Humanistic

 Principles

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Five Theoretical Principles of the Humanistic Tradition ( Shiraev 2016)"

• It viewed people from a holistic perspective
• People are more than the sum of their habits, reflexes, and mental operations.
• Does not just focus on isolated behaviors
• People are aware of their own psychological processes
• Humanistic Theory shifts the focus from the unconscious to the conscious
• 
  People's existence is not limited to their immediate surroundings.
• A person has material, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions
• Free will of the people
• the choice comes with accountability
• people can make mistakes and learn from them
• People can control the outcomes of their behavior
• Human behavior is intentional and deliberate

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• People are not direct products of stimuli and circumstances
• People do not follow the imperatives of the unconscious mind.
• People are generally rational and logical in setting their goals and choosing the methods to achieve them.
• It is inherently optimistic and circumstances can affect all of us but we humans have the power to overcome challenges

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How does Humanistic Theory view when someone fails to achieve their goals despite their good intentions and effort?

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• Humanistic Psychology focuses on the actual experience of a person
• They prefer qualitative research methods to quantitative procedures and stress the importance of  a deep examination (Shiraev 2016):

1. concerns
2. memories
3. plans
4. feeling 
5. actions

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Existentialism:

1. focuses on someone's individual uniqueness, free will, and responsibility.
2. People are not substances with fixed properties
3. People are not subjects interacting with a world of objects

Controversial Assumptions of Existentialism (Shiraev 2016):

1. Human existence is tragic
1. People are free but struggle with society's demands
2. Most people do not know what to do with their freedom.
3. Every moment we are getting closer to death
4. No matter what we do and how hard we try the final results do not match our expectations and we are left sad and disoriented.
2. Life is painful and absurd
1. There is no true meaning in life
2. attempts to find meaning are fruitless
3. existential attitude- when we can't find meaning then this adds to a sense of confusion
4. existential crisis - when someone questions the foundations of life and asks whether their life has any meaning, purpose, or value.
5. Finding no answers causes anxiety and depression in people.
3. Steps can be taken to address the tragic nature and absurdity of our lives

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Where do Anxiety and Depression Originate from:

1. Anxiety and Depression manifest because people need answers and do not find them. There is no certainty in life except for death (Shiraev 2016).

What are their solutions?

• Some celebrate the power of human will and power.
• Some encourage people to revolt against their own existence
• Others encourage people to look beyond their prescribed social roles
• Some choose therapy to address anxieties

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References

Shiraev, E. (2016). Personality Theories. SAGE Publications, Inc. (US). https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781506300795

Humanistic

 

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Humanistic Psychology

Focuses on the individual and their unique experiences and emerged in the 1950s and 1960s as a reaction to behaviorism and psychoanalysis which were two dominant schools of thought at the time.

Humanist Psychologists

• Emphasized the importance of free will, responsibility, and self-actualization and believed that people are fundamentally good and have the capacity to grow and develop into their full potential.

They believed that psychology had lost sight of the individual. 

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Criticisms of behaviorism (Shiraev 2015):

Behaviorism is too simplistic and deterministic and reduces human behavior to a set of learned responses that ignore the role of free will and personal responsibility.

Behaviorism is focused on changing behavior rather than helping people to understand and grow.

Behaviorism ignores consciousness and the subjective experience of the person

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Criticisms of psychoanalysis (Shiraev 2015):

Too focused on the unconscious and the past and it neglects the conscious mind and the potential for growth and change.

Psychoanalysis is too pessimistic and deterministic and views people as being controlled by unconscious forces.

Too expensive and time-consuming.

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References





Shiraev, E. (2016). Personality Theories. SAGE Publications, Inc. (US). https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781506300795




 

The Revolution in Psychology that Put the Individual Back in the Center

 

Humanistic Psychology:

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• The humanistic tradition in personality psychology emerged during a period of great uncertainty and upheaval. World War II and the Cold War contributed to a widespread feeling of unease and anxiety which led to a growing interest in human psychology and a desire to understand how people can thrive in the face of adversity.
• Humanistic psychologists believe that people are fundamentally good and have the innate capacity to grow and develop. They focus on someone's subjective experience and their potential for self-actualization. They also emphasize the importance of free will and personal responsibility.
• In the second half of the past century, an influx of immigrants from all over the world brought a new wave of educated specialists.

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New and intriguing debates about the role of psychology emerged in the 1950s (Shiraev 2015):

• Some psychologists argued that psychology should use primarily experimental methods of investigation, while others believed that psychology should also embrace other approaches such as studying happiness, self-improvement, and compassion
• Humanistic psychologists believe that psychology should pay significant attention to human suffering and injustice and pursue goals to make society better.
• This view accelerated in the changing political culture of the 1960s as people challenged traditional norms and focused on civil rights and discrimination.

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Humanistic psychology is a broad and diverse tradition that focuses on the experiences and potential of individuals emphasizing the importance of free will, personal responsibility, and self-actualization. (Shiraev 2015)

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References 

Shiraev, E. (2016). Personality Theories. SAGE Publications, Inc. (US). https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781506300795

 

The Breaking Bad of Addiction Treatment

 Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud: 

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What if two of the most influential psychoanalytic thinkers of all time, Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud were to work together to treat someone suffering from a crystal meth addiction. What would their approach be? How would they combine their theories and techniques to help someone overcome this devastating addiction?

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• Jung believed that addiction is a symptom of a deeper psychological problem and saw it as a way of coping with unresolved trauma, conflict, or meaninglessness in life. Jung would first strive to understand the underlying psychological factors that are contributing to the problem.
• Jung would use dream analysis, word association, and active imagination to help this person understand their unconscious mind.
• Using therapeutic techniques such as talk therapy and art therapy, Jung would help this person work through any unresolved issues.

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• 
  Freud might see this person's addiction as a way of coping with anxiety and conflict. He would also probably see it as a regression to an earlier stage of psychosexual development. So Freud would probably delve into understanding the patient's early childhood experiences and how they may have shaped this person's personality.
• Freud would probably use free association and some other techniques such as dream analysis and transference to delve into this patient's unconscious mind.
• Freud would then use some therapeutic techniques such as talk therapy and resistance analysis.
• "Transference and resistance are the pillars of psychoanalytic inquiry theoretically as well as clinically" (Frank 2012).

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If they set aside their differences and just agreed to disagree, then they would likely combine their approaches in a number of ways. They could use Jung's dream analysis techniques to understand the patient's unconscious mind, and then possibly use Freud's free association techniques to help the patient work through some unresolved issues.

What if they combined their different perspectives on addiction. Jung might view the patient's addiction as a symptom of a deeper psychological problem, while Freud might view it as a way of coping with anxiety and conflict. I don't see why they couldn't meet on common sacred ground and form an effective treatment plan for this patient.

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I am only a student but this is my dream scenario:

1. Session one
1. Jung and Freud meet with the patient for an initial assessment and ask the patient about their addiction, and early childhood experiences, and gather relevant information.
2. Session two
1. Jung steps up and meets with the patient for a dream analysis session by having the patient recall a recent dream and possibly interpret the dream's meaning.
3. Session three
1. Freud would step up and do a free association session with the patient. Hopefully, Freud would pick up on patterns and themes in the patient's thoughts.
4. Session four
1. Jung and Freud could come together to discuss their findings from the individual sessions and develop a combined treatment plan for the patient consisting of dream analysis, free association, and talk therapy.
5. Ongoing Sessions:
1. Jung and Freud would continue to meet with the patient on a regular basis to help them work through their addiction and underlying psychological issues by using a variety of techniques to help the patient develop some new coping mechanisms and live a more fulfilling life.

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References

Frank, G. (2012). On the concept of resistance: Analysis and reformulation. Psychoanalytic Review, 99(3), 421–435. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1521/prev.2012.99.3.421

Mother Archetype Symbols

What Do They Mean??

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According to Jung, there is a feminine personality hidden inside of the unconscious of every man and vice versa for women. They are labeled 

Anima

Animus

Anima-Animus - best illustragted with the chinese yin yang symbol

Jung believed that the majority of male or female genes determined someone's sex. However, the minority genes that do not determine the sex do not just disappear once the sex of the developing fetus is determined.(Mackey-Kallis 2023)

The Mother archetype or image of the mother goddess or great mother spans the world's religions and cultures. In psychology, it is often associated with (Mackey-Kallis 2023):

1. fertility
2. fruition
3. a garden
4. a cave
5. plowed field

• It is connected with birth or any round cavernous place and, by expansion, rebirth, or magical transformation and healing - all of which are positive connotations.
• The negative connotations of the mother archetype  (Mackey-Kallis 2023):
• the witch
• devouring dragon
• grave
• deep water
• any suffocating or annihilating energy 

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The first manifestation:

The mother complex can stimulate or inhibit her feminine instinct. The exaggeration of the feminine instinct is represented in the daughter whose only goal is to have children. She views her husband as an instrument only. She is self-defined as "living for others" However, she does not make any true or meaningful sacrifices for other people.

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The second manifestation:

The daughter with an overdeveloped sex drive which potentially replaces the maternal instinct. Jung believed that this could lead to an unconscious incestuous relationship with the father driven by jealousy of the mother.

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The third manifestation:

Jung's Archetypes: The Hidden Codes of Your Psyche

Archetypes

Jung believed that unconscious energy is manifested through archetypes. Archetypes are basically the words that articulate the unconscious material. Archetypes not only represent unconscious content brought into consciousness but they also exist outside of time and space.

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Archetypes may appear as universal symbols such as a mandala symbol or they are presented to us in a mythic story such as stories of rebirth. They emerge during states of reduced consciousness such as when we are daydreaming, dreaming, having visions, or in a state of delirium. "In these states, the check put upon unconscious contents by the concentration of the conscious mind ceases so that the unconscious material streams into the field of consciousness" (Mackey-Kallis 2023). They can also emerge during strong emotional states such as intense anger, love, hate, confusion, or pain.

• Archetypes are spontaneous and have a life of their own.
• They can not be permanently suppressed nor ordered to emerge and they are waiting to be revealed.

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What is the function of Archetypes?

• Well, Jung claimed it was dangerous to suppress or ignore the collective unconscious because he believed that someone's fate is predominantly determined by the unconscious.
• Suppressing the unconscious results in neurosis which is a nervous disorder characterized by intense emotional instability.
• When someone or a social group deviates too far from their instinctual foundations then they experience the full impact of unconscious forces (Mackey-Kallis 2023):
• they are meant to attract, convince, to fascinate, and to overpower
• cultures need to continually explore the archetypes of the unconsciousness
• they must constantly be reborn and reinterpreted for every generation or they can die.
• Jung believed that to fully live the human life we must continually find new interpretations of the archetypes of the collective unconscious.

 

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 References

Mackey-Kallis, S. (2023). Jungian archetypes and the collective unconscious. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health. 

Jung's

Unconscious

Two types of unconscious according to Jung (Mackey-Kallis 2023):

1. Personal Unconscious - This is where personal dreams originate and are specific to the individual and involve material that may have been forgotten such as memories of birth or memories repressed from consciousness like child abuse.
2. Collective Unconscious - Archetypal dreams originate from here. This area is a reservoir of elemental configurations or archetypes that are outside of space and time and it is inherited. "Identical and present in all individuals and represents a common psychic substrate of a suprapersonal nature"
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Jung believed that the realm of consciousness does not make up the total psyche. Jung supports this claim through many years of clinical observations of patients' dreams and visions - especially schizophrenics.( Mackey-Kallis 2023)

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A quote from Jung printed by Mackey-Kallis (2023) states "Achieving individuation through the therapeutic method of complex psychology requires rendering conscious the energy of both the personal and collective unconscious, to reconcile the conflict between conscious and unconscious content.

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Transcendent Function

What Jung called reconciling the conflict between conscious and unconscious content.

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 References

Mackey-Kallis, S. (2023). Jungian archetypes and the collective unconscious. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health.