Changing notions in psychotherapy: Yes, cognitively oriented psychologists
(not all) would say that that is the goal. However, it's more complicated
than sitting someone down and selling them on an idea (or notion). The
client is likely to cling to what they know against others who attack what
he/she believes. And, how does the therapist know the notions of the client
if he/she in unable or unwilling to express them back to the client?
Determination of success: Now I do agree! Sculpting, painting, play-writing,
architecture and say, psychotherapy (not an artisitic venture but one much
involved implicitly with definitions of success) certainly involve different
definitions of success. A building design that no one wants to pay to erect
or a play that no one wants to see are wastes of time, no matter how
successful they might be in some individual standard.
Geoff C
From: William Conger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Consciousness Assayed
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 08:00:31 -0700 (PDT)
Evidence
> from studies of
> psychotherapy is that a client's suffering is increased
> when confronted with
> "therapeutic" responses which do not recognize
> the meanings in the client's
> statements.
Isn't it the goal of psychotherapy to convinve patients that their
"notions" need to change? Thus one way for patients to get better is to
encourage them to change their attitudes. Unreasonable and unrealistic
"notions" signal psychic suffering.
>
> Certainly friends can converse about concepts of moderate
> importance without
> agreeing about their differing notions and move to
> agreement on the
> significance of notions. It depends on whether the
> individuals involved are
> suing each other regarding a contract (for example) or
> passing time.
> Similarly, a production of plastic art need not elicit the
> same notion among
> observers but if a playwright fails to estimate what words
> or actions will
> elicit in her/his audience, she/he is likely to be
> unsuccessful in producing
> a "successful" work.
> Geoff C
I like this because it raises the question of success. Is success a matter
of social determination? Most psychologists might say yes. Like Mihaly
Csikszentmialhi does in his book on creativity. Or as the much maligned
Institutional Theory does. But there's still the initial declaration of
success that must reside with the creator/s. For the artist, success is a
matter of fantasy or projection: "This is successful" is an expression of
expectation of favorable reception but no assurance. So I think success is
a sliding scale, not a fixed condition, that begins with the creator and
ends with long term societal approbation. However, what if the creator says
"I think my/this work is not successful" but then sees it become very
successful in societal terms? Who is wrong? Who is right?
WC
