Psychology Term Papers - Self Improvement

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Spirituality is an essential part of human life. From the very beginning, people have attempted to understand why things are as they are. They also have attempted to understand how they are meant to fit in the order. Spirituality is the defining characteristic of any human being.

The concept of soul is not strange for the field of psychology or for the practice of psychotherapy, and its nature has been debated within philosophical circles for centuries. The concern for the soul and its centrality to the human suffering seems to have touched the numerous levels of society including consumers of popular psychology and spirituality. Soul Care has considered being a vital means of healing emotional wounds, bringing a new perspective to human sufferings. Indeed, the ancients considered the soul as the center of being-ness of human life.

Despite the enormous evidence that spirituality is an essential element of human condition, psychotherapy has not generally recognized it as a legitimate area of exploration or dialogue with clients. This lack of legitimacy remains despite the observation that many clients are struggling with spiritual conflicts.

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This is the time of deep frustration and confusion. The pillars that supported the culture and the individual- church, family values, traditions, love and social roles are diminishing. One aspect of this seems to be because psychotherapy has focused on variety of issues during this century, but has ignored humanity’s most basic spiritual dilemmas. The most important aspect determining the ability to love others is the capacity to love one’s own self. Self-love or narcissism is discouraged by western culture. Narcissistic development is an inherent part of identity development, and that is only from a stable identity that we are able to share love with others. Psychotherapy must understand the relationship between the spiritual world-view of the individual and narcissistic development.

The western culture discourages both Love and Hatred. Love and Hatred are the two pillars of emotional development supporting all other derivative emotions. The western culture is deeply conflicted about feelings. Traditional forms of religion have bolstered that conflict. Yet feelings arise, and must be integrated into our identities. The task of the psychotherapist is to aid client in the integration of both Love and Hatred into their lives.

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One of the ways to deal with the conflicts regarding Love and Hatred has been through encouragement of the natural human tendency to seek security through moral absolutism. The psychotherapists often witness the embrace of moral absolutism in clients desperately searching for stability and security. The psychotherapist must be prepared to look with the client at the spiritual foundation of her / his moral stance.

Psychotherapist will be more effective, if they have as much knowledge as possible of the internal dynamics that influence perceptions and the actions based on those perceptions. This has been the realm of counter-reference management. In looking with clients at their spiritual lives, therapists must know as much as possible about the values they hold regarding spirituality. The opportunity for us to grow has been offered by a willingness to monitor our own internal worlds. This is one of the reciprocal gifts of psychotherapy.

Does Psychotherapy really work?
According to a US News Poll, 81 percent of the people agreed that going to a psychotherapist for personal and emotional problems would be helpful.
According to the research of Northwestern University researchers 75 percent of the clients had improved after the six months of therapy in a once-per-month therapy session. These figures clearly show that psychotherapy really helps the individual to solve their personal and emotional conflicts and problems.
 

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Conclusion
Psychotherapists aid their clients by what they do and they are. There are attitudinal qualities that almost obviate the need for specific techniques. To utilize specific techniques requires that the goal or endpoint of an endeavor be known. This is a luxury not afforded those psychotherapists willing to search with their clients for spiritual meaning.

Each of us is meant to move towards self-awareness and spiritual maturity. The origin of all our real power is a spiritual force; it is the energy that fuels our biology and psychology. Once we realize that, we are incredible conglomerations of physical, emotional and mental units of cosmic energy, we have no choice but to lead a spirit filled life.


 

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