A Dynamic Concept Of Personality And Emotionally Focused Therapy: A Comparative Analysis

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

DYNAMIC PERSONAL CONCEPT

AND EMOTIONAL FOCUSED THERAPY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

N. I. Olifirovich

D. N. Khlomov

The Gestalt approach as a psychotherapeutic direction began to actively develop in the middle of the 20th century. Appearing in 1951, Gestalt has today become a holistic and scientifically proven approach containing the theory of human development, the theory of pathology / disease / neurosis, and the practice of therapy / treatment [5]. However, the atheoretical approach of the founding father F. S. For many years Perls "hindered" its development, focusing the attention of followers on certain aspects of work and techniques. The development of insurance medicine, high competition between areas have led to an awareness of the need to conceptualize the ideas of the Gestalt approach. Books and textbooks that have appeared over the past 25 years make it possible to fill the vacuum in Gestalt theory. However, until now, the orientation in Russian-speaking countries towards Western experience does not allow assimilating the ideas of Russian theorists, which contain many new guidelines for the development of gestalt.

The purpose of writing this article was the need not only for development, but also for correlating with other directions of the construct known in the domestic Gestalt approach - the dynamic concept of personality (DCL), proposed and developed by D. N. Khlomov [6]. It has become widespread in the post-Soviet space, but is practically unknown to the Western reader. DCL describes the three personality types, or constituent parts of the personality - schizoid, neurotic, and narcissistic - through characteristics such as personality traits, unfinished developmental tasks, avoided experiences, frightening emotion, defenses, relationships with others, behavior in therapy, and a therapeutic attitude when working with this type of client.

DCL was further developed in the construct "dynamic contact cycle" [7]. Its components make it possible to describe and analyze almost any process that occurs in human relations - individual, dyadic, family, group. The dynamic concepts of personality and the dynamic cycle of contact allow us to describe a clear and consistent picture of how a person's contact with himself and with others is broken, and also refers to possible ways to solve this problem.

The dynamic concept of personality and the dynamic cycle of contact is based on the psychological idea of the needs that arise in any organism in the process of development, as well as healthy / unhealthy (habitual, chronic) ways of satisfying emerging needs. The description of any process, any act of human life allows us to see the "breakdowns" due to which the subject remains dissatisfied, and the cycle begins anew. D. N. Khlomov distinguishes three stages in any life cycle: "schizoid", "neurotic" and "narcissistic" [7]. We take the names of these stages in quotation marks, since in different directions and schools of psychotherapy these terms are given different meanings. In addition, it is not just about needs, but about meta-needs - those needs that can be met in different, often opposite ways.

Let us describe the dynamic cycle of satisfying an abstract need, breaking it down into the above stages and describing the tasks to be solved.

"Schizoid" stage any process is related to security. Normally, a person is capable of ensuring his own safety and further actions aimed at satisfying a particular need. With various deviations, a person constantly continues to return to solving this problem in order to move on. However, all his energy is spent on testing the safety of the world around him, since a person lives in constant fear, which he does not even notice. In people who, in principle, are unable to satisfy the meta-need for security, anxiety and background fear are constant companions.

For example, the growing phenomenon of hikikomori in Japan and other countries in the East Asian region shows the extreme degree of such fear and anxiety. Hikikomori do not leave the house for years, are not included in any social relations, except for relations with the closest relatives, do not communicate with peers, do not work, are isolated from the world.

A person who spends all his energy on ensuring and maintaining illusory security does not trust anyone, constantly checking others for reliability. He never approaches anyone, as he is always worried about the potential threat posed by each contact with the Other. Such a person looks like a detached, anxious, closed, closed subject, incapable of building deep, trusting, truly close and warm relationships. Within the framework of the DCL, he is classified as a "schizoid personality type."

"Neurotic" stage aims to meet the meta-need for attachment. D. N. Khlomov, referring to the works of J. Bowlby, writes that in the development of an infant from two to three to six to eight months there is a phase when he learns to hold an object before starting to act with it. Attaching to an object, “knowing” or knowing it is a very important stage in any process. It takes some time to understand what kind of object it is, whether it is suitable for satisfying a particular need. Normally, we are able to bond, evaluate, “test” and “hold” a person next to him before we start doing something with him.

However, some people spend all their strength, all their energy on attaching or even "sticking" to an object, without providing the necessary security and not "leaving" energy for further actions.

A typical example of our time is a girl who very quickly enters into close relationships with men she does not know, because she urgently needs to get married. Why, for what, who really needs it - it doesn't matter. Such a girl spends a huge amount of energy on attracting and then retaining any male subject who has fallen into her circle, without trying to understand what kind of person he is, whether she is suitable for her in a number of socio-psychological, cultural, economic, and religious characteristics. She is struggling to keep a man nearby, without even recognizing him and not revealing whether it is safe for her to be with him, whether it is possible to build a relationship with him. These relationships result in stories of male sociopaths and psychopaths and female victims.

All dependencies, both chemical and non-chemical, are described by a “failure” at this very phase of the dynamic contact cycle. The result is a blockage of energy and a loss of human freedom of action. DCL calls such people "neurotic" or "borderline".

"Narcissistic" stage is aimed at ensuring the free handling of other objects, how to approach, move away, be near, be separate. Normally, after we have determined that a given person is safe, attached to him, we can begin to interact with him and build relationships. A healthy person freely interacts with / manipulates the object, taking into account previous experience. If the previous phases fail, neither the need for security nor the need for attachment is met, leading to chronic anxiety. All energy is spent only on manipulation, because a person never understands with whom he is next, what kind of person he is and who he is in this contact.

I recall a quote from the movie "There are only girls in jazz", describing just such a type of relationship where the Other is simply not noticed, because he is not a person, but a function:

- Look, I can't marry you! - Why? - Well, first of all, I'm not a blonde! - It's not scary. - I smoke! Constantly! - It's not a problem. - I will never have children. - Nothing, we'll adopt. - Lord, I'm a MAN! - Each has its own shortcomings.

In the DCL, this type is called "narcissistic."

Since many areas of modern therapy borrow ideas from each other and relate the effectiveness of various models, we considered it heuristic and productive to compare the dynamic concept of personality and the dynamic cycle of contact with emotionally focused therapy - a direction that is in many ways close to the Gestalt approach, which since its inception was focused specifically on emotions. This direction was developed by Sue Johnson and Leslie Ginberg in 1988 and is a "mix" of the ideas of the systems approach (S. Minukhin), the theory of attachment (J. Bowlby) and the humanistic approach, primarily in the field of emphasis on emotions (K. Rogers). EFT finds more and more supporters in different countries, since the creators timely carried out its correct positioning: theoretical roots, indications and contraindications, stages of therapy are described, and studies are regularly conducted to confirm its effectiveness [3, 4, 8]. An interesting fact: the creators of the method diverged, and although the Sue Johnson model is better known in the post-Soviet space, Leslie Greenberg, who developed an individual version of emotion-focused therapy for clients with anxiety and depressive disorders and work with complex trauma, widely uses active methods, for example, the gestalt technique of two chairs.

The first thing to note is focus and gestalt approach, and EFT on emotions … However, the big "plus" of EFT is the integration of K. Izard's idea of dividing emotions into primary and secondary. Primary emotions are instant responses to what is happening here and now. Secondary emotions are a way of coping with primary emotions (K. Izard, 2002). It is the secondary emotions that are the “fuel” for problematic cycles of interaction in the EFT and lead to “getting stuck” at different stages of the dynamic cycle of contact in the description of the DCL. For example, in the work of "wild" gestalt therapists with a light hand F. Perls often observed acting out sessions. A client experiencing a strong feeling, for example, anger, is invited to express it to an empty chair, beat a pillow, and shout. Using the idea of primary and secondary feelings allows you to deeper understand the nature of the feeling and correctly "unpack" it.

For example, during the session it turns out that the client is very angry with his wife, because she again criticized him, said that he was not a man, that she had to live with a child … The client's primary feeling was a strong resentment against his wife. He tries very hard, works two jobs, but still falls short of the ideal. However, he cannot even feel his resentment, let alone say about her, because then he will become even more “not a man”. Therefore, the primary feeling - resentment - is quickly replaced by a secondary one - anger, which is the "fuel" for intensifying the conflict. He begins to blame her, she continues to attack him - and this lasts forever. However, it would be unproductive to work with the client's anger, and even more so to intensify it at this stage, because it hides pain and resentment that destroy both the client's self-respect and his relationship with his spouse. It is much more reasonable to find out the whole "chain", the whole cycle, thanks to which it becomes clear where the breakdown of the husband's contact with his wife and his contact with his feelings takes place. In our opinion, this idea deserves attention and can be integrated into the Gestalt approach.

In both Gestalt and EFT, the therapist's attention is focused on the fact that it is ineffective to work with emotions while in a detached, distant position. That is why both EFT therapists and Gestalt therapists are active, emotionally involved and empathic, which allows the client to build trusting relationships, gain new experiences of acceptance and support in a safe environment.

EFT therapists borrow the now almost popular idea of Gestalt therapy of focusing on the here-and-now, concentrating on what the client says and how he says it, while remaining attentive to the “body language” - non-verbal communications.

An important theoretical basis on which EFT is based is the already mentioned attachment theory developed by J. Bowlby [1, 2]. J. Bowlby's ideas allow us to consider any "human" needs through the prism of attachment. In this article, we will focus on the concept of "attachment styles", which are understood as behavioral patterns that arise in early childhood and characterize the ways of regulating relationships. They were first described by M. Ainsworth in the famous "Strange Situation" experiment. This experiment is described in detail in textbooks on child and developmental psychology. Recall that the purpose of the study, which involved mothers and their one-year-old children, was to study the reaction of infants to short-term separation and subsequent reunification with the mother. The experiment revealed three styles of attachment: one reliable and two unreliable: avoidant and anxious-ambivalent. Later, another unreliable style was added to them - chaotic. Further research showed that the attachment style formed in the first year of life is a stable characteristic, universal for different cultures. The revealed patterns of behavior were demonstrated by children from different countries, belonging to different ethnic groups.

Growing up, children with different styles of attachment enter into social relationships - friendships, partnerships, marital, parent-child, professional. In all these relationships, the problem of secure / insecure attachment is again actualized, which represents a search for an answer to the question: “Can I trust you? Can I rely on you? If I really need you, will you be by my side? " Depending on the answer, we define the style of attachment. The answer "yes, I can" corresponds to secure, or autonomous attachment; "No, I'm not sure, not always, not really" - insecure attachment … If the object of attachment is perceived to be unreliable, the activation system reacts in several ways.

Insecure attachment styles, formed at an early age, are reinforced, chronicled, and reproduced in later adult relationships.

As can be seen from the above text, highlighted by D. N. Khlomov's personality types in DCL are quite similar to the attachment styles described above. Secure attachment as a way to be in contact, in a relationship, to feel safe, to become attached to the Other and to be able to remain yourself, respect both your own and other people's needs, approach and distance yourself without constant fear, guilt, shame and resentment corresponds to the ability to go through all phases of the dynamic cycle of contact, without getting stuck on any of them longer than necessary and satisfying the emerging needs for intimacy, love, acceptance, recognition, joint activities, etc. Such people experience their relationship at the same time as close and as autonomous, freely express their feelings, realize and verbalize their desires, are able to care and accept care, build a fairly healthy interaction with others.

Insecure attachment styles are also highly similar to the phenomenological characteristics of personality types identified in the DCL.

Table 1 - The ratio of personality types in DCL and styles of insecure attachment

CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONALITY TYPES IN DCL

"Schizoid"

"Neurotic"

"Narcissistic"

CHARACTERISTICS OF UNRELIABLE ATTACHMENT STYLES

Avoiding

Anxious-ambivalent

Chaotic

Let us characterize the above personality types and attachment styles in their areas of similarity.

When describing personality types, it is important, in our opinion, to speak not just about meta-needs, but to phenomenologically objectify them in each specific work, that is, to describe them in relation to a specific object - a friend, parent, child. Using attachment ideas and attachment style in conjunction with DCL allows for a better understanding of the client's unresolved developmental challenges that have been chronicled and become a habitual way of avoiding, clinging, or manipulating. Empathic, understanding, accepting attitude of the therapist, his emotional involvement make it possible to qualitatively determine a person's characteristic style of behavior, place and method of breaking contact and maintain new, more appropriate reactions to the situation.

Thus, the dynamic concept of the personality of D. N. Khlomova contains a description of behavioral patterns, emotions and needs that are highly similar to the types of attachment identified by J. Bowlby's followers. The use of concepts of primary and secondary feelings, the emphasis on the therapist's empathy, and the integration of ideas about attachment styles and needs into the Gestalt approach provide additional “lenses” for the analysis of the client's Self. In the Gestalt approach, Self is a process, so the ideas of focusing on dynamic characteristics of a person's contact with the environment ("he builds interaction in a schizoid way"), then on his well-established structural characteristics (“he has formed a stereotyped way of contact, and he behaves like a narcissist”) allows us to treat with greater understanding and attention to how unfinished gestalts from “there-and-then” live “here-and-now”.

List of sources used

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6. Khlomov, D. N. A dynamic concept of personality in gestalt therapy. / D. N. Khlomov // Gestalt-96. - M., 1996. - S. 46-51.

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