The Nit Pickers
Most people like stories and therapy is all about stories. Telling stories about powerful techniques used in TEAM CBT Therapy demystify this therapy, one story at a time.Yet, confidentiality is a cornerstone of all therapy. Without it, clients wouldn't feel safe going to therapy to divulge the most painful areas of their lives. To safeguard clients, while illustrating TEAM cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques, confidentiality is kept by either having the clients consent or by distorting the facts, making the client unrecognizable.
That is 'the story' of this novel where facts are changed to better illustrate the condition of the client, Graham Ragsdale . The use of the military context brings a special perspective on the power of harassers and allows for certain types of harassment to occur which, in turn, enable the story to describe to a greater extent Graham's painful condition.
The idea of using the name ,Graham Ragsdale, came from the MacLean's article: We Were Abandoned by Michel Friscolanti. It is the story of an elite group of snipers who went from standouts to outcasts - victims, many say of a witch hunt driven by jealousy and fear. The military had to drive Graham Ragsdale to the level of incompetent by creating the environment in which he would be susceptible to a mental illness, an anxiety disorder. Once accomplished, the military would prove who was in control, thereby creating honour for themselves by recognizing the superiority of rank and that of safety for themselves by compromising his mental and physical health .
This novel looks into the daily stresses, thoughts and behaviour of a man , another man called Graham Ragsdale, a civilian, suffering through what harassers call ‘nit-picking’. It is a soul stealer, a mind-bender, a body-wrecker.
Graham Ragsdale’s story is one man’s struggle to turn away from the distorted cognitions associated with the harasser's unreal world of 'smoke and mirrors' and to turn it towards those defined by reality, and truth.