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Tag: therapy-works
Boundaries in Gestalt
Gestalt is an existential-phenomenological model of therapy that places focus on human experience. Boundaries are the different areas in which this experience happens, making it a key concept in Gestalt therapy. In “The emergent self” Peter Philippson gives an overview of three different boundaries. Using these concepts we can evaluate our experiencing at these three…
Beyond the search for the true self
The search for the true self is like the search for the philosopher’s stone or Kung Fu Panda Dragon Scroll: both crucial and pointless. Pointless because just like the philosopher’s stone it doesn’t really exist and therefore it can’t be discovered, per se. But crucial because it is in the journey of that search that…
How to change our past: Memories, Stories, Identity.
Psychotherapy is moving away from grand, unifying theories of human experience and wellbeing. Carl Roger’s potato and Freud’s unconscious are only partially helpful and certainly insufficient to help us understand what people are like and how they can be helped. Postmodern ideas has led to the “deconstruction of absolute truths” (Cooper, M. Rowan, J, 1999)…
The descent of Inanna: A mythical model for life transformation
The descent of Inanna is a mythical story of breakdown to breakthrough. It is common for our lives to break down at certain times, particularly at midlife. This often comes from the combination of a major life setback (a divorce, bereavement, injury, a redundancy or any other loss) with the spiritual emptiness we experience when…
Truth is what is helpful
William James is considered the father of Psychology and of Pragmatic Philosophy. In his essay “What pragmatism means” he suggests a provocative but well-rounded argument that truth is what is helpful. The main argument goes like this. Truthness is a type of goodness, rather than a separate entity to it. He says “truth in our…
The Apollonian and the Dionysian
The Apollonian and the Dionysian are two competing but complementary impulses that Nietzsche proposed and developed throughout his lifetime. In this article, I want to explore these two impulses in both their contradictory and complementary roles, how they may be appearing in our lives and how we could reflect on them as tools of self-knowledge…
A map of mental wellbeing theories
Last year I set out to draw a visual map of ideas in therapy. Over time, I realised the wide range of historical influences that have contributed to the development of current therapeutic models and approaches. And the map became larger and larger. I had to “finish it” one day, and by that I mean…
Ethics of ambiguity: de Beauvoir’s ways of being
Simone de Beauvoir’s Ethics of Ambiguity is a pretty intense book. I found it equal parts exhilarating, terrifying and confusing. I couldn’t put it down, but I also had to go back to read over it in frustration. I loved it and I hated it for being so mind-expanding and disarming. I think it has…
Authenticity in existentialism: the four authentic actions
In this article I explore authentic living grounded in existential and other humanistic philosophies. It is anchored in four actions (becoming, choosing, connecting, unknowing) that challenge many of the popular ideas of what it means to be an authentic person. What is it to be an authentic person? Our popular understanding of being an authentic…
Existential concerns: Death, Aloneness, Freedom and Meaning
Existential concerns are deeply significant areas of human enquiry. They relate to the core of human existence and they can form the basis of much avoidance, fear and anxiety. They can also be important catalysts for growth, as they make us face repressed anxiety and facilitate our living with renewed enthusiasm and meaning. Irvin Yalom…
