Culture of India :: Ancient World Culture

It is not surprising that thinkers as diverse as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Mahatma Gandhi have found inspiration in The Bhagavad Gita, the great HINDU religious poem. At first glance, this statement must seem odd to you: after all, The Bhagavad Gita describes a momentary surcease in a vast battle in which brothers fight brothers in bloody, historical technicolor. The principal character, Arjuna, sits in a chariot in the midst of the mass of soldiers who wait -- surprisingly patiently -- as Arjuna looks into his conscience and questions his divine charioteer, Krishna. Krishna's temporary job as charioteer is by no means accidental: this moment before the heat and horror of battle was chosen as precisely the right time to reflect on the nature of duty and devotion. The Bhagavad Gita, then, becomes a record of Arjuna's questions and Krishna's provocative responses. You might ask: What does this single work, a strangely didactic addition to the epic Mahabharata, "say" about ANCIENT INDIA? What does this work "say" about modern India? Can a reading of The Bhagavad Gita help us today to "recreate" life in Indian societies some 25 centuries ago? Can a reading of The Bhagavad Gita "disclose" elements of Indian life? It is doubtful that Emerson read The Bhagavad Gita as a guide to the world of the Hindoos (as he would have spelled it). It is doubtful that he felt he "knew" India as a result of his reading, much as people (foolishly?) feel they know a country by reading a travel and tourism guide to that nation. Instead, Emerson responded to the great concepts and questions that The Bhagavad Gita explores: the notion that an individual human life is but part of a greater reality of which humans, likewise, are a part; the notion of the transitory nature of suffering and pain (not to mention pleasure); the valorizing of the spiritual, not the material, part of human nature.

Comparative Models of Counselling

A report that reflects on Person Centred Therapy and considers how this model could be incorporated alongside the core model of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in my current Counselling Practice. I reflected on Person-centred Therapy (PCT) as the comparative model because of the conflict that exists between this and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The conflict is historical, political and from personal experience. In therapy twenty years ago I became frustrated with my counsellor’s person-centred approach. I challenged my counsellor to provide me with more support and help.I therefore had preconceived ideas of PCT which may be similar to stereotypical thinking of these models. It was excessively warm, completely non-directive and only reflected back to the client, which I found frustrating. I understand now it was because my coping style was externalised and I had no control over external events, which suited a more direct counselling approach. So, how would this influence my practice as a counsellor? In theoretical terms and in observed practice I appreciated the benefits of PCT for its empathetic understanding and for clients who require a non-directive approach to gain emotional awareness.Presenting issues that can be helped by PTS are bereavement, drug and alcohol issues, depression, panic and anxiety, eating difficulties, self-harm, childhood sexual abuse (Tolan and Wilkins, 2012). I have used the model affectively for bereavement and sexual abuse as an offer of a direction would have been inappropriate and incongruent at the time. My preconceptions of CBT were solution focused, challenging and that low intensity based interventions ignore the client’s past. I feel competent in using certain behavioural intervention in my practice and challenge maladaptive thinking patterns in sessions.CBT is a medical model and although we have been taught the disadvantages to diagnoses, CBT is seen as the treatment of choice for many presenting problems due to the amount of empirical evidence available. These are anxiety disorders, panic, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, PTSD, bulimia and depression as identified by NICE (NICE, 2008, Accessed online 27/06/201). This report reflects on the appropriate use of the models. Stereotypes have some element of truth, but at the same time, are not the truths. I wanted to understand the similarities and parallels while respecting the fact that, in practise, I use both models.I didn’t want to do a bit of each badly, but use a model in full at the appropriate time and understand my reason for doing so (Casemore, and Tudway, 2012). Both PCT and CBT are deeply rooted in the same philosophical underpinning of humanism, existentialism, and both are phenomenology particularly to the nature of suffering. However, there are differences in the understanding and interpretation of the philosophy. Both approaches view a person as continually seeking growth and self-actualisation. There are i ncompatible beliefs between the models. (Casemore, and Tudway, 2012).PCT observes that seeking growth and self-actualisation is a way of being and in itself therapeutic. Rogers’ professed that there were six necessary conditions for therapeutic growth that alone were sufficient to lead to a fully functioning person. The individual is the own expert who can determine their own journey of their reality and can heal themselves with the core, being the relationship itself. The structure of the self includes self-concept and introjected beliefs. PCT communicates acceptance of the client’s own experience and encourages then to identify alternate choices.It is a continual journey of self-awareness and knowledge, with the drive always towards growth (Mearns & Thorne, 2012). CBT views growth and self-actualisation as a shared goal of therapy to be reached with a set of tools, to be implemented in therapy. CBT’s view comes from Ellis who defines a person as irrational and rational. In CBT terms ‘dysfunctional beliefs’ are similar to ‘introjected beliefs’ and led to distortion in the self-concept. The irrational cause’s distress and rational directs the individual to fully functioning. CBT primary belief is self distortion and the process of cognitive dissonance.Interventions such as the ABCDE framework are used to challenge and dispute irrational thinking and are aimed at increasing client’s self-awareness and self-understanding. CBT sees the relationship as more collaborative and facilitates new learning. An individual’s construct of reality is dimensional and irrationality stops the client from changing. Therefore, a person’s drive is not always towards growth (Casemore, and Tudway, 2012). A similarity of both approaches is the understanding of self-worth and unconditional self-acceptance. The nature of suffering is seen the same. Humans are flawed, imperfect and we cause our own disturbance.Bo th see the client as the expert in the relationship. Authenticity is of great importance to both PCT and CBT as is the therapeutic relationship. It is the emphasis on the process of change, to become oneself, where the differences in two models lie (Castonguay, & Hill, 2012). From a PCT perspective a client discovers some hidden aspect of them self that they weren’t aware of previously and moves towards a greater degree of acceptance of self by being prized by the therapist (unconditional positive regard), have a sense of realness (genuineness) and listen to them self (empathy).A client moves towards seeing new meaning. These changes are characteristic of therapeutic movement. The client moves along a continuum from rigid structure to flow which can be seen in the seven stages of therapeutic change. Rogers’ term was ‘organismic experiencing’ which was interpersonal in the therapeutic relationship through unconditional positive regard and intrapersonal with in the client accepting a new experience into their awareness (Castonguay, & Hill, 2012). In PCT, the process of change there are different corrective experiences for a client.For me practising with a client group from a women’s refuge I use PCT and Rogers’ condition-of-worth. The incongruence between the self-concept and authentic self is evident due to the abuse. This creation of a false self is corrected with unconditional positive regard, empathy and genuineness. Process Theory is where, change in the experience of feelings and the recognition that the client is the creator of their own construct occurs. The therapeutic change has a developmental sequence.There is a change in the client’s manner of experiencing feelings and recognition of being the creator of their own constructs, accepting responsibility and in relating to others openly and freely. This is compatible with the condition of worth. A person moves with acceptance to a fully functioning person. The person’s overall ‘way of being’ is changed. Relating to a congruent therapist, the client learns to be open and congruent themselves (Castonguay, & Hill, 2012). Unblocking or Focusing is where the self-correcting, self-healing process of the organism is blocked.The person can’t refer inwardly, focus on feelings or articulate meaning. They have a rigid self-concept. Empathic listening within the therapeutic relationship opens the issue to re-examination and unblocks the person self-healing process. There is an interaction between the feeling and the attention the client brings to create a new meaning. This is Gendlin’s felt sense, an unexpected feeling of flow. The client becomes an active self-healer who has been felt heard and understood (Castonguay, & Hill, 2012).In practice building ‘Meaning Bridges’ – new understanding which identifying introjects imposed by others who imposed external systems of value has been paramount because of the external pressure that have be imposed through a close relationship. Internal opposing voices can be accepted, examined and resolved through compromise and collaborative solution. Until now, I saw this as CBT but can now see this as PCT with Rogers’s necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic change all that is needed for the process of change and this change occurs without engaging in cognitive process, but in the moment (Castonguay, & Hill, 2012).I am able to draw personal parallels from watching Rogers’ session with Gloria. Gloria wanted an answer from Rogers. In the session she found it for herself, even though she actively interpreted that he had helped her to the decision; even though he hadn’t. She makes the decision of honesty for herself. Although non-directive, Rogers’s session had a focused, this was of self-healing and self-direction. Refuting the belief that the person-centred way is only to reflect back to the client. The warmth from the counsellor is also part of the process of condition of worth.This helps me challenge my preconceived ideas and understand what is happening in practice. In practise, I am aware from a CBT perspective the therapeutic approach can teach clients new skills. The therapist is regarded as more of a coach. The client benefits from new skills and perspectives which facilitate the learning and have a sense of efficacy. I have used CBT to look at specific problem behaviours and conceptualise them as having cognitive, affective, behavioural and physiological elements each of which can have a legitimate target for intervention and can be check for validity (Castonguay, & Hill, 2012).The process of change occurs in practice as old ways are challenged through exposure exercise, behavioural experiments and cognitive restructuring techniques. Change occurs in the therapeutic setting or outside in a person everyday life. It may require repetition to produce a lasting effect and r educe maladapted patterns. This is where CBT and PCT are similar as this requires a strong therapeutic alliance, but CBT literature takes this as a given and may be a reason it is criticised. Clients are taught emotional regulation and basic functioning skills, such as problem-solving skills, breathing relaxation and active coping.Specific interventions are then used to motivate and foster the therapeutic relationship, such as cost benefit analysis, daily thought records, and in vivo exposure. Aligning client’s goals with interventions in a formulation develops the therapeutic alliance and collaborates with the client, with hypothesis-testing strategies used to undergo the process of change [Casemore, and Tudway, 2012). CBT is focused on corrective experiences and facilitates through interventions rather than challenging a client.It respects the importance of the therapeutic relationship and uses Rogers’ core conditions but does not see the conditions as sufficient. In -depth schema focused CBT takes the therapy to a deeper level and deals with past issues, than the low intensity offered by the NHS. Again my preconceptions are challenged for the benefit of my practice. I can see how the two models are not rivals, as Roger Casemore and Jeremy Tudway suggest in their book Person-centred Therapy and CBT, and that sibling as a metaphor works well (Casemore, and Tudway, 2012).For me, the therapeutic relationship and the advanced empathy required in PCT are important in my practise along with the core conditions in order to create change. Rogers’ believes interventions as wrong, from a philosophical point of view, as the client always having to lead the therapy. This is because Rogers sees a person as having limitless potential. For me, CBT in offering intervention and gentle coaching helps a client on their journey to self-healing and a seed can be planted and therapeutic change can happen outside the counselling session.I support the views not all humans have the same drive and there is an unconscious element to being rational or irrational. It is a more real idea and not as optimistic as Rogers. It is observation of this therapeutic change and this idea that supports the use of CBT in my practise (Casemore, and Tudway, 2012). The BACP ethical framework has been written with Rogers’ core conditions in mind. Therefore, PCT offers the client and the therapist the need to fulfil the principles of self-care, of being trustworthy and providing autonomy.As to the personal moral qualities the PCT requires the therapist to have advanced empathy. CBT has been criticised for focusing too much on the intervention and not being of beneficence. In CBT extra competence in the implementation of the intervention is required, so the criticism of the technique becoming the therapy cannot be applied . In writing this report and in my practise, I feel the difference are enough not to combine the models, but that each model can go into the same toolkit and used separately in the same session with a client.With the collaborative element in mind and further reading I am interested in the approach by Mick Cooper and John McLeod. The pluralistic perspective which believes individual clients would â€Å"benefit from different therapeutic methods† used at â€Å"different points in time†. Therapist would â€Å"work collaboratively† with clients. â€Å"Help them identify what they want from therapy† and how this can be achieved. It leaves the question of the process of therapy integration in practice open for debate. (Cooper, and McLeod, 2010, Assessed Online26/06/13).

Essay about Psychological Effects of Sexual Assault

Psychological Effects of Sexual Assault Sexual assault is a term that is used interchangeably with the word rape. The decision on whether or not to use the term rape or sexual assault is made by a state’s jurisdiction. Sexual assault is more readily used in an attempt to be more gender neutral (National Victim Center). Sexual assault can be most easily described as forced or unconsentual sexual intercourse. The individual that is performing these acts on the victim may either be a stranger or an acquaintance. In 1994, 64.2 percent of all rapes were committed by someone the offender had previously known (Ringel, 1997). Regardless, this type of crime can have extreme effects on the victim. Sexual assault is a traumatic event†¦show more content†¦They feel as though there is no one that can help them and that they are alone. This phase â€Å"may be expressed several hours or even days after the crime† (Bard and Sangrey, 1979, pg. 35). In the second phase, called the recoil stage, the victim struggl es â€Å"to adapt to the violation and tries to reintegrate their fragmented selves† (Bard and Sangrey, 1979, pg. 40). During this phase, the victim tries to recover. This phase is very complex and deals with a lot of issues and emotions. The victim often faces extreme fear and anxiety. They become fearful of their safety, as well as anxious in their surrounding environment. They are afraid of the person that has violated them as well as fearful of being alone. They also may â€Å"fear the medical, legal, or social consequences of the crime† (CASA House). During this phase, the victim experiences sadness and depression, as well as low self-esteem. Along with this phase comes anger. The victim either becomes angry with the person who defiled them or they may turn against themselves. (Bard and Sangrey, 1979, pg. 45). The victim has a sense of guilt and blame. They often ask themselves â€Å"why did I go there by myself?† or â€Å"why didn’t I fight back ha rder?† During this phase, the victim may also suffer from mood swings (Bard and Sangrey, 1979, pg. 46). They may go from happiness to sudden sadness, or from rage to despair. The third and final phase is called the reorganization phase; the victim becomes â€Å"reorganized over time andShow MoreRelatedThe Long Term Psychological Effects Associated with Sexual Assault959 Words   |  4 PagesThe long term psychological effects associated with sexual assault includes, depression, substance use, anxiety, PTSD, and decreased self esteem (Foa Riggs, 1993; Resick, 1993). The authors of this article supports current literature which proposes that African American children receives inadequate or inappropriate sexuality socialization and sexual abuse prevention in their cultures and families which may affect their disclosure of sexual assault in adulthood (Washington, 2001;Wyatt, 1992). 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