6. WHAT THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT SHOULD HAVE READ 

Harsh Childhood - imprinted oral fixations gone wrong?
     "The minds of these sweet kids, however drug-saturated, are exceptionally inquisitive, and brilliantly flawed, in a hyper-sensitive way, due to having experienced severe trauma, in the form of mental, physical, and emotional abuse in their upbringing. As such, they attempt to evade personal scrutiny / endure the "pain body", by self-inducing near-death and out-of-body experiences; as in playing-dead, zoning-out, and dead-walking (a kind of flatlining catalepsy).

      These techniques are habitually used by people in severe shock, undergoing rape, torture, or other dire forms of abuse, characterized by the perceived threat of potential danger / damage to the ego, which subsequently flees (like the wuss it is), leaving the sub- and super-conscious in charge, whom in order to protect the delicate psyche, smooth out everything happening to make it all seem like a dream ("Merrily merrily merrily"). The affected persona thereby "disassociates"; floating in a calm, alert state of heightened awareness from afar, thinking "this can't possibly be happening to me" or "this isn't real" or resorts to humming "num, num, numb", while silently screaming, hands over the orifices (only there aren't enough hands to cover all the orifices, or, even worse, there are)."
     In the total chaos of (non-consensual) abuse, the obliteration of safe boundaries accompanies varying degrees of loss of self-control, in both perpetrator and victim. It becomes necessary for those caught in this cycle to reclaim the sense-of-themselves, in order to regain self-esteem and self-worth. This involves a lengthy, risky, re-integration process, whereby the damaged parties seek to retrieve their psyche back from Dante's Inferno, where it is wandering, waylaid, or tragically severed, A.W.O.L. in oblivion, disentegrating. A Herculean task, healing may be initiated by, a) the willful removal of oneself from traumatizing situations, and b) holistic therapy. Most, however, sadly live out their lives unconsciously re-creating the initial patterns of abuse they were caught up in. Addictive behaviour provides a familiar catalyst, enabling an exact recreation to the point of ......No Return.....a diabolical "comfort zone" which must one day be replaced by facing......reality. Cold turkey.

                                                                       Emily Balivet, Orpheus and Eurydice (2012)
     Amazing, this process of the wounded instinctively guiding themselves back to Zero-point Infinity, where forgiveness may eventually take place (if the awareness, skills, and open-hearted compassion necessary can be summoned to pull it off). Voila! certain drugs, taken intentionally under guided supervision, and/or with meditative focus, can be potent catalysts for healing; fostering individuals to the nexus of their crisis, while providing an enhanced setting (a specific dose of chaos!) in which to jettison the escape pod of mind, body, and spirit.

                                                                                Virginia Lee, Persephone
     Reintegration with calm detachment may then prevail, without the cycle of mental or physical abuse repeating. Re-enacting the Rites of Osiris dis-membered, the Self freely wanders in The Wasteland - non-attached, patching boundaries and picking up stray bits; watching from afar as searing memory and old tapes rewind, catching flame to the film, while practicing the Sacred Art of Soul Retrieval, at his or her leisure.

       Warning : It is playing with fire to assume the biochemical equations involved won't overwhelm the process, metaphorically pouring salt on raw wounds, and creating powerfully new addictive mindsets....a very fine line, indeed....a built-in self-sabotage relying on the fact it only takes "one too many" ("White Lines"1) to (not be able to) pull it off. 
                      
     The goth / punk / emo / zombie / vampire craze (attracting youths to emulate defiled, exquisite corpses, play morose music, and sleepwalk through life) is a purposefully macabre rite of passage. Dramatizing one is "already dead" confers the protective belief that one can no longer be hurt (by family, peers, and society) - a transformation comprised of "going over" to the Supernatural Realm for succor (to Rest in Peace). This self-annihilating call for help exposes the deep, emotional scarring affecting all beings in a world which supports and condones heinous behaviours; i.e. waging barbaric wars-for-profit, and promoting religious fanaticism and capitalist consumerism over compassionate spirituality and calm rationality. 
     Perpetuating racist, sexist, and wealth (class) hierarchies demeans positive cultural values, fosters societal violence, and enables physical, ethical, moral, and emotional decay. By-products include Central Intelligence Agencies thugging-amok as drugs-and-arms-runnin' gangs, rendered, factory-farmed, GMO-force-fed, domesticated animals as stock commodities, the industrialized military / prison complex, a proliferating gun lobby, sadistic serial violence targeting ethnic minorities and women, perversely-directed patriotism, and rampant drug / alcohol abuse.

     Starkly put, the defining coterie of the world's leaders (the 1% ruling Haters / Skull 'n Bones Illuminati / Wall Street elite) obsessed with black magic, political oligarchies, religious hypocrisy, hoarding wealth, manipulating economies for personal gain, capitalizing on environmental degradation, and legalizing the aiding and abetting of torture over humanitarian ideals, are hell-bent on annihilating a future for everyone else. 
     Seeking sanctuary, albeit tragic, in a fantastical "Dark Side" of the human psyche is part of a universal healing process, which, given time (another maximized-for-profit commodity), we may emerge from stronger.Whether we will regain equilibrium, or "Fight the Power"2 to undergo a peaceful re-integration with love, support, and understanding for one another, through our collective "Dark Night of the Soul", is a destiny angels and demons within will determine. As the current nexus of humanity holds itself hostage, ethical liberation for all sentient beings swings in the balance.

     A million-fluked factors are precipitated and unleashed by the random and recreational usage of drugs, justifying fears of police intervention, and exacerbating family, relationship, health, and financial pressures. Education, supervision, biofeedback research, and creatively-applied imagination are needed to field the optimum settings in which to charter (MAPS - Multi-Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies!) their healing potential (calling to mind the original nature of LSD-exploration (probably CIA bio-weapon research -Go Ask Ken Kesey!)).

      Otherwise, even the best-intentioned trippers ("substance” abuse?) may suffer a one-way descent into madness or meaninglessness, on a wild roller-coaster ride alternating between chaotic fun and abject misery, by which one's fate is surrendered to the Universe. The luck of the karmic roll determines whether the overall journey is more beneficial than detrimental in the long run, all the more reason calling for for wise and willful mutation, under kind guidance....to Save the Day! In other words, LOVE LOVE LOVE ONE ANOTHER! along the Way! 

1 Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, "White Lines"
2  Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"