Dear Everyone,
I thought as my disseration partly concentrates on psychotherapy, I
would suggest some of the theories that I have on psychotherapy, and if
anyone has any agreement or disagreements I would be grateful for any
replies.
1. Firstly, I consider psychodynamics to be like a kind of 'human
philosophy', all of the opposing theories, proposed by people such as
Freud, Jung and Adler, are all theories about why we behave how we
behave. They are comparable to the philososhies of life suggested by
Plato, Aristotle and many other eminent philosophers, however they are
able to be applied to a more personal level, eg. 'why I hate mess' as
opposed to 'why am I here?'.
2. Secondly, one must always consider the time at which these theories
were derived. Our society has changed dramatically since the time of
Freud, are his theories still applicable now? I personally believe that
what is needed in today's psychotherapy is a union between
psychotherapies and social cognition (this is the theme of my
disseration). By social cognition what I am concerned with is the view
of the self, through self-concepts, self- representations and the self
system (basically who we beleive that we are, who we want to be and who
we do not want to be). These are all built up through reflection on our
own actions, comparison with significant others and realisations of
discrepancies with our actual selves and our ideal selves.
Psychodynamics is more concerned with cases of clinical disorders,
however social cognition and the self-system is more concerned with the
normal person, and explains mental disorders by looking at where the
standard self-system goes wrong.
3. For a therapy to be successful one must find the therapy which is
suitable for the patient. Freuds work is totally based around childhood
and development, so perhaps people in the first half of life are, I
believe more likely to benefit from this form of therapy. For example
although a man of 60 could suffer from an anal complex, which developed
from his childhood if this complex is causeing problems within his
life, he is more likely to have searched for help at an earlier stage
than this. However, Jung bases much of his psychoanalytic approach, to
the second half of life, suggesting that people at this time face a
'meaninglessness' of life, ie. who are they in the great scheme of
things?. What I wish to show by explainning these theories is that
psychotherapy cannot be lumped into one huge category. All of the
theories contain important insights into human behaviour. Freud
however, as has often been reported was exceptionally dogmatic and
unwilling to break down his theory and therapy and rejecting any
criticism, Perhaps this is one of the initial reasons for the problems
that psychotherapy faces today. Jung on the other hand had a much more
felixable out look and believed that the Jungian therapists who would
follow should consider each case and not be restrained by any of the
'suggestions' that Jung proposed. This seems like a much more sensible
idea.
4. Finally I would just like to propose, if 50% of psychotherapy works
and the other 50% of the patients are not harmed by the process they
have undergone, then surely it must continue because at least some
people are being help. Does it matter if the solution to the problem is
psychotherapy, compliance or camomile tea, as long as there is a
beneficial effect. If someone is depressed and is told that if they do
50 sit-ups everymorning their depression will clear. Perhaps it will
and perhaps it won't but if it does who am I to tell them that it is
just compliance, their standard of mental life has increased and the
unhappiness that they felt before has gone. One of the problems of
mental illnesses such as depression is that patients, are unable to see
the light at the end of the tunnel. I believe that psychotherapy does
work not because of the removal of deep unconcious conflict, although
this probably does occur, but because an individual is given a chance
to be themselves without being judged, are able to solve life's
problems by talking them over and seeing how they as an individual can
solve them. The therapist is there to offer suggestions and an
unconditional support system that is not provided by those that are
involved in the individuals life, such as their family.
The final point I have raised is a personal opinion and if anyone
disagrees with me, please reply it may help with my disseration!!!!!
thanks, Emma.
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