Stop the Madness! : A Quick and Effective Guide to - Softcover

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Joyce B. Sousa holds the Masters Degree in Psychology and has several years of professional experience in counseling centers, a treatment center for young male law breakers, and a women's prison. She is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and a Certified Criminal Justice Specialist with a Master Addiction Counselor endorsement; she is also a Certified Corrective Thinking Therapist and a Certified Corrective Thinking Trainer. She has given workshops on anger, stress, anger between parent and child, domestic violence, self-esteem, and general mental health and has written several articles on these topics. She has also taught classes on parenting. Ms. Sousa worked four years at the Mental Health Center of Champaign County as a Corrections Clinician at the Correctional Center in Urbana (IL). Her duties included management of the resident population as regards self-harm or intent to harm others and identifying the mentally ill among the incarcerated to see that they were properly medicated when necessary. In addition, she conducted training for Correctional Center staff on issues including mental health, suicide risk, and substance abuse. She was the designer and coordinator of FreshStart, a program for Criminal Offenders based on a cognitive restructuring approach, and facilitated FreshStart groups at the Correctional Center. Ms. Sousa also designed the curriculum for Choices, a treatment program offered by the Mental Health Center for adolescents and their parents.

She is a founding partner of Sousa, Peacock, Sousa, & Asscoiates, a private consulting firm that conducts trainings, educational seminars, and systems analyses and designs and implements programs for social-service agencies, schools, and businesses based on a cognitive restructuring approach to human behavior. The firm also offers individual counseling and parent education groups.

Turhan "Turk" Peacock is currently pursuing a B.A. in Psychology. Mr. Peacock is a Certified Criminal Justice Specialist with a Master Addiction Counselor endorsement. He is also a Certified Corrective Thinking Specialist and a Certified Corrective Thinking Trainer. He has facilitated out-patient and in-patient groups for substance abusers. He has worked as a team leader supervising and counseling at-risk youth. He is currently the associate coordinator of FreshStart, a program for Criminal Offenders, and facilitates FreshStart groups at the Correctional Center and The Mental Health Center. In addition, Mr. Peacock has facilitated parent groups as a part of the Choices program for parents and adolescents. FreshStart and Choices are based on the Corrective Thinking approach.

He is a founding partner of Sousa, Peacock, Sousa, & Associates, a private consulting firm that conducts trainings, educational seminars, and systems analyses and designs and implements programs for social-service agencies, schools, and businesses based on a cognitive restructuring approach to human behavior. The firm also offers individual counseling and parent education groups.

Ronald W. Sousa holds the Ph.D. and for many years has been a university professor (University of Texas, Minnesota, California [Berkeley], and Illinois). His duties have long included academic administration, and he is currently Head of the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of a number of books and articles on cultural analysis and education. A Certified Corrective Thinking Trainer (Koerner and Fawcett, l996), he is a founding partner of Sousa, Peacock, Sousa, & Associates and has conducted a number of workshops and trainings in cognitive restructuring focusing particularly on application in areas of education including discipline, classroom management, and curriculum design. He has also engaged in system design for educational institutions.

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Scenario #1:

As Jimmy enters the classroom he tosses some trash in the direction of the waste basket and then meanders on to his seat. The wadded-up papers scatter on the floor. Mr. Pierson, the 9th-grade teacher, looks up from his desk, stands up, and walks over to the scattered trash.

Mr. Pierson: "Jim! Pick this up please."

Jimmy: "You gonna make me?"

Mr. Pierson: "You know the class rules. I'm asking you to pick up this trash you threw on the floor!"

Jimmy: "It's your rule; you do it! What's the big deal about paper on the floor anyhow? You some sort of fanatic?"

Mr. Pierson: "That's enough. You keep up that backtalk and you'll be asked to leave. I'm giving you one last chance to pick up the trash."

Jimmy: "F--- you. You act like you own the place. I can never do anything right in your class. I'm leaving anyway."

Jimmy slams out the door.

This scenario will provide the reference for several of the main points we wish to make; we shall therefore return to it several times in the following pages. For now, let's merely pose some questions: Do any of the basic elements of this interaction sound familiar? Do they conjure up images of home, or of the workplace? If so, you should read on.

Many of the elements in the above exchange are repeated in countless other scenarios. A few examples in brief:

You are in a waiting room and a father with two children comes in. One of the kids spies a gum machine and asks for a quarter. The father says "no, I didn't bring any money with me." The child spits in her father's face and begins to hit him.

A teacher begins a history lesson in class and makes the simple request that the students get out their books and homework. One student swears rudely and loudly at her and threatens her physical safety.

An employee comes in late for the third time in the week. His supervisor approaches him and questions him about this pattern. The employee calls him a name and walks out swearing revenge.

Two caring parents who want to do the best for their young daughter stand bewildered as she berates them and proceeds to do damage to the inside of their house. This is a reaction to a birthday gift that hasn't met her approval.

An adolescent being questioned by his parents for cutting classes at school and staying out past curfew yells, screams, and curses in response and threatens them with physical violence.

Something is wrong here. This sounds crazy to a responsible person. Does any of it make sense? This is the madness--and, what is more, it is a very familiar madness in our contemporary society. Not only does something seem terribly wrong to us but we continually get a similar message of concern from a wide range of the people--from parents to social-service professionals--that we meet in talking about what has been called the "Corrective Thinking" model.