Therapeutic Tuesday

Leia Mais…

Therapeutic Tuesday: Existential Therapy

"No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse."
~ Nietzsche, 1892/1966, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (W. Kaufmann, Trans.), p. 18

First off, the existentialist view on life is largely considered to have began with Nietzsche and has grown and blossomed into a useful therapy for mental health issues. I, for one, am a fan of the take Victor Frankl had on existentialism, but for it to be useful, quite a few existentialists say that you must take it and make it your own. If you do not, it becames painfully aware that it is either inauthentic or you are not effective.

Additionally, it seems that as long as you know your subject, creating your own out of the existentialist pool needn't be that difficult. Many, including Rollo May (one of the big names in existentialism), note that throughout existentialist base, one will find influences from Jungian ideals to Gestalt psychology, Psychodynamics and more. With so many influences, it can be easy to get lost, but it can benefit the true existentialist in developing his or her own thoughts on the matter.

Okay, so what is existentialism? If you go strictly by the book, Merriam Webster's defines it as:

a chiefly 20th century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad.

As previously mentioned though, that is dry, scholary, yet at the end of the day, still inauthentic. Taking a page from Louis Hoffman's website, one of the chief binding agents of the existentialist theory is the question as to whether there are any major answers to this existence. Many believe that one cannot gain access to that answer until after this life has concluded. There are optimists, and I tend to fall into that party more, that focus "on the potential for good and growth that is inherent in the human condition."

However, even the optimists will conclude, for the most part, that any structure found is merely there as a "human construction to understand the theory." I think of it as trying to describe an abstract. You can use metaphors and stories all day long to explain love or hate, but it is hard to say exactly what love or hate is without confining it to a limited definition. Maybe I'm way off here, but I see the optimist point of view as saying, okay, the human condition is at times cruel and cold, but rather than focusing on the horrible parts, let's highlight the good things in one's life.

Again, I'm just starting to find what I believe and under what banner I would like to live. My wife could do a much better job at this than me, but in attempting to share with you the ideas behind existentialism, I can grow and re-evaluate my surroundings which is ever more beneficial than simply allowing someone to write this up for me. I hope.

"Our thesis is that symbols and myths are an expression of man's unique self-consciousness, his capacity to transcend the immediate concrete situation and see his life in terms of 'the possible,' and that this capacity is one aspect of his experiencing himself as a being having a world."
~ Rollo May, 1961, "The Meaning of the Oedipus Myth"
In Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry, Volume 1, p. 44

Leia Mais…

Therapeutic Tuesday: California and TED Talks

The wife actually brought this article to my attention last week, but I was a bit distracted last Tuesday. So, I bring it to you today. She really is a spectacular and brilliant person, my wife. She is constantly bringing new and different ideas up and shares every last one of them with me, so I try to make sure that she gets credit where it is certainly due. Thanks babe!


Okay, enough with the mushy stuff, right? Right. California. It became the 50th (or last) state of the United States to officially license professional counselors. Until now, it had been the duty of psychologists and psychiatrists to provide care for the mental health of the state of California, but now there can be a new addition to that team (and I would add a welcome addition at that). There actually wasn't much of an article that went out about this. Just a Senate Bill (788) and this little blurb on the website for the California Coalition for Counselor Licensure (or CCCL):

After seven years and three bills, CCCL is proud to announce that its third bill has been approved by California’s Legislature and signed into law by its Governor. This would not have been possible without the dedicated counselors and graduate students throughout the state, and the state and national organizations that support professional counseling.

So chalk one up to coalitions. This next bit is one of the superb videos from the TED Talks. It is Julian Treasure showing how sound can affect us humans in four different ways. He details the real importances of taking care of our hearing. I didn't realize, as he says, that our bandwidth to receive auditory information is so limited. It, like a lot of the other TED Talks, really is superb.


Thanks to the Geeks are Sexy blog for putting this video in front of my view.

Leia Mais…

Therapeutic Tuesday!

I love ukuleles! What I didn't know, is that there is an actual Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain! I don't know about you, but that was enough to brighten my mood today which is why this video has been chosen for Therapeutic Tuesday: because you can always use a little more ukulele in your life.

This video comes via the Geeks are Sexy blog which I really enjoy, and I agree completely with Natania Barron's theory there: "I believe it is impossible to remain sad in the presence of a ukulele...Taking out that lovely, rustic brown baritone ukulele and strumming–even just a few chords–just does something to me. It makes me happy. It makes me smile." And while I can't play the ukulele, listening to one gives me a similar effect. I love that little stringed wonder!

Leia Mais…

Therapeutic Tuesday!

For those of you readers located in or around Hot Springs, Arkansas, you may remember the I.Q. Zoo as one of the long standing attractions which brought many tourists to the area. Also, you are probably aware of Henderson State University just 30 miles south of Hot Springs in Arkadelphia, Arkadelphia. What do these two locations have in common? Ms. Marian Breland Bailey.

For this Therapeutic Tuesday, I thought I would focus on a psychologist closer to home. Dr. Bailey began studying psychology because she thought it to be the "least painful science." She then worked closely with famous operant conditioning psychologist B. F. Skinner. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with her bachelor's degree.

After graduating, Marian married her husband Keller Breland and together they had three children, but they became well known among psychologists for their work detailing operant conditioning for animals, for setting up the I.Q. Zoo in Hot Springs to demonstrate the training, and for their work with improving animal training using more humane means of training. Sadly, Keller Breland died from a heart attack in 1965.

In 1976, she remarried to Robert Bailey, the first Naval Marine Mammal Training director, and she received her PhD from the University of Arkansas in 1978. Together, the Baileys were privileged to train animals from 140 different species. Dr. Bailey continued her work and taught at Henderson State University from 1981 to 1988 where she continued her work and even produced various videos with her husband such as Patient Like the Chipmunk and An Apple for the Student: How Behavioral Psychology Can Change the American Classroom.

Dr. Bailey's legacy is rich and continues to live on through her students and co-workers. Even now, in the psychology department at Henderson State University, there is an annual award given in her name. She will not be forgotten nor will her legacy in behaviorism (All information and quotes via Wikipedia).

Leia Mais…

Therapeutic Tuesdays!

This idea also comes from the wonderful mind of my wife! To start this topic off right, and since I've begun reading The 60-Second Shrink (by Lazarus & Lazarus), I decided that everyone needs to know how to de-stress their lives. If not, one might explode! So, now it's a good idea to go through this process at least twice a day if not every few hours.

1.) Sit in a relaxed position, preferably leaning back at least a bit.

2.) Close your eyes.

3.) Breathe slowly and regulate your breathing.

4.) One by one, loosen your muscles from feet to head to fully relax and release the tension.

5.) Imagine some sort of pleasant, peaceful scene (essentially a daydream).

This simple process can take just a few minutes, but it allows you to just forget about those around you, especially the extra annoying persons you can't seem to escape. So, the next time you feel like exploding, don't. Simply go and sit back and relax a little. This will make your work environment an easier place to be.

Leia Mais…