The old age usually refers to the life phase from 60 years old to death. Since 2008, I have come into contact with 15 Falun Gong addicts of old age, summed up their features in common, and made a probe into how to help them rid of Falun Gong's mind control and rest a happy life in their old age.
1. Features of Falun Gong addicts of old age
Falun Gong addicts of old age have both common features of ordinary old people and unique characters of their own, which are specified as follows.
(1) Physiological features
The Falun Gong addicts of old age, just like other common old people, are undergoing degeneration in their nervous system, circulatory system, respiratory system, digestive system, urinary system, endocrine system and skeletal system. In short, their physiological functions are in a regression period. Among the 15 addicts, all have poor visual acuities at 0.6 or below; all have degenerate hearing, and one is even deaf; 8 move with difficulty; all suffer from memory failing, and the accuracy to recall past events is lower than 74%; 3 fail to remember the details when they started to practice; 2 go to bed before 10 pm and 13 wake up early.
(2) Personality features
The personalities of Falun Gong addicts of old age grow basically converging, mainly characterized by timidity, cautiousness, obstinacy and rigidity. Among the 15 addicts in my contact, most males are taciturn while most females are nagging, all slow in reacting to new things; 12 bigoted in personalities and claimed "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance" and "becoming good people" are not incorrect, but when having been asked what these actually meant, they failed to give a reasonable explanation.
(3) Emotional features
Addicts of old age are usually overwhelmed by negative emotions. They are easily irritated and once they are, their irritation lasts longer; they are disputative and susceptible to mood swings. Some of them are emotionally stable, but not interested in real life, with a tendency to depression. Among the 15 addicts, 8 are retirees who feel ignored and mentally unbalanced, and 3, living apart from their children, feel distinctly lonely and somewhat anxious, and 2 live alone. They, on the one hand, feel grateful for the gradually perfecting old people support policies and on the other hand, nourish oppositional feelings.
(4) Cognition features
The cognition of addicts of old age is featured by making use of Falun Gong fallacies to interpret themselves and justify their cultivation. They are scourged by a guilty conscience about some behaviors in their past which are deemed by them as "Karma". They blame their sickness on "being not sincere enough", "having failed to follow the right path of cultivation" or "being disturbed by old forces". Almost all 15 addicts are familiar with Zhuan Falun，while as for "new scriptures", they only know about such key words as "three things", "saving people" and "handing out brochures". They have the impulse to pursue "Consummation", but for the most part aim at "improving body health, being away from diseases". They don't really consider "truth clarifying" as "believing in the Master and believing in Fa" so as to be protected by the Master's "law body".
(5) Health conditions
The health of addicts of old age is generally degenerating. Among the 15 addicts, 4 are at average level with respect to physical adjustment performance; 7 are at lower level, only practicing Falun Gong at intervals and preferably taking walk for exercises; 3 suffer from high blood pressure; 1 suffers from pulmonary emphysema; and they all, on the one hand, wish the Master to "clean the body" and on the other hand, have more reliance on their families, their spouses in particular.
2. Psychotherapy tactics
All 15 addicts have been subjected to harm to varied extents from Falun Gong. Some refused medical treatment, which led to the deterioration of illness; some traveled around for "truth clarifying", tripped and hurt themselves; some change in their personalities as a result of long-term practicing; some think their family members are "demons" and want to kill them; and some always say they are about to reach Consummation and make their families nervous. However, all their families want them to be rid of Falun Gong and live a happy life. The two addicts who live alone meet a lot of inconveniences in their lives. One has chosen to rent a room because he can not get along with his family members and the other has been forced to live alone because he can not help teaching his granddaughter to practice Falun Gong. The addicts of old age are more deeply poisoned by Li Hongzhi's heresies than people of other age groups and therefore they are in the most need of understanding, care and concern. In my opinion, to apply psychotherapy to them, we have to take their personalities, familial conditions and psychological therapy conditions as starting point, focus on the addicts themselves, guide their emotions, and take advantage of their families to prompt their self-awareness.
Firstly, start from listening and pay attention to emotional guide. To apply psychotherapy to the addicts of old age, first and foremost, one must try to avoid "arguing" with them. Volunteers for aid and education are expected to be highly empathetic and willing to listen and excavate their positive emotions. In the process of communication, I found they all experienced poverty in the natural disaster stricken years from 1959-1961 and the dramatic change after China's reform and opening up to the outside world. They conquered natural disaster with their strong willpower and have tasted the pleasure from satisfaction for materials after the reform and opening up, which they all are eager to share with each other, and they feel the values of their own and the society therein.
Secondly, start with their health problems and focus on medical treatment. Most addicts of old age are degenerating in physical adaptabilities and some suffer from serious illness. They stubbornly believe their illnesses result from "Karma" and "believing in the Master and Fa" can keep them healthy, but all their beliefs have failed to rid themselves of chronic suffering from diseases. Therefore we shall begin our aid from solving their health problems, help them establish correct outlooks on health and go to hospitals for treatment, and they will finally feel the relaxation of recovery. "Seeing is believing." After all these experiences, they will be able to see Falun Gong and their cultivation in an objective perspective.
Thirdly, concentrate on family ties and improve their sense of belongingness. Some addicts are bereft of spouses, and some live apart from their children, and therefore they are rarely attended in their daily life and lack psychological guidance. Some, though living together their children, are very suspicious and often quarrel with them, leading to tense relationships in the families. Indeed, family plays an irreplaceable role in the psychotherapy for addicts of old age. Volunteers for aid and education are expected to communicate with the families and to promote the internal communications between family members so that family members can accept the addicts in all respects, give them sufficient understanding and admission in daily life and in the spirit, and help them cultivate the sense of belongingness in real life.
Finally, guide them in cognition and inspire their self-awareness. All efforts concerning psychotherapy come down to earth only with the addicts' correct cognition of Falun Gong's heresies. Addicts of old age are seriously influenced by such heresies as "being good people", "law body", "eliminating disease", "sending forth righteous thoughts", "repaying with blessing", "saving people" and "old forces" etc. It is almost impossible to correct their mistakes by debating with them, because the more debate we have, the more firmly they believe they are right. Accordingly we have to guide them in a roundabout way, help them be aware of what Falun Gong really is through their own experiences, thus making a stride from external help to self help.
3. Psychotherapy methods
The psychotherapy method for addicts of old age varies because actual conditions of different addicts are different and the volunteers' styles for therapy are different. There is no wonderful remedy for all diseases. In the process of psychotherapy, I always combine the methods of discriminating, family care and model demonstration and the results are generally satisfactory.
(1) Discriminating
Since each addict has different growing experience, there are various incentives for their practicing Falun Gong, for instance, some are religious who want Consummation; some suffer from disease and want to "eliminate Karma and disease"; some seek emotional care and psychological satisfaction through exchanges with fellow practitioners; some lack sense of security and need protection from "law body", and so on. Volunteers must discriminate among the incentives and make analysis in depths. For instance, we can discriminate their Consummation complex by the fact if they accept medical treatment. If they do, we need to find the incentive from sense of security and emotional care, and if they refuse to accept medical treatment, we have to find the exact incident leading to the Consummation complex in their experience. In short, according to different psychological incentives, we must take different methods to rid them of Falun Gong's influence. In 2010, I used this method to help 68-year-old Tang shake off mind control of Falun Gong.
(2) Family care
Most old addicts are fairly familiar with "Zhuan Falun", while their knowledge about "new scriptures" only has a limited source from exchange with fellow practitioners. Their obsession is rooted in real life instead of Fa's principles, particularly in the lack of secure sense and feeling of belongingness. Therefore we use the method of family care encouraging the addicts to have more communication with their families so as to remove misunderstanding between them and establish harmonious family relationships to make them feel secure and comfortable in their lives. The case in point is an addict surnamed Ke. Ke is 66 years old, an HBV carrier, and also suffers from renal cyst. Ke used to live alone and began to practice Falun Gong for the purpose of "curing disease". We found her son and requested him to send Ke to hospital for treatment. The son then started to live together with Ke and helped her see through Falun Gong and prevented her from the influence of fellow practitioners, and Ke finally found the right way back to normal life.
(3) Model demonstration
There are not many addicts of old age who are still obsessed in Falun Gong. Some fellow practitioners passed away because they refused medical treatment, some have already shaken off Falun Gong's mind control completely and returned to normal life. These fellow practitioners provide living examples for them. In the process of psychotherapy, we can invite those who have rid themselves of Falun Gong's mind control to communicate with the addicts to help them be aware of the true color of Falun Gong heresies, be aware of the aftermath for continuing practicing and the real life once they give up practicing. The advantage of this method is that it is easier for an addict to accept a former fellow practitioner's opinion and it is easy to go straight to the subject. For instance, an addict surnamed Wang, 71, insisted on practicing Falun Gong even after all fellow practitioners around her had abandoned it. I invited her former mates, Cheng, Yang and Chen who had been converted, the three kept talking with her for one week and finally she gave up practicing.
Last, I must emphasize that some addicts still have the impulse to "reach Consummation" or "ascension in broad daylight", still believe the "Master" can arrange "Consummation" and the "law bodies" do exist. Under the influence of certain unexpected events, situations or moods, they may take real actions for "ascension in broad daylight", which they believe to be a way of "reaching Consummation". Therefore as we carry out psychotherapy, we must be alert and avoid such tragedies happening.
