The Social Role, Functions and Significance of the Psychotherapist - Essay Example

? Power and the Shadow: The Role of Power in Psychotherapy Table of Contents Table of Contents Introduction 2 Carl G. Jung - TheArchetype of the Shadow 3 Adolf Guggenbuhl-Craig – The Problem of the “Power Shadow” 4 The Role of Power in Psychotherapy 6 Conclusion 7 Sources Cited 9 Introduction The psychoanalytic relationship between therapist and patient involves an acknowledged trust or belief in the benevolence of the treatment process that is similar to faith in religion. The social role of the psychotherapist, psychiatrist, and analyst is based upon the power or authority of the theoretical tradition represented in the historical canon of psychology and peer-reviewed clinical studies, as well as community-shared beliefs. The social role of the therapist includes the assumption that the psychologist acts only in the best interests of the patient and as a mediator to normalcy or consensual reality for the mentally ill. Nevertheless, schools of psychology practically include ontological assumptions about the nature of being and existence into their theories as bias. Historical review of the use of power in psychology suggests that there may continually be unconscious biases present in the theory and practice of clinical psychiatry or psychoanalysis that even the professionals and leading experts in the field were not aware of objectively when practicing them. These may include racist, sexist, homophobic, or religious prejudices that are included within psychological theories, or harmful, oppressive, totalitarian, and duplicitous practices in the clinical environment. Famous examples of this can be seen in the use of electro-shock therapy on Beat poets in the 1950’s in America who transgressed social norms of behavior, or the use of Thorazine and other psychiatric drugs on dissidents in the Soviet Union as part of their Gulag sentences. The integration of psychiatric services within the prison systems and judicial processes of social control suggest that the politicization of psychology can lead to abuse of power based in ideological, religious, or ontological biases that fail to understand the multi-cultural aspects of human individuality in allowing or permitting behavior that does not fall into prevailing concepts of normalcy. Because of this, Adolf Guggenbuhl-Craig has written on the importance of searching for the “power shadow” in psychology where practitioners are using idealistic claims of privileged knowledge, authoritative enforcement of standards, and integration with police, political bodies, or governing aspects of the State to enforce a particular social standard. In reviewing the traditional theory of “the archetype of the Shadow” in Jungian psychology, and then analyzing this in the context of social psychology through the writing of Adolf Guggenbuhl-Craig, a more open and tolerant approach to psychiatry is encouraged professionally, as well as suggesting a review of ethical issues that are extremely important to the discipline. As historical judgment and reinterpretation based upon changed paradigms may lead formally accepted, widely disseminated, and seemingly unshakeable theories in psychology to be wholly discredited, this research also points to the importance of ethical introspection in the career path as it intersects with conditioned altruistic values and a personal theory of truth. Carl G. Jung - The Archetype of the Shadow Jung compared the relationship between patient and therapist in psychoanalysis as similar to that of confession, illustrating how near the psychiatrist functions to the priest or pastor. “The first beginnings of all analytical treatment of the soul are to be found in its prototype, the confessional.” (Jung, 1954, p.74) The practice of psychology requires a faith in the theory that is not unlike the faith that a priest has in his or her religion. The empirical basis of modern psychology has largely rejected Jungian theory because it requires this kind of faith, yet many aspects of his theoretical framework continue to be used in interpretation and methodology in humanist psychology. Jung described the Shadow as an archetype that was most similar to the subconscious in Freudian theory, and containing most of the same psychic contents. The Shadow constellates the fears, insecurities, inadequacies, inferiorities, and self-defined limitations of the individual in an inverse relationship to the Ego. What the Ego identifies with conceptually in building a concept of self is negated or inverted in the Shadow to form a homeostatic relationship. In this manner, what is elevated in the Ego may derive from over-representation of psychic activity in compensation for the fears of the Shadow. As Jung wrote in chapter two of “Aion: Researches Into The Phenomenology Of The Self” (1959), “The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge, and it therefore, as a rule, meets with considerable resistance... Closer examination of the dark characteristics that is, the Inferiorities constituting the shadow reveals that they have an emotional nature, a kind of autonomy, and accordingly an obsessive or, better, possessive quality.” (Jung, 1959, p. 28) Applied to the historical context, it is evident that entire eras of civilization can be unconsciously related to biases that enshrine stereotypes or injustice in society, and that these can continue for centuries before being reformed in paradigm shifting events or breakthroughs in collective consciousness. Just as the patient must be conscious of his or her shadow aspects in relation to ego to realize wholeness in humanistic psychology, the therapist must review his or her theory, altruistic motives, and personal biases in order to reflect on ethical issues in the practice. However, because these are by nature unconscious, or rooted in social “blind spots” morally, the psychiatrist or psychologist may be unable to understand the bias in practice or institutional policy until it is too late historically. Adolf Guggenbuhl-Craig – The Problem of the “Power Shadow” Adolf Guggenbuhl-Craig used the Jungian framework of the archetype of the Shadow to apply to structural deconstruction of the use of psychotherapy in social work in “Power in the helping professions”. (Guggenbuhl-Craig, 1971) In positing the concept of the “power shadow,” the author sought to encourage introspection into the ethical practice of psychiatry and psychology where they claim to be doing the public good or enforcing “normalcy”. As Guggenbuhl-Craig (1971) wrote, “Particularly when a case worker is forced to operate against the will of the person concerned, careful analysis of the depths of the unconscious reveals the power drive as a very important factor. In general, the power drive is given freest rein when it can appear under the cloak objective and moral rectitude. People are the most cruel when they can use cruelty to enforce the 'good'. In daily life we often suffer pangs of conscience when we permit ourselves to be excessively motivated by the power drive. But these guilt feelings completely disappear from consciousness when our actions, while unconsciously motivated by a lust for power, can be consciously justified by that which is allegedly right and good.” (Guggenbuhl-Craig, 1971, p. 10) Because the use of power operating against a patient’s will is generally associated with political authority, the potential for corruption of values is high in institutions where psychiatry is used as an instrument of State control. Marxists in the 20th Century were highly influenced by Freud, seeking to join the two theories in a higher vision of social and personal emancipation, but both ideologies required faith in followers and built an authoritative power structure through hierarchies. Behaviorism served the interests of both capitalist societies (Skinner) and socialist ideologies (Pavlov), and the historical significance of both schools of psychology cannot be separated from their institutional support by the State. Similarly, schools of psychology such as the Jungian, Humanistic, or Transpersonal theories do not serve the needs of the State in the same manner by furthering the functioning of the police or justice system, but rather point to self-realization on terms similar to religion in its soteriological function. The lack of utility of these theories in serving ruling political ideologies can lead to a major difference in public institutions through the appointment of professors, in establishing scientific consensus in the DSM-IV, funding research projects, or textbook design. Yet, this has no relation to the inherent truth of the theory unless the organization of power through authority is the critical element of epistemology. What this means practically is that humanistic psychology may find less favor in institutions, colleges, universities, clinics, and hospitals than behaviorism, only because the latter is more subservient to the ideology of the ruling powers in society on a historical basis. This process can also lead to the erosion of professional ethics based upon the corruption of power, influence, and money in individuals over time in a society, as well as human rights violations. The Role of Power in Psychotherapy The therapist has enormous power over the patient in clinical psychiatry, enough even to determine the freedom or imprisonment of patients in institutions due to a subjective analysis of sanity. It has been noted innumerable times that society itself projects the most insane activities as normal, such as the wars across history and their organized violence in politics, institutional racism, slavery, or repression of minorities, etc., while simultaneously promoting the ideals of justice, equality, freedom, and liberation as justification. This duality represents the “power shadow” and the duality between the unconscious forces and the ideology or ideals that are represented through ego-identity structures. For example, the simultaneous assertion of the democratic ideals while killing people, occupying land, imprisoning and torturing innocents could be seen as social hypocrisy in a situation like Iraq or Vietnam, but there would be innumerable psychiatrists and psychologists willing to take lucrative positions to make the war effort more efficient. There is on one hand the medical service to individuals on a compassionate basis in psychiatry or a mental health context, and on the other hand psychology and schools of behavioral theory aligned with State ideologies or political goals and operating together. The alliance of psychology and power that occurs in institutions of social control related to the State and its political goals may be ethically compromising or including of unconscious biases in the practitioners that have devastating effects on the patients. This is different than the power that the psychotherapist receives as the director of the treatment process with the patient, though the two processes can be seen as reinforcing. Nevertheless, even in this instance, it is the society which empowers the practice of the therapist by placing the collective faith in his or her theoretical basis in psychology as a discipline. Conclusion The political bias is subjective, and when taken reciprocally, the subjective is political. In psychology, this leads to ever more attempts of making the science more empirical, as seen in the decline of Freudian interpretation and the rise of neuroscience. The Freudian subjectivity is also political in its interpretive bias when compared to other schools of psychology. In this manner the Jungian, Humanistic, Behaviorist, and other schools of psychology all include a political bias in their theory related to interpretation. The authority of leadership within the hierarchies of each school informs the politics of interpretation, and few concur between schools as to fundamental conclusions about absolute truth as related to human consciousness, being, and existence. Because of this, the role of power in creating political authorities in schools of psychology should be included as an aspect of ethics in the professional practice of psychiatry or psychotherapy. Furthermore, the collusion of State power and psychology presents innumerable opportunities for the objective and compassionate aspects of medical treatment to be corrupted through political bias for less than altruistic goals. This is seen often in the prison industrial complex in societies historically, in the academic favoring of schools of psychology in institutions, and in the policies advanced by the State in relation to psychiatry. Through these processes, the modern psychologist has become a mediator of reality and a judge of truth empowered by society to justify its own value system. Historically, it is doubtful that the practice of clinical psychiatry currently is free of the types of unconscious bias that Guggenbuhl-Craig described as the “power shadow”. Because of this, the ethical practice of psychology should constantly lead to questioning of the institutional bias of theoretical foundations and corrupting aspects of power in the profession, whether these come from personal status in institutions, money and wealth advantages in relation to other members of society, increase in social prestige, favoritism in academia, career advancement, etc. The guiding principles of truth and morality are acknowledged to be socially relative, conditioned by habit and tradition culturally, making the rational assessment of the unconscious aspects of the “power shadow” in theory difficult to ascertain in practice. Nevertheless, a critical and reformist methodology may be suggested for the practice of psychology over an approach that is overly subservient to political or State power due to the inherent problems with the Shadow in both personal and social relations in justifying coercion and masking bias as truth. Sources Cited Guggenbuhl-Craig, Adolf (1971). Power in the helping professions. Spring Publications, 1971. Jung, C. G. (1959). Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self (Collected Works Vol. 9, Part 2). Princeton, N.J.: Bollingen, 1959. Jung, C. G. (1954). The Practice of Psychotherapy: Essays on the Psychology of the Transference and other Subjects (Collected Works Vol. 16). Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1954. Read More