Liliane Younes - Clinical Psychologist / Music Therapist

من وحي الزي و ارتداداته
تصدّر خبر التصادم الذي حصل على شاطىء مدينة صيدا منذ فترة وجيزة بين فريقين بخصوص ما الأنسب إرتداؤه من لباس عند إرتياد البحر، على غيره من العناوين والأحداث.
كان لا بد لهكذا مواجهة أن تحصل في صيدا أو في غيرها من الأماكن طالما البلاد منقسمة أفقيا وعاموديا في ما خص مفهوم الحرية، والتنوع كما في قدرة قبول ساكنيها لإختلافاتهم.
هناك في لبنان حاضرا مجموعات تنتشر على سلسلة ممتدة بين طرفين من التعاكس والتناقض وما بينهما من وسطية وإعتدال.
في هذا السياق يبرز اللباس أو الزي كواحد من المحددات الحاسمة لهوية الفرد وقيمه و يُبنى كل حكم عليه حصرا من زاوية ما يرتدي أو ما لا يرتدي، ويختصره الرائي بظاهره بحيث تنتفي كل العناصر الأخرى المعقدة والمتداخلة المكونة لهوية كل منا لصالح الشكل لا أكثر.
ما هي صورة الجسد و كيف نفهمها؟ إنها تلك الصورة التي تتشكل ذهنيا لدى كل منا بواسطة الأحاسيس الخارجية على تنوعها: اللمس، الحرارة، الألم، الراحة، التشنج العضلي، إضافة إلى الأحاسيس الداخلية الصادرة من عمق غير مرئي.
هكذا بإمكاننا أن نستشعر وحدة الجسد من خلال وضعه و وضعيته في الزمان و المكان، بما فيهما من إنطباعات وذكريات نابعة من علاقة هذا الجسد بالماضي.
نحن في محاولاتنا المستمرة لموضعة وتشكيل الجسد مكانيا وزمانيا إنما نحاول بناء و هدم ذواتنا بتحولاتها اللامتناهية وتساهم كل حركة واعية للجسد في بناء أو تدمير النموذج الذي تصورناه عن نفسنا دون أن يعني ذلك أن ما نعرفه عن جسدنا عبر الوعي متطابق مع صورة الجسد المكونة لدينا، إذ ما الذي نعرفه عن داخل الجسد مثلا؟ و هل يمكن الفصل بين الداخل والخارج؟ فجسدنا وحدة متكاملة مكوّنة ليس من الخبرات والذكريات فحسب ، ولا من الأحاسيس فحسب، بل من الإثنين وما أبعد منهما. والسياق الخارجي أي البيئة، التقاليد، الدين، الموروثات، المعتقدات، اللاوعي الجماعي كلها تتضافر في خلطة مميزة لتصنع فرادة كل منا.
هكذا تتحول محاولة الفصل بين الإدراك والتعبير ، أو تحليل ما بينهما إلى محاولة مصطنعة.
فالإدراك و الفعل متصلان إتصالا عميقا وجوهريا وعملية الإدراك بالتالي ليست وظيفية محض إذ أن من يدرك هو كلّية الشخص بمكوناته وإنفعالاته و خبراته.
بهذا المعنى يصبح إدراك الجسد إدراكا إنفعاليا يولد الفعل و يكشف عن مشاعر حادة لا نتوقعها مرتبطة بتصورنا عن جسدنا بذاته، وبخبراتنا و توقعاتنا عن صورة جسد الآخر \ الآخرين بحيث نتمكن إذا فهمنا ذلك أن نفقه شيئا من سيكولوجية المجتمع.
تلك الجهود التي نبذلها بهدف إحداث تغييرات خارجية على جسدنا ليست دائما نتيجة خيارات واعية لكنها تحمل رمزية أكيدة وهو تماما ما يحصل في عمليات التجميل من تكبير وتصغير وتعديل وشفط ووشم وتأنق و صباغة و مايك- آب و تزيين على أنواعها بوصفها مؤشرات نرجسية، لذوية، رؤيوية وإستعراضية. هي جهود توازي تماما تلك المبذولة في المقلب الآخر لطمس معالم الجسد بوصفها مهددا أساسيا للعفة والأخلاق ومصدر إغراء وإغواء.
تنحرف وظيفة الملابس والأزياء حينها عن الوجهة الأساسية التي وجدت من أجلها أي مجرد ستر الجسد وحمايته من تقلبات الخارج المناخية، إلى وظائف أخرى أكثر رمزية فتندمج به لتصبح كأنها إمتدادا له، تمنحه السلطة والقوة، تقوم مقام المحدد لهويته وجزءا من صورة الجسد نفسه، محملة بالكثير من المعاني الليبيدية. لكنها دون شك تبقى سبيلا مساعدا يعرف عن إنتماءاتنا، تميزنا، تماهينا أو إختلافنا عن الجماعة و بالتالي بمقدور تلك الملابس أن تغير من صورة جسدنا ليس في أعيننا فقط بل في أعين الآخرين.
ربما يساعدنا ما سبق، على فهم ما جرى ، عن وعي أو عن غير وعي، بين طرفي نقيض متشابهان. و لعل مزيدا من التعمق يؤدي بنا إلى إدراك أن ما يختلفان عليه يكاد يكون وجهي عملة واحدة. فالصراع كله هو صراع سلطة و لمن تكون الكلمة الفصل، كأن الأرض والشاطىء والفضاء يجب أن تكون حكرا على طرف دون الآخر بوصف هذا الآخر تهديدا وجوديا.
'القمر بيضوي عالناس و الناس بيتقاتلوا'.
هكذا تخطر لي أغنية فيروز فأسأل نفسي متى ندرك قدرة قبول من ليس مثلنا.
ليليان يونس.

Making accommodations to the limits of real people is part of an incremental maturational process in which we slowly absorb the fact that the world is run by human beings, not by the wise parental figures we all wish were in charge. (Nancy Mc.Williams)

...Finalement, le développement exponentiel des technologies de
l’intelligence artificielle risque de bouleverser l’offre de psychothérapie
de façon sensible au cours des prochaines années (Broadbent, 2017;
Fiske, 2019). Plusieurs applications fonctionnant principalement par
messages textes (Wysa, Tess, Woebot, Sara, etc.) existent déjà pour
aborder les problèmes d’anxiété et de dépression, tandis que de véritables robots ou avatar de thérapeutes sont en développement pour
aborder des problèmes psychiatriques tels que l’autisme, la schizophrénie ou la démence : par exemple, la peluche robotisée Paro en
forme de bébé phoque pour diminuer l’anxiété. Si certains travaux
laissent entrevoir que les patients se dévoilent plus facilement lorsqu’ils
interagissent avec une machine plutôt qu’avec un être humain (Miner,
2017), il est cependant permis de se demander quelle place occuperont
ces thérapeutes virtuels dans un futur qui ne relève déjà plus de la
science-fiction...

Ref: Blondeau, C., & Reid, W. (2019). De la psychanalyse à la psychothérapie psychodynamique à Albert-Prévost. Santé mentale au Québec, 44(2), 69-88.

حول العلاج النفسي الدينامي
تعددت المدارس النفسية العلاجية وتنوعت طرق مقاربتها للمآزم الإنسانية من حيث فهمها والتعامل معها ومن حيث فعالية نتائجها.
صديقتي بعد رحلة صراع مع مرض االسرطان قررت فرز مساحة من الحرية الجغرافية داخل بيتها وحياتها وأهدتني مجموعة من الكتب فكان تعرفي على العلاج النفسي الدينامي منذ سنوات من خلال قراءتي لتلك الكتب أولا ثم تعددت القراءات والتدريبات في هذا المجال. طبقت هذه المقاربة ولا أزال مع العديد من المُعالَجين و أقف على نتائجها وأثرها على المستفيدين.
بين التساؤل حول فعالية العلاج النفسي الدينامي أو عدمه أورد هذه الأفكار المستوحاة من العمل العيادي اليومي لعل فيها إضاءة وإفادة للمهتمين.
قام د. جوناتان شدلر في العام 2010 بتحليل بعدي meta analysis للعلاج السيكودينامي كان الهدف منه إثبات أن هذا النوع العلاجي مدعوم تجريبيا وقائم على الأدلة والقرائن العلمية وتبين أن فعاليته وفائدته تستمران حتى بعد انتهاء فترة العلاج.
يعتبر التحليل البعدي في مجال علم النفس وسيلة مقبولة على نطاق واسع إذ يعمل على تلخيص وتوليف نتائج دراسات مستقلة فيتيح إمكانية المقارنة عبر تحويل النتائج على مقياس موحّد ما يسمح بتجميع ما هو مشترك بينها، والقياس يعتمد بشكل أساسي على دراسة الفروقات بين مجموعات الاختبار والمجموعات الضابطة. وقد أظهرت ثلاث دراسات على الأقل ((Abbass et al., 2006; (Anderson & Lambert, 1995; de Maat et al., 2009; Leichsenring & Rabung, 2008; Leichsenring et al., 2004) )- (Leichsenring, 2005; Milrod et al., 2007).، (Clarkin, Levy, Lenzenweger, & Kernberg, 2007) قائمة على التحليل البعدي أن آثار و فعالية العلاج الدينامي تستمر مع مرور الزمن لا بل تتجاوز مرحلة إنتهاء فترة العلاج هذا مع ملاحظة أن عدد الدراسات التي بحثت في آثار هذا النوع العلاجي تبقى مثلا أقل من تلك التي اهتمت بالعلاج السلوكي المعرفي لجهة آثاره و فعاليته. نشير في هذا الإطار إلى بعض الفروقات بين هذين النوعين العلاجيين:
يركز العلاج البسيكودينامي على تبادل غير ممنهج مفتوح ومرن يمكن أن يطرح فيه طالب العلاج هواماته، رغباته ، أحاسيسه ذكرياته وأحلامه، ما يتيح للمعالج رصد المواضيع والأنماط المتكررة محاولا إيجاد الارتباطات بين مشاعر وإدراكات المعالـَج ، مصوبّا نحو ما يعتبره هذا الأخير أحاسيس غير مقبولة مثال الغضب أو الحسد أو الكره وغيرها مشيرا إلى الوسائل الدفاعية التي يعتمدها هذا الأخير في مواجهة ما يعتبره غير مقبولا، مُأوِلا الرغبات والمشاعر والأفكار التي يتم صدّها، مركزا على العلاقة القائمة ضمن الحيز العلاجي المحدّد كونها تكرارا أو إستنساخا أو نموذجا لعلاقات المُعالـَج خارج هذا الحيز.
أما العلاج المعرفي السلوكي فيركّز على حوار موجّه يكون فيه دور المُعالِج تنظيم عملية التفاعل القائمة وطرح موضوعات النقاش فتكون وظيفته أقرب إلى المرشد ، الموجه الواعظ أو المعلم، يشرح للمعالج التقنيات، يحدد الأهداف، يركز على نظمة الأفكار والمعتقدات، ويوصي بمهمات وفروض يطلب من المُعالـَج إنجازها خارج المجال العلاجي.
لمن هو مهتم و لكن غير مُطّلِع نورد خصائص العلاج السيكودينامي المستوحاة أساسا من التحليل النفسي الفرويدي مع تميز في بعض المفاهيم والأساليب منها أن مدة العلاج أقصر وبالتالي عدد الجلسات أقل، إضافة إلى أن العلاج يهدف إلى إستكشاف جوانب النفس الإنسانية غير المدركة عبر تمظهرها وتأثرها بالعلاقة العلاجية كنموذج بذاته.
1. التركيز على المشاعر والتعبير عن الأحاسيس حتى المتناقضة أو المهدِدة منها عبر وضع الكلمات عليها فالتبصّر الشعوري أعمق صدى من التبصّر العقلاني.
2. استكشاف محاولات المعالـَج تجنب الأفكار والأحاسيس المؤلمة والمقلقة وهو ما يبرز من خلال "المقاومة" أو "الوسائل الدفاعية" مثل التغيّب عن الجلسات، الحضور المتأخر، تقصّد المراوغة، تغيير الموضوع حين تبرز فكرة أو شعور مولد للقلق، المبالغة في التفاصيل المرتبطة بالخارج وليس بدور المعالـَج نفسه في صياغة الأحداث.
3. تمييز الموضوعات و الأنماط المتكررة في أفكار ومشاعر ومفاهيم وعلاقات وتجارب المعالـَج علما أنه أحيانا يكون مدركا لتكرار تلك الأنماط بينما قد لا يكون واعيا لها في أحيان أخرى، مثال على ذلك ميل المعالـَج مثلا نحو إقامة علاقات عاطفية مع أشخاص غير مناسبين كطريقة لاواعية في التعامل مع الخوف من الارتباط.
4. مناقشة التجارب الماضية لا سيما الأنماط المتكررة في عملية التعلق مثلا وكيفية تأثيرها على التجارب المستجدة فالهدف هو تحرير الشخص من روابط وقيود الماضي من أجل التمكن من العيش في الحاضر.
5. التركيز على العلاقات الشخصية التكيفية منها وغير التكيفية إذ هي مرتبطة بشكل وثيق بكيفية إدراك الفرد لذاته، التعلق الآمن أو غير الآمن، فغالبا ما تولد الصعوبات النفسية من نماذج بناء تلك العلاقات و قدرة الشخص على مواءمة حاجاته الشعورية.
6. التركيز على العلاقة العلاجية حيث أنها تشكل نموذجا عن علاقات المعالـَج خارج إطار العيادة لجهة المعنى الشعوري العميق الذي تحمله ما يجعل الشخص يكرر ضمن العيادة وفي علاقته مع المعالج نماذجا سالفة مثل صعوبة الوثوق، الخوف من الترك أو الرفض، الميل للغضب أو للعدائية أو غير ذلك. كل ذلك يتمظهر عبر عملية النقلة والنقلة المضادة ما يوفر فرصة فريدة لكشف اللثام عن تلك الأنماط والعمل عليها بشكل حي،و حالي وعابر للجلسات هذا يوفر للمستفيد مرونة أكبر في علاقاته الشخصية وقدرة متطورة للتعرف إلى حاجاته وأحاسيسه.
7. إستكشاف الحياة الخيالية / النزوية إذ يشجع العلاج البسيكودينامي المعالج على الحديث بحرية عن كل ما يخطر في باله وهذه ليست مهمة سهلة بالمطلق يحتاج فيها الشخص إلى مساعدة المعالج كي يتمكن من تخطي الحواجز المعيقة للحديث عن رغباته، أفكاره، مخاوفه، ذكرياته و أحلامه. هذه كلها تشكل مصدرا غنيا لمعرفة كيف يدرك الشخص ذاته والآخرين، ما هو المعنى الذي يعطيه لخبراته، ما الذي يحاول تجنبه وما الذي يعيق قدرته على الشعور بالرضا و على إعطاء معنى للحياة.
تشمل أهداف العلاج البسيكودينامي، و لكن لا تقتصرعلى التخفيف من حدة الأعراض موضوع الشكوى إنطلاقا من الاقتناع بأن الصحة النفسية لا تفسر بغياب الأعراض وإنما تتخطاها إلى التفعيل الإيجابي للقدرات والموارد الموجودة في كل منا والتي تسمح لنا بالعيش بما يحمله عيشنا من إمكانيات وإحتمالات.
ليليان يونس.

Ref: Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy American psychologist, 65(2)

Impact of Dance on Autism

The Extent of the Mental and Emotional Impact of Dance on Teenagers with Autism - PFA222 - LAU Hello everyone!I am Hedi Jaza. This is my final art of dance class submission. Show your support to Ollie through his social media accounts:Instagram: https:...

Music therapy as a protection strategy against toxic stress for Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon: A pilot research study — Deborah Parker, Liliane Younes, Mohamad Orabi, Simon Procter & Milena Paulini – Approaches Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy | Approaches: Ένα Διεπιστημονικό Περιοδικό Μουσικοθεραπείας | ISSN: 2459-3338

View of Adjusting the Pitch | Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy The article traces the development of eight years of “Music and Resilience,” a project of international cooperation between a Palestinian NGO in Lebanon and an Italian CBO, with the aim of building music resources with, and for, the refugee communities of Lebanon.

Disseminating evidence-based research on mental health and coping to adolescents facing adversity in Lebanon: a pilot of a psychoeducational comic book 'Somoud' - PubMed The findings demonstrate the importance of cultural and contextual piloting of psychoeducational content, and the potential usefulness and accessibility of a comic book format to disseminate information to adolescents. Data from the pilot was used to inform the development of a new version of 'Somou...

Grace and Mental Illness.
Orestes was a grandson of Atreus, a man who had viciously attempted to prove himself more powerful than the gods. Because of his crime against them, the gods punished Atreus by placing a curse upon all his descendants. As part of the enactment of this curse upon the House of Atreus, Orestes’ mother, Clytemnestra, murdered his father and her husband, Agamemnon. This crime in turn brought down the curse upon Orestes’ head, because by the Greek code of honor a son was obliged, above all else, to slay his father’s murderer. Yet the greatest sin a Greek could commit was the sin of matricide. Orestes agonized over his dilemma. Finally he did what he seemingly had to do and killed his mother. For this sin the gods then punished Orestes by visiting upon him the Furies, three ghastly harpies who could be seen and heard only by him and who tormented him night and day with their cackling criticism and frightening appearance.
Pursued wherever he went by the Furies, Orestes wandered about the land seeking to atone for his crime. After many years of lonely reflection and self-abrogation Orestes requested the gods to relieve him of the curse on the House of Atreus and its visitations upon him through the Furies, stating his belief that he had succeeded in atoning for the murder of his mother. A trial was held by the gods. Speaking in Orestes’ defense, Apollo argued that he had engineered the whole situation that had placed Orestes in the position in which he had no choice but to kill his mother, and therefore Orestes really could not be held responsible. At this point Orestes jumped up and contradicted his own defender, stating, “It was I, not Apollo, that murdered my mother!” The gods were amazed. Never before had a member of the House of Atreus assumed such total responsibility for himself and not blamed the gods. Eventually the gods decided the trial in Orestes’ favor, and not only relieved him of the curse upon the House of Atreus but also transformed the Furies into the Eumenides, loving spirits who through their wise counsel enabled Orestes to obtain continuing good fortune.
The meaning of this myth is not obscure. The Eumenides, or “benignant ones,” are also referred to as the “bearers of grace.” The hallucinatory Furies, who could be perceived only by Orestes, represent his symptoms, the private hell of mental illness. The transformation of the Furies into the Eumenides is the transformation of mental illness into good fortune, of which we have been speaking. This transformation occurred by virtue of the fact that Orestes was willing to accept responsibility for his mental illness. While he ultimately sought to be relieved of them, he did not see the Furies as an unjust punishment or perceive himself to be a victim of society or of anything else. Being an inevitable result of the original curse upon the House of Atreus, the Furies also symbolize the fact that mental illness is a family affair, created in one by one’s parents and grandparents as the sins of the father are visited upon the children. But Orestes did not blame his family—his parents or his grandfather—as he well might have. Nor did he blame the gods or “fate.” Instead he accepted his condition as one of his own making and undertook the effort to heal it. It was a lengthy process, just as most therapy tends to be lengthy. But as a result he was healed, and through this healing process of his own effort, the very things that had once caused him agony became the same things that brought him wisdom.
All experienced psychotherapists have seen this myth acted out in their own practices and have actually witnessed the transformation of the Furies into the Eumenides within the minds and lives of their more successful patients. It is not an easy transformation. As soon as they realize that they will ultimately be required by the process of psychotherapy to assume total responsibility for their condition and its cure, most patients, no matter how eager for therapy they initially appeared to be, will drop out. They choose rather to be sick and have the gods to blame than to be well with no one to blame ever again. Of the minority who stay in therapy most must still be taught to assume total responsibility for themselves as a part of their healing. This teaching—“training” might be a more accurate word—is a painstaking affair as the therapist methodically confronts patients with their avoidance of responsibility again and again and again, session after session, month after month, and often year after year. Frequently, like stubborn children, they will kick and scream all the way as they are led to the notion of total responsibility for themselves. Eventually, however, they arrive. It is only the rare patient who enters therapy with a willingness to assume total responsibility from the beginning. Therapy in such cases, while it still may require a year or two, is relatively brief, relatively smooth, and frequently a very pleasant process for both patient and therapist. In any case, whether relatively easy or difficult and prolonged, the transformation of the Furies into the Eumenides does occur. Those who have faced their mental illness, accepted total responsibility for it, and made the necessary changes in themselves to overcome it, find themselves not only cured and free from the curses of their childhood and ancestry but also find themselves living in a new and different world. What they once perceived as problems they now perceive as opportunities. What were once loathsome barriers are now welcome challenges. Thoughts previously unwanted become helpful insights; feelings previously disowned become sources of energy and guidance. Occurrences that once seemed to be burdens now seem to be gifts, including the very symptoms from which they have recovered. “My depression and my anxiety attacks were the best things that ever happened to me,” they will routinely say at the termination of successful therapy. Even if they emerge from therapy without a belief in God, such successful patients still generally do so with a very real sense that they have been touched by grace.
Excerpt from : M.Scott Peck- "The road less travelled".

Cooperation Document

Music therapy as a protection strategy against toxic stress for Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon: A pilot research study — Deborah Parker & Liliane Younes & Mohamad Orabi & Simon Procter & Milena Paulini – Approaches Approaches: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Music Therapy | Approaches: Ένα Διεπιστημονικό Περιοδικό Μουσικοθεραπείας | ISSN: 2459-3338

https://musicandresilience.wordpress.com/2021/02/15/music-and-resilience-article-preview/

“Music and Resilience” article preview! We are delighted to present the preview of the peer-reviewed article, “Adjusting the Pitch” written by key members of the M&R project team, Deborah Parker, Dario Gentili, Henry Brow…

https://www.facebook.com/107428149301669/posts/4025269934184118/

Iscrizioni aperte per Dialoghi sulla Relazione Terapeutica 16/17 Aprile 2021, Dialoghi sulla Relazione Terapeutica. Irvin YALOM, Massimo RECALCATI, Maurizio ANDOLFI, Vittorio LINGIARDI, Paolo MIGONE

"One of my favorite tales of healing, found in Hermann Hesse’s Magister Ludi, involves Joseph and Dion, two renowned healers, who lived in biblical times. Though both were highly effective, they worked in different ways. The younger healer, Joseph, healed through quiet, inspired listening. Pilgrims trusted Joseph. Suffering and anxiety poured into his ears vanished like water on the desert sand and penitents left his presence emptied and calmed.
On the other hand, Dion, the older healer, actively confronted those who sought his help. He divined their unconfessed sins. He was a great judge, chastiser, scolder, and rectifier, and he healed through active intervention. Treating the penitents as children, he gave advice, punished by assigning penance, ordered pilgrimages and marriages, and compelled enemies to make up.
The two healers never met, and they worked as rivals for many years until Joseph grew spiritually ill, fell into dark despair, and was assailed with ideas of self-destruction. Unable to heal himself with his own therapeutic methods, he set out on a journey to the south to seek help from Dion.
On his pilgrimage, Joseph rested one evening at an oasis, where he fell into a conversation with an older traveler. When Joseph described the purpose and destination of his pilgrimage, the traveler offered himself as a guide to assist in the search for Dion. Later, in the midst of their long journey together the old traveler revealed his identity to Joseph. Mirabile dictu: he himself was Dion—the very man Joseph sought.
Without hesitation Dion invited his younger, despairing rival into his home, where they lived and worked together for many years.
Dion first asked Joseph to be a servant. Later he elevated him to a student and, finally, to full colleagueship. Years later, Dion fell ill and on his deathbed called his young colleague to him in order to hear a confession. He spoke of Joseph’s earlier terrible illness and his journey to old Dion to plead for help. He spoke of how Joseph had felt it was a miracle that his fellow traveler and guide turned out to be Dion himself.
Now that he was dying, the hour had come, Dion told Joseph, to break his silence about that miracle. Dion confessed that at the time it had seemed a miracle to him as well, for he, too, had fallen into despair. He, too, felt empty and spiritually dead and, unable to help himself, had set off on a journey to seek help. On the very night that they had met at the oasis he was on a pilgrimage to a famous healer named Joseph.
hesse’s tale has always moved me in a preternatural way. It strikes me as a deeply illuminating statement about giving and receiving help, about honesty and duplicity, and about the rela- tionship between healer and patient. The two men received powerful help but in very different ways. The younger healer was nurtured, nursed, taught, mentored, and parented.
The older healer, on the other hand was helped through serving another
through obtaining a disciple from whom he received filial love, respect, and salve for his isolation.
But now, reconsidering the story, I question whether these two wounded healers could not have been of even more service to one another. Perhaps they missed the opportunity for some- thing deeper, more authentic, more powerfully mutative. Perhaps the real therapy occurred at the deathbed scene, when they moved into honesty with the revelation that they were fellow travelers, both simply human, all too human. The twenty years of secrecy, helpful as they were, may have obstructed and prevented a more profound kind of help. What might have happened if Dion’s deathbed confession had occurred twenty years earlier, if healer and seeker had joined together in facing the questions that have no answers?
All of this echoes Rilke’s letters to a young poet in which he advises, “Have patience with everything unresolved and try to love the questions themselves.” I would add: “Try to love the questioners as well.”
Excerpt From: Irvin Yalom "The gift of therapy"

“The group, like each individual brain, is an organ of adaptation in service of survival that depends on the complementarity of alphas and betas to support group survival. Groups usually contain a few alphas and many betas. As groups form, members jockey for position, display their abilities, and strive to develop alliances. On the surface, this behavior looks like it is driven by self-interest. Looking at it from a distance reveals that all the social climbing, challenges, rough-and-tumble play, and aggression also serve to provide the group with a pool of potential leaders. And while we generally associate alpha-beta conflict with males, it is equally important among females and occurs to different degrees across genders.
I have observed at least four social status groups in my personal and professional relationships. There are two groups of individuals who are well matched to their social status, whom I call natural alphas and natural betas. A third group consists of those who know they are betas, but aspire to become alphas (aspirational alphas), and a fourth group who think they are alphas, but are actually betas (pseudoalphas). Both aspirational alphas and pseudoalphas can be considered insecure because there is a conflict between their desired social status and the programming of their biochemistry, thought patterns, and behaviors.
A very small number of people are natural alphas—those who are good at and derive satisfaction from being leaders. While not deaf to the opinions of others, natural alphas pay less attention to group opinion, focusing on their instincts and inner vision to guide them. Natural alphas always have an eye on the future, and their dissatisfaction with the status quo is a secret source of pleasure. These qualities of the natural alpha provide the group with imagination, vision, and expanded adaptational capacities. Natural alphas don’t have to try to be alphas; their status comes from an inner sense of security, the anticipation and even expectation of success, and a goodness of fit with their natural wiring.
Another large group of people are natural betas and are well matched to this status. Natural betas are not haunted by fears of underachieving or keeping their light under a bushel. They enjoy their jobs and social relationships, and they are satisfied with what they have achieved. Natural betas are fine with external structure and generally feel most confident and happy when there are external rules and plans to follow. They tend to focus on the present situation and make the best of the resources at hand. It is easy to see how a large number of natural betas would be vital to a successful empire.
For natural alphas and betas, brains, minds, and relationships are aligned, which results in happiness, success, and minimal conflict. For aspirational and pseudoalphas, their brains, minds, and relationships are unaligned, which results in psychological and social conflict, creating a variety of behaviors that betray their inner struggles. Overall, these insecure betas are dissatisfied with their lives. They are frustrated and angry with others; they don’t perform up to their potential, and they usually feel disappointed in themselves. These are clients who come to therapy for help.”

Excerpt From: Cozolino, Louis. “Why Therapy Works.” W. W. Norton & Company. iBooks.

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“In short, distortions of conscious awareness are not character flaws, but preprogrammed by-products of our evolutionary history based on their proven survival value. They help us to be strong, assertive, and confident in the face of threat. Our distortions allow us all to believe that we are above average and for two warring nations to both believe that god is on their side. The downside of these distortions comes when we have so much confidence in our point of view that we repeat the same dysfunctional behaviors in spite of all evidence to the contrary. The prevalence of illusions, distortions, and misperceptions is why reality testing is so important in almost all forms of therapy. The most naive observer, let alone a trained therapist, can see many things about us more clearly than we can see them ourselves. Questioning one’s assumptions, internalizing interpretations, and learning about how the brain mismanages information are all potential roads to positive change.
As therapists, we attempt to provide our clients with alternative perspectives and new information in order to disrupt a closed and self-reinforcing logical system. And when therapy is at its most useful, clients are able to internalize perceptions and insights from others that improve their ability to test the reality of their experience beyond their habitual distortions. Psychotherapy provides us with an opportunity to make our unconscious conscious, creating a platform for the exploration of our maladaptive illusions.”

Excerpt From: Cozolino, Louis. “Why Therapy Works.” W. W. Norton & Company.

"A therapist who is absolutely certain he or she is doing the right thing is a dangerous therapist. Psychotherapists don’t deal in certainties but in educated guesses, intuition, and gut feelings. Embrace your uncertainty and keep in mind that psychotherapy is an art informed in equal measures by thought and emotion.”

“I’ve found that the process of therapy (like the unconscious) is more circular than linear. You don’t have to worry about missing an opportunity to deal with a particular perception or feeling; core aspects of a client’s inner world permeate so many facets of his or her life that they are revealed in a multitude of situations”
“Your goal is not to be right; it is to help your client move in the direction of psychological health. Being right is far less important than being caring, empathic, and available. Each client’s defenses need to be understood and appreciated because they have helped him or her to survive.
Clients need to be respected for their strength and courage in the face of what they have made it through. If your client feels that you appreciate the reason for his defenses, he will be more willing to explore alternative ways of being.
Take care not to become attached to having the client buy into your agenda or see things from your point of view. The client is more important than your agenda. Be willing to let go of your opinions, interpretations, and suggestions and attend to where the client needs to take you. The more you push your agenda, the more the client will resist.”

Excerpt From: Cozolino, Louis. “The Making of a Therapist: A Practical Guide for the Inner Journey [2004].” W. W.

To all the persons in need for psychological support after the blast of 4-8-2020 please send me a message on my page.
كل من يحتاج لدعم نفسي بعد كارثة 4 آب الرجاء التواصل معي على هذه الصفحة.

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Article tres interessant sur le Covid 19

PSY-OP COVID-19: assignés à résidence! | Mondialisation - Centre de Recherche sur la Mondialisation Dans cet article, je me réfère à l’expérience des pays confinés de manière autoritaire et arbitraire, plus de 3 milliards d’êtres humains soumis à l’autorité de quelques personnes et assignés à résidence [1] :