If you prevent a situation arising which you could not cope with, or believe you could not cope with, internally or externally, it is not wrong as such. How does this become dysfunctional? It does so when, by avoiding it, one does not solve the problem, but rather on the contrary, maintains or even strengthens …
Every understanding, every plausibility and everything implausible is bound to an observer, to a point in time and to a situation. Understanding is different to knowledge. Knowledge can be falsified (“There is no tree here!” … “Ouch, unfortunately there is!”). Understanding, in contrast, is not refutable, but only useful or not useful. Thus, if a …
Intuition is a form of knowing and, therefore, a basis for understanding. The more complex a situation is and the less information one possesses to manage it, the less appropriate is the understanding technique of ‘analysis’, and the more intuition is required. However, in the scientific context, intuition is regarded as rather suspicious, because it …
Every guiding distinction which the psychological system deals with uses decision-making premises. Everything cannot be constantly renewed and fundamentally explained. Premises are the foundations for other decisions. To reduce complexity, every system requires such underlying patterns that are, under normal circumstances, not enquired into, reflected upon or noticed (if, for example, it has been decided …
For understanding, the psychological system uses existing structures to reduce complexity. In parts of current psychology these are called schemata (such as: <a href=”https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schematherapie” target=”_blank”>Schematherapie</a>). Any information offered, each situation, invokes a schema which fits it (learning something, addressing someone, asking for something, reporting something etc.). Schemata can be seen as frameworks within which we …
One form of understanding which is important from a meta theory viewpoint but is frequently given little regard, is the absorbing of atmospheres. Atmospheres are characterised by the fact that they are experienced similarly in different people (particularly impressive during natural spectacles such as polar lights, shooting stars, volcanoes, waves etc.) In atmospheres a situation …
The gods have placed the diagnosis before the therapy. This scientific principle – meaningful in some areas, is of little help in counselling, even rather damaging. Nevertheless, a diagnostic procedure is required. However, this must be compatible with other fundamental conditions for successful counselling: dialogue, acceptance, appreciative relationship, being taken seriously as an individual and …
Labels are for bottles, not for people (F. Staemmler). You are XYZ or red or a depressive or…? He who sticks such labels on people, reduces them to one specific aspect of their person. Implicitly he devalues them and robs them of the uniqueness of their existence. This is incompatible with the metatheoretical understanding of …
Many psychological difficulties and symptoms are the consequence of (unconscious) inner conflicts. The concepts offered in psychology and psychotherapy since Freud’s day, so as to bring order into the unbelievable multitude of these inner conflicts, can hardly be kept track of. Whether it is useful to create a list of, or a system of all …
The psychological guiding process about whether one categorises something as plausible or implausible in understanding, can be accomplished by the psychological system functionally or dysfunctionally. It is functional to mark something as implausible if it is not important for present and future concerns (Not understanding a tourist’s question in Chinese is no cause for learning …