Sylvia Thompsonexamines an approach to wellbeing which seeks to solve psychological problems by going deeper into the experience of current symptoms.
Many of the films made by the American film director and actor, Woody Allen, perfectly portrayed the obsessive self-absorbed characters who spoke to their therapist about everything that happened in their lives. And while we can't blame Woody Allen for our problems, he certainly helped popularise the idea that your childhood traumas will continue to dominate your life unless you partake in some form of psychotherapeutic investigation.
Nowadays, some forms of psychotherapy are criticised for being over-focused on past experiences which can result in people becoming stuck in these experiences rather than liberated from them.
Some new approaches are thus moving away from over-analysis of past experiences to more experiential ways of moving on in your life. One such approach is Process-oriented psychology, or Process Work, which was developed by a Jungian therapist and physicist in Switzerland.
Brid Commins is one of four people in Ireland who has higher level training in process work. She says that she first became interested in this approach because it enabled people to move on from negative experiences in their past.
"I found a lot of people were recycling emotions, staying in the past and not moving forward. Take, for example, people who have been sexually abused. They come to therapy with a lot of pain and anger that needs to be expressed. But, if they stay at that point of always expressing anger, they may never see the potential to use the power of that anger to create what changes they need in their lives," explains Commins.
Developed in Switzerland in the 1970s and 1980s by Jungian analyst and physicist Arnold (Arnie) Mindell, process work is based on the idea that the solution to any difficulty is contained within the disturbance itself.
So, clients are encouraged to become aware of physical symptoms, body problems and relationship difficulties in the belief that our worst problems have the potential to become our greatest allies.
In Ireland, process work therapists are accredited by the National Association for Pastoral Counselling and Psychotherapy (NAPCP), one of the principle accreditation bodies for psychotherapy courses in this country.
Margaret O'Shea is the chairwoman of the NAPCP and she says the training fulfils all the criteria for the accreditation of therapy training courses.
"The ethos of process work also ties in very neatly with the ethos of pastoral counselling, especially in its openness to the spiritual," she says.
American certified process work therapists Kate Jobe and Jan Dworkin were in Ireland last month to give a workshop on this therapy that is becoming very popular throughout the world with individuals, couples, businesses and community groups.
"We were working with people's intergenerational family histories and this runs very deeply for Irish people because you have such a rich history. In the workshop, we looked at ways of re-integrating disavowed power in a profound and gentle way," explains Dworkin.
"People who attended the workshop said it was very respectful and that they felt like co-participants rather than clients or patients."
When participating in process work, individuals are encouraged to understand and follow their "dreaming process" which includes not just sleeping dreams but fantasy and imagination, accidents, symptoms and illnesses, synchronicities and world events, relationship difficulties and addictions and addictive tendencies.
Commins says that nowadays people sometimes blame themselves for various symptoms or illnesses that they have. Process work sees opportunity for growth within these symptoms. "It's a deeper process than just having a positive mental attitude. It's about unfolding your experience to find insight for growth."
One practitioner of complementary medicine describes how process work helped her manage a chronic problem with high blood pressure.
"I had been on medication and was attending a cardiologist and I felt disempowered. Process work helped me find the part of me that was creating the symptom and gave me the power to change. And while you are not aware of whether you have high or low blood pressure at any one time, you can be aware of the tension, anxiety and feeling of pressure associated with it," she explains.
"My greatest fear was that I might have a major stroke and be left unable to speak or move," she says. "So, in process work, I was encouraged to go into that state and exaggerate the symptoms. So, I twisted my body into a posture so that I couldn't move or speak. It was frightening at first but by staying with it and breathing with it, I relaxed more and saw something else and let go of the tension."
Jobe and Dworkin say process work is valuable not only for individuals who suffer from chronic pain conditions, addictions, relationship or sexuality problems but also for much larger groups where reconciliation or broader understanding of problems is required. Commins has also used process work in business settings.
"Most business management teams are very good at strategic plans, operational plans and setting goals and targets but they are not so good at the invisible aspects of organisational development such as how to deal with tensions, conflicts and atmosphere.
"In process work, we look at disturbance and see what's missing within the team or the company," according to Commins.
The founders of process work, Mindell and his wife, Amy, who are now based in Portland, Oregon, dedicate time to work with groups in places of conflict around the world. They have facilitated groups of people in contact with paramilitary organisations in Belfast and groups who have suffered from clerical sexual abuse in Dublin.
"In Belfast, we were being attacked as facilitators and then later there was a profound change in mood as people began to work on the interactions between people and speak about how they really felt. In Dublin, there were also points of confrontation around clerical abuse which we facilitated," explains Jobe.
This form of process work taps into the concept of "Deep Democracy", developed by Mindell. The concept extends the usual idea of democracy in that it believes that for a group to flourish, all the diverse voices and viewpoints need to have the freedom to express themselves. Process workers often work with community groups, helping people to listen to each other so that dissent and minority opposition is not marginalised.
Jobe explains: "We help people to get to the bottom of the messages and encourage people to talk very personally on all sides of issue in question. This changes people and helps the world process its own issues on a human level."
Kate Jobe and Joe Goodbread will lead a two-day seminar on January 27th-28th in Mercy House, Eblana Ave (off Marine Road), Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin. Entitled The Meaning of Life - how to find it when we need it, the experiential seminar will look at people's dreams, family patterns, chronic physical symptoms and other long-term experiences. Cost €195.
For further information, contact Deirdre O'Connor on tel: 053 9429343 or e-mail popirel@eircom.net