize group cohesion while attending to individual survival.
Jack has internalized the value of self-sufficiency. As a child, this was particularly helpful for him. Shame prevented him from asking for attention and shielded him from repeated painful experiences of being rejected. Valuing self-sufficiency helped him develop skills in managing for himself without help. The problem is that, as an adult, Jack’s emphasis on self-sufficiency goes too far and has become dysfunctional. He has trouble accepting help from anyone, including his therapist. Later in a joint session, his wife, Jane, complains that he is distant and controlling as he tries to do everything for himself. This detracts from their life together. She tries to be positive but suffers as a result of his not seeming to need her.
To summarize, we can formulate Jack’s personality module as follows: Jack, as a child, experienced pain whenever he asked for attention. Early in life, to keep himself from being tempted to ask, his mind internalized the value of needing no one. His internalized value system makes use of shame to prevent him from placing himself in what was then a very painful situation. This strategy is protective throughout childhood but becomes partially dysfunctional as he enters adulthood, as it blocks him from a healthy dependence on others.
2.4 Dealing with Jack’s Reluctance
It would be more natural to start by addressing Jack’s panic, but if he is to accept treatment we will first have to work with the resistance to treatment that comes from his shame about dependence. Our choice of approach is immediately influenced by his personality module. Could there be a way to get around his discomfort with accepting help? One approach would be to bypass his reluctance by inviting him to depend on a medication instead. For some patients, dependency can be disguised by framing it as a “required medical treatment.” This approach is not the best one because it involves distancing from feelings rather than learning to cope with them. Nor would Jack accept it, given his attitude about his sister’s dependency on sedatives and his father’s tendency to drink too much (alcohol has the same mechanism of action as sedative medications). Let’s look for a better solution.
2 Layers of Pathology
A second approach to Jack’s personality module can be incorporated into standard cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for panic. We could describe psychological treatment not as dependence but as a technical intervention in which he will strengthen his self-sufficiency by learning new ways to deal with a challenge. By framing the treatment as helping him build positive strength, we might bypass Jack’s value system and feelings of shame.
Ideally, we would like to modify Jack’s insistence on self-sufficiency. Unfortunately, at this point, questioning his values would be much too threatening. How could we question the source of his greatest pride? With a therapeutic alliance that is already shaky, he would almost certainly feel offended and might run from treatment. We will need to accept the short-term advantages of the CBT strategy to work around his values. While necessary, given the present situation, this strategy will not help with more long-term problems like his marriage. Hopefully later we may be able to address his personality module in a more direct way.
2.5 Jack’s Panic Attack
Now let’s turn to the other module, Jack’s Panic attack. So far, we have a hypothesis to explain Jack’s reluctance to depend on therapy, but we have yet to form one about the forces behind his panic. An experienced therapist will be aware that failure to address the stresses causing his panic may lead to false optimism about treatment. It is likely that Jack will not be as easy to treat as it might appear. Unless we address the issues causing his panic, he may have trouble successfully implementing skills for coping with panic, or his panic attacks may be more resistant to treatment than expected.
Looking at Jack’s symptom of panic, some individuals are genetically more prone to anxiety than others. But that still doesn’t tell us why Jack developed panic at this point in his life. We can start with the hypothesis that, in his brain, something triggered a massive alarm reaction. His brain, outside of consciousness, detected some circumstance it identified as potentially dangerous. Being highly adapted to anticipate danger, his mammalian brain then sent a strong warning signal that something was amiss and needed to be addressed immediately. Warning signals like this start in a brain structure called the amygdala, which serves as a danger detector. From there, the alarm sets off both subjective terror and an outpouring of adrenalin into his bloodstream. Adrenalin causes his heart to pound and further amplifies the feeling of something terrible happening.
What could the trigger be? Research tells us that good news can be as stressful as bad news [2]. Jack’s learning of a second child and his promotion could be important sources of stress. His value system does not allow him to depend on others, so he has to handle any stress entirely on his own. For this reason, he functions like a dam holding back rising water. As the level goes up, he shows no indication of trouble until the water reaches the top, and then it suddenly spills over. His brain, aware that he has run out of options, reacts to the threat of being overwhelmed by sending out a powerful alarm. What, exactly, is the stress? Jack puts a high value on
being a good husband and provider. Between the added responsibility of his new promotion and having a second child, his brain, rightly, anticipates a major increase in demands with no increase in his already stretched ability to handle them. Of course Jack would never acknowledge that he was near his limit, so he has no awareness that trouble is near. In dramatic fashion, the water gushes over the dam.
2.6 Asking Why
Why do we have to guess at what is going on in Jack’s mind? The problem is that a substantial portion [1] of mental processing goes on outside of consciousness. Certainty about Jack’s inner processes would be highly desirable but is simply not possible. Watson, the founder of behaviorism, felt that, lacking the certainty of observable facts, why questions should not be asked, but we will see that asking and forming an educated hypothesis have important advantages. Fortunately, the impossibility of direct observation is not as big a problem as it might seem.
Therapists are a little like the hunters and trappers of centuries ago. By listening and learning, over time, we develop skill and confidence in our ability to make predictions based on subtle clues. Some of our ideas resonate with patients, while others do not, and the ones that do tend to lead to therapeutic change. Even without observing the inner workings of the mind, consistently building hypotheses and testing patients’ reactions build our own pattern-recognizing ability. Our sense of assurance increases as we gain wider experience.
With what we know so far, we can say that Jack is experiencing increased responsibility, which is much more stressful than it should be because his value system does not allow him to reach out for support. Already near his breaking point, he is caught between life circumstances and his personality. Something has to give, and his brain is signaling the emergency.
Thus, forming ideas about why gives us a much broader picture of what is happening in Jack’s mind. If the hypothesis is not entirely correct, it can be rethought as we go forward. For now, having a coherent picture of the complex causes of his panic attack gives us a clear advantage in understanding his reactions and planning his treatment.
2.7 A Third Module
Looking at Jack’s life historically, there is a third and even deeper module of pathology. At the bottom of the layers, Jack is actually a survivor of a degree of emotional neglect. Healthy feelings of pain, anger, and grief should be normal for a child who had to grow up too fast. He has carried those painful feelings silently, held in check by a value system that emphasizes toughness. If we ask him how much he suffered as a young child, he will make light of his experience and tell us that his early life was like any other. His values block him from feeling any kind of self-compassion or grief for the childhood he missed. As a result, he has no conscious awareness of
those feelings or of the relief he might gain from being able to revisit and heal them with his therapist. Let’s explore this third and deepest module.
Pain and other negative feelings are part of life. They are inevitable but need to follow a natural cycle to be metabolized. From the earliest age, the cycle is repeated. Small children cry when they feel distress. Soon they learn to be soothed by the understanding of a parent or caregiver. With a reassuring look they quickly feel better and go back to playing until the next painful event. Even as adults we continue to make use of this cycle. When we experience negative feelings, sharing with someone who understands and is not overwhelmed makes us feel much better even if the painful condition has not changed. We go back to our baseline without carrying a lasting residue. This is what is meant by “metabolizing” an emotion.
On the other hand, when the cycle is blocked, the result is lasting. Painful feelings that are held in mid-cycle are kept outside of consciousness though they can cause breakthrough symptoms like tears or anger for no apparent reason. In Jack’s case, his value system has done such an effective job of shielding him from his own feelings that they are essentially inaccessible. Feelings blocked so completely have no direct effects but important indirect ones. One result is his lack of compassion for himself and for others, like his wife. Another is that the presence of such deep, unresolved feelings increases his need for support and undermines his resilience. This actually increases his vulnerability to the panic attack.
2.8 A More Complete Picture
Now we have a full picture of Jack’s problems. They can be described as consisting of three modules of pathology with one stacked on top of another. The deepest layer is unmetabolized pain from early deprivation. Painful emotions are held in suspension. The deepest dysfunctional pattern was suppression of these feelings, an arrest of the normal cycle of expressing affect and experiencing the healing effect of sharing. When this layer of feeling suppression threatened to fail, his mind anticipated tears and anger escaping into consciousness where they would lead to a painful scolding. That, in turn, triggered development of the next layer.
The next layer, his personality and value system, developed early in his life to keep him from expressing the pain of his emotional deprivation. His mind internalized a value system favoring self-sufficiency, now deeply incorporated in his personality. While this blockage keeps his feelings at bay, it creates a rigidity that causes him to be less resilient than someone who could accept support and help. This is the dysfunctional aspect of his value system. In effect, his personality is the source of a new vulnerability. Under the pressure of new responsibilities, his mind anticipates failure of his ability to cope. Jack is threatened with being overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness so powerful that they could overcome even his strong sense of shame and enter consciousness.
To protect him from awareness of these natural and healthy emotions, his brain produces a third module, the panic attack, stacked on top of the other two. This symptom actually succeeds in shielding him from being overwhelmed because it 2 Layers
2.10 Advantages of the
Concept
forces him to seek medical help, giving him temporary relief from responsibility and access to the support he could not otherwise allow himself.
Each module functions to block a painful or overwhelming feeling. When an earlier one shows signs of failing, the mind anticipates the conscious experience of a painful feeling. A new layer is placed on top of previous ones to block feelings that threaten to escape. While Jack’s three modules of pathology seem completely different from one another, they have a common function and, as we will see, many common features.
2.9 The Basic Unit of Pathology
One of the major ways this book is different from others is dividing problems into modules. Traditionally, mental pathology is categorized by diagnosis. The problem is that, as in Jack’s case, no one diagnosis can really capture his interlocking problems. Multiple diagnoses are possible, but they don’t give any understanding of how one problem relates to the others. Another approach used in teaching psychotherapy is to divide problems into dimensions such as personality, acute symptoms, relational style, etc. This adds complexity in that we have to look at each patient from several different perspectives at once. It can also miss important relationships between modules. Dividing Jack’s pathology into modules not only simplifies our understanding, but each module can be seen as a distinct embodiment of the same natural drive to avoid painful feelings.
For purposes of this text, we will use a new term, entrenched dysfunctional patterns (EDP), to refer to modules or units of pathology. All of the mental pathology that can be helped by psychotherapy can be divided into EDPs. Why use this phrase? The pathology patients seek to change is always entrenched, in that it is resistant to change. If it weren’t, then professional help would not be needed. These units are necessarily dysfunctional, meaning that in some way they detract from the life the patient would like to live. And finally, they can all be seen as patterns, that is, units that can be described in words and are likely to be repeated.
2.10 Advantages of the EDP Concept
The real beauty of identifying pathology as made up of entrenched dysfunctional patterns is that each one has the same internal structure. Each one starts with the mind’s recognition of a circumstance that threatens to bring up an intensely uncomfortable feeling. Let’s review Jack’s EDPs from the newest to the oldest, that is, from the top layer to the bottom. The most recent, Jack’s panic attack, started with nonconscious perception that his new responsibilities could soon overwhelm his ability to handle added stress on his own. Underneath that, his dysfunctional value system was created long ago to shield him from seeking attention when it was not available. And, at the bottom of it all, stopping the natural cycle of distress and healing was simple suppression of feelings he dared not share. Each of Jack’s three EDP
layers is the same in that some perceived circumstance, internal or external, triggered the anticipation of a painful, overwhelming or uncomfortable feeling, which then led to development of an avoidance mechanism. Once formed, these entrenched dysfunctional patterns are not forgotten but remain available whenever a threat is detected.
Besides highlighting the common structure of the psychopathology we seek to treat, perhaps the most important advantage of the EDP concept is that it shows the relationship between emotion and behavior. This is of key importance because some therapies put more emphasis on thought and behavior, while others favor work with emotion. The EDP concept shows emotion and behavior as different components of the same unit. From a practical standpoint, each EDP can be approached therapeutically from either or both sides. One approach is to detoxify the feeling, and the other is to substitute a healthier pattern of thought or behavior. In fact, these two pathways represent the two basic actions of psychotherapy, healing emotions and changing patterns of thought and behavior.
To be more precise, healing painful feelings breaks the link between a perceived circumstance and the perception of danger. How do we do this? As we will see in the following chapters, healing emotions is primarily accomplished by helping patients actually experience the feeling in a context of empathic connection and safety. As feelings are detoxified or, to use a different term, metabolized, the patient will no longer feel threatened by a circumstance that was previously a source of dread. Here, as emphasized in trauma- and emotion-focused therapies, the object is to take the drive out from under the avoidant behavior or symptom. Alternatively, helping patients let go of and replace dysfunctional patterns is another way to improve functioning. Changing dysfunctional thoughts and behavior is a specialty of CBT, among other therapies.
Much of the time, work on one aspect exposes the need for work on the other. Processing feelings makes it possible to address problematic behaviors, while improvements in behavior often unmask difficult feelings. Thus, two seemingly opposing worlds of psychotherapy can be seen as alternative ways to approach the same EDP.
Below let’s preview a diagram that helps visualize the common structure of all entrenched dysfunctional patterns (Fig. 2.1). On the left, each one starts with some perception, internal or external, that is recognized as a possible source of danger or threat. Next the nonconscious mind goes to work and produces some combination of the following three kinds of avoidance mechanism, which then enter consciousness and may lead to seeking professional help:
• Potential behaviors designed to distance from threatening feelings pop into the conscious mind, where we have a free choice of whether to implement them or not.
• Helpers are positive and negative feelings, impulses, special feelings of pride, shame, and guilt, and automatic thoughts. These enter consciousness to influence free will to put avoidant behavior strategies into action.
• Involuntary symptoms such as anxiety and depression that have biological roots but also function to distance from threatening feelings. 2
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So loue of soule doth loue of bodie passe, No lesse then perfect gold surmounts the meanest brasse.
All which who list by tryall to assay, iii Shall in this storie find approued plaine;
In which these[155] Squires true friendship more did sway, Then either care of parents could refraine, Or loue of fairest Ladie could constraine. For though Pœana were as faire as morne, Yet did this trustie Squire[156] with proud disdaine For his friends sake her offred fauours scorne, And she her selfe her syre, of whom she was yborne.
Now after that Prince Arthur graunted had, iv
To yeeld strong succour to that gentle swayne, Who now long time had lyen in prison sad, He gan aduise how best he mote darrayne That enterprize, for greatest glories gayne. That headlesse tyrants tronke he reard from ground, And hauing ympt the head to it agayne, Vpon his vsuall beast it firmely bound, And made it so to ride, as it aliue was found.
Then did he take that chaced Squire, and layd v Before the ryder, as he captiue were, And made his Dwarfe, though with vnwilling ayd, To guide the beast, that did his maister beare, Till to his castle they approched neare. Whom when the watch, that kept continuall ward Saw comming home; all voide of doubtfull feare, He running downe, the gate to him vnbard; Whom straight the Prince ensuing, in together far’d.
There he did find in her delitious boure vi The faire Pœana playing on a Rote, Complayning of her cruell Paramoure, And singing all her sorrow to the note,
As she had learned readily by rote.
That with the sweetnesse of her rare delight, The Prince halfe rapt, began on her to dote: Till better him bethinking of the right, He her vnwares attacht, and captiue held by might.
Whence being forth produc’d, when she perceiued vii Her owne deare sire, she cald to him for aide. But when of him no aunswere she receiued, But saw him sencelesse by the Squire vpstaide, She weened well, that then she was betraide: Then gan she loudly cry, and weepe, and waile, And that same Squire of treason to vpbraide. But all in vaine, her plaints might not preuaile, Ne none there was to reskue her, ne none to baile.
Then tooke he that same Dwarfe, and him compeld viii To open vnto him the prison dore, And forth to bring those thrals, which there he held. Thence forth were brought to him aboue a score Of Knights and Squires to him vnknowne afore: All which he did from bitter bondage free, And vnto former liberty restore.
Amongst the rest, that Squire of low degree Came forth full weake and wan, not like him selfe to bee.
Whom soone as faire Æmylia beheld, ix And Placidas, they both vnto him ran, And him embracing fast betwixt them held, Striuing to comfort him all that they can, And kissing oft his visage pale and wan. That faire Pœana them beholding both, Gan both enuy, and bitterly to ban; Through iealous passion weeping inly wroth, To see the sight perforce, that both her eyes were loth.
But when a while they had together beene, x And diuersly conferred of their case,
She, though full oft she both of them had seene
A sunder, yet not euer in one place, Began to doubt, when she them saw embrace, Which was the captiue Squire she lou’d so deare, Deceiued through great likenesse of their face, For they so like in person did appeare, That she vneath discerned, whether whether weare.
And eke the Prince, when as he them auized, xi
Their like resemblaunce much admired there, And mazd how nature had so well disguized Her worke, and counterfet her selfe so nere,
As if that by one patterne seene somewhere, She had them made a paragone to be, Or whether it through skill, or errour were. Thus gazing long, at them much wondred he, So did the other knights and Squires, which him[157] did see.
Then gan they ransacke that same Castle strong, xii
In which he found great store of hoorded threasure, The which that tyrant gathered had by wrong And tortious powre, without respect or measure. Vpon all which the Briton Prince made seasure, And afterwards continu’d there a while, To rest him selfe, and solace in soft pleasure Those weaker Ladies after weary toile; To whom he did diuide part of his purchast spoile.
And for more ioy, that captiue Lady faire xiii
The faire Pœana[158] he enlarged free; And by the rest did set in sumptuous chaire, To feast and frollicke; nathemore would she Shew gladsome countenaunce nor pleasaunt glee: But grieued was for losse both of her sire, And eke of Lordship, with both land and fee: But most she touched was with griefe entire, For losse of her new loue, the hope of her desire.
But her the Prince through his well wonted grace, xiv
To better termes of myldnesse did entreat, From that fowle rudenesse, which did her deface; And that same bitter corsiue, which did eat
Her tender heart, and made refraine from meat, He with good thewes and speaches well applyde, Did mollifie, and calme her raging heat. For though she were most faire, and goodly dyde, Yet she it all did mar with cruelty and pride.
And for to shut vp all in friendly loue, xv
Sith loue was first the ground of all her griefe, That trusty Squire he wisely well did moue
Not to despise that dame, which lou’d him liefe, Till he had made of her some better priefe, But to accept her to his wedded wife. Thereto he offred for to make him chiefe
Of all her land and lordship during life: He yeelded, and her tooke; so stinted all their strife.
From that day forth in peace and ioyous blis, xvi
They liu’d together long without debate, Ne priuate iarre, ne spite of enemis
Could shake the safe assuraunce of their state.
And she whom Nature did so faire create, That she mote match the fairest of her daies, Yet with lewd loues and lust intemperate Had it defaste; thenceforth reformd her waies, That all men much admyrde her change, and spake her praise.
Thus when the Prince had perfectly compylde xvii
These paires of friends in peace and setled rest, Him selfe, whose minde did trauell as with chylde, Of his old loue, conceau’d in secret brest, Resolued to pursue his former quest[159]; And taking leaue of all, with him did beare
Faire Amoret, whom Fortune by bequest
Had left in his protection whileare, Exchanged out of one into an other feare.
Feare of her safety did her not constraine, xviii
For well she wist now in a mighty hond, Her person late in perill, did remaine, Who able was all daungers to withstond. But now in feare of shame she more did stond, Seeing her selfe all soly succourlesse, Left in the victors powre, like vassall bond; Whose will her weakenesse could no way represse,[160] In case his burning lust should breake into excesse.
But cause of feare sure had she none at all xix
Of him, who goodly learned had of yore
The course of loose affection to forstall, And lawlesse lust to rule with reasons lore; That all the while he by his side her bore, She was as safe as in a Sanctuary; Thus many miles they two together wore, To seeke their loues dispersed diuersly, Yet neither shewed to other their hearts priuity.
At length they came, whereas a troupe of Knights xx
They saw together skirmishing, as seemed: Sixe they were all, all full of fell despight, But foure of them the battell best beseemed, That which of them was best, mote not be deemed. Those foure were they, from whom false Florimell By Braggadochio lately was redeemed. To weet, sterne Druon, and lewd Claribell, Loue-lauish Blandamour, and lustfull Paridell.
Druons delight was all in single life, xxi
And vnto Ladies loue would lend no leasure: The more was Claribell enraged rife With feruent flames, and loued out of measure:
So eke lou’d Blandamour, but yet at pleasure Would change his liking, and new Lemans proue. But Paridell of loue did make no threasure, But lusted after all, that him did moue. So diuersly these foure disposed were to loue.
But those two other which beside them stoode, xxii Were Britomart, and gentle Scudamour, Who all the while beheld their wrathfull moode, And wondred at their impacable stoure, Whose like they neuer saw till that same houre: So dreadfull strokes each did at other driue, And laid on load with all their might and powre, As if that euery dint the ghost would riue Out of their wretched corses, and their liues depriue.
As when Dan Æolus in great displeasure, xxiii For losse of his deare loue by Neptune hent, Sends forth the winds out of his hidden threasure, Vpon the sea to wreake his fell intent; They breaking forth with rude vnruliment, From all foure parts of heauen doe rage full sore, And tosse the deepes, and teare the firmament, And all the world confound with wide vprore, As if in stead thereof they Chaos would restore.
Cause of their discord, and so fell debate, xxiv Was for the loue of that same snowy maid, Whome they had lost in Turneyment of late, And seeking long, to weet which way she straid,[161] Met here together, where through lewd vpbraide Of Ate and Duessa they fell out, And each one taking part in others aide, This cruell conflict raised thereabout, Whose dangerous successe depended yet in dout.
For sometimes Paridell and Blandamour xxv
The better had, and bet the others backe, Eftsoones the others did the field recoure, And on their foes did worke full cruell wracke: Yet neither would their fiendlike fury slacke, But euermore their malice did augment; Till that vneath they forced were for lacke Of breath, their raging rigour to relent, And rest themselues for to recouer spirits spent.
There[162] gan they change their sides, and new parts take; xxvi For Paridell did take to Druons side, For old despight, which now forth newly brake
Gainst Blandamour, whom alwaies he enuide: And Blandamour to Claribell relide. So all afresh gan former fight renew. As when two Barkes, this caried with the tide, That with the wind, contrary courses sew, If wind and tide doe change, their courses change anew.
Thenceforth they much more furiously gan fare, xxvii
As if but then the battell had begonne, Ne helmets bright, ne hawberks strong did spare, That through the clifts the vermeil bloud out sponne, And all adowne their riuen sides did ronne. Such mortall malice, wonder was to see In friends profest, and so great outrage donne: But sooth is said, and tride in each degree, Faint friends when they fall out, most cruell fomen bee.
Thus they long while continued in fight, xxviii Till Scudamour, and that same Briton maide, By fortune in that place did chance to light: Whom soone as they with wrathfull eie bewraide, They gan remember of the fowle vpbraide, The which that Britonesse had to them donne, In that late Turney for the snowy maide; Where she had them both shamefully fordonne,
And eke the famous prize of beauty from them wonne.
Eftsoones all burning with a fresh desire xxix
Of fell reuenge, in their malicious mood
They from them selues gan turne their furious ire, And cruell blades yet steeming with whot bloud, Against those two let driue, as they were wood: Who wondring much at that so sodaine fit, Yet nought dismayd, them stoutly well withstood; Ne yeelded foote, ne once abacke did flit, But being doubly smitten likewise doubly smit.
The warlike Dame was on her part assaid, xxx
Of Claribell and Blandamour attone;
And Paridell and Druon fiercely laid
At Scudamour, both his professed fone. Foure charged two, and two surcharged one; Yet did those two them selues so brauely beare,
That the other[163] litle gained by the lone,
But with their owne repayed[164] duely weare, And vsury withall: such gaine was gotten deare.
Full oftentimes did Britomart assay xxxi
To speake to them, and some emparlance moue; But they for nought their cruell hands would stay, Ne lend an eare to ought, that might behoue,
As when an eager mastiffe once doth proue
The tast of bloud of some engored beast, No words may rate, nor rigour him remoue
From greedy hold of that his blouddy feast: So litle did they hearken to her sweet beheast.
Whom when the Briton Prince a farre beheld xxxii
With ods of so vnequall match opprest, His mighty heart with indignation sweld, And inward grudge fild his heroicke brest: Eftsoones him selfe he to their aide addrest,
And thrusting fierce into the thickest preace, Diuided them, how euer loth to rest, And would them faine from battell to surceasse, With gentle words perswading them to friendly peace.
But they so farre from peace or patience were, xxxiii
That all at once at him gan fiercely flie, And lay on load, as they him downe would beare; Like to a storme, which houers vnder skie
Long here and there, and round about doth stie, At length breakes downe in raine, and haile, and sleet, First from one coast, till nought thereof be drie; And then another, till that likewise fleet; And so from side to side till all the world it weet.
But now their forces greatly were decayd, xxxiv
The Prince yet being fresh vntoucht afore; Who them with speaches milde gan first disswade
From such foule outrage, and them long forbore: Till seeing them through suffrance hartned more, Him selfe he bent their furies to abate, And layd at them so sharpely and so sore, That shortly them compelled to retrate, And being brought in daunger, to relent too late.
But now his courage being throughly fired, xxxv
He ment to make them know their follies prise, Had not those two him instantly desired T’asswage his wrath, and pardon their mesprise. At whose request he gan him selfe aduise
To stay his hand, and of a truce to treat In milder tearmes, as list them to deuise: Mongst which the cause of their so cruell heat He did them aske, who all that passed gan repeat.
And told at large how that same errant Knight, xxxvi
To weet faire Britomart, them late had foyled In open turney, and by wrongfull fight
Both of their publicke[165] praise had them despoyled, And also of their priuate loues beguyled, Of two full hard to read the harder theft. But she that wrongfull challenge soone assoyled, And shew’d that she had not that Lady reft, (As they supposd) but her had to her liking left.
To whom the Prince thus goodly well replied; xxxvii
Certes sir Knight[166], ye seemen much to blame, To rip vp wrong, that battell once hath tried; Wherein the honor both of Armes ye shame, And eke the loue of Ladies foule defame; To whom the world this franchise euer yeelded, That of their loues choise they might freedom clame, And in that right should by all knights be shielded: Gainst which me seemes this war ye wrongfully haue wielded.
And yet (quoth she) a greater wrong remaines: xxxviii For I thereby my former loue haue lost, Whom seeking euer since with endlesse paines, Hath me much sorrow and much trauell cost; Aye me to see that gentle maide so tost. But Scudamour then sighing deepe, thus saide, Certes her losse ought me to sorrow most, Whose right she is, where euer she be straide, Through many perils wonne, and many fortunes waide.
For from the first that I her loue profest, xxxix Vnto this houre, this present lucklesse howre, I neuer ioyed happinesse nor rest, But thus turmoild from one to other stowre, I wast my life, and doe my daies deuowre In wretched anguishe and incessant woe, Passing the measure of my feeble powre, That living thus, a wretch and[167] louing so, I neither can my loue, ne yet my life forgo.
Then good sir Claribell him thus bespake, xl
Now were it not sir Scudamour to you[168]
Dislikefull paine, so sad a taske to take, Mote we entreat you, sith this gentle crew
Is now so well accorded all anew; That as we ride together on our way, Ye will recount to vs in order dew
All that aduenture, which ye did assay For that faire Ladies loue: past perils well apay
So gan the rest him likewise to require, xli But Britomart did him importune hard,
To take on him that paine: whose great desire He glad to satisfie, him selfe prepar’d
To tell through what misfortune he had far’d, In that atchieuement, as to him befell.
And all those daungers vnto them declar’d, Which sith they cannot in this Canto well Comprised be, I will them in another tell.
FOOTNOTES:
[150] lxiii 5 and 1596
[151] Arg 2 Pœana] Æmylia conj Church rightly
[152] 3 Knights 1596
[153] i 8 vertuous] vertues 1596
[154] 9 hart, 1596, 1609
[155] iii 3 these] this 1609
[156] 7 Trustie squire 1596
[157] xi 9 him] them conj Church
[158] xiii 2 Pæana 1596 &c.
[159] xvii 5 guest 1596, 1609
[160] xviii 8 represse. 1596
[161] xxiv 4 straid 1596, 1609
[162] xxvi 1 There] Their 1596: Then conj Church
[163] xxx 7 th’other 1609
[164] 8 repayred 1596
[165] xxxvi 4 publique 1609
[166] xxxvii 2 Knights conj. Upton
[167] xxxix 8 wretch I and 1596
[168] xl 2 you, 1596
Cant. X.
Scudamour doth his conquest[169] tell, Of vertuous Amoret: Great Venus Temple is describ’d, And louers life forth set.
True he it said, what euer man it sayd, i That loue with gall and hony doth abound, But if the one be with the other wayd, For euery dram of hony therein found, A pound of gall doth ouer it redound. That I too true by triall haue approued: For since the day that first with deadly wound My heart was launcht, and learned to haue loued, I neuer ioyed howre, but still with care was moued.
And yet such grace is giuen them from aboue, ii That all the cares and euill which they meet, May nought at all their setled mindes remoue, But seeme gainst common sence to them most sweet; As bosting in their martyrdome vnmeet. So all that euer yet I haue endured, I count as naught, and tread downe vnder feet,
Since[170] of my loue at length I rest assured, That to disloyalty she will not be allured.
Long were to tell the trauell and long toile, iii
Through which this shield of loue I late haue wonne, And purchased this peerelesse beauties spoile, That harder may be ended, then begonne. But since ye so desire, your will be donne. Then hearke ye gentle knights and Ladies free, My hard mishaps, that ye may learne to shonne; For though sweet loue to conquer glorious bee, Yet is the paine thereof much greater then the fee.
What time the fame of this renowmed prise iv Flew first abroad, and all mens eares possest, I hauing armes then taken, gan auise To winne me honour by some noble gest, And purchase me some place amongst the best. I boldly thought (so young mens thoughts are bold) That this same braue emprize for me did rest, And that both shield and she whom I behold, Might be my lucky lot; sith all by lot we hold.
So on that hard aduenture forth I went, v And to the place of perill shortly came. That was a temple faire and auncient, Which of great mother Venus bare the name, And farre renowmed through exceeding fame; Much more then that, which was in Paphos built, Or that in Cyprus, both long since this same, Though all the pillours of the one were guilt, And all the others pauement were with yuory spilt.
And it was seated in an Island strong, vi Abounding all with delices most rare, And wall’d by nature gainst inuaders wrong, That none mote haue accesse, nor inward fare,
But by one way, that passage did prepare. It was a bridge ybuilt in goodly wize, With curious Corbes and pendants grauen faire, And arched all with porches, did arize On stately pillours, fram’d after the Doricke guize.
And for defence thereof, on th’other end vii
There reared was a castle faire and strong, That warded all which in or out did wend, And flancked both the bridges sides along, Gainst all that would it faine to force or wrong. And therein wonned twenty valiant Knights; All twenty tride in warres experience long; Whose office was, against all manner[171] wights
By all meanes to maintaine[172] that castels[173] ancient rights.
Before that Castle was an open plaine, viii
And in the midst thereof a piller placed; On which this shield, of many sought in vaine, The shield of Loue, whose guerdon me hath graced, Was hangd on high with golden ribbands laced; And in the marble stone was written this, With golden letters goodly well enchaced, Blessed the man that well can vse his blis: Whose euer be the shield, faire Amoret be his.
Which when I red, my heart did inly earne[174] , ix
And pant with hope of that aduentures hap: Ne stayed further newes thereof to learne, But with my speare vpon the shield did rap, That all the castle ringed with the clap.
Streight forth issewd a Knight all arm’d to proofe, And brauely mounted to his most mishap: Who staying nought to question from aloofe, Ran fierce at me, that fire glaunst from his horses hoofe.
Whom boldly I encountred (as I could) x
And by good fortune shortly him vnseated. Eftsoones out sprung two more of equall mould; But I them both with equall hap defeated: So all the twenty I likewise entreated, And left them groning there vpon the plaine. Then preacing to the pillour I repeated The read thereof for guerdon of my paine, And taking downe the shield, with me did it retaine.
So forth without impediment I past, xi Till to the Bridges vtter gate I came: The which I found sure lockt and chained fast. I knockt, but no man aunswred me by name; I cald, but no man answerd to my clame.
Yet I perseuer’d still to knocke and call, Till at the last I spide within the same, Where one stood peeping through a creuis small, To whom I cald aloud, halfe angry therewithall.
That was to weet the Porter of the place, xii
Vnto whose trust the charge thereof was lent: His name was Doubt, that had a double face, Th’one forward looking, th’other backeward bent, Therein resembling Ianus auncient, Which hath in charge the ingate of the yeare: And euermore his eyes about him went, As if some proued perill he did feare, Or did misdoubt some ill, whose cause did not appeare.
On th’one side he, on th’other sate Delay, xiii Behinde the gate, that none her might espy; Whose manner was all passengers to stay, And entertaine with her occasions sly, Through which some lost great hope vnheedily, Which neuer they recouer might againe; And others quite excluded forth, did ly Long languishing there in vnpittied paine,
And seeking often entraunce, afterwards in vaine.
Me when as he had priuily espide, xiv
Bearing the shield which I had conquerd late, He kend it streight, and to me opened wide.
So in I past, and streight he closd the gate. But being in, Delay in close awaite
Caught hold on me, and thought my steps to stay, Feigning full many a fond excuse to prate, And time to steale, the threasure of mans day, Whose smallest minute lost, no riches render may
But by no meanes my way I would forslow, xv For ought that euer she could doe or say,
But from my lofty steede dismounting low, Past forth on foote, beholding all the way
The goodly workes, and stones of rich assay, Cast into sundry shapes by wondrous skill, That like on earth no where I recken may: And vnderneath, the riuer rolling still With murmure soft, that seem’d to serue the workmans will.
Thence forth I passed to the second gate, xvi
The Gate of good desert, whose goodly pride And costly frame, were long here to relate.
The same to all stoode alwaies open wide: But in the Porch did euermore abide
An hideous Giant, dreadfull to behold, That stopt the entraunce with his spacious stride, And with the terrour of his countenance bold Full many did affray, that else faine enter would.
His name was Daunger dreaded ouer all, xvii
Who day and night did watch and duely ward, From fearefull cowards, entrance to forstall, And faint-heart-fooles, whom shew of perill hard
Could terrifie from Fortunes faire adward[175]:
For oftentimes faint hearts at first espiall
Of his grim face, were from approaching scard; Vnworthy they of grace, whom one deniall Excludes from fairest hope, withouten further triall.
Yet many doughty warriours, often tride xviii
In greater perils to be stout and bold, Durst not the sternnesse of his looke abide, But soone as they his countenance did behold, Began to faint, and feele their corage cold. Againe some other, that in hard assaies Were cowards knowne, and litle count did hold, Either through gifts, or guile, or such like waies, Crept in by stouping low, or stealing of the kaies.
But I though meanest[176] man of many moe, xix
Yet much disdaining[177] vnto him to lout, Or creepe betweene his legs, so in to goe, Resolu’d him to assault with manhood stout, And either beat him in, or driue him out. Eftsoones aduauncing that enchaunted shield, With all my might I gan to lay about: Which when he saw, the glaiue which he did wield He gan forthwith t’auale, and way vnto me yield.
So as I entred, I did backeward looke, xx
For feare of harme, that might lie hidden there; And loe his hindparts, whereof heed I tooke, Much more deformed fearefull vgly were, Then all his former parts did earst appere. For hatred, murther, treason, and despight, With many moe lay in ambushment there, Awayting to entrap the warelesse wight, Which did not them preuent with vigilant foresight.
Thus hauing past all perill, I was come xxi Within the compasse of that Islands space;
The which did seeme vnto my simple doome, The onely pleasant and delightfull place, That euer troden was of footings trace. For all that nature by her mother wit Could frame in earth, and forme of substance base, Was there, and all that nature did omit, Art playing second natures part, supplyed it.
No tree, that is of count, in greenewood growes, xxii From lowest Iuniper to Ceder tall, No flowre in field, that daintie odour throwes, And deckes his branch with blossomes ouer all, But there was planted, or grew naturall: Nor sense of man so coy and curious nice, But there mote find to please it selfe withall; Nor hart could wish for any queint deuice, But there it present was, and did fraile sense entice.
In such luxurious plentie of all pleasure, xxiii It seem’d a second paradise to ghesse[178] , So lauishly enricht with natures threasure, That if the happie soules, which doe possesse Th’Elysian fields, and liue in lasting blesse, Should happen this with liuing eye to see, They soone would loath their lesser happinesse, And wish to life return’d againe to bee[179] , That in this ioyous place they mote haue ioyance free.
Fresh shadowes, fit to shroud from sunny ray; xxiv Faire lawnds, to take the sunne in season dew; Sweet springs, in which a thousand Nymphs did play; Soft rombling brookes, that gentle slomber drew; High reared mounts, the lands about to vew; Low looking dales, disloignd from common gaze; Delightfull bowres, to solace louers trew; False Labyrinthes, fond runners eyes to daze; All which by nature made did nature selfe amaze.
And all without were walkes and alleyes[180] dight[181] xxv
With diuers trees, enrang’d in euen rankes; And here and there were pleasant arbors pight, And shadie seates, and sundry flowring bankes, To sit and rest the walkers wearie shankes, And therein thousand payres of louers walkt, Praysing their god, and yeelding him great thankes, Ne euer ought but of their true loues talkt, Ne euer for rebuke or blame of any balkt.
All these together by themselues did sport xxvi Their spotlesse pleasures, and sweet loues content. But farre away from these, another sort Of louers lincked in true harts consent; Which loued not as these, for like intent, But on chast vertue grounded their desire, Farre from all fraud, or fayned blandishment; Which in their spirits kindling zealous fire, Braue thoughts and noble deedes did euermore aspire[182] .
Such were great Hercules, and Hylas[183] deare; xxvii Trew Ionathan, and Dauid trustie tryde; Stout Theseus, and Pirithous his feare; Pylades and Orestes by his syde; Myld Titus and Gesippus without pryde; Damon and Pythias whom death could not seuer: All these and all that euer had bene tyde[184]
In bands of friendship,[185] there did liue for euer, Whose liues although decay’d, yet loues decayed neuer.
Which when as I, that neuer tasted blis, xxviii Nor happie howre, beheld with gazefull eye, I thought there was none other heauen then this; And gan their endlesse happinesse enuye, That being free from feare and gealosye, Might frankely there their loues desire possesse; Whilest I through paines and perlous ieopardie,
