Part 1 Series
“Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.” (CG Jung).
“If we succeed in turning around, it will be very profitable … (neurotic) misery to the common misery.” – Sigmund Freud
“Happiness” can be a vague, amorphous, enigmatic, transitory, and untenable concept, construct, and phenomenon. Yet, like the Holy Grail, it is what humans seem to have an archetypal desire to pursue, discover, and experience. Indeed, when asked why they seek it in the first place. psychotherapyPatients often respond, “I just want to be happy.” In fact, most, if not all, psychotherapy is, at some level, about awareness or unconscious seeking happiness or at least less misery. If we are willing to be honest with ourselves, happiness, or at least our own version of it, is what we all want and strive for.
Unhappy people have been seeking psychological help for over a century. First, it was Freud psychoanalysisin which patients with various symptoms would lie comfortably on the same sofa, be “free partners” and say whatever came into their awareness without judgment, editing or censorship, releasing their unhappiness, sadness, painful memories and worries, and their current symptoms; and the analyst, unseen and sitting behind them, out of sight, listened with attention and compassion, mostly in silence, for months, years, and in some cases decades. In the end, many felt better, more content, less symptomatic, and maybe even a little happier. Why?
First, there was and is a confessional quality to this process, not least in the Catholic Church, where a person feels his darkest qualities. fantasiesdesires, sins, vices and even bad deeds confidence with another person without fear of condemnation, exclusion or rejection. There is something healing and liberating about such unconditional acceptance, as psychologist Carl Rogers later demonstrated, and it can help a person learn to be more accepting and loving of themselves and others.
Confronting the dark side
Patients in modern psychoanalysis and depth psychology are encouraged to, rather than deny, censor and repress these powerful, all-too-human instincts, such as sexuality and aggression. Furthermore, Freud recognized that unhappy, unhappy, or neurotic people “suffer from reminiscence”—they tend to always vulnerable it goes with them consciously and unconsciously, drags them down and prevents them from living freely and fully in the present and the future. Thus, one secret of happiness, suggests depth psychology, is that the more we can face and accept our “dark side”, which Freud called the “id” (or actually “it”) and Jung poetically called the “shadow”, and the more we can let go of the past, the happier, or at least the less unhappy, we will become. Freud, always a realist (some say pessimist), succinctly described the goal of psychoanalysis as the transformation of neurotic “misery into general unhappiness.”
For Freud, happiness is a highly relative and elusive state, given the often tragic nature of the human condition; it is closely related to liberation from neuroticism blame, repressionself-condemnation and others. And on the positive side, the freedom to work, to create, and to give and receive love. In this sense, the more satisfaction, frustration, dissatisfaction and neurotic suffering we experience, the happier we are. Happiness, then, can be defined as the relative absence of things we are dissatisfied with in life, although there will always be something. Reducing our unhappiness increases our happiness. How can this be done? Clearly, this approach requires a more accepting approach to life as it is, not as we would like it to be, and letting go of grievances and dissatisfaction with the world, others, and ourselves.
Social interest and courage as keys to happiness
One of Freud’s Vienna colleagues and contemporaries, Alfred Adler, who created what he called individual psychology, gave serious importance to the concept of “social interest” as the key to human happiness. Adler felt that happiness depends in large part on our social relationships, a sense of belonging, constructive engagement and participation in society, and genuine care and concern for others and the human community. In Adler’s approach, the concept was central courage: Having the courage to take risks, face daunting challenges, create intimate relationships, pursue your goals dreamsand be true to yourself. For Adler, our happiness depends on how we relate to society and our fellow citizens, and how courageous we are to creatively find a powerful and fulfilling place for ourselves in the collective culture.
For Otto Rank, another close colleague of Freud’s, creativity is the main component of happiness. This includes not only the creativity of the artist, but also the responsibility of each person to create himself and the world through “acts of will”, which, when frustrated, blocked or resisted, lead to dysphoria (unhappiness) and the symptomatic suffering of neuroses. In this regard, boldly express yourself and your will in the world creatively – in any way you can, be it artistically or in your work. careerwith family formation, a support network of friends, intimate relationships, etc. – are essential for human happiness.
These key concepts of Adler and Rank – the need to live courageously and creatively, fully engaged with life and in our integral social context – can also be found in the modern practice of existential therapy, which is accompanied by a central focus on the importance of meaning and purpose in life. Existential therapy, such as European existentialism philosophy which informs it, error is often associated only with disaster, gloom, nihilism and despair – the opposite of happiness. It also helps to cultivate happiness by encouraging acceptance of some of the facts of life’s existence –anxietyloneliness, loss, suffering, guilt, finality, responsibility, meaninglessness and death. Ironically, when we deny and try to escape these abnormal facts of life, we suffer from symptoms such as neurotic anxiety. depression who tend to lower and reduce our happiness. However, when we are ready to bravely face these existing facts, not suppressing or running away from them, accepting and reconciling with them, we become more receptive and open to “enjoy and fully enjoy the sublime pleasures, beauty and miracles of life” (Almos, 2016, p. 346). But how does this subtle, gradual, sometimes invisible transformation toward happiness actually happen in therapy? (See part 2.)
