Session 8

SESSION 8

Some basics :

Roots :

Psyche : (Greek) spirit, soul, mind
Iatreia : (Greek) medical healing
Logos : (Greek)science or study
Pathos : (Greek) suffering or disease
Soma : Body

Psyche is also an English word -> mental life, the spiritual or non-physical aspect of ones existence.

Psychic is the adjective: People who possess a sixth sense, a special gift of mind reading, some aptitude for mysterious things that can’t be accounted for logically.
A person’s disturbance could be psychic (more mental than physical)

INTERESTING BITS

James Randi offered $1,000,000 to anyone who could prove themselves to posses paranormal abilities. No one has yet claimed this prize. As skeptics point out, science cannot prove a phenomenon does not exist even if it has never been observed; however

Randi's observes:
"(1) What's the toughest case you've ever had to crack?"
"None have been particularly difficult. The hardest part has always been to get the claimant to state clearly what he or she thinks they can do, under what conditions, and with what accuracy. Most are very vague about these aspects, and very few have any notion of how a proper test should be conducted. …"


Psychopathic : Psychos (Mind) + pathos(suffering): Adjective that describes someone suffering from a severe mental or emotional disorder.

The noun is “psychopath”

‘psychosomatic’: an adjective that delineates the powerful influence that the mind, especially the unconscious, has on bodily diseases.

E.g. a person is afraid of consequences of a meeting, he will suddenly develop a backache or a headache ..mind you ..its a real backache ..just that the his unconscious makes him susceptible to germs and forces him to develop that ache.
As the word says it all…. The cause is the psyche ..the MIND with no organic symptoms within the body

Psychoanalysis -> delving into the unconscious

Ref : Sigmund Freud

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud

Interesting... read on

Overall, little is known of Freud's early life, as he destroyed his personal papers at least twice, once in 1885 and again in 1907. Additionally, his later papers were closely guarded in the Sigmund Freud Archives and were only made available to his official biographer Ernest Jones and a few other members of the inner circle of psychoanalysis.

In 1886, Freud returned to Vienna and, after opening a private practice specializing in nervous and brain disorders, he married. He experimented with hypnotism with his most hysteric and neurotic patients, but he eventually gave up the practice. He found that he could get his patients to talk by putting them on a couch and encouraging them to say whatever came into their minds (a practice termed free association).

In his 40s, Freud "had numerous psychosomatic disorders as well as exaggerated fears of dying and other phobias" (Corey 2001, p. 67). During this time Freud was involved in the task of exploring his own dreams, memories, and the dynamics of his personality development. During this self-analysis, he came to realize the hostility he felt towards his father (Jacob Freud), and "he also recalled his childhood sexual feelings for his mother (Amalia Freud), who was attractive, warm, and protective" (Corey 2001, p. 67). Corey (2001) considers this time of emotional difficulty to be the most creative time in Freud's life.

Psychoanalysis

Guide the patient to awareness of the unconscious causes of anxieties, fears, conflicts.
Once exposed, it is believed that these vanish like light snow vanishes on exposure to strong sunlight.
One who does this : psychoanalyst
How he does it : psychoanalytically

Psychogenic = psyche + genesis(origin) : originating from the mind

Treatment for psychogenic problems : Freudian , Gestalt, bioenergetics, Transactional analysis

Psychotherapy : treatment of psychogenic diseases
The adjective would be ‘Psychotherapeutic’

Who does this : Psychotherapist
How does he do it : Psychotherapeutic methods

C ya around...

Gaurav