Psychotherapy - Michael Shaw, Ph.D.
To be as helpful as I can, I have broken down my approach into the following values. |
My Approach
The clinical psychology marketplace is incredibly difficult to make sense of. The field is full of people with different licenses, using different methods, based on all forms of training and experience. Part of the problem is that, being a relatively young field, psychological approaches are constantly being created or modified. On top of that, psychological theories are often complicated. To be as helpful as I can, I have broken down my approach, Characterological Psychology, into the following values: A "No Fault" Approach To Problems A problem with many psychological and self-help methods is that they view people as defective. They do this by casting the client as either ill or victimized. In these systems, blame plays a key role. For example, a person might be faulted directly, with the inference that he can change just by willing to. Or blame will be assigned with the idea that he is the victim of his biology, his parents, his childhood or his "incorrect" thinking. However, this is not how psychology works. To the extent someone is estranged (meaning, can't be himself), it is because he is afraid to express true feelings, or he identifies with attitudes he doesn't fully believe in. It is the conflict between a person's genuine and assumed feelings that produce symptoms. As opposed to the "illness" idea, conflicts (and the symptoms they produce) arise because a person has trouble identifying with how he really feels. An Emphasis On Deeper Thinking It is a fact of life that we conduct much of our business on "autopilot," based on reflex, or thinking that is not thought through that much. A good deal of what goes through our minds on any given day will be preconceived, conventional, even contradictory--especially in interpersonal situations. Even the most thoughtful people (and organizations) suffer this. Helping people think can take many forms, including: feeling entitled to one's own thoughts, considering if what one thinks is what one believes, noticing differences between what is felt and what is expressed, identifying assumptions, planning, or just feeling the right to think more boldly. An Emphasis On Personality Styles The nature of an individual can be understood through her personality or character. Character consists of a system of attitudes, ways of thinking or modes of action that are often highly consistent and self-sustaining. Being part of the character, personal problems also have typical patterns. To the layperson, certain actions or tendencies may seem random and illogical. From a characterological understanding, however, most actions can be seen as understandable within the logic of the character it is coming from. An Interest In Plain English Anything having to do with psychology can and should be expressed in plain English. An Interest In Collaboration As opposed to systems where the clinician instructs, keeps up a front, or takes an authoritative tone, this approach calls for a friendly atmosphere free of power differences. The process is truly collaborative, based on the client becoming progressively better at reading her own instincts, false and true. An Awareness That Psychological Information Is Self-Evident As opposed to other methods, we don't believe treatment involves pursuing certain subject matter, digging up things, or generating particular emotions. Under this theory, what is clinically relevant can't help but express itself in the immediate attitudes and actions of the person. An Interest In Basic Humanistic Ideas The Characterological approach emphasizes values and ideas more commonly associated with philosophy or human rights (such has equality, self-determination, freedom of expression and freedom from persecution). For example: --We equate health most closely with genuineness. --We are interested in the extent to which a person experiences his senses. --We put an emphasis on intuition, which we see as the marriage of thought and feeling. --We believe a person's feelings constitute the most essential part of his being. --We believe that, if you follow the interest, the meaning will follow (not the other way around). --We believe that there is a direct connection between self worth and social conscience. --As clinicians, we believe in life-long. active study and training. An Interest In Flexibility I believe that the profession needs to be flexible about the form and scope of clinical relationships. For example, I have as much experience with short-term and "fixed-term" work (including 3, 4, 5 and 6 contracted meetings) as I have with opened-ended work. I believe in consultation meetings, aware that people often need to "try before they buy." Also, it is important to appreciate that different people can have vastly different goals and levels of interest in the clinical process. You can click forward to read more about the theory. |