The many faces of 'Therapy'

 

Sometimes a theory and its critique are both valid. This is what is magical about life and knowledge about life - because it is multi-dimensional. For example, there can be meaningful spiritual and mythic as well as scientific theories about the origin of the universe, and both are true, only at different registers. 

I recently thought about how Freud's theories, those of Carl Jung who distances himself from Freud in many ways, as well as the somewhat controversial 'Logotherapy' are all useful approaches to make sense of human suffering, delusion or trauma, even though they are philosophically/ontologically? so apart. 

Freud tends to see the subconscious as a place of primitive, uncontrolled, dark desires, though also the place for creativity and sexual desire. His whole ouevre is about the struggles of modern man to deal with his neurosis - as a civilized being (typically male) he must suppress several of these primitive influences, though as a result they keep poking at him in dreams, unfulfilled desires and neuroses. Apart from this somewhat questionable macro-theory though, his discovery of the subconscious remains potent. How so many things we experience slide into the subconscious, and sometimes get trapped there in need of release. 

A simple fictional example I read in a period romance novel recently. A man who hurt his knee in a war in the early 1900s, still suffered from pain and stiffness in it, though the doctors had told him he had recovered, and would soon walk normally. Then one day, when he must rescue his lover, he is able to carry the man in his lap for a long distance, without his knee becoming a bother. He is shocked. His fiend tells him, that this is because after his injury, he felt both physical pain and mental pain, as he lost his position in the army and felt useless, unable to help. When the opportunity suddenly arose again, the memory of the pain also dissolved! though this is a fictional case, it is a typical example of the potency of psychotherapy as revealed initially by Freud. 

Carl Jung then, has a different take. He perceived the subconscious not as a dark place hiding bad urges, but as the creative well of the entire human civilization. His approach is linked with his religious-spiritual views. Colonial academics had two kinds of views of primitive times- either as dark pasts that need to be overcome, or a romantic, effervescent wellspring from when mankind was closer to the Gods, nature and the spirits, closer to his truer nature. Accordingly, Jung sees dreams and mythologies as teachers and guides, reminding us of who we are, bringing us back into balance, and telling us of our divine tasks and personalities. 

Logotherapy emerged in the controversial context of the Holocaust (developed by a Holocaust survivor), and seems sometimes like a positive motivational approach, rather than serious psychotherapy? Logotherapy also does not see the subconscious as the enemy. In fact rather than putting much store in the subconscious, it suggests that our problems may be more direct, existential struggles. For instance, I read a case in the popular book 'Ikigai' - Here, a political bureaucrat who is extremely unhappy with his job, underwent therapy for 5 years. He was told that he has a problem with authority, and so he must resolve his issues with his father, in order that things may improve at work. After five years of struggle he tried Logotherapy. It was instead suggested that he may not be in the career of his liking, and after making a change, he became steadily happier. Logotherapy, offers the useful corrective to over analytical academics and therapy which would like to always find a complex answer to a direct, lived problem. 

Jiddu Krishnamurti suggests that both the conscious and the subconscious minds, are really of one essence, and will remain in a mess unless an attention that is without judgment, a choiceless awareness is not fostered. Over my own life I have found that a combination of psychoanalytic, existential and spiritual angles have helped resolve matters. And in the remaining cases, all you need is a some good friends, some dancing, good food, a walk under the moonlight, maybe a drink!