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Holistic Therapeutic Approach

The successful treatment of psychological or emotional imbalance necessitates a holistic therapeutic approach. Traditional psychoanalysis in Western civilization has focussed on the separate treatment of body, mind, and emotions. However, psychoanalytic pioneers such as Wilhelm Reich, Alexander Lowen, Jack Painter, and Morris Berman have made significant progress in the comprehension and utilization of body-mind therapies.

According to Berman (1989), the basic fault of human existence is the substitution of hollow secondary satisfactions for somatic, primary satisfactions. Primary satisfactions, the need of humans for self-love and love by others, are genuine and lead to wholeness. Secondary satisfactions lead to inner conflict. These satisfactions include career pursuits, wealth building, family rearing, patriotism, sports, and the numerous activities that temporarily fill an emotion void. Berman (1989) cites Fowles who referred to this void as the "nemo" or the condition of being nobody (p. 20).

Secondary satisfactions are sought on the collective level as well as the private level. Berman (1989) contends that all "isms" and ideologies are emotional crutches: "For the (extremely rare) healthy person, life is its own meaning; they do not need an ism to stuff the gap, to feel OK" (p. 22). The pursuit of secondary satisfactions lead to ultimate disillusionment because these activities fail to penetrate to the somatic core of the individual.

Once human beings realize that their secondary satisfactions bring only temporary relief, the disillusionment manifests itself physically. According to Berman (1989): "We either 'prop ourselves up,' so to speak, or slump in a posture of collapse; and this has a profound effect on the nature of the culture we create" (p. 22). The origin of this phenomenon begins in infancy.

The basic fault phenomenon is referred to by a variety of names: the hollowness, the nemo, th...

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Holistic Therapeutic Approach. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 07:36, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702820.html