Ask anyone to define normal and they will reference behavior. Attempting to define normal based on behavior cannot be done because it is inevitability a subjective assessment by a third party, in other words, an opinion. Opinions do not become more legitimate with seven or ten years of education, it is still, just an opinion. This is not, however, the biggest flaw in attempting to define normal based on behavior. The biggest flaw is the fact that when attempting to define behavior based on a subjective assessment you are bypassing the driver or root cause of behavior, which is emotion. Addressing the root cause of behavior establishes a pathway to begin to define normal as we have done at Burris Institute.
Defining normal requires one to first define behavioral epidemiology (behavior cause and control). Behavioral epidemiology is defined by 7 key questions or KQ’s. This will establish a baseline, which will enable one to formulate a definition for normal and eliminate the guessing game called behavioral assessment.
7 KQ’s Define Behavioral Epidemiology (behavior cause and control)
KQ1. What does all behavior or disordered behavior have in common?
KQ2. What determines emotion and human behavior?
KQ3. How does the subconscious work?
KQ4. What is the difference between brain, mind, conscious, and subconscious?
KQ5. What is the function of the conscious and subconscious mind?
KQ6. Is depression a disease or disorder?
KQ7. Is depression caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain?
By virtue of answering this first KQ, you get to the root cause of behavior which is emotion. From there you define how emotion works, clarify the perception of disease and dispel the lie about depression and chemical imbalance in the brain. Once all 7 KQ’s are answered you have a framework for effectively addressing the emotionally driven behavior. This will enable you to move to the next step, which is what to measure, why to measure it, and how to generate data, which will indicate your client, has reached a normal emotional state.
Once one understands the basics of behavior cause and control you can move on to the next step and build an evidence-based framework that will measure the full range of emotions and indicate whether a client is improving or not. There are 3 KQ’s in regard to this framework and will define the term evidence-based.
KQ1. What is measured?
KQ2. Why is it measured?
KQ3. How is the data generated?
Anytime someone claims evidence-based in behavioral health, these three KQ’s must be asked. The most blatant example of why this is important is the “Comprehensive Soldier Fitness” program based on the “positive psychology” framework of psychologist Martin Seligman. You can see this article here. “The Army’s Flawed Resilience-Training Study: A Call for Retraction.” This call for retraction was based upon the fact that over 100 million dollars were spent on the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program with 50 million being spent yearly and in the end, they relied on a testimonial from Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli as its evidence that it worked.
Since its introduction into psychiatric care in 1990, we have invited scrutiny of our Emotional Measurement process and continue to invite anyone to challenge the results we continue to consistently produce.
Emotional and Gut Health Measurement™ before Behavioral Assessment or Medication
Emotion precedes everything we do in life, this is why a couple of the proverbial questions from psychotherapists is “How did that make you feel” or “How do you feel about that?” When one understands, the primary issue in regard to disordered behavior the absolute first step is clearly to measure emotion. This could not be more evident than with the diagnosis of ADHD and ADD with children. Skipping the process of Emotional Measurement simply enables the pharmaceutical companies to cast a wider and wider net in regard to all human behavior.
About Kelly Burris, PhD, MBC
Kelly Burris has defined ‘Normal’ in an industry, that only defines broken or disordered. He is the developer of the empirically sound Subconscious Restructuring™ process and founder of Burris Institute. With over 150 medical references Subconscious Restructuring™ represents a scientific breakthrough in mental health, and it has done this without meds, labels, or personal history.
As part of the Burris, ecosystem Subconscious Restructuring™ Practitioners can manage, track and interact with current and future clients after certification on BurrisConnect.com. This same ecosystem enables corporate, military, and educational entities to supervise and monitor the performance of their internal Subconscious Restructuring™ (mental health) infrastructure in the cloud.