A fellow named Mike Gazzaniga recently remarked that he and other cognitive neuro-scientists have pressed themselves to ask really big questions of their field. For example, they asked themselves about the very nature of consciousness. How it works? How does the brain produce such a phenomena? Where is it located exactly in our brain?
The simple act of asking such monumental questions motivates Mike and his colleagues to work hard to find answers. And, they don’t settle for easy answers, because such towering questions do not give up their secrets to simple answers.
I was wondering if it isn’t about time the addiction field did the same thing. Press ourselves to ask some really big questions, and not settle for the seemingly simple answers (another blog).
What might that list look like?
Starting someplace, my first draft of big questions would include:
• With all the various treatments out there, why don’t they help more than they do?
• Why do some treatments help one client and utterly fail another?
• Why do certain counselors persist in using treatments that clearly don’t work?
• After decades of research and experience, why are we not making better headway with our clients?
And no matter what the urge to insert your first simple response, these, and other questions, require thought.
Questions, if framed well, spur inquiry. Add the coupled feeling of uneasiness that comes with such questions, and both, drive intense motivation to answer them. Really answer them.
What are your really BIG questions?
How do you suppose they might be answered?
