Why AA Works? Why Addicts Are Scapegoated?

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http://www.rgardner.com/refs/exc/bk40-7.html

Excerpted from Psychotherapy with Sex-Abuse Victims

True False and Hysterical

©1996 Creative Therapeutics, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Group and Mass Hysteria

Group hysteria is an ancient tradition. Human beings are sheeplike,

and

the desire to " go along with the crowd " is deep-seated and, I suspect,

possibly genetically determined. Obviously, it is safer to be one of

the

" herd " than to be a maverick. If only for the sake of protection from

predators, groups are safer than isolated individuals. Those who are

different inevitably suffer scorn and rejection. The word gregarious

is

derived from the Latin word grex, which means flock of sheep. In

addition,

human beings are amazingly suggestible and can, under proper

circumstances, be brought to the point of believing anything, no

matter

how absurd. And I am not only speaking of children in this regard, but

adults as well. Group hysteria is built upon these foundations of

gregariousness and suggestibility. Other factors, depending upon the

particular needs of those involved in the hysteria, become

incorporated.

Society must provide acceptable releases for the pent-up hostilities

that

inevitably result from the predictable frustrations of life. When the

group has found a scapegoat for such hostilities, then this element

may

contribute to the hysteria. Most often the oversimplification element

is

operative. Life is complex, and most phenomena are multidetermined.

Accordingly, simple solutions are much more attractive than

complicated

ones. When the mob's goal is to remove a particular person or

group—and

thereby solve all of its problems—the movement becomes particularly

attractive. Joining such a movement enhances self-esteem in that one

surrounds oneself with others who share—often to a fanatic

degree—one's

convictions. Feelings of power may also be gratified in that the mob

has

much more power than any single individual. Although each outbreak has

its

own special factors, the aforementioned are most often operative.