Stuart C. Yudofsky - Fatal Pauses

i FATAL PAUSES

Getting Unstuck Through

the Power of No and
the Power of Go ii

Getting Unstuck Through

the Power of No and
the Power of Go

By

Stuart C. Yudofsky, M.D.

iv Note: Nothing contained in this book is intended as medical advice. Always consult a qualified medical professional before beginning any nutritional program or exercise program. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this book. Any content or information provided by Fatal Pauses is for informational and educational purposes only, and use of the information is at the users own risk. Neither the authors nor the publisher bears any liability for injury resulting from use of the information contained in this book.

Disclosure of interests: The author has affirmed he has no commercial or financial interests that present or could appear to present a competing interest with regard to the content of this book.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Yudofsky, Stuart C., author.

Fatal pauses : stuck in pause and getting unstuck through the power of no and the power of go / by Stuart C. Yudofsky. First edition.

p. ; cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-58562-500-0 (pb : alk. paper)

I. Title.

[DNLM: 1. Mental DisorderstherapyCase Reports. 2. Psychotherapy, PsychodynamicCase Reports. 3. Cognitive TherapyCase Reports. 4. Self CareCase Reports. WM 420.5.P75]

RC455.4.I56

155.93dc23

2014020315

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record is available from the British Library.

v To Beth,
theres a lambence,
a soft luminous quality to the light,
as though it came not just from today.
William Faulkner
Light in August vi

viii

Simply dashing
in vertical slashings,
you pose in parallel
to pause.
Press me to hold out!
Press me to hold over!
Press me and hold on!
Press down to hold up,
is your
buttoned-down beckon.
Mind to muscle,
skin to plastic,
we do press down,
and we are held up.
But you press on
to distort our sense
of time
and self
to keep us down.
Conceived by engineering,
deceived by marketing,
you disguise to entice.
Im here to help you,
you say.
Yes, weve all heard that before.
And yes,
weve been betrayed to believe
youre our harmless tool,
a Trojan tool
to infect us
with the virus
of your metaphor:
Wait a while.
Process what youve experienced. x
Think it through a bit
before you act.
Take a break!
Sounds so sound,
so reasonable,
doesnt it?
Until we ask,
Who brakes what?
What breaks whom?
And
For how long?
Your virus
invades our very cells
to seduce the splicings
of our DNA
with your dilatory code.
You replicate our wait.
You hold us up.
Until we ask,
For how long
must we pause?
And you say,
Be patient!
Our bodies did not evolve
to resist your fatal germ.
We werent spawned
to stall.
Until we ask,
Did we devolve
To need suspenders?
To be patient patients?
Can our chemistries
catch up
to what theyve hatched?
Do we submit
to the stings
of your switch?
and
For how long?
Beware, be wary
of the
Pause button.

A s the initial incentive to write this book came from my patients and from readers of a previous book, Fatal Flaws, I am deeply grateful to them all. They had requested written information about the 3-D method that I had used to help them get unstuck from a wide range of psychosocial problems that had unsettled them for protracted periods of time. This book is the product of their requests.

Lynn Yudofsky, M.D., our middle daughter, originated the concept and name of the Power of Go. This concept is derived from techniques that she and I use for our personal and professional improvementespecially to accomplish those tasks that we would prefer to delay or not to do at all, such as exercising or completing administrative paperwork.

I thank my dear, career-long friend and colleague, Robert E. Hales, M.D., M.B.A., Editor of American Psychiatric Publishings Books Division. Bob provided me with encouragement and wise, practical editorial guidance throughout the three years of my writing Fatal Pauses. Beth Yudofsky, M.D., my beloved wife and esteemed professional partner, read and gently critiqued every word of this book, and her suggestions and input transformed the final product. She collaborated with our eldest daughter, Elisa Yudofsky Nord, to craft the menu selections for those readers who might dare to try the Fatal Pauses 3-D Diet (, Stuck in Adolescence and Cyberspace, to ensure the accuracy xii of technical aspects of computer games and compulsive gaming. Additionally, because I am not well versed in video games, I enlisted the help of Robert T. Brockman II, a brilliant computer scientist and electrical engineer. Robert insisted that I learn to play a wide range of video games so that I could write with some authenticity about this subject. He also helped me understand subtleties and intricacies in the development and design of computer games that could lead to a persons becoming dependent on them to the point of withdrawing from real-life interpersonal relationships.

For more than a quarter of a century I have worked on many books with the gifted editorial team at American Psychiatric Publishing. From the inception of the concept of this book until the book was published, Rebecca Rinehart, Publisher, and John McDuffie, Associate Publisher, provided me with unwavering encouragement, steadfast support, and vital direction. Greg Kuny, Managing Editor, oversaw all aspects of this project, and they went swimmingly. A consummate professional and warm and gracious person, Greg is a person with whom it is an absolute pleasure to work. I thank Rick Prather for designing the beautiful cover and for the many other seminal technical and visual elements that improved the readability and aesthetics of the book. The American Psychiatric Publishing marketing team, comprising Alyson Stiffel, Christie Couture, and Patrick Hansard, have worked hard to promote the book and ensure that those who might benefit from