Chapter 7: Gestalt Theory

Gestalt therapy believes that every one has access to their feelings. The counselor is there to help the client understand what is going on with their body and mind. It is an existential/experiential form of psychotherapy that emphasizes personal responsibility, and that focuses upon the individual's experience in the present moment, the therapist-client relationship, the environmental and social contexts of a person's life, and the self-regulating adjustments people make as a result of their overall situation. This is to become aware of the clients feelings, both good and bad.

 Some ways I could use this theory could be dialoguing-talking back and forth about the issue, seeing it from different angles, trying to zero in on what is going on with the student. I want to be looking for illogical-following or challenging illogical statements, trying to get to the underlying meanings. I could also use re-framing to invite the client to see something from a different perspective, and or unfixing-freeing up fixed ideas, stuck thoughts, and stuck emotions that the student has to try and lessen the problem or conflict they are going through. 

Video: The therapist has explained the process of what steps the client needs to take to approach the clients personal situation. The therapist emphasizes the personal responsibility that the client has to fix and the behaviors her client needs to target to improve her personal outlook. By looking at the evidence presented and how to fix the situation will help to regulate these adjustments as well as teach the client how to better regulate her feelings.

Chapter 6: Existential Therapy

Existential therapy is a philosophical method of therapy that operates on the belief that inner conflict within a person is due to that individual's confrontation with the givens of existence.These givens, as noted by Irvin D. Yalom, are: the inevitability of death, freedom and its attendant responsibility, existential isolation, and meaninglessness. These ultimate concerns, form the body of existential psychotherapy and compose the framework in which a therapist conceptualizes a client's problem in order to develop a method of treatment.

 As a student affairs professional, I will have students coming to my office and talking to me about many different scenarios. For example, it could be a student who found out their significant other is cheating on them. It may hinder the students trust, personality, and it may be difficult to communicate with others in the future. I can ask them questions about how they feel now, and what they want to accomplish and  how they want to feel in the future. Confidentiality, openness, and getting a better understanding about the views of the student.

Video:Early Recollections and Lifestyle goals
The therapist is talking to a woman who is recognizing a pattern of having trouble appreciating the good within her relationships. She is admitting to the transition, and accepts this inner conflict. The therapist is conceptualizing her  emotions and is helping her compose a treatment to help lessen her selfishness and anger towards her ex-husband.

Chapter 5: Person Centered Theory

Created by Carl Rogers, Person-centered theory places great emphasis on the individual's ability to move in positive directions. Practitioners of the theory have a belief in the trustworthiness of individuals and in their innate ability to move toward self-actualization and health when the proper conditions are in place. Tied to these beliefs is the confidence that individuals also have the inner resources to move themselves in such positive directions. Lastly, a core concept in the theory says that individuals perceive the world in a unique phenomenological way so that no two people's perceptions of the world are the same.

 In College Student Affairs, this will be a useful tool to use for reference. For example a student comes to my office and they are having trouble with their roommate. They can talk out the situation, because they know there is a problem present. So I can have the student self- actualize and think back about what some of the problems that he/ she may be doing to create conflict and/ or also talk to the other roommate and see if we can come to a mutual agreement to solve the roommate conflict. I can also facilitate the conversation to help the student reach an agreement about the situation. 

Video: Conceptualizing Clients
The therapist is talking to a woman suffering from a bad relationship breakup. The therapist is helping the client realize the pattern in her life dealing with relationships. He is helping her to realize that she needs to build herself up and become more open to trusting men, but being aware of "red flags" so she can break the cycle of bad relationships with men. The therapist is helping to self-actualize the situation and perceive her way of thinking to a more positive influence in her life. 

Chapter 4: Individual Psychology

Alfred Adler, the creator of Individual Psychology, believed that humans have an innate tendency to strive for perfection and tend to be motivated by behavior. He said that social interest and social interaction is needed but Adler realizes that this can create the tendencies to feel inferiority between people. Adler's theory views social interest and social interaction as an influence on the psychological world of the individual. Adler liked to consider the individual psychology theory as holistic and looked at the individual from all different views to completely understand what led people to be the way they are.

As a student affairs practitioner, Individual psychology would come into play when first establishing a relationship with the student. This would help grow trust and confidence with the student as well as help collaborate and understand that students lifestyle to become familiar with what is "normal" for them. From these observations and conversations between myself and the student it would help me generate insight and facilitate and understanding of the students life. By accepting the student he/she would feel more comfortable talking to me and discussing the students life and be able to give him feedback and encouragement to strive beyond that and pursue those goals.

Video: Child Centering
This video depicts a therapist and child establishing a relationship through molding clay. The student explains himself through the molding of the clay. The therapist asks the child different questions that evoke emotions within the child and provides the therapist with insights towards the child's feelings and family structure. 

Chapter 3: Neoanalytical Approaches

        Neo-Analytic Approach looks to personality psychology that is concerned with the individual’s sense of self ego as the core of personality. Generally under this approach a person does not have free will to make choices and their destiny is set. Most of the Theorists were founded in Freud’s Psycho-Analytic Society; however these Theorists broke away from this approach to create the Neo-Analytic Approach. All of the neo-analytical theories extend from Freud, but differ from the orthodox psychoanalysis theory. One of the main philosophical differences between neo- analytical writers is based upon what type of thinker they are, objective, positivist, relativist, or constructivist. Although there are multiple neo-analytics all of the theoretical variables that relate to psychoanalytic theory. Popular neoanalytics include Anna Freud, Heitz Kohut, J.R Greenburg and Mitchell, Melanie Klein and Carl Jung. 

       Ego psychology: (Anna Freud) is a school of psychoanalysis rooted in Sigmund Freud's structural id-ego-superego model. An individual interacts with the external world as well as responds to internal forces. 

       Object relations: (Melanie Klein) describes how experiences affects unconscious predictions of others' social behaviors, with repeated experiences of the care taking environment forming internalized images, which usually depict one's mother, father, or primary caregiver, and later experiences only somewhat reshaping these early images.

       Relational Psychoanalysis: (Sullivan and Franzecki) The association is a professional and intellectual community of clinicians and non-clinicians (such as academics) who are committed to developing relational perspectives and exploring similarities and differences with other approaches to psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.

      Self- psychology: Heitz Kohut) recognizes the critical role of empathy in explaining human development and psychoanalytic change. Kohut and followers have transformed the practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy by deepening the therapist's empathic atonement to the patient. 

      Video: Object Relations Family Session

      This video looks at the relationship between the daughter and her two parents. The Daughter likes to sit between her two parents because it makes her feel closer to her parents, especially after her brother committed suicide. Her brother was 4 years younger than her and he died 10 years ago, so this has resulted in some faulty early development for the daughter. The daughter seemed to be making good connections with the therapists. Melanie Klein talks about how parent/ infant relationships are important and primary so by talking through this tough situation perhaps it will help restore healthy object relations and a more solid sense of self.

      

Chapter 2: Psychoanalysis

      Psychoanalysis was created by Sigmund Freud. The work on this theory spanned over the course of his lifetime, as he revised his work frequently. Psychoanalysis refers to the definition of personality organization and the dynamics of personality development that underlie and guide the psychoanalytic theory. He believed that humans are motivated by unconscious and conscious conflicts. He created three identities: the id, ego, and superego to describe the psyche.
     Freud's focus to the study of the mind related to psychological attributes that were composed on the mind and how it works as well as events that happened in his life. He used treatment related to free association and the phenomena of transference. His study emphasized the recognition of childhood events that could potentially influence the mental functioning of adults. His examination of the genetic attributes as well as the developmental aspects gave the psychoanalytic theory its characteristics.

Techniques associated with Psychoanalysis:

Free Association: patients speak for themselves, rather than repeating the ideas of the analyst; they work through their own material
Interpretation: Freud insisted that no interpretation was made until the client was ready to discover the connections by him or her self.
Analysis of the resistance: the psychoanalyst must be conscious about their clients resistance, this could lead to important information regarding the client's well-being.
Dream Analysis: Freud believed that dreams are symbolic wish fulfillments. The content of the dream is called manifest content, followed by latent material, disguised by dream work because the content is seen as unacceptable to the conscious mind.
Analysis of the Transference: The redirection of feelings and desires and especially of those unconsciously retained from childhood toward a new object. This process can be long because transference can continually pop up again and again, so working though this process can be tedious.

Video:  Delays in Psychoanalytic stages
The therapist asks the patient multiple questions to help the patient to open up and explain what the patient is feeling. He is revealing everything that comes to his mind, and the counselor is opening new doors for the patient to get more insight towards his conflicts to reveal if there is any underlying information he might not realize. The patient seems somewhat resistant at times, but overall I think he is given insight to help him resolve and uncover these unconscious conflicts.