Phrenology, EllisTangents

Phrenology

If you aren’t familiar with phrenology, it’s a frankly brilliant pseudoscience from the early 1800’s that we completely dismiss now. But, today, I want to talk about how it’s brilliant.

The basic premise was that different parts of the brain handled different tasks/ personality structures and therefore you could determine a person’s faculties or traits by examining the shape of their skull. Of course, we know that’s not true now – growth in a certain area of the brain doesn’t make it bigger, but rather more densely populated with neural connections and/or better myelinated. But WOW… why do we summarily dismiss the outrageous assertion that the brain is an organ with many parts that serve different functions?! That’s basically the birth of neuroscience right there!

The reason I feel so passionately about phrenology (and why I like to keep a phrenology bust in my office), is because is science is always valuable, never perfect, and continually growing. And that’s a message I really, really want all of my clients (and all of us therapists) to know! Not just about science, but in the larger sense of the message “not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

Comment! What’s something in psychology that we don’t really give a lot of credibility to anymore that has still helped you?

Not Just For Decoration

I keep lots of things in my office that are not just for decoration. You might have read the post on the “useful treasures” box. This is sort of an extension of that idea, but things that I keep out in the office, either because they’re pretty, or because it’s useful for clients to see them, or because they don’t fit in the box.

Singing bowl
- I keep a Tibetan singing bowl in the office partly because it’s just simply gorgeous. I also like to have it available to use with clients when they are learning meditation (of course), but also sometime as an “arriving” or “departure” moment, especially for client who are doing tough work, like trauma work. It can help them to have a minute to get settled in, check homework, do updates and then something to mark the transition clearly. Doing so at the end of their “deep work” also helps them to wrap up and transition back into the “real world.” I also use it sometimes when I need a super fast grounding moment between sessions.
Long feather for balancing
- I have two ostrich-style feathers that sit in a cup on my desk. They’re pretty but not ostentatious and they have long, un-feathered stems. I typically have clients try to balance the feather by the stem on one fingertip. This is great for younger clients with ADHD to practice active mindfulness, it’s nice for couples as a way to not get too worked up during conflict discussions, and it’s good for many clients who need a “distractor” while they access and speak about difficult material. I’ve also let clients use the feather-end to create a sensation that they can focus on, in a DBT distress-tolerance kind of way.
Highlighters in many colors
- Highlighters can do all the work of markers, don’t dry out as quickly, and obviously can be used over text as well. I use highlighters in a million ways – I’ve even printed out a list of erotic-story-words during session for a very shy client to read with her husband so she could highlight the words she feels most comfortable with him using without having to say them out loud! Also, along with the bubbles and blank paper (in my useful treasures box), highlighters are a great distraction for kids who randomly show up.
Phrenology bust
- Actually Charlton (pictured above) doesn’t technically live in my office anymore, now that I share an office. But when he did, I liked to use him as an example of how we can hypothesize, gather data, and update our theories – in psychology, in therapy, and individually.
Jar of rocks
- I like to keep a little clear glass jar in my office, filled with random rocks. It’s unobtrusive, and clients rarely mention it. But I like to have the rocks in case I need something to give a client as a transition object (e.g., a client with strong BPD who will be worried about abandonment) but I don’t want to give them something I actually need, use, or care about. I also occasionally give them to client who are working on habit control, as a “holder” for their motivations – so that when they are in a tempting situation, they can hold the rock. And, it’s fun to just always be on the lookout for pretty or interesting rocks!

Comment: What other useful things do you have in your office? Have you “pulled a MacGyver” and used something in your office for an unintended but epically useful purpose?