Currently quite popular literature about the spiritual world of man. Awareness is one of the most relevant and discussed topics today. Meanwhile, its exact definition does not exist. Let's try to understand the processes of awareness in the article.
Definitions
According to Vladimir Khoroshin, awareness of life, being is the foundation of human consciousness. The author believes that wise people always look for meaning in everything. The goal of the aspiring individual is awareness. Khoroshin believes that when a person realizes the knowledge he has received, he can pass it on to others. Knowledge that comes without experience cannot be applied in practice.
According to Anthony de Mello, awareness and awareness are not the same thing. In his reasoning, the author comes to the conclusion that a person who lives consciously cannot commit a crime. In turn, an individual who is only informed about the differences between evil and good, who knows what act is called bad, may well commit it.
From the above information we can say that awareness is:
- Vision of what is happening in the outer and inner world. This means a simple observationfor feelings and thoughts. Awareness is a nonjudgmental vision. Nothing can be said about it, you can only enter it and observe everything.
- Directly experiencing, but not thinking about what is happening. It is neither a thought, nor a sensation, nor a feeling. Awareness can be thought of as something that unifies it all.
Key feature
Awareness is the state of action. Thinking is not awareness. Rather, it can be called reflection, which involves judgment, evaluation, reflection, the search for answers, motives, the definition of why something happens this way and not otherwise. In this case, the person makes a choice.
When realizing, the situation is somewhat different. No choice is made, since the only right decision for the individual immediately appears. If there is awareness of activity, for example, then the questions "how to do?", "what to do?" do not occur.
If a person does not have the necessary experience of awareness, it is impossible to explain its content in simple words. Awareness comes like a flash. A person has the ability to deeply see what is happening to him.
Mental level
Thinking, thinking or mental awareness allows you to understand something in fragments. An individual may be aware of thoughts, but not of actions or feelings.
In such a situation, there is a mismatch between what a person says, feels and does. He can say that he understands something, but at the same time he cannot explain what he feels, what kind of reaction thesesensations evoke what actions suggest.
For example, a person understands that during a conflict one should not raise one's voice, as this will lead to negative consequences. However, when a quarrel arises, he automatically starts shouting. This is the main problem of awareness. With a complete, non-judgmental vision of what is happening, words, actions, feelings will be focused on resolving the conflict.
It is important to understand here that thinking, building logical chains and other mental actions cannot lead a person to awareness. Their result is an increase in the volume of knowledge. Developing awareness involves going beyond awareness and mind.
Consistency of external and internal factors
It is considered another important sign of awareness. Consistency of actions, feelings, thoughts leads to the fact that the individual becomes a witness of his own actions, his internal state.
At the same time, a person is able to trace the appearance of thoughts, feelings, actions. He at all levels - emotional, physical, mental - is aware of his behavior patterns, stereotypical responses. A person, as if from the outside, watches what is happening in the inner world, can follow the ideas that form in the mind.
Awareness Goals
The ability to be aware of what is happening allows you to see the person in its original state, as it really is. This changes the inner world, the understanding of a person. When an individual observes, he can change whatsees.
You can say that awareness is a kind of "turning inward". The individual begins to see that he is talking about one thing, but something completely different is actually happening. Moreover, a person begins to realize that his stereotypes, patterns stop working, lose their effectiveness, do not lead to the desired result.
All this leads to a reassessment of values. Awareness allows you to change your life without making any additional effort. The task is the same - to learn to observe impartially.
A person does not really need any philosophical conversations, he does not need to explain whether something is right or not, he needs something or he can do without something. A variety of courses to build confidence, increase self-esteem, etc. - a waste of time. Awareness contributes to the development of the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
A person, as it were, comes into contact with reality, while remaining an outside observer. He perceives phenomena in a detached way, not mixing with them, not commenting or evaluating them, not even trying to change something. If a person can observe events in this way, he will see how the process of disintegration is going on inside him.
Psychotherapy
Within the framework of this medical direction, awareness reflects the patient's achievement of a complete understanding of his own "I", his mental life, relationships with other people. It contributes to the formation of adequate self-perception. This is achieved by combining by consciousness material that was not previously realized.patient.
In a broad sense, awareness in psychotherapy involves the formation of an adequate understanding of the world around.
In almost all currently existing psychotherapeutic directions, awareness takes a certain position. But its specific gravity and significance, the focus of the idea of material that was not previously realized by the patient, the techniques and methods used to achieve an adequate idea of what is happening are fully determined by the basic theory.
Fundamentals of psychoanalysis
Questions of understanding "one's Self" were studied in some detail by Z. Freud. Psychoanalysis uses techniques and a special understanding of the functioning of the psyche. A specific approach ensures the choice of therapy and the scheme of its application.
The desired effect is achieved through special technical methods:
- Free association.
- Dream analysis.
- High frequency sessions.
- Interpretations of defenses and transfers, etc.
These techniques allow you to bring the patient to awareness of the protective mechanisms activated by his psyche.
The purpose of psychoanalysis is also to determine the nature of traumatic experiences, personality conflicts and liberation from them.
One of the most important skills of a psychoanalyst is his ability to compare conscious actions, thoughts, impulses, fantasies, feelings of the patient with their unconscious predecessors.
Cognitive Psychotherapy
Understanding along with listening to the patient, answering and then returningto listening is considered one of the 4 stages of the implementation of the method of expressing the feelings and thoughts of the patient in the course of therapy.
The patient always resists awareness in the initial stages. Successful overcoming of this resistance in the course of psychotherapy ends with the realization of psychological defense mechanisms.
The key goal of cognitive psychotherapy is to bring the patient to an adequate perception of irrational attitudes ("automatic thoughts") or the main mechanisms that provoke a mismatch between perception and its assessment.
The main idea is that a person becomes unhappy not from the happening phenomena, but from the way he perceives them. When confronted with an event that provokes problems in different settings, the patient begins to come to realize how irrational attitudes can change his perception.
Feature of psychotherapeutic influence
To describe the phenomenon that provoked the consequences that made us turn to a specialist, special conditions would not be required if the patient did not mix the event itself, his perception and assessment.
In subsequent encounters with the phenomenon, the patient learns to change his vision of what is happening. As a result, he develops a strategy of rational, multivariate behavior. The patient expands the range of possibilities for solving the problem.
Here it should be noted that the appeal to a psychotherapist is caused by a problem caused, as a rule, by several irrational attitudes. At the same time, there are certain connections between them (parallel, hierarchical, articulatory, etc.). The main task of the patient and the doctor is precisely to achieve awareness of these connections.
Developing tactics
At the initial stage, the question of the scheme of action is usually decided together with the patient. One of the main techniques of cognitive psychotherapy is to change the perspective of the perception of an event. This method allows you to bring the patient to the realization of the irrationality of attitudes.
The patient begins to concentrate not on the phenomenon that causes negative emotions in him, but on the process of their occurrence. In the course of therapy, the patient begins to realize the excessive breadth of the use of irrational attitudes, their excessive personalization. As a result, he develops the ability to replace them with more flexible and accurate, realistic and adaptive models.
The therapist needs to structure processes consistently, helping the patient develop several alternative rules that he could use.
Humanistic Psychotherapy
Within this direction, the meaning of awareness and its key mechanisms is revealed by concepts about personality, for example, described by Rogers. In his opinion, certain aspects of the experience acquired by an individual in the course of development acquire a character expressed in the awareness of one's being and existence. This is what Rogers calls "I-experience".
In the process of interaction with the outside world, especially with its part that is significant for the individual, "I-experience"gradually transforms into "I-concept". A person develops a real idea of himself.
Perfect Me
This is another important link in the development of personality. The ideal "I" is formed mainly under the influence of values and norms that are imposed on the individual by the environment. Far from always they are consistent with his personal needs and aspirations, that is, with his real, real "I".
In the course of understanding these circumstances, a person develops a need to receive a positive assessment. Rogers believes that this need is key for all people.
In order to maintain a positive assessment from others, a person resorts to falsifying some of his ideas, perceiving them only according to the criteria of value for other people. Such an attitude hinders the development of psychological maturity. As a result, neurotic behavior begins to form.
Anxiety
It arises as a result of frustration (dissatisfaction) of the need to receive a positive assessment. The degree of anxiety will depend on the level of threat to the "I-structure".
If the defense mechanism is ineffective, then the experience will be fully symbolized in awareness. The integrity of the "I-structure", in turn, is destroyed by anxiety, resulting in a state of disorganization.
Reconstructive Psychotherapy
The main methods were developed by domestic specialists Tashlykov, Isurina,Karvasarsky at the Psychoneurological Institute. Bekhterev.
Awareness within the framework of this psychotherapeutic direction is usually studied in three aspects: behavioral, emotional and intellectual.
In the latter case, the tasks of the specialist come down to bringing the patient to awareness:
- relationships "personality-phenomenon-disease";
- genetic plan;
- interpersonal plane of personality.
Awareness of the relationship between a person, an event and a disease does not have a decisive influence directly on the effectiveness of psychotherapy. It is more conducive to the formation of sustainable motivation for the active, conscious participation of the patient in the treatment process.
In the emotional sphere, with awareness, the patient begins to understand his feelings. As a result, he can experience sincere feelings for himself, reveal the problems that bother him, with appropriate experiences. In addition, work with the emotional background contributes to the self-correction of patients of their relationships and reactions. He acquires the ability to change the way he experiences, perceives interactions with others.
Conclusions
The patient's ability to correct maladaptive responses, models of his actions, taking into account their role, meaning, functions in the structure of psychopathological disorders is the main result of the process of awareness in the behavioral sphere.
When using reconstructive (personally-oriented) psychotherapy by Tashlykov, Karvasarsky, Isurina, especially in group forms, the importance isnot only awareness, but also the formation of adequate self-consciousness, as well as a significant expansion of its limits.
In almost all currently used psychotherapeutic systems, the process of awareness is given great importance and special attention. With the development of technological progress, it became possible to introduce video equipment into practice. This, in turn, allows you to have a more directed influence on the process of forming awareness in the patient in different areas. This, of course, contributes to the acceleration of recovery, ensures the high efficiency of psychotherapeutic techniques. However, of course, work is currently underway to improve the methods of individual and group psychotherapy, and new concepts of personality are being developed.
