An Existential Journey From The Shadow to Self-Actualization:

A Creative Approach to Sobriety

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Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Rollo May were all influential psychologists who developed different theories of personality and psychopathology. While their theories had some similarities, they also had significant differences. If these three were to come together to develop a treatment plan for someone suffering from addiction they would likely draw on all of their different perspectives to create a comprehensive and individualized plan. Well I have been studying these guys this term and I believe that a daily schedule would look like this for the patient

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Here is a sample daily schedule therapy plan for someone suffering from an addiction based on the approaches of Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, and Rollo May

Monday

• Morning: Individual therapy with a Jungian therapist
• Afternoon: Group therapy
• Evening: Cognitive-behavioral therapy

Tuesday:

• Morning: Psychoanalysis with a Freudian therapist
• Afternoon: Mindfulness meditation\
• Evening: Art therapy

Wednesday:

• Morning: Support group meeting
• Afternoon: Relapse prevention workshop
• Evening: Individual therapy

Friday

• Morning: Individual therapy with a Jungian therapist
• Afternoon: Group therapy
• Evening: Cognitive-behavioral therapy

Saturday

• Morning: Mindfulness meditation
• Afternoon: Free time
  
• Evening: Support group meeting

Sunday

• Morning: Yoga
• Afternoon: Free time
• Evening: Individual therapy

Rollo May

Existential Psychology

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• A person's existence and experience is unique, exceptional, and unrepeatable
• Everyone is a universe in itself.
• Importance of a person's free will and choice
• It is necessary to consider every person as a unique entity in the context of their own circumstances, relationships, conditions, influences, and internal forces.

• Existential psychologists tend to be optimistic
• A self-improving person overcomes selfish desires and pride keeps away from the material world and practices meditation to reach a state of pure consciousness
• Focus on the awareness of others, and self-awareness to pursue pure consciousness and happiness.

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Rollo May

• His health problems early in life and his search for inner strength gave him a creative insight into personality psychology
• he believed anxiety was provoked by technological and social changes taking place in the world and he believed that these factors led to anxiety (Shiraev 2016):
• People were caught up in a conflict between the old world of tradition and the new world of change.
• Tradition represented stability and certainty and change was rooted in uncertainty and instability
• Emerging threats to the individual's fundamental family values
• This anxiety led to confusion which increased the sense of powerlessness and insignificance which can lead to anger and even violence

May encourage people to reduce their anxiety by rediscovering the importance of caring for one another.

3 Ways to cope with Fear:

1. Avoidance
2. Confronting
3. Accept it
4. Identifying it

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 References

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

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