Mind = Desires/Fears/Priorities

Desire = Wanting a person/thing/event.

Objective observation: Individual approaches person/thing/event he desires.

Thing = Object, unity, having an identity and a duration longer than a related event.

Examples: A woman named Jane, a ball, and a man named Dick.

Event = A relationship between/among things; a causal relationship between/among things in which things cause other things/events.

Example: Jane throws the ball to Dick; Jane causes the event of the ball being thrown to Dick; Jane is the cause of the ball being thrown to Dick; the explanation/description of the causality of the ball traveling through the air to Dick is that Jane threw it/caused it to travel through the air to Dick.

Fear = Not-wanting a person/thing/event.

Objective observation: Individual avoids person/thing/event he fears.

Desires and fears are interrelated by being opposites.

Examples: (A) The desire to live is the interrelated opposite of the fear of dying/being dead; (B) The desire to make money is the interrelated opposite of the fear of not making money or of losing money.

Priority = Importance of each desire or fear compared to all other desires and fears.

Objective observation: Individual strives to approach desired people/things/events and to avoid
feared people/thing/events and the strength of his approach/avoidance behavior is a measure of his priority for each person/thing/event approached/avoided.

Desires usually interrelate with other desires to form clusters of such interrelated desires.

When a specific desire is achieved by the achievement of a desireable person/thing/event, usually many other interrelated desires are also achieved.

Example: Concerning romantic interests, the desire for a mate may be interrelated with other desires for a mate who is loyal, sexy, intellectually stimulating and therefore fascinating, etc.; an individual who fulfills a desire for a mate usually fulfills many though not necessarily all of the interrelated desires for a mate; such an individual who fulfills many other interrelated desires is appropriate as well as achievable.

Desires are achievable or unachievable.

Achievable desires are desires for people/things/events who/which are achievable.

Unachievable desires are desires for people/things/events who/which are unachievable.

Desires are appropriate or inappropriate.

Appropriate desires are desires for people/things/events who/which are achievable and who/which achieve interrelated desires.

Inappropriate desires are desires for people/things/events who/which are achievable but who/which doe not achieve interrelated desires.

Desires are realistic or unrealistic.

Realistic desires are desires for people/things/events who/which are achievable and appropriate because they achieve interrelated desires.

Unrealistic desires are desires for people/things/events who/which are unachievable or achievable but inappropriate because they do not achieve interrelated desires.

Feelings = Reactions to realizations of desires/fears/priorities.

Feelings develop in a Desire/Realization/Feeling sequence: the D/R/F sequence.

1. Desire: _____ (?) [Wanting a person/thing/event]

2. Realization: _____ (?) [Person/thing/event achieved/not achieved]

3. Feeling: _____ (?) [Reaction to the Realization of the Desire]

Objective observation: Individuals can be observed approaching/avoiding other people to determine the individual's desires and feras and priorities and his realizations can be observed and his resulting reactions to his realizations of his desires/fears/priorities can be observed to determine his feelings.

Happiness = Observable positive realization = Successful approach and achievement of a desired person/thing/event or an avoidance of a feared peson/thing/event.

Unhappiness = Observable negative realization = Unsuccessful approach and nonachievement of a desired person/thing/event or an unsuccessful avoidance of a feared person/thing/event.

Thus, the description of the D/R/F sequence, unique to OpPsych, shows the observable and objective relationship between an individual's desires [desires/fears/priorities] and his feelings:

1. Desires cause the individual's approach behavior towards desireable people/things/events and the avoidance behavior away from undesirable people/things/events;

2. Realizations are the results of the approach/avoidance behavior motivated/caused by desires/fears/priorities;

3. Feelings are reactions to the realizations caused by desires/fears/priorities.

No desires = No feelings

Positive feelings [happiness] = Achievement of desires by achievement of desired people/things/events and avoidance of fears by the avoidance of feared people/things/events.

Negative feelings [unhappiness] = Nonachievement of desires by nonachievement of desired people/things/events and nonavoidance of fears by nonavoidance of feared people/things/events.

Objective recipe for happiness: (A) Create realistic desires for achievable and appropriate people/things/events; (B) Seek to achieve desires/approach achievable and appropriate desirable people/things/events; (C) React to the achievement of appropriate desirable people/things/events with feelings of happiness.

Objective recipe for unhappiness: (A) Create unrealistic desires for unachievable people/things/events and/or desires for achievable but inappropriate people/things/events; (B) Seek to achieve unrealistic desires/approach unachievable/inappropriate people/things/events; (C) React to the nonachievement of unachievable desirable people/things/events or to the achievement of achievable but inappropriate people/things/events with feelings of unhappiness.

When we find unhappiness we know we will find unrealistic desires, desires for people/things/events who/which are achievable and/or inappropriate. We may not know exactly/specifically what those unrealistic desires are/for what specific unachievable and/or inappropriate people/things/events the individual has unrealistic desires, but at least we know what to look for: unrealistic desires for unachievable and/or inappropriate people/things/events.

Thus, for psychotherapy, we never see people who are happy and who have psychological problems; instead, we see people who are unhappy and who have psychological problems.

Thus, for psychotherapy, when we see people with psychological problems we see people who are unhappy.

We understand the D/R/F sequence to be the objective description of the development of feelings in general and unhappy feelings in particular.

Thus, for psychotherapy, the first observation we can make is that the individual has unhappy feelings/is unhappy/feels unhappy.

Thus, for psychotherapy, because we understand the D/R/F sequence to be the objective description of the development of feelings in general and unhappy feelings in particular we can run the D/R/F sequence backwards to determine the cause of the unhappiness/unhappy feelings/feelings of unhappiness: F/R/D:

1. Feeling: Unhappiness. [Reaction to a negative Realization of an unrealistic Desire]

2. Realization: _____ (?) (A) Nonachievement of an unrealistic [nonachievable] desire; (B) Achievement of an inappropriate desire; (C) Nonavoidance of a fear.

3. Desire: _____ (?) [Wanting an unrealistic person;thing/event]