Athabasca University | AU Student/Staff Login | Invited Guest Login
Reality Therapy & Abnormal Psychology
In Psych. 406 I encountered reality therapy in depth for the first time. One of the core features of it is the rejection of symptomology and the challenge of traditional views.
At first thought, this seems like an innovative way to approach assesment. Especially if you're someone who puts emphasis on the client as a whole. It would seem you're avoiding pigeon-holing someone, and you're putting the onus for behaviour on the person, not the illness. And unless it is an organic brain disease it should not have a label and should not be treated with medicine.
So this leads me to wonder; in reality therapy, when looking at the DSM-IV, what do we define as organic brain disease? What don't we?
My example would be schizophrenia. We have no conclusive organic, social, biological, nerological, or environmental cause. Do reality therapists see the need to treat the psychotic symptoms with medicine or not? Do they classify schizophrenia as an organic brain illness, or a state resulting from unstastifying relationships?
When looking at abnormal psychology, where does reality therapy fit in? Can it fit in?
- My latest paper: On the Misappropriation of Spatial Metaphors in Online Learning
January 3, 2023 - 12:49pm
Jon Dron - On the importance of place
July 4, 2024 - 1:20pm
Jon Dron
Comments
Schizophrenia seems like a unique case, doesn't it? This label seems to have a strong genetic component and also to have some association with the use of drugs (namely hallucinogenics). Also, the symptoms can be more intense, bizarre, and severe in schizophrenia than in, say, the so-called personality disorders. That, it would, seem, is why many "schizophrenic" people chose some form of medication. However, I strongly believe it is possible, with a good, clear and strong therapist, to treat schizophrenia naturally or with alternative therapies. I agree with the point Reality Therapy makes for not diagnosing clients. I have also encountered some very able therapists that could direct someone with schizophrenia by deeper therapeutic work (I am not talking about simple person-centered attentive listening) to a state of psychological health.
There was a spiritual teacher some years ago in India who would go to mental institutions and pick out patients, and connect them with the truth, with presence, or "reality", and they were, as a result, cured of their supposed insanity. I believe this spiritual teacher's name was Meher baba if you want to look him up.
My feeling is that it takes the right technique and a very advanced therapist to direct the therapy sessions in order to "cure" someone with schizophrenia. I imagine that a technique like kinesiology which incorperates physiology and psychology to release blocks in the body's systems and energy meridiens might be useful. One highly available form of kinesiology therapy is called EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique and can be learned relatively easily to release phobias, traumas, depression, etc. It's a really fun technique for self-treatment of physical, psychological, or emotional problems. Here is link if you want to find out more about this approach:
http://www.thetappingsolution.com/
All the best in your exploration.