The Psychology Book

true thoughts. Freud used the free- describes the act of releasing PSYCHOTHERAPY 99
association technique (developed and feeling the deep emotions
by Carl Jung), whereby patients associated with repressed Sigmund Freud
heard a word and were then invited memories. If the significant
to say the first word that came into event—such as the death of a Born Sigismund Schlomo
their mind. He believed that this parent—was not fully experienced Freud in Freiberg, Moravia,
process allowed the unconscious at the time because it was too Freud was openly his mother’s
to break through because our mind overwhelming, the difficulty and favorite child; she called
uses automatic associations, so the energy remain, to be released him “Golden Siggie.” When
“hidden” thoughts are voiced at the moment of catharsis. Freud was four years old, the
before the conscious mind has family moved to Vienna and
a chance to interrupt. School of psychoanalysis Sigismund became Sigmund.
Freud founded the prominent Sigmund completed a medical
In order to help an individual Psychoanalytic Society in Vienna, degree and in 1886 he opened
emerge from a repressed state and from which he exerted his a medical practice specializing
begin to consciously deal with the powerful influence on the mental in neurology, and married
real issues that are affecting him health community of the time, Martha Bernays. Eventually,
or her, Freud believed that it is training others in his methods and he developed the “talking
necessary to access repressed acting as the authority on what cure” that was to become an
feelings. For example, if a man finds was acceptable practice. Over entirely new psychological
it difficult to confront others, he will time, his students and other approach: psychoanalysis.
choose to repress his feelings rather professionals modified his ideas,
than deal with the confrontation. eventually splitting the Society In 1908, Freud established
Over time, however, these into three: the Freudians (who the Psychoanalytic Society,
repressed emotions build up and remained true to Freud’s original which ensured the future of
reveal themselves in other ways. thoughts), the Kleinians (who his school of thought. During
Anger, anxiety, depression, drug followed the ideas of Melanie World War II, the Nazis
and alcohol abuse, or eating Klein), and the Neo-Freudians publicly burned his work, and
disorders may all be the result of (a later group who incorporated Freud moved to London. He
struggling to fend off feelings that Freud’s ideas into their broader died by assisted suicide, after
have been repressed instead of practice). Modern psychoanalysis enduring mouth cancer.
being addressed. Unprocessed encompasses at least 22 different
emotions, Freud asserts, are schools of thought, though Freud’s Key works
constantly threatening to break ideas continue to remain influential
through, generating an increasingly for all contemporary practitioners. ■ 1900 The Interpretation
uncomfortable tension and inciting of Dreams
more and more extreme measures Like the physical, 1904 The Psychopathology
to keep them down. the psychical is not of Everyday Life
necessarily in reality 1905 Three Essays on the
Analysis allows trapped what it appears to be. Theory of Sexuality
memories and feelings to emerge, Sigmund Freud 1930 Civilization and Its
and the patient is often surprised Discontents
to feel the emotion that has been
buried. It is not uncommon for
patients to find themselves moved
to tears by an issue from many
years ago that they felt they had
long since “got over.” This response
demonstrates that the event and the
emotion are still alive—still holding
emotional energy—and have been
repressed rather than dealt with.
In Freudian terms, “catharsis”

100

THE NEUROTIC CARRIES
A FEELING OF INFERIORITY
WITH HIM CONSTANTLY

ALFRED ADLER (1870–1937)

IN CONTEXT F reudian thinking dominated psychology was also influenced
psychotherapy in the late by present and conscious forces,
APPROACH 19th century, but Freud’s and that the influence of the social
Individual psychology approach was limited to addressing realm and environment was
unconscious drives and the legacy equally vital. Adler founded
BEFORE of an individual’s past. Alfred Adler his own approach, individual
1896 William James says that was the first psychoanalyst to psychology, based on these ideas.
self-esteem is about a ratio of expand psychological theory
“goals satisfied” to “goals beyond the Freudian viewpoint, Adler’s particular interest in
unmet” and can be raised suggesting that a person’s inferiority and the positive and
by lowering expectations as negative effects of self-esteem
well as through achievements.
Every child feels inferior because stronger,
1902 Charles Horton Cooley smarter people surround them.
describes the “looking glass
self;” the way we view Inferiority motivates them to try to do and achieve things.
ourselves is based on how we
imagine other people view us. In a balanced psyche, In an imbalanced psyche,
success relieves feelings success doesn’t relieve
AFTER feelings of inferiority…
1943 Abraham Maslow says of inferiority…
that to feel both necessary
and good about ourselves we … and confidence …and an inferiority
need achievements as well develops. complex develops.
as respect from others.

1960s British psychologist
Michael Argyle states that
comparison shapes self-esteem;
we feel better when we feel
more successful than others,
and worse when we feel less
successful than others.

PSYCHOTHERAPY 101

See also: Karen Horney 110 ■ Eric Fromm 124–29 ■ Abraham Maslow 138–39 ■
Rollo May 141 ■ Albert Ellis 142–45

A paralympic athlete may be driven because they are constantly Alfred Adler
by a powerful desire to overcome her surrounded by stronger, more
disabilities and reach greater levels of powerful people with greater After coming close to death
physical achievement. Adler described abilities. A child generally seeks from pneumonia at the age of
this trait as “compensation.” to emulate and achieve the abilities five, Alfred Adler expressed a
of its elders, motivated by the wish to become a physician.
began early in his career, when surrounding forces that propel him Growing up in Vienna, he
he worked with patients who had toward his own development and went on to study medicine,
physical disabilities. Looking at accomplishments. branching into ophthalmology
the effects that disability had on before finally settling with
achievement and sense of self, he Children and adults with a psychology. In 1897, he married
found huge differences between healthy and balanced personality Raissa Epstein, a Russian
his patients. Some people with gain confidence each time they intellectual and social activist,
disabilities were able to reach high realize that they are capable of and they had four children.
levels of athletic success, and Adler meeting external goals. Feelings of
noted that in these personalities, inferiority dissipate until the next Adler was one of the original
the disability served as a strong challenge presents itself and is members of the Freudian-
motivational force. At the other overcome; this process of psychic based Vienna Psychoanalytical
extreme, he witnessed patients growth is continual. However, an Society and the first to depart
who felt defeated by their disability individual with a physical inferiority from it, asserting that
and who made little effort to improve may develop more generalized individuals are affected by
their situation. Adler realized that feelings of inferiority—leading to social factors as well as the
the differences came down to how an unbalanced personality and unconscious drives that Freud
these individuals viewed themselves: what Adler termed an “inferiority identified. After this split in
in other words, their self-esteem. complex,” where the feelings of 1911, Adler flourished
inferiority are never relieved. professionally, establishing his
The inferiority complex own school of psychotherapy
According to Adler, feeling inferior Adler also recognized the and developing many of
is a universal human experience equally unbalanced “superiority psychology’s prominent
that is rooted in childhood. complex,” manifested in a constant concepts. He left Austria in
Children naturally feel inferior need to strive toward goals. When 1932 for the US. He died of a
attained, these goals do not instil heart attack while lecturing at
confidence in the individual, but Aberdeen University, Scotland.
merely prompt him to continually
seek further external recognition Key works
and achievements. ■
1912 The Neurotic Character
To be human is to 1927 The Practice and Theory
feel inferior. of Individual Psychology
1927 Understanding Human
Alfred Adler Nature

THE COLLECTIVE

UNCONSCIOUS

IS MADE UP OF

ARCHETYPES

CARL JUNG (1875–1961)



104 CARL JUNG Myths and symbols are strikingly similar in cultures around
the world and across the centuries.
IN CONTEXT
Therefore, they must be a result of the knowledge and
APPROACH experiences we share as a species.
Psychoanalysis
The memory of this shared experience is held…
BEFORE
1899 Sigmund Freud explores …in the collective …in the form of archetypes—
the nature of the unconscious unconscious, which is part symbols that act as
and dream symbolism in The organizing forms for
Interpretation of Dreams. of each and every person. behavioral patterns.

1903 Pierre Janet suggests Each of us is born with the innate tendency to use
that traumatic incidents these archetypes to understand the world.
generate emotionally charged
beliefs, which influence an
individual’s emotions and
behaviors for many years.

AFTER
1949 Jungian scholar Joseph
Campbell publishes Hero With
a Thousand Faces, detailing
archetypal themes in literature
from many different cultures
throughout history.

1969 British psychologist
John Bowlby states that
human instinct is expressed
as patterned action and
thought in social exchanges.

S igmund Freud introduced the despite being culturally very unconscious exists within each of
idea that rather than being different. They share an uncanny us, which is not based on any of our
guided by forces outside commonality in their myths and own individual experiences—this
ourselves, such as God or fate, we symbols, and have for thousands of is the “collective unconscious.”
are motivated and controlled by the years. He thought that this must be
inner workings of our own minds, due to something larger than the The commonly found myths and
specifically, the unconscious. He individual experience of man; the symbols are, for Jung, part of this
claimed that our experiences are symbols, he decided, must exist as universally shared collective
affected by primal drives contained part of the human psyche. unconscious. He believed that the
in the unconscious. His protégé, symbols exist as part of hereditary
the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, It seemed to Jung that the memories that are passed on from
took this idea further, delving into existence of these shared myths generation to generation, changing
the elements that make up the proved that part of the human only slightly in their attributes
unconscious and its workings. psyche contains ideas that are held across different cultures and time
in a timeless structure, which acts periods. These inherited memories
Jung was fascinated by the way as a form of “collective memory.” emerge within the psyche in the
that societies around the world Jung introduced the notion that one language of symbols, which Jung
share certain striking similarities, distinct and separate part of the calls “archetypes.”

PSYCHOTHERAPY 105

See also: Pierre Janet 54–55 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Jaques Lacan 122–23 ■ Steven Pinker 211

The personal and the collective unconscious. Jung believes that the self has
unconscious rests upon a The ego, he says, represents the both masculine and feminine
deeper layer… I call the conscious mind or self, while the parts, and is molded into
collective unconscious. personal unconscious contains becoming fully male or female by
the individual’s own memories, society as much as biology. When
Carl Jung including those that have been we become wholly male or female
suppressed. The collective we turn our backs on half of our
Ancient memories unconscious is the part of the potential, though we can still
Jung believes that the archetypes psyche that houses the archetypes. access this part of the self through
are layers of inherited memory, and an archetype. The Animus exists
they constitute the entirety of the The archetypes as the masculine component of the
human experience. The Latin word There are many archetypes, and female personality, and the Anima
archetypum translates as “first- though they can blend and mold as the feminine attributes of the
molded,” and Jung believed that into each other in different cultures, male psyche. This is the “other
archetypes are memories from the each of us contains within us the half,” the half that was taken from
experiences of our first ancestors. model of each archetype. Since we us as we grew into a girl or boy.
They act as templates within the use these symbolic forms to make These archetypes help us to
psyche that we use unconsciously sense of the world and our understand the nature of the
to organize and understand our own experiences, they appear in all opposite sex, and because they
experience. We may fill out the gaps human forms of expression, such contain “deposits of all the
with details from our individual as art, literature, and drama. impressions ever made” by a man
lives, but it is this preexisting or woman, so they necessarily
substructure in the unconscious The nature of an archetype is reflect the traditional ideas of
that is the framework that allows such that we recognize it instantly masculine and feminine. ❯❯
us to make sense of our experience. and are able to attach to it a specific,
emotional meaning. Archetypes Eve is one representation of the
Archetypes can be thought of as can be associated with many kinds Anima, the female part of a man’s
inherited emotional or behavioral of behavioral and emotional unconscious. Jung says she is “full
patterns. They allow us to recognize patterns, but there are certain of snares and traps, in order that man
a particular set of behaviors or prominent ones that are highly should fall… and life should be lived.”
emotional expressions as a unified recognizable, such as The Wise Old
pattern that has meaning. It seems Man, The Goddess, The Madonna,
that we do this instinctively, but the Great Mother, and The Hero.
Jung says that what seems to be
instinct is actually the unconscious The Persona is one of the most
use of archetypes. important archetypes described by
Jung. He recognized early in his
Jung suggests that the psyche own life that he had a tendency to
is composed of three components: share only a certain part of his
the ego, the personal unconscious, personality with the outside world.
He also recognized this trait in
other people, and noted that human
beings divide their personalities
into components, selectively
sharing only certain components
of their selves according to the
environment and situation. The self
that we present to the world—our
public image—is an archetype,
which Jung calls the “Persona.”

106 CARL JUNG

All the most powerful moods and reactions, and can True Self. When fully realized, this
ideas in history go back manifest themselves as prophetic archetype is the source of wisdom
statements (Anima) or unbending and truth, and is able to connect
to archetypes. rationality (Animus). the self to the spiritual. Jung
Carl Jung stressed that self-realization does
Jung defines one archetype as not happen automatically, it must
The Animus is represented in our representing the part of ourselves be consciously sought.
culture as the “real man;” he is the we do not want the world to see. He
muscle man, the commander of calls it the Shadow, and it is the Archetypes in dreams
soldiers, the cool logician, and opposite of the Persona, representing The archetypes are of significant
the romantic seducer. The Anima all our secret or repressed thoughts importance in the interpretation
appears as a wood nymph, a virgin, and the shameful aspects of our of dreams. Jung believed that
a seductress. She can be close to character. It appears in the Bible dreams are a dialogue between the
nature, intuitive, and spontaneous. as the devil, and in literature as conscious self and the eternal (the
She appears in paintings and Dr. Jekyll’s Mr. Hyde. The Shadow is ego and the collective unconscious),
stories as Eve, or Helen of Troy, the “bad” side of ourselves that we and that the archetypes operate
or a personality such as Marilyn project onto others, and yet it is not as symbols within the dream,
Monroe, bewitching men or entirely negative; it may represent facilitating the dialogue.
sucking the life from them. As aspects that we choose to suppress
these archetypes exist in our only because they are unacceptable The archetypes have specific
unconscious, they can affect our in a particular situation. meanings in the context of dreams.
For instance, the archetype of The
Of all the archetypes, the most Wise Old Man or Woman may be
important is the True Self. This is a represented in a dream by a
central, organizing archetype that spiritual leader, parent, teacher, or
attempts to harmonize all other doctor—it indicates those who offer
aspects into a unified, whole self. guidance, direction, and wisdom.
According to Jung, the real goal of The Great Mother, an archetype
human existence is to achieve an who might appear as the dreamer’s
advanced, enlightened psychological own mother or grandmother,
state of being that he refers to as represents the nurturer. She
“self-realization,” and the route to provides reassurance, comfort, and
this lies in the archetype of the validation. The Divine Child, the
archetype that represents your True
Self in its purest form, symbolizing
innocence or vulnerability, would
appear as a baby or child in
dreams, suggesting openness or
potential. And lest the ego grow
too large, it is kept in check by the
appearance of the Trickster, a
playful archetype that exposes the
dreamer’s vulnerabilities and plays
jokes, preventing the individual
from taking himself and his desires
too seriously. The Trickster also

Dr. Jekyll transforms into the evil
Mr. Hyde in a story by Robert Louis
Stevenson that explores the idea of the
“darker self,” through a character that
embodies Jung’s Shadow archetype.

PSYCHOTHERAPY 107

appears as the Norse half-god Loki, The tale of Snow White can be Carl Jung
the Greek god Pan, the African found all over the world with minor
spider god Anansi, or simply a variations. Jung attributed the universal Carl Gustav Jung was born
magician or clown. popularity of fairy tales and myths in a small Swiss village to an
to their use of archetypal characters. educated family with a fair
Using the archetypes share of eccentrics. He was
The archetypes exist in our minds collective unconscious and its close to his mother, though she
before conscious thought, and can contents affect the conscious state. suffered from bouts of
therefore have an immensely According to Jung, much of what depression. A talented
powerful impact on our perception we generally attribute to deliberate, linguist, Jung mastered many
of experience. Whatever we may reasoned, conscious thinking is European languages as well
consciously think is happening, actually already being guided by as several ancient ones,
what we choose to perceive—and unconscious activity, especially the including Sanskrit. He married
therefore experience—is governed organizing forms of the archetypes. Emma Rauschenbach in 1903
by these preformed ideas within and they had five children.
the unconscious. In this way, the In addition to his ideas of the
collective unconscious and the Jung trained in psychiatry,
By understanding the archetypes, Jung was the first to but after meeting Sigmund
unconscious we free ourselves explore the practice of word Freud in 1907, he became a
association, and he also introduced psychoanalyst and Freud’s
from its domination. the concepts of the extrovert and heir apparent. However, the
Carl Jung introvert personality types. These pair grew estranged over
ultimately inspired widely used theoretical differences and
personality tests such as the never met again. In the years
Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). following World War I, Jung
Jung’s work was influential in the traveled widely through Africa,
fields of psychology, anthropology, America, and India, studying
and spirituality, and his archetypes native people and taking
are so widespread that they can part in anthropological and
easily be identified in film, literature, archaeological expeditions.
and other cultural forms that attempt He became a professor at the
to portray universal characters. ■ University of Zurich in 1935,
but gave up teaching to
concentrate on research.

Key works

1912 Symbols of Transformation
1934 The Archetypes and the
Collective Unconscious
1945 On the Nature of Dreams

108

THE STRUGGLE
BETWEEN THE LIFE AND
DEATH INSTINCTS PERSISTS
THROUGHOUT LIFE

MELANIE KLEIN (1882–1960)

IN CONTEXT T he theme of opposing Drama’s power lies in its reflection of
forces has always intrigued real emotions and feelings. Great plays,
APPROACH writers, philosophers, and such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and
Psychoanalysis scientists. Literature, religion, and Juliet, show not only love’s life-affirming
art are filled with tales of good and force, but also its deadly, toxic aspects.
BEFORE evil, of friend and foe. Newtonian
1818 German philosopher physics states that stability or procreation to creativity—are
Arthur Schopenhauer states balance is achieved through one forced to run constantly against an
that existence is driven by the force being countered by an equal equally powerful and destructive
will to live, which is constantly and opposite force. Such opposing force, and that this ongoing psychic
being opposed by an equally forces appear to be an essential tension underlies all suffering.
forceful death drive. part of existence, and perhaps
the most powerful of them are Klein also stated that this
1910 Psychoanalyst Wilhelm the instinctive drives we have psychic tension explains our innate
Stekel suggests that social for life and death. tendency toward aggression and
suppression of the sexual violence. It creates a related
instinct is paralleled by the Sigmund Freud said that to struggle between love and hate,
growth of a death instinct. avoid being destroyed by our own present even in a newborn baby.
death instinct, we employ our This constant battle between our
1932 Sigmund Freud claims narcissistic or self-regarding life life and death instincts—between
that the most basic drive instinct (libido) to force the death pleasure and pain, renewal and
for satisfaction is in fact a instinct outward, directing it destruction—results in confusion
striving toward death. against other objects. Melanie Klein within our psyches. Anger or
expanded on this, saying that even
AFTER as we redirect the death force
2002 American psychologist outward, we still sense the danger
Julie K. Norem introduces the of being destroyed by “this instinct
idea of “defensive pessimism,” of aggression;” we acknowledge the
suggesting that being huge task of “mobilizing the libido”
pessimistic may in fact against it. Living with these
better prepare people to opposing forces is an inherent
cope with the demands psychological conflict that is
and stresses of modern life. central to human experience.
Klein claimed that our tendencies
toward growth and creation—from

PSYCHOTHERAPY 109

See also: Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Anna Freud 111 ■ Jacques Lacan 122–23

“bad” feelings may then become The human unconscious contains…
directed toward every situation,
whether they are good or bad. …the life instinct, which …the death instinct, which
drives us toward growth drives us toward destruction
Constant conflict and creation.
Klein believed that we never shed and disintegration.
these primitive impulses. We
maintain them throughout life, Life itself is the striving against a drive toward death.
never reaching a safe, mature state,
but living with an unconscious This creates a constant psychic tension in which…
that simmers with “primitive
fantasies” of violence. Given the …the struggle between the life and death
permeating influence of such a instincts persists throughout life.
psychic conflict, Klein thought
that traditional notions of happiness
are impossible to attain, and that
living is about finding a way to
tolerate the conflict; it is not about
achieving nirvana.

As this state of tolerance is the
best that we can hope for, Klein
found it unsurprising that life falls
short of what people desire or
believe they deserve, resulting in
depression and disappointment.
Human experience, to Klein, is
inevitably filled with anxiety, pain,
loss, and destruction. People must,
therefore, learn to work within the
extremes of life and death. ■

Melanie Klein One of four children, Melanie Although Klein did not have any
Klein was born in Austria. Her formal academic qualifications,
parents, who later divorced, were she was a major influence in the
cold and unaffectionate. At 17, she field of psychoanalysis, and is
became engaged to Arthur Klein, particularly revered for her work
an industrial chemist, casting with children, and for her use of
aside her plans to study medicine. play as a form of therapy.

Klein decided to become a Key works
psychoanalyst after reading a
book by Sigmund Freud in 1910. 1932 The Psychoanalysis of
She suffered from depression Children
herself, and was haunted by 1935 A Contribution to The
death: her adored elder sister Psychogenesis of Manic
died when Klein was four; her Depressive States
older brother died in a suspected 1961 Narrative of a Child
suicide; and her son was killed in Analysis
a climbing accident in 1933.

110

THE TYRANNY
OF THE
“SHOULDS”

KAREN HORNEY (1885–1952)

IN CONTEXT S ocial environments—from the beliefs, but from those internalized
family to schools, workplaces, from a toxic environment. These
APPROACH and the wider community— play out as internalized messages,
Psychoanalysis develop cultural “norms” upheld by especially in the form of “shoulds,”
certain beliefs. The German-born such as “I should be recognized and
BEFORE psychoanalyst Karen Horney said powerful” or “I should be thin.” She
1889 In L’Automatism that unhealthy, or “toxic,” social taught her patients to become aware
Psychologique, Pierre Janet environments are likely to create of two influences in their psyche: the
describes “splitting,” where unhealthy belief systems in “real self” with authentic desires,
a personality branches into individuals, hindering people from and the “ideal self” that strives to
distinct, separate parts. realizing their highest potential. fulfill all the demands of the
“shoulds.” The ideal self fills the
AFTER Horney said that it is essential to mind with ideas that are unrealistic
1950s Melanie Klein says that recognize when we are not and inappropriate to the journey of
people split off parts of their operating from self-determined the real self, and generates negative
personalities to cope with feedback based on the “failures” of
otherwise unmanageable, Forget about the the real self to achieve the
conflicting feelings. disgraceful creature expectations of the ideal self. This
you actually are; this is leads to the development of a third,
1970s Austrian psychoanalyst how you should be. unhappy self—the “despised self.”
Heinz Kohut claims that when
a child’s needs are not met, Karen Horney Horney says the “shoulds” are the
a fragmented self emerges, basis of our “bargain with fate;” if
consisting of the narcissistic we obey them, we believe we can
self and the grandiose self. magically control external realities,
though in reality they lead to deep
1970s Albert Ellis develops unhappiness and neurosis. Horney’s
Rational Emotive Behavioral views were particularly relevant in
Therapy to free people from her own social environment, early
internalized “musts.” 20th-century Germany, which
leaned heavily toward conformity. ■

See also: Pierre Janet 54–55 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Melanie Klein 108–09 ■
Carl Rogers 130–37 ■ Abraham Maslow 138–39 ■ Albert Ellis 142–45

PSYCHOTHERAPY 111

THE SUPEREGO
BECOMES CLEAR ONLY
WHEN IT CONFRONTS
THE EGO WITH HOSTILITY

ANNA FREUD (1895–1982)

IN CONTEXT A ccording to the Bible, effects upon the ego. The ego
Adam and Eve in the takes account of the realities of the
APPROACH Garden of Eden are world, and is also simultaneously
Psychoanalysis decision-makers, faced with the engaged with the id and relegated
choice between temptation and to an inferior position by the
BEFORE righteousness. In his structural superego. The superego speaks
1920 Sigmund Freud first model of the psyche, Sigmund Freud through the language of guilt and
uses the concepts of the ego, describes a similar model within the shame, like a kind of internalized
id, and superego in his essay human unconscious, proposing a critical parent. We hear the superego
Beyond the Pleasure Principle. psychic apparatus of three parts: the when we berate ourselves for
id, the superego, and the ego. thinking or acting a certain way;
AFTER the superego becomes clear (or
1950s Melanie Klein disagrees The id, like a sneaky serpent, “speaks out”) only when it confronts
that actual parental influence whispers to us to do what feels the ego with hostility.
is involved in the formation of good. It is driven entirely by desire,
the superego. seeking pleasure and the fulfilment Ego defense mechanisms
of basic drives (such as food, comfort, The critical voice of the superego
1961 Eric Berne presents warmth, and sex). The superego, like leads to anxiety, and this is when,
the idea that we retain child, a righteous presence, calls us to according to Anna Freud, we bring
adult, and parental ego states follow the higher path. It imposes ego defenses into play. These are
throughout our lives, and says parental and societal values and tells the myriad methods that the
that these can be explored us what we should and should not mind uses to prevent anxiety from
through analysis. do. Lastly, the ego—like a decision- becoming overwhelming. Freud
making adult—controls impulses described the many and creative
1976 American psychologist and forms judgments on how to act; defense mechanisms we employ,
Jane Loevinger says that it is the moderator, suspended from humor and sublimation to
the ego develops in stages between the id and the superego. denial and displacement. Her theory
throughout a person’s life, of ego defenses was to prove a rich
as a result of an interaction Austrian psychoanalyst Anna seam of thought within the humanist
between the inner self and Freud expanded upon her father’s therapies of the 20th century. ■
the outer environment. ideas, drawing attention to the
formation of the superego and its

See also: Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Melanie Klein 108–109 ■ Eric Berne 337

TRUTH

CAN BE TOLERATED

ONLY IF YOU DISCOVER IT

YOURSELF

FRITZ PERLS (1893–1970)



114 FRITZ PERLS People believe that their viewpoint
of the world is the objective truth.
IN CONTEXT
But human experience is colored by the
APPROACH personal “lenses” through which we view it.
Gestalt therapy
Because it is our perception that
BEFORE shapes our experience…
1920s Carl Jung says that
people need to connect with …it is possible to change …we must discard the
their inner selves. our inner realities, “given” values of society
and ultimately our and family, and discover our
1943 Max Wertheimer explains external realities.
the Gestalt idea of “productive own, true values.
thinking,” which is distinctive
for using personal insight. We become aware that we are
building our own world, or “truth.”
1950 In Neurosis and Human
Growth, Karen Horney Truth can only be tolerated
identifies the need to reject the if you discover it yourself.
“shoulds” imposed by others.

AFTER
1961 Carl Rogers says that it
is the client, not the therapist,
who knows what form and
direction therapy should take.

1973 American self-help
author Richard Bandler, one of
the founders of Neurolinguistic
Programming (NLP), uses
many of the Gestalt therapy
techniques in his new therapy.

I n the 18th century, the German range of possibilities—is coded rather than acknowledging the role
philosopher Immanuel Kant by the individual “lenses” through of perception and its influence in
revolutionized our thinking which we view it. We do not creating our perspective, together
about the world by pointing out that automatically absorb all the sounds, with all the ideas, actions, and
we can never really know what feelings, and pictures of the world; beliefs that stem from it. For Perls,
is “out there” beyond ourselves, we scan and select just a few. the only truth one can ever have is
because our knowledge is limited one’s own personal truth.
to the constraints of our minds and Fritz Perls, one of the founders
senses. We don’t know how things of Gestalt therapy, pointed out that Accepting responsibility
are “in themselves,” but only as we this means our personal sense Perls developed his theories in
experience them. This view forms of reality is created through our the 1940s, when the dominant
the basis of Gestalt therapy, which perception; through the ways in psychoanalytical view was that the
says that it is vitally important to which we view our experiences, not human mind could be reduced to a
remember that the complexity of the events themselves. However, it series of biological drives seeking
the human experience—with its is easy to forget this, or even fail to fulfilment. This approach was far
tragedies and traumas, inspirations recognize it. He says we tend to too rigid, structured, simplified,
and passions, and its nearly infinite mistake our viewpoint of the world and generalized for Perls; it did not
for the absolute, objective truth,

PSYCHOTHERAPY 115

See also: Søren Kierkegaard 26–27 ■ Carl Jung 102–107 ■ Karen Horney 110 ■ Erich Fromm 124–29 ■
Carl Rogers 130–37 ■ Abraham Maslow 138–39 ■ Roger Shepard 192 ■ Jon Kabat-Zinn 210 ■ Max Wertheimer 335

allow for individual experience, The Gestalt prayer was written by Fritz Perls
which Perls held paramount. Nor to encapsulate Gestalt therapy. It emphasizes the
did its analysts enable their patients importance of living according to our own needs,
to recognize and take responsibility and not seeking fulfilment through others.
for the creation of their experience.
The psychoanalytical model operates I do my thing and You are you, and I
on the understanding that patients you do your thing. am I, and if by
are at the mercy of their unconscious
conflicts until an analyst enters to I am not in this chance we find each
save them from their unconscious world to live up to other, it’s beautiful.
drives. Perls, on the other hand, your expectations,
feels it is essential for people to And you are not in If not, it can’t
understand the power of their this world to live up be helped.
own roles in creation. He wants
to make us aware that we can to mine.
change our realities, and in fact
are responsible for doing so. No
one else can do it for us. Once
we realize that perception is the
backbone of reality, each of us
is forced to take responsibility
for the life we create and the way
we choose to view the world.

Acknowledging power our external environment. Once to maintain emotional stability
Gestalt theory uses the tenets of we understand that our perception regardless of the environment as
individual experience, perception, shapes our experience, we can “homeostasis,” using a biological
and responsibility—both for one’s see how the roles we play and the term normally used to describe the
thoughts and feelings—to encourage actions we take are tools, which maintenance of a stable physical
personal growth by establishing we can then use consciously for environment within the body. It
a sense of internal control. Perls changing reality. Control of our own implies a fine balancing of many
insists that we can learn to control inner psychic environment gives us systems, and this is how Gestalt
our inner experience, regardless of power through two layers of choice: therapy views the mind. It looks for
in how to interpret the environment, ways of balancing the mind through
Learning is and how to react to it. The adage, the many thoughts, feelings, and
the discovery that “no one can make you angry other perceptions that make up the whole
something is possible. than yourself,” perfectly exemplifies human experience. It views a person
this philosophy, and its truth can holistically and places the focus
Fritz Perls be seen played out in the different firmly on the whole, not the parts.
ways that people react to traffic
jams, bad news, or personal Perls saw his task as helping his
criticism, for example. patients to cultivate an awareness
of the power of their perceptions,
In Gestalt therapy, a person is and how they shape reality (or what
forced to take direct responsibility we describe as “reality”). In this
for how he or she acts and reacts, way, his patients became able
regardless of what may seem to be to take control of shaping their
happening. Perls refers to this ability interior landscape. In taking ❯❯

116 FRITZ PERLS

Like Buddhism, Gestalt therapy perceived reality in the present patient, who work together as
encourages the development of mindful moment. This ability, to “be here partners toward the goal. The
awareness and the acceptance of change now” is critical to the Gestalt therapist is dynamic but does not
as inevitable. Perls called change “the process; it is an acute emotional lead the patient; the Gestalt
study of creative adjustments.” awareness, and one that forms the approach of Perls would later form
foundation for understanding how the basis of Carl Rogers’ humanistic,
responsibility for their perceived each of us creates and reacts to our person-centered approach.
sense of reality, they could create own environment. It also offers a
the reality they wanted. pathway for learning how to change A denial of fate
the ways we experience ourselves Another component in the Gestalt
Perls helped his patients achieve and our environment. method involves the use of language.
this through teaching them the One critical tool patients are given
integral processes of Gestalt therapy. As a tool for personal growth, for increasing self-awareness is the
The first and most important process the ability to get in touch with instruction to notice and change the
is learning to cultivate awareness authentic feelings—true thoughts use of the word “I” within speech.
and to focus that awareness on the and emotions—is more important Perls says that to take responsibility
feelings of the present moment. to Perls than the psychological for our reality, we must recognize
This allows the individual to directly explanations or analytic feedback how we use language to give the
experience his or her feelings and of other forms of therapy. The illusion that we have no control
“why” behind behavior holds when this is not the case. By simply
little significance for Perls; what rephrasing “I can’t do that” to “I
is important is the “how” and won’t do that,” it becomes clear that
“what.” This devaluing of the need I am making a choice. This also
to find out “why” and the shift of helps to establish ownership of
responsibility for meaning from feeling; emotions arise in and belong
analyst to patient brought with it a to me; I cannot blame someone or
profound change in the therapist– something else for my feelings.
patient hierarchy. Where previous
approaches in therapy generally Other examples of language
involved a therapist manipulating change include replacing the word
the patient toward the therapeutic “should” with “want,” changing, for
goal, the Gestalt approach is example, ”I should leave now” to “I
characterized by a warm, empathic want to leave now.” This also acts
relationship between therapist and to reveal the element of choice. As

Fritz Perls Frederick “Fritz” Salomon Perls thought. In the late 1960s, they
was born in Berlin at the end of separated, and Perls moved to
the 19th century. He studied California, where he continued
medicine, and after a short time in to change the landscape of
the German army during World psychotherapy. He left the US
War I, graduated as a doctor. He to start a therapy center in
then trained as a psychiatrist, and Canada in 1969, but died one
after marrying the psychologist year later of heart failure while
Laura Posner in 1930, emigrated conducting a workshop.
to South Africa, where he and
Laura set up a psychoanalytic Key works
institute. Becoming disenchanted
with the over-intellectualism of 1946 Ego Hunger and
the psychoanalytic approach, they Aggression
moved to New York City in the 1969 Gestalt Therapy Verbatim
late 1940s and became immersed 1973 The Gestalt Approach and
in a thriving culture of progressive Eye Witness to Therapy

PSYCHOTHERAPY 117

Lose your mind and
come to your senses.

Fritz Perls

The 1960s hippie culture chimed
with the Gestalt idea of finding oneself,
but Perls warned against the “peddlers
of instant joy” and the “so-called easy
road of sensory liberation.”

we learn to take responsibility for With this personal responsibility counter-culture revolution of the
our experience, Perls says, we comes the obligation to refuse to Western world. But this focus on
develop authentic selves that are experience events, relationships, individualism was seen by some
free from society’s influence. We or circumstances that we know psychologists and analysts as
also experience self-empowerment to be wrong for our authentic a weakness within the therapy,
as we realize that we are not at selves. Gestalt theory also asks us especially by those who view
the mercy of things that “just to look closely at what we choose human beings as, above all, social
happen.” Feelings of victimization to accept among our society’s beings. They claim that a life lived
dissolve once we understand that norms. We may have acted under along Gestalt principles would
what we accept for ourselves in our the assumption of their truth for so exclude the possibility of intimacy
lives—what we selectively perceive long that we automatically accept with another, and that it focuses
and experience—is a choice; we them. Perls says we need instead to too much on the individual at the
are not powerless. adopt beliefs that best inspire and expense of the community. In
develop our authentic self. The response, supporters of Gestalt
If you need encouragement, ability to write our own personal therapy have claimed that without
praise, pats on the back rules, determine our own opinions, the development of an authentic
from everybody, then philosophies, desires, and interests self, it would not be possible to
you make everybody is of the essence. As we increase develop an authentic relationship
your judge. our awareness of self-accountability, with another.
Fritz Perls self-reliance, and self-insight, we
understand that we are building our In 1964, Perls became a regular
own world, or truth. The lives we lecturer at the Esalen Institute in
are living become easier to bear, California, becoming a lasting
because “truth can be tolerated influence on this renowned center
only if you discover it yourself.” for spiritual and psychological
development. After an explosion of
The possibility of intimacy popularity in the 1970s, Gestalt
Gestalt therapy’s emphasis on therapy fell out of favor, but its
“being in the present” and finding tenets were accepted into the roots
one’s own path and one’s own ideas of other forms of therapy. Gestalt is
fitted perfectly within the 1960s today recognized as one of many
“standard” approaches to therapy. ■

118 IN CONTEXT

IT IS NOTORIOUSLY APPROACH
INADEQUATE TO Psychoanalysis
TAKE AN ADOPTED
CHILD INTO ONE’S BEFORE
HOME AND LOVE HIM 1900s Sigmund Freud
suggests that neurotic
DONALD WINNICOTT (1896–1971) conflicts (and the superego)
arise in the Oedipal period—
between ages three and six.

1930s Melanie Klein claims
that a primitive form of the
superego develops during the
first year of life, and that love
and hate are inherently linked.

AFTER
1947 Psychologist and play
therapist Virginia Axline
develops her eight principles
of play therapy, which
include: “Accept the child
as she or he is.”

1979 Swiss psychoanalyst
Alice Miller says in The Drama
of the Gifted Child that we are
encouraged to “develop the art
of not experiencing feelings.”

M any people believe that
if a child has suffered
an upbringing that was
lacking in love and support, he or
she will be able to settle and
flourish with a new family that
provides what is needed. However,
while stability and acceptance
help to give a foundation in which
a child can grow and find a healthy
state of being, these qualities
make up only one part of what
is required.

As the first pediatrician in
England to train as a psychoanalyst,
Donald Winnicott had a unique
insight into the mother-infant
relationship and the developmental
process of children. He was

PSYCHOTHERAPY 119

See also: Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Melanie Klein 108–09 ■ Virginia Satir 146–47 ■
John Bowlby 274–77

Children originally …so in defense, they
from neglectful or abusive act out in hatred, even
homes are afraid that they
when placed with
will not be loved by good parents.
their adoptive family…

If parents This naturally evokes Donald Winnicott
acknowledge their feelings of hatred in
hatred and tolerate The English pediatrician and
the parents. psychoanalyst Donald Woods
these feelings… Winnicott was the youngest
child and only son born to a
...the adopted child The child will prominent, prosperous family
knows that he or be able to form living in Plymouth, England.
she is loved and strong attachments. His father, Sir John Frederick
lovable even when child Winnicott, was an encouraging
and adult are both influence, although his mother
experiencing hatred. suffered from depression.
Winnicott first trained as a
strongly influenced by Sigmund believe he or she is loved only after physician and pediatrician,
Freud but also by the writings being hated; he stresses that the completing psychoanalytic
of Melanie Klein, particularly role that “tolerance of hate” plays in training later, in the 1930s.
regarding the unconscious feelings healing cannot be underestimated.
of the mother or carer for the infant. Winnicott married twice,
Winnicott began his career by Winnicott explains that when meeting his second wife Clare
working with children displaced by a child has been deprived of Britton, a psychiatric social
World War II and he examined the proper parental nurturing, and is worker, while working with
difficulties faced by children who then granted a chance of this in disturbed children who had
are trying to adapt to a new home. a healthy family environment, been evacuated during World
such as with an adoptive or War II. He continued to work
As Winnicott notes in his paper, foster family, the child begins as a pediatrician for more than
Hate in the Countertransference: to develop unconscious hope. 40 years and this gave his
“It is notoriously inadequate to But fear is associated with this ideas a unique perspective. He
take an adopted child into one’s hope. When a child has been so twice served as president of
home and love him.” In fact, the devastatingly disappointed in the the British Psychoanalytical
parents must be able to take the past, with even basic emotional Society, and sought to widen
adopted child into their home and or physical needs unsatisfied, public knowledge through his
be able to tolerate hating him. defenses arise. These are many lectures and broadcasts.
Winnicott states that a child can unconscious forces that protect ❯❯
Key works

1947 Hate in the
Countertransference
1951 Transitional Objects and
Transitional Phenomena
1960 The Theory of the
Parent–Infant Relationship

120 DONALD WINNICOTT

It seems that an toward the parent, projecting past Dealing with the hatred
adopted child can experiences of being neglected and The emotions that the child’s
believe in being loved only ignored onto present-day reality. hatred invokes in the parents, as
after reaching being hated. well as in the child’s teachers and
Donald Winnicott The child of a broken home or other authority figures, are very
without parents, Winnicott says, real. Winnicott believes that it is
the child against the hope that “spends his time unconsciously essential that adults acknowledge
may lead to disappointment. The looking for his parents” and so these feelings, rather than deny
defenses, maintains Winnicott, feelings from past relationships them, which might seem easier.
explain the presence of hatred. are displaced onto another adult. They also need to understand
The child will “act out” in an The child has internalized the that the child’s hatred is not
outburst of anger against the new hate, and sees it even when it is personal; the child is expressing
parental figure, expressing hatred no longer present. In his new anxiety about his previous unhappy
and, in turn, invoking hatred from situation, the child needs to see situation with the person who
the carer. He termed the behavior what happens when hatred is in is now at hand.
an “antisocial tendency.” the air. Winnicott explains: “What
happens is that after a while a What the authority figure does
According to Winnicott, for a child so adopted gains hope, and with their own hatred, of course, is
child who has suffered, the need to then he starts to test out the of critical importance. The child’s
hate and be hated is deeper even environment he has found, and to belief that he or she is “bad” and
than the need for rebellion, and the seek proof of his guardian’s ability unworthy of being loved must not
importance of the carer tolerating to hate objectively.” be reinforced by the response from
the hate is an essential factor in the the adult; the adult must simply
healing of the child. Winnicott says There are many ways for a tolerate the feelings of hatred and
that the child must be allowed to child to express hatred and prove realize that these feelings are part
express the hatred, and the parent that he or she is indeed not worthy of the relationship. This is the only
must be able to tolerate both the of being loved. This worthlessness way the child will feel secure and
child’s and their own hatred as well. is the message that was imparted be able to form an attachment.
by earlier, negative parental
The idea may be shocking, and experiences. From the child’s point No matter how loving a new
people may struggle with the of view, he is attempting to protect environment may be, it does not
notion that they feel hatred rising himself from the risk of ever having erase the past for the child; there
within them. They may feel guilty, to feel love or to be loved because of will still be residual feelings as a
because the child has been through the potential disappointment that result of their past experience.
such difficulties already. Yet the accompanies that state of being. Winnicott sees no short cuts to a
child is actively behaving hatefully

The “antisocial tendency” in
children is a way they express
anxieties about their world, testing out
their caregivers who must continue to
provide a supportive and caring home.

PSYCHOTHERAPY 121

Despite feeling the unconscious and
natural negative feelings provoked by
the child, a parent must provide an
environment that “holds” the child,
making him or her feel secure.

resolution. The child is expecting
that the adult’s feelings of hatred
will lead to rejection, because that
is what has happened before; when
the hatred does not lead to rejection
and is tolerated instead, it can
begin to dissipate.

Healthy hatred Therapeutic relationship generated by the patient as a
Even in psychologically healthy Winnicott also used the necessary part of testing that the
families with children who have not relationship between the parent therapist can bear it. The patient
been displaced, Winnicott believes and child as an analogy for the needs to know that the therapist
unconscious hatred is a natural, therapeutic relationship between is strong and reliable enough to
essential part of the parenting therapist and client. The feelings withstand this onslaught.
experience and speaks of “hating that arise in a therapist during
appropriately.” Melanie Klein had analysis are part of a phenomenon A realistic approach
suggested that a baby feels hatred known as “countertransference.” While some of Winnicott’s ideas
for its mother, but Winnicott Feelings that are aroused in the may appear shocking, he believes
proposes that this is preceded by client during therapy—usually we should be realistic about
the mother hating the baby—and feelings about parents or siblings— bringing up children, avoiding
that even before this, there is an are transferred onto the therapist. sentimentality in favor of honesty.
extraordinary primitive or In his paper, Winnicott described This enables us as children, and
“ruthless” love. The baby’s how as part of the analysis, the later as adults, to acknowledge
existence places huge demands therapist feels hate toward the and deal with natural, unavoidable
on the mother psychologically and client, though this hate was negative feelings. Winnicott is a
physically and these evoke feelings realist and pragmatist; he refuses
of hatred in the mother. Winnicott’s Sentimentality in a to believe in the mythical idea of
list of 18 reasons why the mother mother is no good “the perfect family” or in a world
hates the baby include: that the at all from the infant’s where a few kind words wipe
pregnancy and birth have away all of the horrors that may
endangered her life; that the baby point of view. have preceded it. He prefers to
is an interference with her private Donald Winnicott see the real environment and
life; that the baby hurts her when mental states of our experience,
nursing, even biting her; and that and asks us to do likewise, with
the baby “treats her as scum, an courageous honesty. His ideas
unpaid servant, a slave.” Despite all did not fit neatly into one school
of this she also loves him, “excretions of thought, though they were
and all,” says Winnicott, with a hugely influential, and continue to
hugely powerful, primitive love, and impact on social work, education,
has to learn how to tolerate hating developmental psychology, and
her baby without in any way acting psychoanalysis around the world. ■
on it. If she cannot hate appropriately,
he claims, she turns the feelings of
hatred toward herself, in a way that
is masochistic and unhealthy.

122

THE UNCONSCIOUS
IS THE DISCOURSE
OF THE OTHER

JACQUES LACAN (1901–1981)

IN CONTEXT The Other is everything that P sychoanalysts explain the
lies beyond the boundaries unconscious as the place
APPROACH of ourselves. where all the memories that
Psychoanalysis we wish to push aside are stored,
We define and redefine and cannot be retrieved consciously.
BEFORE ourselves through the The unconscious sometimes speaks
1807 German philosopher existence of the Other. to the conscious self in limited
Georg Hegel states that ways: Carl Jung believed that the
consciousness of self depends We understand the world unconscious presents itself to
on the presence of the Other. through the language the waking self through dreams,
(discourse) of the Other. symbols, and in the language of
1818 German philosopher archetypes, while Freud saw it
Arthur Schopenhauer claims We also use that language for as expressing itself through
that there can be no object our innermost thoughts. motivational behavior and
without a subject to observe it, accidental “slips of the tongue.”
and that perception of the The unconscious The one thing that the various
object is limited by personal is the discourse of psychoanalytical schools do agree
vision and experience. on is that the unconscious holds
the Other. a bigger picture than that retained
1890 William James in by the conscious self. For French
The Principles of Psychology psychiatrist Jacques Lacan,
distinguishes between the self however, the language of the
as the knower, or “I,” and the unconscious is not that of the
self as the known, or “me.” self, but of the “Other.”

AFTER A sense of self
1943 French philosopher We easily take for granted the
Jean-Paul Sartre states that notion of the self—that each of us
our perception of the world exists as a separate, individual
around us, or the Other, alters being, who views the world through
when another person appears; our own eyes, is familiar with the
we absorb his or her concept boundaries that separate us from
of the Other into our own. others and from the world around
us, and assumes a separateness

PSYCHOTHERAPY 123

See also: William James 38–45 ■ Sigmund Freud 92–99 ■ Carl Jung 102–07 ■ Donald Hebb 163

Our sense of self is shaped by our of determining that as individuals The I is always
awareness of the “Other,” or the world we are distinct from the world all in the field of the Other.
outside ourselves. However, Lacan around us is our ability to recognize
stated, it is the language of the Other the separateness of ourselves from Jacques Lacan
that forms our deepest thoughts. our environment, or from the Other,
which allows us to become the We are only able to think or to
in thinking and in the way we subject “I.” Lacan therefore express our ideas and emotions
interact with our environment. concluded that each of us is a through language, and the only
But what if there was nothing out “self” only because we have a language we have, according to
there that we could recognize as concept of the Other. Lacan, is that of the Other. The
being separate from ourselves? sensations and images that
We would then be unable to For Lacan, the Other is the translate into the thoughts of
conceptualize our sense of self, absolute otherness that lies beyond our unconscious must therefore be
because there would be no the self; it is the environment into constructed from this language of
delineated being to think which we are born, and which we the Other, or, as Lacan stated, “the
about. The only way we have have to “translate” or make sense unconscious is the discourse of
of, in order to survive and thrive. the Other.” This idea has had a
An infant must learn to assemble wide influence on the practice of
sensations into concepts and psychoanalysis, leading to a more
categories in order to function in objective and open interpretation
the world, and he or she does this of the unconscious. ■
through gradually acquiring an
awareness and understanding
of a series of signifiers—signs or
codes. But these signifiers can
only come to us from the external
world that lies beyond the self,
therefore they must have been
formed from the language—or
what Lacan prefers to call the
“discourse”—of the Other.

Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was Lacan’s writings extend into
born in Paris, where he was philosophy, art, literature, and
educated at the Collège Stanlias. linguistics, and he gave weekly
He went on to study medicine, seminars that were attended by
specializing in psychiatry. Lacan eminent thinkers such as Roland
remained in occupied Paris during Barthes and Claude Lévi-Strauss.
World War II, working at the A keen Freudian, Lacan formed
Val-de-Grâce military hospital. the École Freudienne de Paris in
1963, and the École de la Cause
After the war, psychoanalysis Freudienne in 1981.
became the key tool in Lacan’s
work. However, he was expelled by Key works
the International Psychoanalytical
Association in 1953, after an 1966 Écrits
argument over his “deviant” use 1968 The Language of the Self
of shorter length therapy sessions. 1954–80 The Seminars
Lacan then set up La Société (27 volumes)
Française de Psychanalytique.

MAN’S MAIN TASK

IS TO GIVE

BIRTH

TO HIMSELF

ERICH FROMM (1900–1980)



126 ERICH FROMM T he ability to find meaning of this separation and think about
in our lives is the defining our isolation. Man, gifted with
IN CONTEXT characteristic of humankind. reason, is life being aware of itself.
According to the German-American
APPROACH psychoanalyst Erich Fromm, it also Fromm suggests that our
Humanistic psychoanalysis determines whether we follow a separation from nature originated
path of joy and fulfilment or tread with the growth of intellect,
BEFORE a road of dissatisfaction and strife. which has made us aware of our
1258–61 The Sufi mystic Fromm believed that although life separateness. It is our ability to
Rumi says that the longing is inherently painful, we can make reason and relate that lets us
of the human soul comes from it bearable by giving it meaning, transcend nature. It provides the
separation from its source. through pursuing and constructing capabilities for productive living and
an authentic self. The ultimate affords us intellectual superiority,
1950s Rollo May says that aim of a human life is to develop but it also makes us realize that
the “true religion” consists of what Fromm described as “the we exist alone in this world.
facing life’s challenges with most precious quality man is Reason makes us aware of our own
purpose and meaning, through endowed with—the love of life.” mortality and the mortality of our
accepting responsibility
and making choices. Life is inherently fraught with It seems that nothing is
emotional frustration, according to more difficult for the average
AFTER Fromm, because man lives in a man to bear than the feeling of
1950 Karen Horney says state of struggle. He is constantly
that the neurotic self is split trying to balance his individual not being identified
between an idealized and nature—his existence as a separate with a larger group.
a real self. being—with his need for
connection. There is a part of man’s Erich Fromm
1960s Abraham Maslow inherent self that only knows how
defines creativity and thinking to exist in a united state with
of others as characteristics of others; it lives at one with nature
self-actualized people. and at one with other people. Yet
we see ourselves as separated from
1970s Fritz Perls says that we nature, and isolated from one
must find ourselves in order to another. Worse still, we have the
achieve self-actualization. unique capacity to ponder the fact

Life is fraught with These feelings …searching out and devoting ourselves
anxiety and powerlessness can be overcome to the discovery of our own
because of our separation ideas and abilities.
through…
from nature and from …embracing our personal uniqueness.
one another.

…developing our capacity to love.

PSYCHOTHERAPY 127

See also: Alfred Adler 100–01 ■ Karen Horney 110 ■ Fritz Perls 112–17 ■ Carl Rogers 130–37 ■ Abraham Maslow 138–39
■ Rollo May 141

The creativity of artists encourages
them to interpret the world around
them in new ways. The world’s most
highly acclaimed artists have always
essentially been nonconformist.

loved ones. This understanding We can achieve this by following is only possible through respecting
creates a chronic source of tension our own ideas and passions, and the separateness and uniqueness
and an unbearable loneliness that through creative purpose, because of ourselves and of another;
we are always seeking to overcome; “creativity requires the courage to paradoxically, this is how we develop
man’s inherent state of being is one let go of certainties.” the ability to create connectedness.
of anxiety and hopelessness. But Love demands a great amount of
there is hope, Fromm insists, One of the critical ways in respect for the other person as an
because man can overcome his which man delivers himself from individual, and it is based on
sense of isolation and alienation isolation is through his capacity autonomy, not a blending of
through finding his purpose. to love. Fromm’s concept of love personalities. In our overwhelming
is vastly different from popular desire to connect and unify, we try
However, as we strive to become understandings of the word. To to love but our relationships often
free, unique individuals, we still Fromm, love is not an emotion, nor result in an unloving imbalance.
feel the need for unity with others, is it dependent on finding an object We think we are loving, but in
and in trying to balance these to love. It is an interpersonal reality we may be seeking another
needs we may seek out the comfort creative capacity that one must form of conformity. We say “I love
of conforming to a group or an actively develop as part of one’s you” when really we mean “I see
authority. This is a misguided personality. He says “it is an me in you,” “I will become you,” or
approach, says Fromm; it is attitude, an ordination of character “I will possess you.” In loving, we
imperative to discover one’s own which determines the relatedness try to lose our uniqueness, or steal
independent sense of self, and one’s of the person to the whole world.” it from the other person. Our
own personal views and value yearning to exist “as one” makes
systems, rather than adhering to In terms of personal love for us want to see ourselves reflected
conventional or authoritarian norms. another, Fromm says that the main in other people, which in turn leads
If we try to hand responsibility for tenets are care, responsibility, us to artificially impose our own
our choices to other people or respect, and knowledge—an traits onto someone else. ❯❯
institutions we become alienated objective knowledge of what other
from ourselves, when the very people truly want and need. Love
purpose of our lives is to define
ourselves through embracing our
personal uniqueness, discovering
our own ideas and abilities, and
embracing that which differentiates
each of us from other people. Man’s
main task is to give birth to himself.
In doing so, he frees himself from
confusion, loneliness, and apathy.

Creativity and love
Paradoxically, Fromm believes that
the only way we can find the sense
of wholeness we seek is through
the discovery of our individuality.

128 ERICH FROMM

The Four Nonproductive Personality Types

Receptive types have no Exploitative types are Hoarding types fight Marketing types
choice but to accept their aggressive and self-centered, to retain what they have, “sell” everything,
roles, and never fight for and typically engage in acts and are always seeking especially their
change or betterment. of coercion and plagiarism. to acquire more. own image.

The only way to love, says Fromm, most worthy of acceptance, and unremittingly negative, and a sixth
is to love freely, granting the other most likely to result in being loved type—the productive personality—
person their full individuality; to or desired. This is futile, because is Fromm’s ideal. In reality, our
respect the other person’s differing only a person who has a strong personalities are generally drawn
opinions, preferences, and belief sense of self, and can stand firmly from a mix of the four main types.
systems. Love is not found by within their own understanding of
fitting one person into another’s the world, is able to give freely to A person with a “receptive”
mold, and it is not a question of others and love in an authentic way. orientation is said to live passively
finding the perfect “match.” It is, Those who tend to orient themselves in the status quo, accepting the
he says, “union with somebody, toward receiving love instead of lot handed to them. These people
or something, outside oneself, being loving will fail; they will also follow rather than lead; they have
under the condition of retaining seek to establish a receiving things done to them. In extremes,
the separateness and integrity of relationship in other ways, always this is the stance of the victim, but
one’s own self.” wanting to be given things— on the positive side, it is rich in
material or immaterial—rather than devotion and acceptance. Fromm
Many people spend vast amounts to give. These people believe the compares this type to the peasants
of time and money attempting to source of all good things lies and migrant workers of history.
cultivate the self that they feel is outside themselves, and they
constantly feel the need to acquire, The “exploitative” orientation
‘Know thyself’ is one of though this brings no relief. thrives on taking from others;
the fundamental commands exploitative people take what they
that aim at human strength Personality types need instead of earning or creating.
Fromm identified several personality However, they show extreme self-
and happiness. types that he called “nonproductive,” confidence and strong initiative.
Erich Fromm because they enable people to This type is typified by historical
avoid assuming true responsibility aristocracies who took power and
for their actions and prevent wealth from indigenous populations
productive, personal growth. Each to line their own pockets.
of the four main nonproductive
types—receptive, exploitative, “Hoarders” are always seeking
hoarding, and marketing—have friends in high places and rank even
both positive and negative sides. loved ones in terms of their value,
A fifth type, necrophilous, is seeing them as something owned.
Power-hungry and ungenerous,
at best they are pragmatic and
economical. Historically, these are

the middle classes, or bourgeoisie, Life has an PSYCHOTHERAPY 129
that rise in great numbers during inner dynamism
economic depressions. Erich Fromm
of its own; it
The last of the main types is tends to grow, to be Erich Fromm was the only
the “marketing” orientation. These expressed, to be lived. child of his orthodox Jewish
people are obsessed with image parents, and grew up in
and with how to successfully Erich Fromm Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
advertise and sell themselves. A thoughtful young man, he
Every choice is evaluated in terms Fromm’s last personality type, the was initially influenced by his
of reflected status, from the clothes, productive orientation, genuinely Talmudic studies, but later
cars, and vacations they buy to seeks and finds a legitimate solution turned toward Karl Marx and
marriage into the “right” family. to life through flexibility, learning, socialist theory, together with
At worst, they are opportunistic, and sociability. Aiming to “become Freud’s psychoanalysis. Driven
tactless, and shallow; at best, they one” with the world and so escape by the need to understand the
are highly motivated, purposeful, the loneliness of separation, hostility he witnessed during
and energetic. This type is most productive people respond to World War I, he studied
representative of modern society, in the world with rationality and an jurisprudence, then sociology
its ever-growing acquisitiveness open mind, willing to change their (to PhD level), before training
and self-consciousness. beliefs in the light of new evidence. in psychoanalysis. After the
A productive person can truly love Nazis took power in Germany
The most negative personality another for who they are, not as a in 1933, Fromm moved to
type—necrophilous—seeks only trophy or safeguard against the Switzerland and then New
to destroy. Deeply afraid of the world. Fromm calls this brave York, where he established a
disorderly and uncontrollable person “the man without a mask.” psychoanalytic practice and
nature of life, necrophilous types taught at Columbia University.
love to talk about sickness and Fromm’s work has a unique
death, and are obsessed with the perspective, drawing on psychology, Fromm married three times
need to impose “law and order.” sociology, and political thinking, and had a well-documented
They prefer mechanical objects to especially the writings of Karl Marx. affair with Karen Horney
other people. In moderation, these His writing, aimed at a mainstream during the 1930s. In 1951,
people are pessimistic nay-sayers audience, influenced the general he left the US to teach in
whose glasses are perpetually public more than academia—mainly Mexico, returning 11 years
half empty, never half full. because of his insistence on the later to become professor
freedom of ideas. He is nonetheless of psychiatry at New York
recognized as a leading contributor University. He died in
to humanistic psychology. ■ Switzerland at the age of 79.

Hitler’s fascination with death Key works
and destruction marks him out as
an example of Fromm’s necrophilous 1941 The Fear of Freedom
personality type, which is obsessed 1947 Man for Himself
with control and the imposition of order. 1956 The Art of Loving

THE GOOD LIFE IS A

PROCESS

NOT A STATE OF

BEING

CARL ROGERS (1902–1987)



132 CARL ROGERS D uring the 19th and into mental health is not something
the early 20th century, that is suddenly achieved at the
IN CONTEXT much of the approach to end of a series of steps. Nor is it
psychological treatment was based attained because an individual’s
APPROACH on the idea that mental illness previously neurotic state of
Person-centered therapy was a fixed pathological malady tension has been reduced by the
that needed to be cured. Popular satisfaction of biological drives and
BEFORE psychoanalytic theory, for example, impulses, as the psychoanalysts
1920s Austrian psychoanalyst defined people struggling with their insisted. Neither is it cultivated
Otto Rank proposes that mental health as “neurotic.” Mental by following a specific program
separation from outdated illness was seen in a negative light designed to develop and preserve
thoughts, emotions, and and most psychological practices a state of inner impermeable
behaviors is essential for and theories of the time offered homeostasis, or balance, reducing
psychological growth and strict definitions with structured the effect of the world’s external
development. explanations of the underlying chaos on the self, as the
causes of the mental illness, and behaviorists recommended.
1950s Abraham Maslow fixed methods to cure it.
says that people must not Rogers does not believe that
be viewed as a collection American psychologist Carl anyone exists in a defective state
of symptoms but first and Rogers took a much more esoteric that needs to be fixed in order to
foremost as people. route to mental health, and in so provide them with a better state,
doing expanded the approach of preferring to view human
AFTER psychotherapy forever. He felt that experience, and our minds and
1960s Fritz Perls popularizes the philosophies of the time were environment, as alive and growing.
the concept of externalizing too structured and rigid to account He talks about the “ongoing process
other people’s expectations for something as dynamic as the of organismic experience”—seeing
to find one’s truest self. human experience, and that life as instantaneous and ongoing;
humanity is much too diverse to be life exists in the experience of
2004 American humanistic fitted into delineated categories. every moment.
psychologist Clark Moustakas
explores the uniquely human Achieving mental health For Rogers, a healthy self-
components of life: hope, love, Rogers takes the view that it is concept is not a fixed identity
self, creativity, individuality, absurd to view mental well-being but a fluid and changing entity,
and becoming. as a specific fixed state; good open to possibilities. Rogers
embraces an authentic,

The good life is a process, not a state of being.

In order to enjoy the good life, we need to…

…be fully …live in the …trust …take …treat ourselves
open to present ourselves. responsibility and others with
experience. moment. unconditional
for our positive regard.
choices.

PSYCHOTHERAPY 133

See also: Fritz Perls 112–17 ■ Erich Fromm 124–29 ■ Abraham Maslow 138–39 ■ Rollo May 141 ■ Dorothy Rowe 154 ■
Martin Seligman 200–01

Unlike a maze with only one route across, Rogers
asserts that life is full of possibilities and offers multiple
routes—but individuals are often unable or unwilling
to see them. To experience “the good life” we need
to stay flexible and open to what life brings, by
experiencing it fully moment by moment.

unprescribed, free-flowing definition essential ingredient is the ability to the limits of our world and reduce
of healthy human experience, with stay wholly present in the moment. our ability to stay present and open
limitless possibilities. Humans are Since self and personality emerge to experience. In living the good
not traveling a road where the out of experience, it is of the utmost life and remaining open to
destination is to become “adjusted” importance to stay fully open to experience, Rogers believes we
or “actualized,” as fellow humanistic the possibilities offered by each adopt a way of being that prevents
psychologist Abraham Maslow moment, and to let experience us feeling trapped and stuck. The
had suggested. Indeed, the purpose shape the self. The individual aim, as Rogers sees it, is for ❯❯
of existence is not about reaching lives in an environment of constant
any kind of destination, Rogers change, yet frequently and all too What I will be in the next
claims, because existence is less easily, people deny this fluidity moment, and what I will do,
a journey toward an endpoint and instead create constructs of grows out of the moment,
and more an ongoing process of how they think things should be.
growth and discovery that does They then try to mold themselves and cannot be predicted.
not stop until we die. and their idea of reality to fit the Carl Rogers
constructs they have made. This
Living “the good life” way of being is the very opposite
Rogers uses the phrase living of the fluid, flowing, and changing
“the good life,” to refer to the range organization of self that Rogers
of characteristics, attitudes, and believes the nature of our
behaviors displayed by people who existence requires.
have embraced the foundations of
his approach—people who are Our preconceptions about
“fully in the stream of life.” One how the world is, or should be,
and our own role within it, define

134 CARL ROGERS

range of options as wrong or Self and personality
inappropriate. The defensive emerge from experience,
feelings and thoughts that rise rather than experience
up in us when reality conflicts being translated… to fit
with our preconceptions create preconceived self-structure.
a limited, artificial interpretation
of experience. In order to really Carl Rogers
participate in what Rogers calls
the “ongoing process of organismic
experience,” we need to be fully
open to new experience, and be
completely without defensiveness.

Spending time working in a A full range of emotions more comfortable with our
developing country can be a rewarding By tuning in to our full range of emotions, including those we have
way to open up to new experiences, emotions, Rogers argues, we deemed to be negative, the flow
challenge fixed ideas about the world, allow ourselves a deeper, richer of positive feelings emerges more
and find out more about ourselves. experience in every part of our strongly; it is as if by permitting
lives. We may think we can ourselves to feel pain, we allow for
is for experience to be the starting selectively block emotion, and a more intense experience of joy.
point for the construction of our dampen down disturbing or
personalities, rather than trying uncomfortable feelings, but when By always remaining open to
to fit our experiences into a we repress some of our emotions, everything that occurs, Rogers
preconceived notion of our sense we inevitably turn down the says that we allow our fullest
of self. If we hold on to our ideas of volume of all our emotions,
how things should be, rather than denying ourselves access to the
accepting how they really are, we whole of our nature. If on the other
are likely to perceive our needs as hand, we allow ourselves to be
“incongruent” or mismatched to
what is available. A fixed view of the world
often leads to unhappiness;
When the world does not “do we can feel like “a square peg
what we want,” and we feel unable in a round hole,” constantly
to change our ideas, conflict arises frustrated that our life is not
in the form of defensiveness. how we expected it to be.
Rogers explains defensiveness Rogers urges us to abandon
as the tendency to unconsciously our preconceived ideas and
apply strategies to prevent a see the world as it really is.
troubling stimulus from entering
consciousness. We either deny
(block out) or distort (reinterpret)
what is really happening,
essentially refusing to accept
reality in order to stick with our
preconceived ideas. In so doing,
we deny ourselves the full range
of potential reactions, feelings,
and ideas, and we dismiss a wide

abilities to function, and in turn individual, is famously termed PSYCHOTHERAPY 135
we can get the greatest satisfaction “unconditional positive regard.”
from our experiences. We have not Rogers believed that all people, Love that is conditional on an action
raised our defenses to shut off any not just his patients, needed to be or situation—for example, on achieving
part of the self, so we are able to able to view themselves in this A grades at school or eating the right
experience everything fully. Once way, as well as those around them foods—can leave children feeling
we escape from the rut of the and their environment. unworthy and unaccepted.
preconceptions of the mind, we can
allow ourselves to soar. Rather than Unconditional self-acceptance self-worth and regard for others
organizing our experience to suit and unconditional acceptance of on achievements or appearance,
our idea of the world, we “discover others are vital, and when these rather than accepting people
structure in experience.” are lacking, people fail to remain as they are.
open to experience. Rogers
This openness is not for the maintained that many of Parents may inadvertently
faint-hearted, Rogers states; it us have very strong, strident, teach children that they are
requires a level of bravery on the specific conditions that must be worthy of affection only if certain
part of the individual. We don’t met before we will grant approval requirements are met, offering
need to fear any type of feeling, he or acceptance. We also base them rewards and praise when
says—we need only to allow the they eat their vegetables or get
full flow of cognition and No other person’s ideas, an A grade in physics, but fail
experience. With true access to a and none of my own ideas, to love them openly just for
fuller range of processing themselves. Rogers calls these
experience, each of us is more able are as authoritative requirements “conditions of worth,”
to find the path that truly suits our as my experience. believing that the tendency of
authentic self—this is the fully humankind to demand that
functioning individual that Rogers Carl Rogers people and things match our
urges us to become. We are always arbitrary expectations does
growing, and Rogers emphasizes all of us a great disservice.
that the direction in which people
move—when there is freedom to Achievements are to be
move in any direction—is generally respected, he says, but they are
the direction they are best suited both separate and secondary
for, and that is best suited for them. to acceptance, which is a basic
human need, and does not have
Unconditional acceptance to be “earned” through deeds
In contrast to the views of many or action. Rogers says that the
of his predecessors in the field of value of an individual is ❯❯
psychotherapy, Rogers believed
that people are, in their essence,
healthy and good; and that mental
and emotional well-being is the
natural progression for human
nature. These beliefs are the
foundation of an approach that
regards patients in an entirely
positive light, one of absolute,
unconditional acceptance. Rogers
asked that his patients learn to do
the same for themselves and for
others. This perspective, grounded
in compassion and the recognition
of the potential of each and every

136 CARL ROGERS

The subjective human realize that each of us is a continual needs. No longer at the mercy of
being has an important work-in-progress; that we are in a what he thinks he should be doing,
value… that no matter process of change, as Rogers says nor of what society or parents may
how he may be labeled in his seminal work, On Becoming have conditioned him to think he
and evaluated he is a A Person—we are all in a constant wants, he can much more easily
human person first of all. “state of becoming.” The irony simply exist in the moment and
is that with greater self- be truly aware of what he actually
Carl Rogers acceptance, and with less wants. And now he can trust
unhealthy pressure and constant himself, “not because he is
inherently granted merely by the criticism, we can actually become infallible, but because he can be
miracle of existence. Acceptance much more productive. fully open to the consequences of
must never be thought of as each of his actions and correct
conditional; unconditional positive Trusting oneself them if they prove to be less than
regard is key to how we might all To live “the good life,” as Rogers satisfying,” Rogers explains.
live “the good life.” sees it, is to learn to trust ourselves.
As an individual moves toward In living “the good life” we also
As people become more openness, he finds that he have a sense of owning our lives
accepting of themselves, they simultaneously makes progress in and taking responsibility for
also become more patient with his ability to trust himself and his ourselves—this is another tenet of
themselves. Acceptance alleviates instincts, and begins to rely more Rogers’ philosophy and comes from
the pressure to do, see, and acquire, comfortably on his decision-making an existential viewpoint. What we
which builds when we live with the capabilities. With no need to choose to think or do is down to
mistaken idea that these activities repress any part of himself, he has us; there can be no residual
define our worth. We can begin to a greater ability to tune in to all the resentments when we have truly
parts of himself. This gives him identified for ourselves what we
access to a variety of perspectives want and need, and taken the steps
and feelings, and in turn he is to create it. At the same time, there
better able to evaluate choices that is greater accountability and an
will truly realize his potential. He increased tendency to truly invest
is able to see more clearly what in our lives. It is not uncommon to
direction his authentic self wishes hear about a doctor who hates
to take, and can make choices that medicine but practices because his
are truly in congruence with his parents said that being a doctor
was the way to earn respect and

Carl Rogers Carl Rogers was born in Oak Organizations (USO), offering
Park, Illinois, to a strictly therapy to returning army
Protestant family, and apparently personnel during World War II.
had few friends outside the family In 1964, he was awarded
before going to college. Initially, “Humanist of the Year” by the
Rogers majored in agriculture, American Humanist Association,
but after marrying his childhood and devoted the last ten years
sweetheart, Helen Elliott, in of his life to working for world
1924, he enrolled at a theological peace. He was nominated for
seminary, before withdrawing a Nobel Peace Prize in 1987.
to pursue a course in psychology.
Rogers worked at the universities Key works
of Ohio, Chicago, and Wisconsin,
developing his client-centered 1942 Counseling and
therapy based on humanistic Psychotherapy
psychology. He also spent 1951 Client-centered Therapy
time with the United Service 1961 On Becoming a Person

PSYCHOTHERAPY 137

Teaching a child to ride a bicycle
requires encouragement and support
but ultimately the child must be brave
and trust himself. Rogers likened his
person-centered therapy to this process.

him find what sort of role he would
really like to take. Rogers describes
the process as “supportive, not
reconstructive;” the client must
not come to rely on the therapist
for support, but instead needs to
learn how to become sufficiently
self-aware and self-trusting to
be independent and able to live
“the good life.”

approval—both from them and from healthy and capable of growing Rogers’ legacy
society. In direct contrast, the rates and realizing its potential. This Rogers was one of the most
of students who drop out or fail approach was in contrast to the influential psychotherapists of the
university courses are strikingly other main psychological therapies 20th century, and his new client-
low among those who have have of the time—psychoanalysis and centered, non-directive therapy
received little support but worked behaviorism—both of which marked a turning point in the
to pay for their own tuition. focus on the pathology of the development of psychotherapy.
individual and how to fix it. He was instrumental in the
The ways in which people can encounter-group philosophy of
influence our desires and how we Rogers initially called his the 1960s, which encouraged
define ourselves can be intensely approach “client-centered,” and then open communication between
complex. Resentment can be changed it to “person-centered,” and individuals. He was responsible
buried deep within us when we it has since been hugely influential for the spread of professional
act in accordance with someone in education, parenting, business, counseling into areas such as
else’s wishes rather than our own. and other areas as well as in clinical education and social work, and was
If our actions are free of external work. In person-centered therapy, a pioneer in attempting to resolve
influences, we feel more authentic, which Rogers described as “non- international conflict through more
more solidly in control of creating directive therapy,” the therapist effective communication. ■
our own destiny, and more satisfied takes the role of a facilitator who
with the results. helps the client find his or her own The process of the
answers, based on the belief that good life… means
Person-centered approach the client knows himself best. In launching oneself fully
Rogers’ philosophy became the person-centered therapy, the client into the stream of life.
cornerstone of a new approach identifies his problems and what
called humanistic psychology, direction the therapy should take. Carl Rogers
which he founded in the 1950s For example, the client may not
with Abraham Maslow and Rollo wish to focus on his childhood but
May. It was based on a positive rather deal with issues he is facing
view of humanity as basically at work and the therapist may help

138

WHAT A MAN
CAN BE, HE
MUST BE

ABRAHAM MASLOW (1908–1970)

IN CONTEXT T hroughout recorded history, an individual must discover his
questions have been posed true purpose in life and pursue it.
APPROACH about why we are here, Maslow refers to this ultimate state
Humanist psychology and what the purpose is of our lives. of being as self-actualization.
Underlying these questions is a need
BEFORE to identify what will make us truly Toward self-actualization
1920s Alfred Adler claims satisfied, and a confusion about Maslow created a highly structured
there is only one motivating how to find it. Psychoanalysts plan to explain the path of human
force behind all our behavior would claim that the fulfilment motivation, defining the steps that
and experience: the striving of innate biological drives leads humans need to follow as they
for perfection. toward satisfaction, and move toward self-actualization. His
behaviorists would describe famous Hierarchy of Needs, which
1935 Henry Murray develops the importance of meeting is often drawn as a pyramid,
the Thematic Apperception physiological needs with food, positions the most basic needs at
Test, which measures sleep, and sex, but the new wave the base and each of the other
personality and motivation. of psychotherapeutic thought in essential requirements for a
the early to mid-20th century fulfilled life in groups on top.
AFTER believed that the path to inner
1950s Kurt Goldstein defines fulfillment was much more complex. Maslow’s hierarchy is split
self-actualization as the into two distinct sections: at the
tendency to actualize, as much One of the main proponents beginning are the four stages that
as possible, the organism’s of this new approach to the make up the “deficiency needs” and
individual capacities, and problem was Abraham Maslow, a all of these must be met before a
proclaims that the drive to psychotherapist who is considered person is able to reach for greater
self-actualize is the only one of the founders of the humanist intellectual satisfaction through
drive that determines the movement in psychology. He the “growth needs.” The deficiency
life of an individual. examined human experience by needs are simple and basic; they
looking at the things that are most include physiological necessities
1974 Fritz Perls says that important to us: love, hope, faith, (such as food, water, and sleep), the
every living thing “has spirituality, individuality, and need for safety (to be safe and out
only one inborn goal—to existence. One of the most crucial of danger), love and belongingness
actualize itself as it is.” aspects of his theories was that in needs (our need to be close to and
order to reach the most highly accepted by others), and self-esteem
developed state of consciousness requirements (our need to achieve
and realize the greatest potential, in our lives and be recognized).

PSYCHOTHERAPY 139

See also: Alfred Adler 100–01 ■ Erich Fromm 124–29 ■ Carl Rogers 130–37 ■
Rollo May 141 ■ Martin Seligman 200–01

The Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s hierarchy Self-transcendence
of needs lists the Helping
qualities he observed in others,
successful individuals
who aimed high but kept connecting with
their feet on the ground. something outside

ourselves Abraham Maslow

Self-actualization Abraham Maslow was born
Fulfilling personal potential the eldest of seven children
in Brooklyn, New York.
Growth needs Aesthetic His parents were Jewish
Order, beauty, symmetry immigrants who had left
Russia for the US to escape
Cognitive the tumultuous political
Knowing, understanding situation there. They had
high expectations of Maslow,
Self-esteem Deficiency needs and forced him to study
Achievement, recognition, respect, competence law—a parental dominance
that continued until 1928
Love and Belongingness when Maslow decided to take
Acceptance, friendship, intimacy, relationships control of his life and pursue
psychology instead. In the
Safety same year he disobeyed his
Security, stability, health, shelter, money, employment parents by marrying his cousin,
Bertha Goodman, with whom
Physiological he had two children.
Air, food, drink, sleep, warmth, exercise
Maslow moved to the
At the higher level, the growth Maslow also proposes that each University of Wisconsin and
needs are cognitive (a need to one of us has an individual purpose worked under Harry Harlow,
know and understand), aesthetic to which we are uniquely suited, the behavioral psychologist
(a desire for order and beauty), and and part of the path to fulfillment famous for his work with
lastly, two requirements that define is to identify and pursue that primates. Later, at Columbia
the purpose of life, and lead to purpose. If someone is not doing University, Maslow found a
intense spiritual and psychological what they are best suited to do in mentor in psychoanalyst
fulfillment: self-actualization life, it will not matter if all their and former colleague of
and self-transcendence. Self- other needs are fulfilled, he or she Freud’s, Alfred Adler.
actualization is the desire for self- will be perpetually restless and
fulfillment, and self-transcendence unsatisfied. Each of us must Key works
is the need to move beyond the self, discover our potential, and seek out
and connect to something higher experiences that will allow us to 1943 A Theory of Human
than ourselves—such as God—or fulfil it—“What a man can be, Motivation
to help others realize their potential. he must be,” proclaims Maslow. ■ 1954 Motivation and
Personality
1962 Toward a Psychology
of Being

140

SUFFERING CEASES
TO BE SUFFERING
AT THE MOMENT
IT FINDS A MEANING

VIKTOR FRANKL (1905–1997)

IN CONTEXT V iennese psychiatrist Viktor painful and possibly devastating
Frankl had already begun situations and to move forward;
APPROACH to specialize in suicide these are the capacity for decision,
Logotherapy prevention and the treatment of and freedom of attitude. Frankl
depression when, in 1942, he and stresses that we are not at the
BEFORE his wife, brother, and parents were mercy of our environment or events,
600–500BCE In India, taken to a concentration camp. He because we dictate how we allow
Gautama Buddha teaches that spent three years there and endured them to shape us. Even suffering
suffering is caused by desire, many horrors and losses before can be seen differently, depending
and can be alleviated by emerging as the only survivor of the on our interpretation of events.
releasing desire. group. In his book Man’s Search for
Meaning (1946), written after these Frankl cites the case of one of
458 BCE Ancient Greek experiences, Frankl explains that his patients who suffered because
dramatist Aeschylus explores humans have two psychological he missed his dead wife. Frankl
the idea that “wisdom comes strengths that allow us to bear asked how it would have been if
alone through suffering.” the patient had died first, and he
A man who has nothing else replied that his wife would have
AFTER in this world may still found it very difficult. Frankl pointed
1950s French existentialist know bliss. out that the patient has spared her
philosophers, such as Jean- Viktor Frankl this grief, but must now suffer the
Paul Sartre, say our lives do not grief himself. In giving meaning to
have a God-given purpose; we the suffering it becomes endurable;
must find it for ourselves. “suffering ceases to be suffering at
the moment it finds a meaning.”
2003 Martin Seligman says
a “full life” encompasses Meaning is something we
pleasure, engagement (flow), “discover rather than invent,”
and meaning. according to Frankl, and we must
find it for ourselves. We find it
2007 US psychologist through living, and specifically
Dan Gilbert explains that through love, creating things, and
people are unhappy because the way we choose to see things. ■
of the way they think
about happiness. See also: Rollo May 141 ■ Boris Cyrulnik 152–53 ■
Martin Seligman 200–01

PSYCHOTHERAPY 141

ONE DOES NOT
BECOME FULLY
HUMAN PAINLESSLY

ROLLO MAY (1909–1994)

IN CONTEXT I n the mid-19th century, enjoy our familiar environments,
philosophers such as Martin and favor experiences that keep
APPROACH Heidegger, Frederick Nietzsche, the mental and physical senses
Existential psychotherapy and Søren Kierkegaard challenged in a state of balance and ease.
social dogma and demanded that This tendency, however, leads
BEFORE people expand their ways of us to judge and label experiences
1841 Søren Kierkegaard thinking to incorporate a fuller as “good” or “bad,” depending
claims that people misinterpret understanding of human experience, only on the levels of pleasure or
Christian ideology and misuse in a movement now known as discomfort they may bring. May
science to falsely defend existentialism. The notions of free says that in doing so, we do
against the anxiety inherent will, personal responsibility, and how ourselves a disservice, since we
in existence. we interpret our experience were are fighting against processes that
all of interest to the existentialists, lead to immense growth and
1942 Swiss physician Ludwig who wanted to ask what it means, development if we can accept
Binswanger combines fundamentally, for a human to exist. them as a natural part of life.
existential philosophy with
psychotherapy in his Basic Psychologist Rollo May’s The May proposes an approach to
Forms and the Realization of Meaning of Anxiety (1950) brought life that echoes Buddhist thought,
Human “Being-in-the-World.” this human-centered philosophical where we accept all forms of
approach into psychology for the first experience equally, rather than
1942 Carl Rogers, a pioneer time, and May is often referred to as shunning or denying those we
of humanistic psychology, the father of existential psychology. judge to be uncomfortable or
publishes Counseling and unpleasant. We also need to accept
Psychotherapy. An existential approach our “negative” feelings, rather than
May viewed life as a spectrum avoid or repress them. Suffering
AFTER of human experience, including and sadness are not pathological
1980 Irvin Yalom discusses in suffering as a normal part of life, issues to be “fixed,” he says; they
Existential Psychotherapy the not as a sign of pathology. It is are natural and essential parts of
four ultimate concerns of life: self-evident that as human beings, living a human life, and are also
death, freedom, existential we tend to seek experiences that important because they lead
isolation, and meaninglessness. allow us to be comfortable. We to psychological growth. ■

See also: Søren Kierkegaard 26–27 ■ Alfred Adler 100-01 ■ Carl Rogers 130–37 ■
Abraham Maslow 138–39 ■ Viktor Frankl 140 ■ Boris Cyrulnik 140

RATIONAL BELIEFS IN CONTEXT
CREATE HEALTHY
EMOTIONAL APPROACH
CONSEQUENCES Rational Emotive
Behavior Therapy
ALBERT ELLIS (1913–2007)
BEFORE
1927 Alfred Adler says that a
person’s behavior springs from
his or her ideas.

1940s The role of perception
in creating reality is
popularized by the Gestalt
Therapy movement.

1950 Karen Horney suggests
we escape from the “tyranny
of the shoulds.”

AFTER
1960s Aaron Beck says that
depression is a result of
unrealistic negative views
about the world.

1980 American psychiatrist
David Burns gives labels to
cognitive distortions such as:
Jumping to Conclusions,
All or Nothing Thinking,
Always Being Right, Over
Generalizing, and
Catastrophizing.

E pictetus, an ancient Greek
philosopher, proclaimed in
80 CE, that “men are
disturbed not by events, but by the
views which they take of them.”
This principle is the foundation of
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
(REBT), devised by Dr. Albert Ellis
in 1955, which asserts that
experiences do not cause any
specific emotional reaction; instead
it is the individual’s belief system
that produces the reaction.

Practicing as a psychoanalyst in
the 1940s and 50s, Ellis began to
realize that while many of his
patients gained an insight into

PSYCHOTHERAPY 143

See also: Alfred Adler 100–101 ■ Karen Horney 110 ■ Erich Fromm 124–29 ■ Carl Rogers 130–137 ■ Aaron Beck 174–177 ■
Martin Seligman 200–201

When negative things happen,
we can…

…react “automatically” and irrationally… …take time to consider a response…

…which reinforces habitual ways …and think about new, rational ways
of thinking that may be to respond that may be useful
and beneficial to us.
unhelpful and not beneficial to us.

We become even more convinced that We realize that our negative opinions
our poor opinions of ourselves are unjustified and the world holds
and the world are justified. infinite possibilities for us.

themselves and their childhood, especially negative ones, about This is not to say one turns a blind
their symptoms unfortunately events. For example, if a man who eye to negative factors in favor of
remained. It seemed that when one is an irrational thinker loses his job, naïve, positive beliefs—rational
problem was resolved, the patient to him it is not merely unfortunate, thinking does acknowledge
would put another in its place. but awful. He believes that he is reasonable feelings of sorrow, guilt,
The issue, Ellis decided, lay in the worthless because he was fired, and frustration. The rational thinker
way the person was thinking (their and that he will never find another may lose her job; it may have even
cognition), and it required more job. Ellis describes irrational been her fault that she lost the job,
than insight to change it. beliefs as illogical, extreme, but she knows she is not worthless.
damaging, and self-sabotaging She may be upset with herself, but
Irrational thinking because they cause unhealthy she knows that rationally there is
Ellis began to describe his way emotional consequences. the possibility of another job.
of working as Rational Therapy Rational thinking is balanced and
because he believed that the Rational thinking creates the always allows room for optimism
majority of long-standing emotional opposite effect. Ellis defines and possibilities; it creates healthy
problems are almost always due to rational thinking as helpful to the emotional consequences.
irrational thinking. One of the most self. It is based on tolerance and
common ways in which irrationality the ability to bear distress without Ellis’s notion of irrational
occurs, he says, is the tendency to assuming catastrophic negative thinking is influenced by Karen
draw extreme conclusions, conclusions, and is rooted in a Horney’s idea of the “tyranny of
belief in positive human potential. the shoulds”—a preoccupation ❯❯

144 ALBERT ELLIS

People and things do reaction becomes inextricably If someone has been unlucky
not upset us. Rather, we linked to the event itself. However, in love they may feel sad and rejected.
Ellis aimed to teach people to However, there is a difference between
upset ourselves by recognize how an event may feeling these emotions and allowing
believing that they contribute to a feeling, but it does them to become a belief system.
not directly cause that feeling. Our
can upset us. emotional response depends on to irrational responses. This
Albert Ellis the meaning we put on what took process is known as “disputing.”
place, which in turn is governed For instance, some people hold the
with the idea that something by rational or irrational thinking. belief that “I am the only really
should (magically) be different from dependable person I know” or “I am
how it is. The struggle to reconcile As the name implies, Rational destined to be always alone in this
these thoughts with reality is a Emotive Behavior Therapy world.” In therapy, the individual is
painful and unending one. Rational examines both the emotional encouraged to search their personal
thinking, on the other hand, focuses response (a cognitive process) and history to find rationalizations for
on acceptance; it maintains the the behavior. The links between these belief systems. Someone who
balanced sense that sometimes these two flow in both directions: has been through the break-up of
things happen that we would prefer it is possible to change your several relationships may have the
not to, but they are a part of life. thinking through changing your delusion that it is their “destiny to
behavior, and to change your be alone” or that they are somehow
Conditioned response behavior through changing your “unlovable.” REBT encourages
We become so used to our responses thinking. Ellis suggests that the
to people and events that they way to change one’s thinking
appear to be almost automatic; our involves being able to recognize
and then dispute irrational
beliefs, challenging them with
rational thoughts.

Challenging beliefs
During REBT, an individual is
asked to consider whether they
have several overriding beliefs
about themselves and their
position in life as these contribute

Albert Ellis Albert Ellis was born in Pittsburgh, considered to have led the shift
Pennsylvania. His father was toward cognitive behavioral
often away on business and his therapy. He is recognized as
mother suffered from bipolar one of the most influential
disease; Ellis frequently took psychologists in the US. He
care of his three younger siblings. wrote more than 70 books,
Ellis began a career in business continuing to write and teach
and then became an author, until his death at the age of 93.
before his writing on sexuality
led him to start studying clinical Key works
psychology at Columbia University
in 1942. Initially, Ellis practiced 1957 How to Live with a
psychoanalysis and was influenced Neurotic
by Sigmund Freud, Albert Adler, 1961 A Guide to Rational Living
and Erich Fromm. However, his 1962 Reason and Emotion in
Rational Therapy broke away from Psychotherapy
psychoanalytic theory and is 1998 Optimal Aging

PSYCHOTHERAPY 145

people to allow for the pain of loss choose healthier pathways; and The best years of your life are
or loneliness, and to logically how to internalize and habituate the ones in which you decide
evaluate factors that led to the loss; new, more beneficial beliefs. In your problems are your own…
but discourages the practice of so doing, the therapist becomes You realize that you control
believing that one or two instances obsolete—once the client grasps
mean that something will always the idea of becoming self-aware your own destiny.
happen, and therefore being happy in decision-making, and choosing Albert Ellis
is impossible. deliberately (and often differently),
the therapist is no longer needed. action, action,” he said. REBT
One of the difficulties inherent became one of the most popular
in irrational thinking is that it tends An active therapy therapies of the 1970s and 80s, and
to perpetuate itself, because in Albert Ellis’s theories challenged was highly influential on the work
thinking, for instance, “nothing the slow-moving methodology of of Aaron Beck, who described Ellis
good ever happens to me,” there psychoanalysis and created the as an “explorer, revolutionary,
is little or no motivation to seek first form of cognitive behavioral therapist, theorist, and teacher.” ■
opportunities where good things therapy, an approach that is popular
might happen. The irrational today. He was an active and
thinker sees the possibilities of directive therapist and in place of
having a good experience as so long-term, passive psychoanalysis,
unlikely that he gives up searching he put the work and power squarely
for them. It also makes him blind in the hands of the client—an
to the good things that do happen. approach that prefigured Carl
Many people express the self- Rogers. He also emphasized that
perpetuating belief: “Yes, I have theorizing was not enough—“you
tried, and I know that good things have to back it up with action,
never happen,” which rationalizes
and reinforces their belief system. REBT identifies the Adversity: An event that
patterns of irrational may cause mental distress.
Irrational thinking is “black and thinking that lead to
white;” it stops an individual from unhealthy and entrenched I’ve lost my job!
recognizing the full spectrum of beliefs, and describes
possible experiences. If a faulty how to challenge them.
belief system leads us to always
interpret situations negatively, Beliefs: The initial Consequences: The feelings
then it prevents the possibility (irrational) thoughts caused by these beliefs.
of alternate positive experiences. about the event.
Though it often appears that “seeing
is believing,” the reality is that I’m worthless. I’m depressed
what we believe is what we see. I’ll never get and anxious.
another job!
Constructivist theory
REBT is a constructivist theory, Disputation: Taking Effect: Revised and rational
suggesting that although our a rational look at beliefs. beliefs about the event.
preferences are influenced by
our upbringing and culture, we Hang on, I’m looking I’ll be able to get
construct our own beliefs and at this all wrong! another job—it’s not
reality. As a therapy, it attempts
to reveal people’s inflexible and that bad.
absolutist thoughts, feelings, and
actions; and helps them see how
they are choosing to “disturb
themselves,” as Ellis puts it. It
suggests how to think of and

146

THE FAMILY
IS THE “FACTORY”
WHERE PEOPLE
ARE MADE

VIRGINIA SATIR (1916–1988)

IN CONTEXT We learn to react in T he role that a person
certain ways to the assumes in their “family
APPROACH of origin” (the family they
Family therapy members of our family. grew up in) tends to be the seed
from which the adult will grow.
BEFORE These reactions shape American psychologist Virginia
1942 Carl Rogers publishes a role that we adopt, Satir recognized the importance
Counseling and Psychotherapy, especially when under stress. that the original family plays in
emphasizing the role of respect shaping personality, and looked
and a nonjudgmental approach This role may at differences between a healthy,
in mental health treatment. overwhelm our authentic functioning family and one that
was dysfunctional. She was
AFTER self and be taken with us especially interested in the roles
1953 US psychiatrist Harry into adulthood. that people tend to adopt in order
Stack Sullivan publishes to compensate when healthy
The Interpersonal Theory The family is the dynamics are lacking between
of Psychiatry, which states “factory” where family members.
that people are products people are made.
of their environment. A healthy family life involves
open and reciprocated displays
1965 Argentinian-born of affection, and expressions of
psychiatrist Salvador positive regard and love for one
Minuchin brings family another. More than any previous
therapy to prominence at therapist, Satir emphasized the
the Philadelphia Child power that compassionate,
Guidance Clinic. nurturing relationships have in
developing well-adjusted psyches.
1980 Italian psychiatrist Mara
Selvini Palazzoli and her Role playing
colleagues publish articles When family members lack the
about their “Milan systems” ability to openly express emotion
approach to family therapy. and affection, Satir suggested that
personality “roles” tend to emerge
in place of authentic identities. She
noted five commonly played roles

PSYCHOTHERAPY 147

See also: Carl Rogers 130–37 ■ Lev Vygotsky 270 ■ Bruno Bettelheim 271

The Five Family Roles

Five distinct
personality roles,
according to Satir,
are commonly
played out by
individual family
members in order
to cover up difficult
emotional issues.

Distractor Computer Leveler Blamer Placator

that individual family members are believed that in order to cast aside Virginia Satir
likely to adopt, especially in times these false identities, whether as
of stress. These are: the family children or as adults, we must Virginia Satir was born on
member who constantly finds accept self-worth as a birthright. a farm in Wisconsin and
fault and criticizes (“the blamer”); Only then will it be possible to start is said to have decided she
the non-affectionate intellectual moving toward a truly fulfilling wanted to be a “detective of
(“the computer”); the person who existence. This begins with a people’s parents” at the age
stirs things up in order to shift the commitment to straightforward, of six. Losing her hearing for
focus away from emotional issues open, and honest communication. two years due to an illness
(“the distractor”); the apologetic helped to make her acutely
people-pleaser (“the placator”); The need for basic, positive, observant of nonverbal
and the open, honest, and direct emotional connections lies at the communication, and gave her
communicator (“the leveler”). root of Satir’s pioneering work. She a sensitive insight into human
believed that love and acceptance behavior. Her father was an
Only levelers maintain a are the most potent healing forces alcoholic, and she was well
healthy, congruent position, with for any dysfunctional family. By aware of the dynamics of
their inner feelings matching their fostering close, compassionate caretaking, blaming, and
communications with the rest of relationships with her patients, pleasing that went on around
the family. Others adopt their she mimicked the dynamic she her during her own childhood.
various roles because low self- was encouraging them to adopt. ■
esteem makes them afraid to Satir trained as a teacher,
show or share their true feelings. By knowing how to heal but her interest in problems of
Placators are afraid of disapproval; the family, I know how to self-esteem in children led her
blamers attack others to hide to take a master’s degree in
feelings of unworthiness; heal the world. social work. She set up the first
computers rely on their intellect Virginia Satir formal family therapy training
to stop them acknowledging their program in the US and the
feelings; and distracters—often the “Satir Model” is still hugely
youngest in the family—believe influential in personal and
they will only be loved if they are organizational psychology.
seen as cute and harmless.
Key works
These adopted roles may allow
the family to function, but they can 1964 Conjoint Family Therapy
overwhelm each individual’s ability 1972 Peoplemaking
to be his or her authentic self. Satir

148

TURN ON,
TUNE IN,
DROP OUT

TIMOTHY LEARY (1920–1996)

IN CONTEXT T imothy Leary was an thought we should do is “Drop Out,”
American psychologist by which he meant that we should
APPROACH who became an iconic detach ourselves from artificial
Experimental psychology figure of the 1960s counterculture, attachments and become self-reliant
coining possibly the most widely in thought and deed. Unfortunately,
BEFORE used catchphrase linked with that “Drop Out” has been misinterpreted
1890s William James says era: “Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out.” as urging people to halt productivity,
that the self has four layers: which was never his intention.
the biological, the material, However, the order in which
the social, and the spiritual. Leary wished us to do these three Next, Leary tells us to “Turn
things is slightly different. He felt On,” or delve into our unconscious,
1956 Abraham Maslow that society was polluted by politics, and “find a sacrament which
stresses the importance of and made up of sterile, generic returns you to the temple of God,
“peak experiences” in the communities that do not allow the your own body.” This is a command
route to self-actualization. depth of meaning needed by true to explore deeper layers of reality, as
individuals. The first thing he well as the many levels of experience
AFTER and consciousness. Drugs were one
1960s British psychiatrist way to do this, and Leary, a Harvard
Humphry Osmond coins the professor, began experimenting
term “psychedelic” to describe with the hallucinogenic drug LSD.
the emotional effects of the
drugs LSD and mescaline. To “Tune In,” Leary asks us to
return to society with a new vision,
1962 In his “Good Friday seeking fresh patterns of behavior
Experiment,” US psychiatrist that reflect our transformation, and
and theologian Walter Pahnke to teach others our newfound ways. ■
tests if psychedelic drugs can
deepen religious experience. The psychedelic movement of the
1960s was heavily influenced by Leary’s
1972 US psychologist Robert call to create a better, more satisfying
E. Ornstein argues in The society by exploring the unconscious to
Psychology of Consciousness uncover our true emotions and needs.
that only personal experience
can unlock the unconscious. See also: William James 38–45 ■ Abraham Maslow 138–39