PSYCHOTHERAPY

LESSONTEN

"
TheCl
i
ent
,TheTher
api
standSpi
ri
tual
i
ty"

Itisar egrettabl
efactthatclientstendtoenterint
ot herapywit
h
l
ow self
-est
eem,l ooki
ngf orrelieffrom someonet heyper cei
veasa
qual
if
iedexpert.Asar esult
,thecl i
entgenerall
yiscontentt oplayt
he
rol
eofobedient,respectf
ulreci
pientofthetherapi
sts"
' magic".

Ift
hecli
entistol
eavether
apymor ecompetenttocontr
olhisown
l
ife,thenhemustmov einthedi r
ecti
onofbeingar esponsi
ble,act
ive
partneri
nthether
apeut
icpr
ocessitsel
f.

Thet
her
api
stshoul
dencour
ageexact
lyt
hat
.

Byhel pi
ngtheclientbecomeact iv
elyi
nvolved,t
hetherapi
stgains
val
uabl
ei nputonwher et ogo.Thi sdoesnoti mplythatthether
apist
shoul
dpassi v
elyfol
lowt hecl
ient'
swhims.Rat herheshoul
dendeav our
tocombinewhatheseesandunder standswithwhathehasl ear
nedand
knows,t
henaddt hiscomplexmi xt
uretothei
nt ui
ti
vesensewhichall
ows
himtoformulateanappropri
ateprogrammef orthecli
ent
.

Whi lstsomet herapist

sar eexqui si
telysensiti
vet ot hecl ient'
s
changes, othersof t
enf ailt
opi ck-uponwhet hert hecli
enti
simpr ovi
ngor
deter
iorating.Thoughmostt her apist
sareconst antl
yalertt
ot hecl ient'
s
mood and t hinking,some getso wr apped up i nthei
rt heoretical
assumpt ionsthatt heymi ssoutonmuchofwhati shappeni ngt ot heir
cl
ient
s.I nexperiencedt herapistsar ealsopr onet othi
smal ady ,forthey
oft
enf eelsosel f-consciousthatt heymisshal fofwhattheywoul dhav e
seenthroughconcent r
atingon-

"
NowwhatdoIsay
?"

Wit
hpr acti
cecomesthegr owt
hofar
elaxedst
ylet
hatf
il
lsbot
h
cl
i
entandtherapi
stwi
thconf
idence.

However
,the mostdest r
uctiv
e oft herapi
sts ar
et hose whose
et
hicalpostur
emi ghtbebestdescr bed as "
i l
oose."Sucht her
api
sts
i
gnoresignsofcli
entimprov ement,subtlyundermi
ninganypr ogr
essin
anapparenteff
orttokeept hecli
entint her
apy.Wereef f
ici
encyamor e
i
mpor t
antconsi
derat
ionintheconsumer 'smind-

NEETATRAI
NING&CONSULTI
NGSERVI
CES WWW.
NEETATCS.
COM
 PSYCHOTHERAPY

"
Timeandmoneyspentv
s.Ther
apeut
icchangeachi
eved"

t
hent
hesegr
ossl
yinef
fi
cientandunet
hical
ther
api
stsmi
ghtnotbeabl
e
t
osur
viv
e.

Buthow canev enwel l

-i
ntentionedt herapist
sbesobl i
ndtot he
cli
ent'
sr eali
ty?Theansweri sinher entinhumannat ur
e,forwear eall
parti
all
ybl i
ndandseeonl ywhatwear ereadyt osee.Ourexpect
ati
ons
weav easubt lewebofbi asandpr ejudice.I
nt imewebecomebl i
ndt o
ourownbl i
ndness,ourperceptualdi storti
onsbecomesoaut omat
icthat
theyarei nvi
sibl
e.Nooneshoul dfindi tsurpri
singthatyear
sofbiascan
dist
ortwhatweseei nourclients.

Sincenosi ngl
etheoret
icalfr
ameworkcanadequat elydefinecli
ent
i
mprovement ,t her
apist
s flexi
bly use several per
spectives joined
t
ogetherbyani ntui
ti
vesenseofhealth.Mul
ti
pleimagesal way sgiv
et he
f
ull
estpictureandthemulti
pleimagecompositecomescl osesttotelli
ng
t
hefullstory
.

Using mul ti
pleimages i s nota new concepti nthe f
iel
d of
psychotherapy .Eclect
ici
sm initi
all
y began int he 1950'
s,when an
att
emptwasmadet ogetaf ull
erpi ct
ureofhumansuccess.I nthose
earl
yday s,eclect
ici
sm borrowedfrom hereandtherebutseemedtolack
acohesi vedi r
ecti
on.Mor eoftenthannoti t
sappr oacheswer
enothing
butlumpymi xtur
esofincompat i
bletechni
ques.

Today,t hebeliefisheldthatthef undament alproblem inprev i

ous
"ecumenical"attempt shasbeenami sperceptionoft heplaceoft herapy
i
ndoi ngther apy.Whi l
eacer tai
namountofl i
p-serviceisgener al
lypai d
totheimpor tanceofr tor"
appor l
ist
eningwi ththet hirdear,
"fargr eater
emphasisi sf ocusedonseei ngthecl i
entt hr
oughbi ochemical,analyt
ic,
cognit
iveorbehav i
ouraltheores."
i Concept ual"isaf avouri
tewor di n
suchdiscussi ons,whie"
l pr
acti
cal"al
mostnev erappear s.

Ev
enther i
gidbehavi
ourtherapists,whowoul
ddoubt l
essconsi
der
t
hemsel
ves "pr
acti
cal"in spi
ri
t,tend t ofocusso nar
rowlythatthey
i
gnor
eanyissuesthatfai
ltoneatl
yfitthebehavi
our
alparadi
gm.

From thepointofv i
ew ofanumberoft herapi
sts,t
heexist
ing
schoolsallseem t
oov er
lookthepract
icali
ssueofanintui
ti
vesenseof
i
mpr ovementt hatmakes i tpossibl
ef orthe t
herapi
stt oli
nk the
confusi
ngar r
ayofcli
enti
magesi nt
oameani ngf
ulwhole.
NEETATRAI
NING&CONSULTI
NGSERVI
CES WWW.
NEETATCS.
COM
 PSYCHOTHERAPY

Thei magesar econf usi

ngbecauset hetherapistcannev erseeal l
oft hecl i
ent.Indeed,theobser v
edcl ientisnott hecl i
entwhoi sact uall
y
there.Forwhat everisact uall
yt here,isunknowabl e-i tisimpossiblet o
pickwhi chr eali
tyisther eali
ty.At herapistseesacl ientthroughsensor y
appar atust hatf i
lt
ers,ext ractsand anal yses.The actofper cept ion
emphasi ses some f eatures and gl osses ov erot hers.Whatr eaches
consci ousnessi sabi asedi mageast hough t hecl ientwerev iewed
throught int
edgl ass.Thet herapistcouldpost ulatea-

"
groundr
eal
i
ty"oft
he"
cli
entwhoi
sact
ual
l
yther
e,"

buthecannev erseethisphant
om.Allheseesarehisper
cept
ions,
these
observat
ionscanneverbethesamethi
ngast hatwhi
chheisobservi
ng.

Theuseoft heor
yint
erposesyetanot
herl
ayerofti
nt,f
ori
tfi
l
ter
s
theal
readyf
il
ter
edpercept
ions.Thus,t
heor
ieseventhebest
,ar
etobe
seenas-

"
real
i
tyt
wicer
emov
ed.
"

I
nt hei
r highestuse,theor
ies ar
ev ol
untar
y,int
erchangeable
pr
ejudi
ces.Byr educingwhatweseet oasi mpl
ifi
edmodel ,t
heories
emphasiseimpor t
antpoi
ntsthatmighthav
eot herwi
seescapedour
at
tenti
on.Yetmismanaged-

t
heor
iescanbecomet
hei
nvi
sibl
ebi
asest
hatbl
i
ndt
her
api
stst
o
cl
i
enti
mprovement
.

Onemi ghthypothesisethattr
ainingandexper iencemakeonel ess
susceptibletosuchsev eredist
orti
ons.Unf or
tunat el
yobser vati
onsof
psychiatri
cacademiadonotsuppor tthisconcl
usi on.Trainingi soften
i
ndoct r
inati
oninselectivebli
ndness.Themosthi ghlytrainedt herapi
st
can bet heonewho i smostbl i
nd tot heclient'sreali
ty.Academi c
posit
ion and member shipin professionalsocieties and t herapeuti
c
schoolscanexer tstrongpeerpr essur etoalway sseet he" emper or'
s
newcl othes.
"

Di
stort
ions ofpercepti
on i nevi
tabl
y play an i
mportantparti n
ther
apyifonl ybecauset heyi nevit
ablyplayapar tinallofl i
fe.As
humans we pr oduce perceptualdi stor
ti
ons so regul
arl
yt hatt hey
permeat
et hefabri
cofev er
ydayl i
fe.Inoureffor
tstosurvi
ve,wereduce
NEETATRAI
NING&CONSULTI
NGSERVI
CES WWW.
NEETATCS.
COM
 PSYCHOTHERAPY
theconf
usi
onintomanageabl
eper cept
ionsandconcept
s.Wehav ethe
needtounder
standinor
dertofuncti
on.Butwecangetintodest
ructi
ve
rut
swhenwecl i
ngtoanyonewayofunder st
andi
ngasthe"t
rueway."

NEETATRAI
NING&CONSULTI
NGSERVI
CES WWW.
NEETATCS.
COM
 PSYCHOTHERAPY

I
ndeed,
onecoul
ddef
inet
her
apyas-

"
anattempttoreducethecli
ent
'sownself
-dist
ort
ions,oratleast
r
epl
acethem wi
thonesthatarel
esssel
f-
dest
ruct
ivetohiswell-
bei
ng."

Themostsuccessf
ult
her
apist
sseem t
ohaveagi ftofknowing
whentorel
axthei
rgri
ponaparti
cul
art
heor
eti
calv
iew andmov eonto
anot
herv
antagepoi
nt.

Iti
shardlysurpri
singtherefor
e,thatsomether
api
sts,l
ockedinto
r
igi
dbeli
efsandhabitsast heyare,f
inditsohar
dtomodeltheflexi
bil
i
ty
t
hatsuccessf
ulther
apyteaches.

Thedi ffi
cultyindi scussingt herapeuticgoalsi spri
maril
yoneof
l
anguage. Each t herapeuti
c school di ctates it
s own cr i
teri
a f or
successfultreatment .Ingener al
,theseconcept sar enon-i
ntersecting
wit
ht hoseofot herschool s.Yeti tisf ir
ml ybelievedthatthemost
successfult herapists,regardless ofwhatt hey say atprofessional
meet i
ngs,seem t owor ktowar dsmor eorlesst hesamespecificgoal sin
actualpr
actice.

Thisconcl usionhasbeenr eachedaf terobser v

ingt herapistsof
purportedlyant i
theti
calschoolssayand do v erysimil
art hingswi th
cli
ents.Renownedbehav i
ouri
stsadmittorewar dingthedev elopmentof
i
nsightwi thasmi leoranod.Legendar yanal y
stshav ebeenquot edas
sayingt hatt heyhav eencouragedbehav iouralchangewi thpr ecisely
ti
medquest ions.Eachoft hesewoul dprobabl yexplai
nt heiractionsi n
thelanguageoft heirspecial
i
sedschool.Mor ethanaf ew pr ofessional
coll
eagues, howev er,ar
eofasi mil
arviewthatappar entl
yalient herapies
havestr i
ki
ngsi milari
ti
es.

Thecommonmanoeuvresthathav
ebeenobser
vedsuggestthat
t
hemostsuccessf
ulther
api
stswouldseem tohavesimil
arspecif
ic
t
her
apeuti
cgoal
sdespi
tet
hei
rtr
aini
ngorschool
oft
hought
.

Whati
snowincl
udedisali
stofgoalst
hatastudentmi
ghtdowel
l
t
obeari
nmindfort
hefutur
e.Thel
istcanbeusedas-

goal
sf ort
hether
apist
sorgoalsf
orthecli
ent(
ther
api
stf
orcl
i
ent
and,
tovar
yingdegr
ees,cl
i
entsf
orthemsel
ves)
.

*Dev
elopmentofsel
f-
suf
fi
ciency
.
NEETATRAI
NING&CONSULTI
NGSERVI
CES WWW.
NEETATCS.
COM
 PSYCHOTHERAPY

*Av
oidanceofper
manenthar
m.

*Rel
i
efofsy
mpt
oms

*Bal
anci
ngofconf
li
cti
ngneeds.

*Est
abl
i
shmentofaposi
ti
vesel
f-
image.

*Fost
eri
ngoft
hei
nher
entcapaci
tyf
orsel
f-
heal
i
ng.

*Senseofper
sonal
sat
isf
act
ionandmeani
ng.

Now atthe end oft

his course ofst
udy,itwoul
d seem an
appr
opr
iat
eti
metoincl
udeashortsecti
ononspi
ri
tual
i
ty.

Oft
enintherapyclient
sar eheardt osaythatt heywantsomet hi
ng
tobeli
evein.Yettheyseem t ohaveahabi t
ualreluctancetobeli
evein
themselv
es.Thest ement"
at somethingtobel i
evei n"eventual
l
ycomes
acrossas"won'tsomebody ,please,givemeabr eak?"Itcanbeseenas
beingful
lofnegativi
ty,self
-pit
yandt he"poorme"sy ndrome.Theonly
onewhocangi vetheclient"abreak"ishimself.

Spirituali
tyis neitherr eal
ly supernaturalorunbel i
evable.Iti s
simplyanot herreali
ty.Ifwehadt alkedaboutel ect
ronsaf ew hundr ed
year
sago,peopl ewoul dhav el aughed.Now peopl et aket heselittl
e
part
icl
esf orgr anted,channelli
ngt hem t hr
oughwi restomaket hings
work.Themor ebel i
evablespiri
tualt r
uthsbecome,t hemor ey ousee
them ev erywher ey oulook.Butl ikesub- at
omi cparti
cl
es,y ouhav et o
l
ookf ort hem, youhav et oopeny ourselftoseeingbefor
ey ouknowt hey
arethere.Itisachoi ce.Youcanopeny oureyesorkeept hem shut .

I
fthecli
entisuncomfort
abl
einachur chorwit
hrel
igi
ons,thenhe
cantakeawal kinthewoodsorsi tonthebeach.Makehi schurch
port
able.Makehishearthi
scentr
e.Lookforwhatgi
veshim deepestj
oy.
Thecli
entneedstoaddspi r
it
ualf
ulf
il
menttohisli
stofneeds.However,
i
tishistasktofi
ndit
.

Spi r
itual
i
tyismuchmor eabouthumanenessthanGodli
ness.Itis
aboutgettinginvol
vedwithother
s.Somuchofourr el
igi
onisinvolved
wit
hGodorTheGodsorwhat everwayyouthi
nkaboutthesethings.
Howev erourprimarypur
poseont hi
sear
thist
oreachouttoother
swi th
l
ove.Itistheonlywaywehav etoknowGod.
NEETATRAI
NING&CONSULTI
NGSERVI
CES WWW.
NEETATCS.
COM
 PSYCHOTHERAPY

Mypersonalbel
iefi
sthatwehav et
ogetinvol
vedwithoneanot her
.
I
tissomethingthatisl toutofsomuch"
ef or
ganised"rel
i
gion.Forme, a
l
otofor ganisedreli
gionisjustescapi
sm.Int hefiel
dofcar ing,our
v
ariousrel
igi
ousleadershavenotdoneaswellastheymight.

Spiri
tual
it
yhast odowithadeepcont
actwi
thot
herhumanbeings,
andwiththeappr eci
ationt
hatwepart
ici
pat
einsomeissuest
hatcannot
berat
ionall
yexplained.

Forme,spir
it
uali
tyishowapersondeal
swiththeprobl
ems,pain
anddif
fi
cul
ti
esint hei
rli
fe.Theydonothavetorunawayf r
om them.
Ther
eisameaningandpur posei
ngoi
ngthr
oughpainandr
eject
ion.

Spi
rit
uali
tyf
ormei stheli
vingout,t
heputt
ingint
opr
act
iceofour
gr
eat
estresponsi
bil
i
ty.Thatr
esponsi
bil
i
tyist
olove.

NEETATRAI
NING&CONSULTI
NGSERVI
CES WWW.
NEETATCS.
COM
 PSYCHOTHERAPY

QUESTI
ONSONLESSONTEN

Pl
easeanswert
hef ol
l
owingquestionsusi
ngnomor et
han75wor
dsf
or
each.
I
ncorpor
atethequesti
onswit
hinyour
answers(eg.t
henumberofdaysintheyear
i
s365)

Quest
ion1. St
atewhatmustoccuri
fthecl
ienti
stol
eav
ether
apy
morecompet
enttocont
rolhi
slif
e.

Quest
ion2. Whatdoest
hetherapi
stgainf
rom hel
pingt
hecl
i
ent
becomeact
ivel
yinvol
ved?

Quest
ion3. Whati
sseenas'
comi
ngwi
thpr
act
ice?
'

Quest
ion4. Whyisi
tthatof
tenevenwell
-i
ntent
ionedt
her
api
sts
canbebl
indtocli
entr
eal
it
y?

Quest
ion5. Forwhatr
easonwasEcl
ect
ici
sm f
ir
stst
art
ed?

Quest
ion6. Whatdor
igi
dbehav
iour
ist
signor
e?

Quest
ion7. St
atewhatexi
sti
ngschool
sov
erl
ook.

Quest
ion8. Descr
ibet
het
heor
iesi
nthei
rhi
ghest

use.

Quest
ion9. Whatcant
heor
iesbecome?

Questi
on10. St
atet
hehy
pot
hesi
ssur
roundi
ngt
rai
ningand
exper
ience.

Quest
ion11. Whyi
sitthatdi
storti
onsofper
cept
ionpl
ayan
i
mpor
tantparti
nt herapy
?

Quest
ion12. Howmi
ghtt
her
apybedef
ined?

NEETATRAI
NING&CONSULTI
NGSERVI
CES WWW.
NEETATCS.
COM
 PSYCHOTHERAPY

NEETATRAI
NING&CONSULTI
NGSERVI
CES WWW.
NEETATCS.
COM