The Cat Pissed on George!

[DISCLAIMER]

Photo credit (edited), fair use

When I was a child, my mom kept in close touch with a friend from her youth (“Kay”). From time to time, my sisters and I were taken to Kay’s home in which her daughter and a cat also lived. I didn’t have much in common with Kay or her daughter, and I was allergic to cat dander.

Still, I enjoyed the visits, because Kay was infatuated (filled with or marked by a foolish or extravagant love or admiration) with Boy George of Culture Club. Thinking of those visits, it’s as though I can mentally hear “Karma Chameleon” from their album Colour by Numbers (1983).

On one visit in particular, among her collection of other Boy George memorabilia (i.e., posters, commemorative porcelain plates, etc.), Kay had many magazines spread out on her living room floor. If memory serves, this adult-aged woman was making a collage to hang on her wall.

My sisters and I carefully maneuvered the proverbial minefield of magazine clippings, taking precautionary measures not to step on Kay’s beloved images of the man she idolized. After having made our way to her daughter’s room, we heard a loud yell from the living room.

“Dammit,” Kay shouted, “the cat pissed on George!” Gleefully, my sisters and I ran to the edge of the living room. I wanted to see how Kay would respond to the apparently egregious offense reportedly committed by the sort of animal that ostensibly knows no bounds. It’s a cat, after all.

Nonetheless, Kay was clearly upset. All these years since, I chuckle at how Kay upset herself. If you’re unfamiliar with the practice of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), then the way I phrased that last sentence may seem odd to you. Allow me to explain.

REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate that when an undesirable Action occurs and you Believe an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable assumption, not the occurrence itself, that causes an unpleasant Consequence. This is known as the process of self-disturbance.

From a psychological standpoint, people disturb themselves using a Belief-Consequence (B-C) connection. Of course, this isn’t to suggest that in the context of the naturalistic or physical world there is no Action-Consequence (A-C) connection.

For instance, from an A-C perspective, when the cat pissed on George (Action), the photos which were touched by cat urine became wet (Consequence). In the natural world, urine can cause wetness. However, unlike an A-C view, a B-C outlook explains how Kay upset herself.

When the cat pissed on George (Action) and Kay likely Believed, “This is terrible, because my worthless cat should’ve known better than to have pissed on my beloved George, and I can’t stand this,” then Kay’s unfavorable self-narrative caused her upset condition (Consequence).

Addressing how people upset themselves with unhelpful attitudes, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unproductive philosophies of life in order to explore Effective new beliefs. Whereas rigid beliefs cause self-disturbance, flexible beliefs result in an un-disturbed condition.

This relatively brief psychoeducational lesson on the ABC model came to mind earlier today when listening to an electronic dance music (EDM) DJ set by Boy George, as he became a proper DJ after his days with Culture Club. Alas, another REBT example now comes to mind.

According to one 2022 source, “The Culture Club frontman, real name George O’Dowd, was in January 2009 sentenced to 15 months in jail after he was found guilty of handcuffing Norwegian model Audun Carlsen to a wall and beating him with a metal chain.”

Perhaps when reading a blogpost in which I speak favorably of Boy George’s musical skills (Action), you Believe, “Deric shouldn’t glorify such a vile person,” and with this inflexible attitude you become pissed off (Consequence). Maybe that’s better than being pissed on.

Nevertheless, if you’ve self-disturbed regarding the fact that I’ve not denounced Boy George – who’s at worst a fallible human being who was apparently found guilty of a criminal offense that I consider objectionable – then I encourage you to understand that people aren’t their offenses.

Helpfully, you can challenge your unaccommodating B-C paradigm so that you may un-disturb yourself. Besides, I won’t “Tumble 4 Ya”, so why would you choose to proverbially fall to the pissed-on ground in agony? Don’t you know that cats piss on the ground? Get up!

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As the world’s foremost EDM-influenced REBT psychotherapist—promoting content related to EDM, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters. 

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

References:

Culture Club. (2009, February 28). Culture Club - Karma Chameleon (Official music video) [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/JmcA9LIIXWw?si=2okOWQmLjSZ2TuCS

Culture Club. (2009, June 2). Culture Club – I’ll Tumble 4 Ya [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/kwb9-OlQimc?si=cOZibzVVAseNWGBy

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