Personal Construct Psychology by George Kelly - Assignment Example

A Brief Guide to Brief Therapy Personal Construct Theory Personal Construct Psychology is a constructivist system of psychology developed by George Kelly and expounded through his work “Principles of Personal Construct Psychology.” (Kelly, 1995). Personal Construct Theory (PCT) represents a coherent, comprehensive psychology of personality that has special relevance for psychotherapy. According to Kelly a construct is “a way in which two or more things are alike and thereby different from a third or more things…and are bipolar.” (Cade & Hudson, 1993, p.24) In psychiatric counseling context PCT focuses on the study of individuals, families, and social groups, with special stress on how people organize and change their views of self and their environment. Humans are endowed with more developed brain system and genetically driven to infuse with their environment, as social being, and according to Chomsky “wired up” for “symbolic language development. It is through language that we have been able to realize and articulate a multitude of worlds ranging from the most basic and practical to the most abstract and metaphysical.” (Cade & Hudson, 1993, p.22). Through symbolic internal and interpersonal language we differentiate and interpret the constructs of our “realities.” Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) has wide application in the filed of management studies, knowledge modeling in artificial intelligence, education, business and marketing, and cognitive science. According to Kelly people are “personal scientists’ engaged in anticipating the world and a person anticipates events by construing their replications (1955 p.50) A person’s memory storing and retrieving process moves through a channel adopted for realizing their objective and the grooves provide templates for construing events which he termed “personal constructs.” Kelly’s philosophy of constructive alternativism asserts that “reality is subject to many alternative constructions, since it does not reveal to us directly but through the templets that we create and then attempt to fit over the world.” (1955) It is assumed that knowledge is an internalized representation of reality, and originates from observation. In an experiment conducted among physical education teachers it is observed that it is practice that counts, not theory for most pre-service teachers. It is necessary to consider the personal constructs, using Kelly’s repertory grid technique, to ascertain the teacher’s personal construction of beliefs about teaching in their own practice, and preservice teachers’ construction of knowledge for teaching the subject within the broad spectrum of knowledge as a social construct. The preference to become a teacher is linked with social dimension and the practical knowledge is derived from personal experience and colleagues. The experiment model, Mr. Wilson, considered PE teaching as traditional, focusing on curriculum content, respected as an athlete, and being appreciated by others as a healthy role model. On personal enquiry it derived that he wanted to be friendly, and able to operate clearly with expectations however, he had negative feeling about his past teachers. In his view ineffective teachers “had knowledge but they did not know how to get it out” and students did not respect these teachers. Mr. Wilson often used words like ‘demanding’, ‘intense’, command’, and to be ‘an example’ and considered harsh treatment to students acceptable for a teacher. After undergoing a positive training Mr. Wilson has shown more appreciation for his former teachers and his realization of being a friendly teacher drawing more acceptances among students. With the use of alternative ways the personal construct of Mr. Wilson was remodeled. It proves that a person may develop ‘constructive alternativism’ in response to new situations or a failure of a previously held belief. To understand an individual and his world we have to possess insight into an individual thinking about the nature of their work and nature of their ‘selves’ as they take on the role of teacher. Brief Therapy Concept of Resistance Psychologists are expected to operate as agents of social control as the specific problems clients bring mandate their job. Clients or a potential customer may be more concerned with another problem for which he or she need time and a greater sense of trustworthiness and competence of the therapist before being prepared to disclose it. People in trouble may want to change, but for various personal or interpersonal reasons they may not know how to or, knowing how, may not be able to start the process off without some help. Resistance is a part of pull and push of life and it is a tool on the hands of a therapist to succumb his/her client to reach their goal. The act of resistance should not be resisted by a counselor. Resistance upon the part of all helping individuals should be responded with an understanding that to shut down or resist the queries of the therapist or counselor may be an adaptive attempt by the client to maintain a sense of control over their circumstances. It is observed that clients take good deal of courage to seek help and express their desire to change, due to manifestations of fear related to uncovering unconscious material. The general speculation about any therapeutic failure is either due the therapist or the method, or the resistance of the client. Both client and therapist are mutually responsible for failure to recognize rapport between the two and environmental and other external factors also influence outcome of a therapy. Any therapy should be initiated with the full knowledge and understanding of the client as well as acceptance of the rationale for a particular therapy. The therapist also should be conversant with his treatment approach and sensitive in recognizing the time constraint of the client, while giving an assignment. The client may have some hidden agenda which obstruct treatment progress and may also be influenced by deliberate sabotage from family members in connivance with therapist which may create negative expectation and success failure of intended therapy. (Kouguell). A complainant may have particular or complex problem(s) either personal or concerning other person(s), specific or vague, about which they are willing to talk. They are aware of the problem and may consider themselves weak or incapable to influence the problem(s) through their actions. A person unsure of the role of a therapist to intervene in the perceived problem, or who consider it is the other person who has to change, not them, is termed as a visitor. “A visitor is uncommitted, often involved in therapy under some king of duress, implicit or explicit, and usually because of the concerns of others” (Cade & Hudson, 1993, p.54-55).They should be treated with empathy, but no tasks or suggestions should be offered to them. A customer is someone who comes in with a clear description, idea, and motive about a complaint, about themselves or about some other person(s), for which the therapist’s help is being sought. A person, who wants help, with what, or for whom, contacts therapist is a customer for changes in another person, a spouse or a child, and is unable or unprepared to see that they themselves could or should make change in their approach to that person. A woman bringing her reluctant husband for therapy is clearly a customer and reluctance on the part of husband makes him a visitor. Converting the husband to a customer or changing the wife to visitor depends on the approach and success of the therapist in the first session. Every client can be thought to be a ‘customer for something’. In psychological therapy concept the distinction between customer, complainant, and visitor type relationships offer distinction for therapeutic cooperation. When the therapist cannot define a clear relationship with the visitor the cooperation between them will be of sympathy, politeness, and compliments with no tasks or requests for change. In a complainant relationship clients present a complaint but appear unwilling to take action or want someone else to change the relation. The therapist cooperates by accepting their views, giving compliments about a complaint, and the principle of fit allows the therapist more direct help in guiding them towards solutions. As brief therapy assessment dependent on the present and future, a “therapist should not search for causes or antecedents to the problem in the past, except for special cases where a framework for understanding the effects of past events can help the process of revising personal construct. A DSM IV R Case study Bulimia nervosa is “a disorder defined in the DSM-IV-R, in which a patient binges on food, an average of twice a week in a three-month time period, followed by compensatory behavior aimed at preventing weight gain. This behavior may include excessive exercise, vomiting, or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, other medications, and enemas.” (The Discipline of Science, 2007). Bulimia nervosa has significant physical, mental, and emotional characteristics that require attention during treatment. The symptoms of overeating, self-induced vomiting, withdrawal from the society and peers, and drowsiness are the characteristics of bulimia nervosa. The main cause of bulimia nervosa is the wrong self-perception about body image (shape, size, and weight). Family or peers can have influence on creating a false perception of body image. As it is strongly related to both body and mind, treatment has proven to be difficult, but there are methods to relapse the risk of bulimia nervosa by life style modifications. Developing and maintaining healthy eating habits, developing optimistic self-image of the body, preservation of superior mental health, balanced school work, extracurricular activities, rest and exercise, and counseling as needed are recognized to resolve the areas of stress and conflict. The subject, Linda is 11 year-old overweight, but extremely cheerful girl, who excelled at school and achieved good reputation from her teachers. Her teacher noticed a dramatic decrease in her weight, change in mood, and appearance within a few weeks, though she remained good in studies. She lost more than 30 lb in 10 weeks and was looking very thin and bony. On inquiry she denied any problems in the school or at home. However, she was withdrawn from her friends, at recess she used to stay back in the class room, and consequently contacts with her peers reduced. It was noticed that she used to eat heavy lunch, but surprisingly this was followed by self-induced vomiting. Her mother, who was a part time nurse in a local hospital, disclosed to the teacher that Linda was her only child and was looked after by a neighbor, when she was on evening duty. Her husband left her when Linda was a baby, and never had a chance to meet him again. Interestingly Linda’s mother was very much happy that her daughter lost some weight recently. The teacher managed a meeting between the mother and a therapist, as she thought something was terribly wrong with the girl. After long counseling with Linda and her mother it derived that her mother had created a wrong self-perception of body image in the child. Effort was made to cultivate a true self-perception of body image in Linda and to develop self-confidence and healthy eating habits. With the help of motivational and interactive methods, most relevant and most likely to result in overall change, Linda was brought back to her usual self. Reference The Discipline of Science. (2007). Bulimia Nervosa Resource Guide. The Integrity of Independence. ECRI Institute. Retrieved November 28, 2007, from http://www.bulimiaguide.org/summary/detail.aspx?doc_id=9269 Kouguell, Maurice. Recognizing and Dealing With Resistance. Hypnogenisis. Retrieved November 28, 2007, from http://www.hypnogenesis.com/kouguel7.htm Cade, Brain., & Hudson, William. What is that happens between the ears? A Brief Guide to Brief Therapy. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993 [Chomsky, 1972, 1975. as quoted in p. 22]. Cade, Brain., & Hudson, William. What is that happens between the ears? A Brief Guide to Brief Therapy. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1993, p. 24. Kelly, George A. (1995). The Psychology of Personal Construct. New York. Norton. Read More