Category: Theory
Hegel’s Master/Slave Dialectic: collective healing in our complex world
in HumanisticHegel proposed the Master/Slave thought experiment to understand human’s need for self-consciousness through the genuine recognition of (and by) others. Hegel argues that self-consciousness is not just being alive or thinking, but about knowing yourself as a subject. Unlike Descartes, for whom thinking alone proves existence (‘I think, therefore I am’), Hegel argues that existence…
Are we ever free? The experience of fear and the embracing of responsibility in our work towards freedom
Freedom is complex. Are we ever free? Do we want to actually be? And how do we even know we are? This article explores how true freedom is not about escaping fear and responsibility, but about embracing them The struggle to be free is the struggle to exist. We’re driven to free ourselves from our…
Having vs being as modes of existence
in HumanisticErich Fromm was a humanist philosopher and psychoanalyst associated with critical theory. He blended the analysis of social and psychological factors to explore different philosophies of living. In To Have or To Be?, he examines two broad perspectives on life. — He explored how spiritual and cultural traditions have intertwined with structures of power to…
Games people play: A classified list of Eric Berne’s games in Transactional Analysis
This article brings together two frameworks from Transactional Analysis: “Games” from Eric Berne (Games people play) and “The Drama Triangle” from Stephen Karpman. – Our thoughts and behaviours are often guided by unconscious scripts we’re following – whether it takes us a minute to realise, or years. Uncovering those scripts – and in the process…
Karen Horney’s theory of personality
The below is taken from Neurosis and Growth (Karen Horney, 1951), as well as summaries and commentaries from here and here and occassionaly my own reflections along the way. – Karen Horney was an amazing woman. She immensely respected Freud but challenged much of psychoanalytical orthodoxy. She provided a theoretical framework of mental illness that…
The regulation of ego states within ourselves
“Everyone carries their parents inside…also a little boy/girl” Eric Berne Ego states – as conceptualised by Eric Berne – are psychological realities or modes of being that emerge within us, depending on the situation and our own tendencies. In this article, I will discuss intrapsychic processes. For a more detailed overview of ego estates and…
The Good Life (according to Carl Rogers)
Ask people what they think makes for a good life and you will find many different answers. Some people will relate to achievements, possessions and other goal-led end-states. Others may become more philosophical: “to be happy”, “to be free of worries”. Very rarely, if ever, the good life will be what it’s happening right now. …
The seven stages of the counselling process according to Rogers
It did not appeal to me to review work we have done in the past. I decided rather to devote a year (…) to understand the process by which personality changes (…) but as the next year approached I realised the ideas I had formed were still unclear, tentative, hardly in the shape of a…
