Not all illusions are visual. there are illusions of thought, which we call cognitive illusions. as a graduate sutdent, i attended some courses on the are and science of psychotherapy. during one of the these lectures, our teacher imparted a morsel of clinical wisdom. this is what he told us: you will from time to time meet a patient who shares a disturbing tale of multiple mistakes in his previous treatments. he has been seen by several clinicians, and all failed him. the patient can lucidly describe how his therapists misunderstood him, but he has quickly perceived that you are different. you share the same feeling, are convinced that you understand him, and will be able to help. at this point my teacher raised his voice as he said, do not even think of taking on this patient! throw thim out of the office. he is most likely a psychopath and you will not be able to help him.
many years later i learned that the teacher had warned us against psychopathic charm, and the leading authority in the study of psychopathy confirmed that the teacher's advice was sound. the analogy to the Muller- Lyer illusion is close. what we were being taught was not how to feel about tha patient. our teacher took it for granted that the sympathy we would feel for the patient would not be under our control; it would arise from system 1. furthermore, we were not being taught to be generally suspicious of our feelings about patients. we were told that a strong attraction to a patient with a repeated history of failed treatment is a danger sign - like the fins on the parallel lines. it is an illusion - a cognitive illusion - and I was taught how to recognize it and advised not to believe it or act on it.
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