How Do Mental Health, AOD and CTC Affect You?

Your safety could be affected by burglary, drug crimes, rape, etc. How soon should corrective measures be taken when these threats are present?

Assume that a perpetrator has been apprehended. What should we do with and for that person to help her/him stop doing crime? How soon?

Is it okay to wait for the offender to consider and maybe taper off doing crimes? Or do we want the offender to learn desistence?

What is desistence? Cease and desist! Stop! We have a zero tolerance for this behavior. We don’t want less from you. We want none.

Some will say, “Oh, the poor misunderstood person. He’s just acting out behavior due to trauma. Let’s put him in treatment.”

Others will say, “Oh, he has a drug problem. He committed the crimes under the influence of a mind-altering substance. Let’s offer him drug court.”

Both statements can be true. But neither offers an efficient, rapid, inexpensive solution. Trauma-informed treatment is great. Lengthy too.

As you can see from the CBT map image below, criminal thinking and conduct, CTC and alcohol and other drug, AOD, or substance use disorder, SUD, drive one another. Each needs to be treated.

But what is the real problem? It’s the limiting, CTC, permission-granting, core beliefs about AOD that lead to the risk to public safety. Those beliefs that allow the offender to put you or your children in danger.

Psychotherapy can take years. And lots of insurance billing. We, the public don’t want to wait years for Little Johnny to stop breaking into our houses.

Remember the image of Jack Nicholson breaking through the door? “Here’s Johhny!” We want safety now!

What’s the quickest way to change these CTC behaviors?

There will be no long-term behavior changes unless you change “blocking, limiting, permission-granting core beliefs involving AOD and crime that will impede treatment. (Marich, Dansiger, Wanberg, Milkman, and Beck.)

DM me if you want to become a community leader for creating public safety and addressing the AOD/CTC Cycle drug problems in your community.

Belief Eye Movement Therapy is the quickest way I know to change limiting beliefs. Anyone can be taught to do this. Anyone can benefit.

The CBT map image is from “Belief Eye Movement Therapy” and ‘Drug Court Treatment: The Verdict.” Amazon.com

How Does BEMT Handle AOD/CTC Beliefs?

BEMT is Belief Eye Movement Therapy. It’s used for among other things, to elicit and change limiting beliefs that keep people stuck.

Let’s tie together several key concepts in the treatment of addiction and criminal behavior, emphasizing the central role of beliefs in sustaining or altering such behaviors.

  1. AOD/CTC Cycle: Wanberg and Milkman discuss how alcohol and other drug (AOD) abuse and criminal thinking and conduct (CTC) interact, reinforcing each other in a cyclical pattern. This cycle suggests that interventions need to address both AOD abuse and CTC simultaneously because each element can trigger or exacerbate the other.
  2. Core Beliefs: The approach advocated by Wanberg and Milkman posits that lasting change in behavior is contingent upon altering core beliefs. This idea is consistent with cognitive-behavioral principles which posit that core beliefs influence a person’s thoughts and behaviors, and therefore, modifying these beliefs is essential for real change.
  3. Permission-Granting Beliefs: Judith S. Beck’s contribution from cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) highlights the importance of tackling “permission-granting beliefs” early (ASAP) in treatment. These are beliefs that individuals hold which justify or allow continuation of harmful behaviors, such as substance use or criminal actions.
  4. Blocking Beliefs: Marich and Dansiger, in their discussion on EMDR, talk about “blocking beliefs” that can impede the process of reprocessing necessary for recovery. These beliefs can prevent individuals from fully engaging in therapeutic processes that are crucial for addressing deeper psychological issues.

Conclusion: Given the above, it’s evident that similar principles apply when dealing with limiting beliefs in both addiction treatment and criminal behavior intervention. That’s the role of BEMT. In both contexts, deeply held, maladaptive beliefs must be identified and challenged to facilitate meaningful change. This indicates a shared underlying mechanism where beliefs significantly dictate behaviors, whether they are related to addiction or criminal conduct. Thus, effective treatment strategies should include techniques for identifying, challenging, and changing these, core and blocking beliefs to disrupt the cycles of addiction and criminal behavior. Integrating BEMT, focusing on eye movement therapy to reprocess trauma and change beliefs, aligns well with these broader therapeutic principles.

Do you have a specific, time appropriate belief change protocol at your treatment provider program? DM me for more information.

“Belief Eye Movement Therapy” the book, by Stan Dokmanus is available on Amazon.com.