One of the commonest psycho-socio-economic diseases is Victimosis.
This disease has a characteristic set of symptoms and signs. The symptoms are easy to detect – and the easiest way is to close your eyes and listen to the language being used. There is a characteristic vocabulary. ‘Yes but’ is common as is ‘If only’ and ‘They should’ and ‘Not my’ and ‘Too busy’. Hearing these phrases used frequently is good evidence that the subject is suffering from Victimosis.
Everyone suffers from Acute Victimosis occasionally, especially if they are tired and suffer a series of emotional set backs. With the support of relatives and friends our psychoimmune system is able to combat the cause and return us to healthy normality. We are normally able to heal our emotional wounds.
Unfortunately Victimosis is an infectious and highly contagious condition and with a large enough innoculum it can spread until almost everyone in the organisation is affected to some degree. When this happens the Victimosis behaviour can become the norm and awareness of the symptoms slips from consciousness. Victimosis then becomes the unspoken dominant culture and the transition to the Chronic Victimosis phase is complete.
Research has shown that Victimosis is an acquired disease linked to a transmissable meme that is picked up early in life. The meme can be transmitted person-to-person and also through mass communication systems which then leads to rapid dissemination. Typical channels are newspapers, television, the internet and now social media. Just sample the daily news and observe how much Victimosis language is in circulation.
Those more susceptible to infection can develop into chronic carriers who constantly infect and reinfect others. The outward mainfestations of the chronic form are incessant complaining, criticising, irrational decisions, ineffective actions, blaming and eventually depression, hopelessness and terminal despair. The chronically infected may aggregate into like-minded groups as a safety-in-numbers reflex response. These groups are characterised by having a high proportion of people with the same temperament; particularly the Guardian preference (the Supervisors, Inspectors, Providers and Protectors who make up two thirds of the population).
Those able to resist infection find the context and culture toxic and they take action. They leave.
The outward manifestations of Chronic Victimosis are GroupThink and Silosis. GroupThink is where collectives start to behave as one and their group-rhetoric becomes progressively less varied and more dogmatic. Silosis is a form of organisational tribalism where Departments become separated from each other, conceptually, emotionally, physically and financially. Both natural reactions only aggravate the condition and accelerate the decline.
One of the effects of the Victimosis-meme is Agnostic Hyper-Reactivity. This is where both the Individuals and their Silos develop a thick emotional protective membrane that distorts their perception. It is not that they do not sense what is happening – it is that they do not perceive it or that they perceive it in a distorted way. This is the Agnosia part – literally ‘not knowing’.
Unfortunately being ignorant of Reality does not help and eventually the pressure of Reality builds up and punches a hole through the emotional barrier. Something exceptionally bad happens that cannot be discounted or ignored. This is the ‘crisis‘ stage and it elicits a characteristic reflex reaction. An emotional knee-jerk. Unfortunately the reflex is an over-reaction and is poorly focussed and badly coordinated – so it does more harm than good.
This is the hyper-reactivity part.
The blind reflex reaction further destabilises an already unstable situation and accelerates the decline. It creates a positive feedback loop that can quickly escalate to verbal, written and then psychological and physical conflict. The Lose-Lose-Lose of Self-Destructive behaviour that is characteristic of the late phase. And that is not all. Over time the reflex reaction gets less effective as the Victimosis Membrane thickens. The reflex fades out. This is a dangerous development because on the surface it looks like things are improving, there is less conflict, but in reality the patient is slipping into pre-terminal Victimosis.
Fortunately there is a treatment for Victimosis.
It is called Positivicillin.
This is not a new wonder drug, it is a natural product. We all produce Positivicillin and some of us produce more than others: they are called Optimists. Positivicillin works by channelling the flow of emotional energy into the reflection-and-action pathways. Naturally occurring Positivicillin has a long-half life: the warm glow of success lasts a long time. Unfortunately Positivicillin is irreversibly deactivated by the emotional toxin generated by the Victimosis meme: a toxin called Discountin. So in the presence of Discountin the affected person needs to generate more Positivicillin and to do so continuously and this leads to emotional exhaustion. The diffusion of Positivicillin is impeded by the Victimosis Membrane so if subject has a severe case of Chronic Victimosis then they may need extrinsic Positivicillin treatment at high dose and for a long time to prevent terminal decline. The primary goal of emergency treatment is to neutralise the excess Discountin for long enough that the natural production of Positivicillin can start to work.
So where can we get supplies of extrinsic Positivicillin from?
In its pure form Positivicillin is rare and expensive. The number of naturally occurring Eternal Optimist Exporters is small and their collective Positivicillin production capability is limited. Healthy organisations value and attract them; unhealthy ones discount and reject them.
So we are forced to resort to using more abundant, cheaper but inferior drugs. One is called Alcoholimycin and another is Tobaccomycin. They are both widely available and affordable but they have long term irreversible toxic side effects.
Chronic Victimosis is endemic so chronic abuse of Tobaccomycin and Alcoholimycin is common and, in an attempt to restrict their negative long term effects, both drugs are heavily taxed by the Authorities.
Unfortunately this only aggravates the spread of Chronic Victimosis which some report is a sign of the same condition affecting the Authorties! These radicals are calling for de-regulation of the more potent variants such a Cannabisimycin but the Authorities have opted for a tightly regulated supply of symptom-suppressants such as Anxiolytin and Antidepressin. These are now freely available and do help those who want to learn to cure themselves.
The long term goal of the Victimosis Research Council is to develop ways to produce pure Positivicillin and to treat the most severe cases of Chronic Victimosis; and to find ways to boost the natural production of Positivicillin within less seriously affected individuals and organisations.
Chronic Victimosis is not a new disease – it has been described in various forms throughout recorded history – so the search for a cure starts with the historical treatments – one of which is Confessmycin. This has been used for centuries and appears to work well for some but not others and this idiosyncratic response is believed to be due to the presence (or not) of the Rel-1-Gion meme. Active dissemination of a range of Rel-1-Gion meme variants (and the closely linked Pol-1-Tic meme variants) has been tried with considerable success but does not appear to be a viable long term option.
A recent high-tech approach is called a Twimplant. This is an example of the Social-Media class of biopsychosocial feedback loops that uses the now ubiquitous mobiphonic symbiont to connect the individual to a regular supply of positive support, ideas and evidence called P-Tweets. It is important to tune the Twimplant correctly because the same device can also pick up distress signals broadcast by sufferers of Chronic Victimosis who are attempting to dilute their Discountin by digitising it and exporting it to everyone else. These are called N-Tweets and are easily identifiable by their Victimosis vocabulary. N-tweets can be avoided by adopting an Unfollow policy.
One promising line of new research is called R2LM probe therapy. This is an unconventional and innovative way of curing Chronic Victimosis. The R2LM probe is designed to identify the gaps in the organisational memetic code and to guide delivery of specific meme transplants that fill the gaps it reveals. One common gap is called the OM-meme deletion and one effective treatment for this is called FISH. Taking a course of FISH injections or using a FISH immersion technique leads to a rapid and sustained improvement in emotional balance. That in-turn leads to an increase in the natural production of Positivicillin. From that point on the individual and can dissolve the Victimosis Membrance and correct their perceptual distortion. The treatment is sometimes uncomfortable but those who completed the course will vouch for its effectiveness.
For the milder forms of Victimosis it is possible to self-diagnose and to self-treat.
The strategy here is to actively reduce the production of Discountin and to boost the natural production of Positivicillin. These have a synergistic effect. The first step is to practice listening for the Victimosis vocabulary using a list of common phrases. The patient is taught to listen for these in spoken communication and to look for them in written communication. Spoken communication includes their Internal Voice. The commonest phrases are:
1. “Yes but …”
2. “If only …”
3. “I/You/We/They should …”
4. “I/We can’t …”
5. “I/We hope …”
6. “Not My/Our fault …”
7. “Constant struggle …”
8. “I/We do not know …”
9. “I am too busy to …”
The negative emotional impact of these phrases is caused by the presence of the Discountin toxin.
The second step is to substitute the contaminated phrase with an equivalent one where the Discountin is deactivated using Positivicillin. This deliberate and conscious substitution is easiest in written communication, then externally spoken and finally the Internal Voice. The replacements for the above are …
1. “Yes, and …”
2. “Next time …”
3. “I/We could …”
4. “I/We can …”
5. “I/We know …”
6. “My/Our responsibility …”
7. “Endless opportunity …”
8. “I/We will learn …”
9. “It is too important not to …”
The system-wide benefits of the prompt and effective management of Chronic Victimosis are enormous. There is more reflective consideration and more effective action. There is success and celebration where before there was failure and frustration. The success stimulates natural release of more Positivicillin which builds a positive reinforcement feedback loop. In addition the other GA-memes become progressively switched off and the signs of Passive Persecutitis and Reactive Rescuopathy resolve.
The combined effect leads to the release of Curiositonin, the natural inquisitiveness hormone, and Excitaline – the hormone that causes the addictive feeling of eager anticipation. The racing heart and the dry mouth.
From then on the ex-patient is able to maintain their emotional balance, to further develop their emotional resilience, and to assist other sufferers. And that is a win for everyone.