New Paradigm Psychology: Embracing The New - Putting The Heart Into Counseling And Psychology Practice
136
New Paradigm Psychology: Embracing The New - Putting The Heart Into Counseling And Psychology Practice
136eBook
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781782799085 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Collective Ink |
| Publication date: | 07/27/2018 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 136 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
The changing role of psychologists: choosing your path
Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Aristotle
As I read journal and books, attend conferences and speak with colleagues, I have started to wonder what is happening in counseling psychology. There seems to be a widening split, almost a crisis of identity. On the one hand there is such a huge and burgeoning interest in the interface of spiritual ideas and psychology. The exploration of the place of such things as compassion, altruism, gratitude, love and joy in the happiness and the mental, emotional and physical health of the human being is enjoying much attention from a wide variety of scientists, researchers, spiritual leaders and those in practice in the helping professions, such as psychologists, counselors therapists and doctors.
On the other hand we have the increased scientificization (yes, I have made this word up) of psychology. As psychology has become more regulated, and more mainstream, we have developed a far more pathology focused and medical-like attitude and approach to our work. There is a push for evidence based therapies that can be manualized and even administered by computer, a focus on pathology and diagnosis, and a lessened interest in creating relationship and coming from the heart in therapy.
So where are we going, and how can we reconcile these two seemingly opposite ways of being? It seems to me that the way it is going suggests that we can choose from a couple of paths. The path I and many others are choosing is the path from the heart. The true work of exploring what it means to be human with our clients, not so that they can be happy, or live perfect lives or be free from emotional pain, but so that they, and we, can experience, learn grow, and develop. It's about making room in our lives to wonder, experience, and find joy, even in the midst of difficulty and pain.
Coming from the heart honors the humanness of our relationships with our clients and truly puts us alongside rather than in a one-up position. We are sharing the journey.
This book is for those of us who feel called to a different work, a new way. It is for those who would like to work as therapists and counselors with all kinds of people, and to be able to help facilitate their growth and movement emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
Psychology as a profession is changing under our eyes. What once was considered quite an alternative and even controversial field has now become so mainstream it is even covered by Medicare. There are psychologists in every school and every corporation. The roles of psychologists are ever widening, and there are now many different types of psychologists all requiring different training. Counseling psychology, and therapy, is my interest and focus here, and it also is changing, with so many different counseling approaches, techniques and schools of thought. As psychology changes, we as psychologists and counselors need to start deciding what it is we want it to become, so we can direct the changes and not be dictated to by government, or insurance companies.
I see that we are entering a new era in psychology, so let us take the opportunity now to decide what that will look like. We need to be ready for this next challenge and start working now on what we want to see. I can see psychology, if we allow it, take a role in nurturing, developing and healing, trailblazing a new way and taking a place among the teachers and healers in the new world.
I see the aims of psychology to be for a psychologically healthy society; to promote and focus on health, rather than disease. To move towards an individual approach for clients or perhaps to simply understand that all are on their unique, but of course similarly human, journey. To move away from the paradigm of normal, of right and wrong ways to feel, of fixing those who don't fit in; to be the forerunners in the development of self-empowerment, and human spiritual growth in humanity. To allow our understanding of humanness to be a resource for humanity as it grows, learns and develops.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if people could, and did, see a psychologist or therapist preventatively, as is becoming more common in both traditional and complementary medicine? Imagine having clients who wished to come in to maintain and even further strengthen their mental/emotional health, their resilience, happiness, contentedness and self-worth; having clients who are looking for a positive outcome, a reaching higher towards their potential, rather than simply looking for the amelioration of symptoms. This would be such a wonderful way to work, with motivated and healthy people who wish to go just that bit further, to meet more of their potential. We know, as professionals, that there is always more work to be done — on ourselves, as well as with our clients. There is always further to go if a client wishes it. It seems, though, that as we medicalize psychology we run the risk of losing these 'healthy' clients, they simply see us as not for them, that they don't have enough pathology to warrant coming to see us. We are now seeing an increased interest in areas such as coaching and mentoring, and perhaps this is why, so as to be able to offer 'healthy' people an opportunity for growth and development, where they do not feel they have to be mentally ill. It would be a pity for Psychologists to lose this group, though, as we have the skills and training to work strongly and effectively in helping people be the best they can be. I am concerned that as we continue the trend of medicalizing psychology we end up with a counseling field split into fragments. As we start to call what we do 'psychological treatment', rather than 'therapy' or even 'counseling', we start to lose a cherished part of our role. Treatment implies fixing something that is wrong, sick or diseased, and so it limits the kinds of clients we attract and so the kind of work we do. This means some of what we could be doing is lost, and so other models are created to meet the needs of those who wish to do more and be more, but are not 'sick.' Coaching would be an example of that. The idea of coaching in this context had to be created in order to encourage those 'healthy' people to access more of their own potential.
I am not suggesting that psychologists do not work with the mentally ill, I understand that for many of us this is a critical and important part of our work, and rightly so. I am simply suggesting that this should not be the limit of our work, and particularly not be seen as the only useful work there is to be done. In trying to help people be able to fit in to society we can forget to look at society and wonder how it can be changed and influenced for the better, and where our role could be in this change. There is so much opportunity for positive work to be done with 'ordinary' people, in their quest to become extraordinary, helping them overcome their own self-imposed conditions and limitations, and so to help facilitate a critical mass of people who are enlightened, compassionate, loving and joyful, to help lead the way into a hopeful golden age for humanity.
This privileged profession could be one whose raison d'etre is to help all who wish it, to be the best they can be, and to know they can keep growing and developing. I would like to see psychotherapy as one of the professions that helps humanity as a whole move into the future, enabling people to know themselves better and more, and to keep moving towards an ideal. A profession that is able to provide people with tools to do the work themselves as well as facilitating this work as professionals. How high do we want to aim as the human race? Is this, what we have now, good enough? Can we be better, or should we simply be happy with not being ill? What more can we, as humans, strive and aim for, and what can we, as psychologists, do to help this process?
Though supporting those with mental illness and other issues to take part in a meaningful way in society is a large and essential part of a psychologists work, I think it is important that we do not discount the possibility of using our skills and knowledge to help advance humanity as a whole into the future. To be able also to facilitate those with the most potential to be their best and meet their potential in the same way as we do with those who are identified as needing help. We have such skill as a profession, and there is such potential in what we can do, and the role we can play in supporting human development could be so important. We must guard against limiting our vision, and at risk of sounding naïve, I think it is important that we revisit why we chose this 'helping' profession, and what we hoped it could be. That is the real possibility. That is the potential we could grow towards.
Let's take ownership of our profession and allow it to be what it could be — positive, facilitating, growthful and inspirational, taking a leading role in the mental, emotional and spiritual development of humanity as it moves into its future.
Questions to ponder
Sit with these questions over the next days and weeks and as you review your practice. What comes up can be transformative.
Who are we, as Psychologists/Therapists, and what is our job?
Is being a Psychologist/Therapist what you want it to be?
Is your current practice in line with why you became a Psychologist and/or a Therapist?
When you chose this path, what was your aim? Is it being fulfilled?
What would you like to change?
Where do you see psychology and/or Therapy in 100 years' time? 500 years' time?
Where would you like to see it?
Are these different? If so, how do we change that trajectory?
CHAPTER 2Embracing the new: a new paradigm
With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability one can build a better world.
Dalai Lama
We really have entered a new era. There is so much exploration and a blossoming in intellectual and scientific circles of new ideas and openness to the spiritual; discussion of the possibility of the existence of things that cannot be proven — yet. The excitement and optimism in the world of psychology and the worlds with which it collides is opening up whole new fields of research and fertile discussion, an openness of minds. Scientists can now explain, or at least start to research, things that previously would have been seen as unexplainable, such as how energy works, how feeling compassion affects our brain and happiness, and the fields of quantum physics and quantum mechanics, and how these micro-worlds relate to us, and give us the basis for fertile new discussions on energetic interactions.
What does it actually mean to be psychologically healthy? Being psychologically healthy is far more than the absence of mental disease, or fitting within the norms of the population. Psychological health is a positive state — not simply an absence of illness. It is where one is able to meet, or strive to meet, their potential, to overcome fear, doubt and disbelief, those things that limit us and prevent our growth. It is where we are able to take risks, as our self-worth is adequate to enable us to fail without losing ourselves, and our identity.
Usually clients seek us out when they have symptoms that are intruding upon their life in an unpleasant way, and that are impossible to ignore. Perhaps they find no pleasure in anything, they are always exhausted, or they have panic attacks or compulsions. Perhaps they are suicidal, or feel completely alone in the world, or their relationships with partner, parents, children, friends or family are falling apart. Mostly these symptoms are seen as the illness. The client believes that if they can just get rid of their complaint all will be well again. It is important to remember though that these symptoms are simply that, symptoms. When they are present, there is always an underlying illness that may have been symptom-free for years. M. Scott Peck, in his book The Road Less Travelled, discusses this point and suggests that symptoms may be a wonderful opportunity for healing. Symptoms are a clue for us that things aren't going well, and Peck sees them as the beginning of the cure. Avoiding pain is avoiding growth, and indeed the pain that accompanies the symptoms creates the impetus for change.
True psychological health enables us to learn from our mistakes, and importantly, to be able to forgive ourselves for them. If we could see our mistakes and our messiness as simply an opportunity for growth and learning, so much of the angst, worry and self-hatred we see and feel would be gone. Instead we would simply feel gratitude, joy and trust that we are on the right path, on our own journey, and exactly where we need to be. Wow, what a difference! This is a world that I would like to see exist, and it does, sometimes, and with some people. Imagine if we all felt this. If we could all feel as we feel without judgment.
Where would counseling and psychology fit in this world? Where would they fit in a world that was psychologically healthy? Indeed, some would ask would they fit at all. I believe they would, and that the opportunities then for the profession to really contribute to the betterment of humanity would be magnified a thousandfold.
A world of love and acceptance is the kind of world we need to create to be able to take the next steps to true mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Psychological health and clarity play a large part in this well-being. Growth, and the desire for it, must be honored and all our experience recognized for the gift it is, an aid to our learning and development.
There are no mistakes, just opportunities for learning and growth. This, however, is NOT an excuse for not striving, but an acceptance of reality, and a knowledge that we are all striving for the same thing. We mostly live at the moment within our separateness; even when we feel a sense of belonging it is often only in relation to the exclusion of some other group, such as in politics, in religion, in sport, in race or country of origin. We live in a world of 'us and them'. Imagine unity. Imagine knowing that all beings are looking for the same thing, are striving for the same thing. The level of compassion that this would engender in all of us would certainly change something!
As Einstein says in a famous quote:
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the 'Universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.
Our sense of separation is a delusion. Unity is the truth.
Harmony and unity
Being in harmony and unity allows us to let go of judgment on ourselves and others. We feel then a sense of belonging, and of oneness. It is separation that causes so much of the modern day distress we see daily. It is no coincidence that psychologists, therapists and counselors are becoming more and more mainstream, and that the DSM is getting bigger with every edition. We are becoming increasingly unhappy with our lives and our relationships, while at the same time expecting that we 'should' be happy all the time or at least most of it. We reason with ourselves that we should be feeling differently. We can't put our finger on why we should be so angry/grumpy/sad/flat/numb/miserable/despairing. We try and talk ourselves out of it, and in the process we make ourselves feel worse, because it doesn't work.
Research has shown that the most affluent societies are the unhappiest, and one of the most cited reasons for this is the apparent loss of community and relationships we find in wealthier consumer societies. We have become more separate from others. These days it is not just the sense of separation from those unlike us, such as other races, or even other towns as there was in the past. In our society this sense of separation has even spread to within our towns, workplaces and families. We have lost, in our size, the sense of social connectedness that previously existed; in its place is a sense of aloneness and separation for many of us. When we feel this separation we fail to see how all our actions and lives are intertwined. We fail to understand that we are all interdependent, that we all have our own particular purpose that fits beautifully in with all other particular purposes and that the world would be essentially different without even one of us in it. This sense of interdependence allows us to feel purpose, belonging and oneness. Then, we have a meaning.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "New Paradigm Psychology"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Claudia Vayda.
Excerpted by permission of John Hunt Publishing Ltd..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Linda Koen,
Foreword by Dr Steve Zolezzi,
Acknowledgements,
Introduction,
Chapter 1. The changing role of psychologists: choosing your path,
Chapter 2. Embracing the new: a new paradigm,
Chapter 3. The therapist: introduction to working with energy,
Chapter 4. Working with energy part 2: maintaining energetic boundaries,
Chapter 5. Being of service and creating meaning,
Chapter 6. Failure and letting go of the past,
Chapter 7. The tyranny of the mind: learning to come from the heart,
Chapter 8. Compassion in therapy – it all just is,
Chapter 9. When it doesn't work – and burnout,
Chapter 10. The power of gratitude and acceptance,
Chapter 11. Hanging on to hope,
Chapter 12. Both accepting our feelings and choosing our feelings,
Chapter 13. Working with perceptions, and loving the truth,
Chapter 14. Self-esteem and self-acceptance,
Chapter 15. Where to from here? An invitation to the new paradigm,
Epilogue,
Appendix,