PSYCHOSOCIAL ASSESSMENT-USE OF ADLERIAN LIFE STYLE

ANALYSIS IN INDIVIDUALAND FAMILY THERAPY

PRESENTED BY CHARLIE STARTUPLicensed Independent Social Worker

CIF participant Sweden-1981

OVERVIEW

• Purpose-To improve skills in dealing with conference issues of “GlobalSocieties of Inclusion or Exclusion?” as it impacts families we work with.

• Brief Presentation-Concept of Lifestyle

• Small Group Experience- Participants break into small groupsorganized by birth order, sharing early recollections of their childhoods.Groups identify themes that emerge in life style development .

Each small group identifies a GROUP REPORTER to share experience withlarge group.

• Large Group Feedback- Reconvenes as a whole group and each

GROUP REPORTER present experience of their group. Identification ofissues including development of life style in various cultures representedby participants. In addition issues of trust, empathy and personalboundary issues.

Characteristics of an effectivetherapist

• Client centered

• Open heart

• Open mind

• Eclectic use of theories

– Adler

– Maslow

– Yalom

– Hatcher

• Spontaneous

THEMES

• OPEN HEART

• OPEN MIND

ECLECTICApproach draws from diverse sources

WHO IS ALFRED ADLER?

• Broke with Freud. Developed Individual Psychology.

• Saw man as self-consistent, individual. Behavior determined bylife style.

• Lifestyle is self-taught assumptions about self, others and life.

• Developed early in life from child’s experiences.

• Goals are to develop sense of belonging and overcome feelingsof inferiority.

• Adler called people seeking help students. Key is education.

• Individual Psychology is optimistic and believes people canimpact their destiny.

• Stress on equality and not treat each other as superior orinferior

1870 - 1937

Person =

Life Style Analysis

• The focus of Life Style Analysis is not on the past buton the PRESENT FUNCTIONING and

• Impact on CURRENT RELATIONSHIPS AND GOALS.

“Life can be found only in the presentmoment. The past is gone, the futureis not yet here, and if we do not goback to ourselves in the presentmoment, we cannot be in touch withlife” Thich Nhat Hanh

THEMES OF WORKSHOP

TOOLS FOR

• ASSESSMENT

• TREATMENT

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

CURATIVE FACTORSfrom Irvin Yalom

Imparting of informationInstillation of HopeUniversalityAltruismThe corrective recapitulation of the primary familygroupDevelopment of socializing techniquesImitative behaviorInterpersonal learningGroup cohesivenessCatharsis

Listening Skills

• By Dr. R.A. Hatcher• When I ask you to LISTEN to me and you start giving advice, you have not done

what I asked

• When I ask you to LISTEN to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel thatway, you are trampling on my feelings.

• When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself, youcontribute to my fear and inadequacy.

• When I ask you to LISTEN to me and you think you have to do something to solvemy problems , you have failed me.

• When you accept me as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel no matter howirrational, then I quit trying to convince you and start on the path to understandwhat’s behind ….the feeling.

• LISTEN. All I ask was that you listen not talk or do. Just hear me.

EMOTIONS

PERSONAL HISTORYSPIRITUAL VALUES

BEHAVIORPERSON =

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENTAND

PERSONAL BOUNDARIES

Physical Intellectual

Emotional Spiritual

PERSONALBOUNDARIES

Respecting a person’sboundaries is criticalfor healthy relationshipsand interactions.

Boundary violations canlead to severe emotional,spiritual and physical problems.

A Person = P.I.E.S

Selective Perception

ASSUMPTION JUNCTION

Selective Perception

Do you see a young woman or and old woman?If you see a young woman, and wish to see the old woman,imagine the ear as an eye, the necklace as a mouth and thechin as a nose.If you see an old woman, and wish to see the young woman,imagine the eye as an ear, the mouth as a necklace and thenose as a chin.Your brain wants to flip to either one or the other image but ifyou study it long enough you might see both images at once.Can you do it?

TOOLS FOR HELPING THE CLIENTSHELP THEMSELVES AND PUTTING

US OUT OF A JOB.

Therapy Tools

• Client Centered Approach• Early Recollections• Empathy• Listening Skills

WAYS TO DEVELOP A WORKINGRELATIONSHIP IN THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS

1)COMMON LANGUAGE

2)CLIENT CENTERED

3)EMPATHY

4)LISTENING SKILLS

EARLY RECOLLECTIONSEarly recollections are specific events in a child’slife. Their recall from memory in the therapeuticprocess can be helpful in identifying the

client’s strengths , self-defeating

patterns and developing

life style.

EMPATHY

• Empathy- understanding another person’spoint of view. Identification of their feelings,thoughts , motives and perspective. Empathyis not sympathy. It is an important clinical toolto help people onto a healing path.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

• When you—(describe behavior), I feel------.

• Don’t go to ASSUMPTION JUNCTION.

• Ask for desired change. Be specific.

• Identify how conflicts will be handled.

• Example-A brief family meeting after dinner.

Examples

• Emotional hijacking

• Anger management

• Communication deficits

EMOTIONAL HI-JACKING AND WAYST0 TREAT IT

• From the book EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE by DanielGoleman

• “Emotional hijacking presumably involve twodynamics: triggering of the amygdala and a failure toactivate the neocortical processes that usually keepthe emotional response in balance…At thesemoments the rational mind is swamped by theemotional. “

EMOTIONAL HIJACKING AND WAYS TOTREAT IT

• Have you been hijacked? Do you want to continue thehijacking and game playing, thus avoiding trust andthe present issues?

• Who is in charge of YOUR life style? Is it youremotions, personal history or spiritual values?

MAGMA MAN

IS HE IN CHARGE OF YOUR LIFE STYLE?

GAMES =NO ISSUENO TRUST

P

A

C

P

A

C

“Want a kick?”“Yes”“Did you like the show?

“No”

The game of NIGYSOB ends with a feeling of winning over, or of beating down, the other player.The game Kick Me ends with the feeling of being wronged. A Child may want to feel wronged inorder to have a reason for revenge, for “getting even”. Another child may want to feel wronged inorder to have a good reason for running away, or for getting a divorce.

Illustration from: Transactional Analysis