Ashok Gupta explains the third core emotion in chronic illness recovery—victimhood and blame—after outlining grief and anxiety/fear/anger. He introduces an archetypal inner 'victim' called "Jess the princess," who asks "Why me?", and describes how subtle victim-thinking can drain energy, raise anxiety, and compromise the immune system. Gupta notes how identification with illness and feeling disempowered maintain stagnation, and he recommends witnessing these patterns and using 'parts' techniques to retrain the victim parts.
Chapters
Also that hypervigilance that we have on our bodies. And there's also a spiritual resistance. So we've talked about physical, mental, emotional. There's a spiritual resistance which leads us onto that third core emotion. So number one is grief. Number two is anxiety, fear, and anger. The third one is that victimhood that blame, that anger at people. So I'd like to introduce you to another friend of mine. This is Jess, the princess. There we go. So Jess the princess represents the victim part within us. And Jess says, why me? Everyone else has got a great life. They're enjoying life. Why do I have this condition? And remember, I'm not saying that you're walking around all day thinking like that, but it can be subtle on the periphery of consciousness, which might be draining your energy. Because each time we think these types of patterns, we know from research that it increases our compromises the immune system and it increases our anxiety levels and drains our energy. And sometimes we can get so used to being the victim of this condition, we feel disempowered. Oh, there's nothing I can do about this. Yes, I've got the program. But, you know, what difference is that going to make? I'm not good enough to do it. And we also identify with the condition. We get so used to being ill that we think it's part of us, part of our lives. And that identification keeps us stuck in the past. So let's recognize, do I blame others? Do I blame myself for getting this condition? Am I angry at the world around me? Am I stuck in a victim mentality? It's all very disempowering. Let's recognize that, witness it, and then through various techniques, we can use parts techniques to retrain the victim parts.
