Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Psychotherapy and Joseph Campbell

Good Essays
621 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Psychotherapy and Joseph Campbell
Psychotherapy followed the tradition of medicine as it understood itself as a healing profession. That implies psychotherapists followed a psychic/biological model of man as a machine who needs curing. After being thoroughly diagnosed, the client needs intervention and re-education to heal, to perform again, to be fit again, to become normal, to become sane.
The pathology orientation of the medically-based psychotherapists for example often did not fit the needs of the people and the therapeutic experience.
The therapist needs to understand and accept and respect the client and be at the same time aware of alternative views and perceptions and their possible consequences. S/he is a temporary builder of conversations and stages for clients and their next ones so that they are better able to live, to breathe, to work, to talk and to enjoy each one and together, by overcoming the stressing modes that led them to suffering and considering therapy. S/he is flexible in creating and observes the effect of how s/he invites to create other perspectives.
It is here that I find the work of Campbell most attractive. In his work “ The hero with thousand faces”…. He actually weaves in parallels of the journey made, to the process of therapy, which itself is adventure.
Like in therapy there is insight generation, and the client returns to day to day settings after therapy with the idea of applying the insights, the same corollary holds true in Campbell’s work.
He bases his concepts on Freudian concepts but uses a lot of Jungian archetypes, he is a story teller taking from all major themes in world mythology.
If therapy is an art then we could compare therapists with artists, who draw attention to stories of our life, symbolism and narrative.
I quote him(What I think is that a good life is one hero journey after another. Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure, you are called to new horizons. Each time, there is the same problem: do I dare? And then if you do dare, the dangers are there, and the help also, and the fulfillment or the fiasco. There's always the possibility of a fiasco. But there's also the possibility of bliss)
Campbell works with the myths quite following the ideas of Otto Rank, an early disciple of Freud, who later parted ways and worked in the areas of existential, humanistic and transpersonal psychology.
Quoting Otto Rank here[In the process of adaptation, man persistently separates from his old self, or at least from those segments off his old self that are now outlived. Like a child who has outgrown a toy, he discards the old parts of himself for which he has no further use ….The ego continually breaks away from its worn-out parts, which were of value in the past but have no value in the present. The neurotic [who cannot unlearn, and, therefore, lacks creativity] is unable to accomplish this normal detachment process … Owing to fear and guilt generated in the assertion of his own autonomy, he is unable to free himself, and instead remains suspended upon some primitive level of his evolution.
Unlearning necessarily involves separation from one’s self-concept, as it has been culturally conditioned to conform to familial, group, occupational or organizational allegiances.
According to Rank , unlearning or breaking out of our shell from the inside is “a separation [that] is so hard, not only because it involves persons and ideas that one reveres, but because the victory is always, at bottom, and in some form, won over a part of one’s ego]….. most important in therapy!
Joseph Campbell addresses unlearning in his works, also drawing on Upanishads at times.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Discuss how current counselling and psychotherapy practice emerged from psychiatry and psychology. Use critical evaluation of theoretical evidence to support discussion points. 2, Analyse the similarities and differences between psychotherapy and counselling practices using evidence, aims and objectives relevant to practice and therapeutic need.…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “Psychologist with Doctoral degrees form programs devoted to research should not provide therapy to individuals without obtaining additional education or training in practice fields of psychology.” This is impactful because it allows only those who have had extensive training in interpersonal skills to work directly with people. This area ensures that, one is not simply living and practicing under the umbrella of “psychologist” while not providing adequate care.…

    • 1611 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The most important part of therapy is the relationship between the professional and the client. It is imperative for the client and professional to have a healthy relationship in order to assist in resolving the presenting problem. There are some characteristics that a professional must display, such as, empathy, respect, genuineness, and warmth. These characteristics assist the client in trusting the professional, so that there can be a willingness in the client to be honest with the professional. The willingness of the client will then lead to the client being able to trust the profession with the agreement of task and goals. With the characteristics that the professional must inhabit in order to have a working relationship with the client can set the mood for the therapy session, without these components, the therapy session can…

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Art Therapy acts as a release of emotions for individuals. Creating art reflects daily lives, if practiced everyday and displays various events or other aspects of life that left an emotional…

    • 1282 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Chrysalis Module 4 25

    • 2621 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The term ‘therapy’ literary means, “curing, healing” and is defined as a treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder. Historically, there has been considerable development in the range and types of therapy that can be used to help a client overcome their problems in a modern world. Some of these theories are very different whilst others share some similarities.…

    • 2621 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Observations - The article was pretty true to the title, the author describes his journey from beginning to end with counseling. I noticed the theme being one never ceases to need therapy. The longer you are in the field it seems the more you are in need of staying in touch with your inner self. The author made the point of having substance in your self and a better understanding of yourself in turn helps your client. Therefore the longer we continue to grow with another counselor the longer we continue to help others grow.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    I found this assignment very interesting and enjoyed it. I think it was because it was a more creative assignment which enabled me to use my own thoughts a lot more. Also I think I may have a better understanding of what is expected of my assignment’s regarding writing style and referencing and hope to be told weather im correct in thinking this or not.…

    • 2218 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Life of Pi

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages

    - The hero's journey is the work of Carl Jung, but applied by Joseph Campbell.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    This understanding provides the key to both psychodynamic theory and practice in that present experiences and feelings can only be understood in relation to those of the past. This is reflected within the current relationship between counsellor and client which is exploring experiences, events and feelings in the conscious and working to bring those suppressed experiences from the unconscious to the conscious.…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conveying empathy to clients through accurate reflections of what they are really trying to say can encourage their self-awareness, expression of their emotional selves, and personal growth, which is often what psychotherapy is about or trying to achieve. This is what makes reflection therapeutic and different from simply repeating someone’s words back to him or her. Good reflections communicate to clients that their therapists can adopt the clients’ perspectives and understand their situations and emotions in their shoes. This sense of being heard, understood, and accepted generates a good feeling in the clients and fosters development and deepening of therapeutic relationships between clients and their therapists. If one only simply repeats what the client has said the whole time without doing any reflection or…

    • 564 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In many cases many treatments prescribed to balance the humors could be considered precursors to psychotherapy. Hippocrates had his patients’ discuss their dreams to gain insight into their ailments. From these discussions, he would then prescribe such things as rest and relaxation as well as a change of climate, scenery, or diet. Hippocrates believed that removing a mentally ill patient from a tumultuous family life could restore the patient’s mental health. . Most of these theories can be seen later on as suggestive cures for Freud’s patients even though Freud viewed the causes much differently. Physical ailments were treated with a much different approach when compared to mental health problems.…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When deciding if Clinical Psychology is the field and profession that a student will choose and follow, he or she will first look into what the history and evolving nature of Clinical Psychology. Looking into the history of Clinical Psychology one will see that Clinical Psychology has been around since the early times beginning in 2500-500 BC (Jones, 2004) until today. In the early years there was a belief that mental illness and any physical illness could be treated by herbs and reasoning (Jones. 2004). The history and evolving of Clinical Psychology began to sharpen into the belief of the body being one, St Thomas Aquinas believed that scientific thinking would and could explain illness of either mental or physical form (Witmer, 1907-1908). Like anything else, there is always a shift of thinking and people who feel there are other ways of looking at something, this was seen with…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Before I graduated from college, an art therapist saved my life. She helped me work through my diagnosis by utilizing various art forms. Upon termination, art therapy had given me true healing and empowered me to use art for self-expression. Today, I am thriving with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, applying to graduate school to follow my passion, and wearing my adversity as a badge of triumph. The power of art therapy provided me with an inside look at the difference an art therapist can make. Now I am ready and determined to help others find their own healing through art.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Psychosomatic Medicine

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Although psychosomatic medicine is quite a new terminology, its roots dates back far. Towards the end of the very first century there were discoveries made in the medieval islamic world. People were wondering if there's a reason for mentally ill people to tend to become ill also physically. Connections began to be clearer later. There are few names associated with passing on the true significance of psychosomatics to the world. Franz Alexander, Hungarian psychoanalytic; Helena Flanders Dunbar, an American 'Mother of the Holistic medicine'; or Robert S. Woodworth, an important American psychology text book writer 2. All these people helped the body&mind relationship to get a voice. Whereas Alexander established an own psychoanalytic institute in Chicago, it was Mrs. Dunbar who really worked with all her panties in holistic way and didn't hesitate to call her attempts 'psychosomatic'.…

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    types of people that he meets along his journey. Even though many are not like him and have…

    • 314 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays