Currently, literature on the spiritual world of man is quite popular . 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 are always looking for meaning in everything. The goal of the aspiring individual is awareness . Khoroshin believes that when a person is aware of the knowledge gained, he can pass it on to others. Knowledge that comes without experience cannot be put into practice.
According to Anthony de Mello, awareness and awareness are far from the same thing. In his reasoning, the author concludes that a person who lives consciously cannot commit atrocities. In turn, an individual who is only informed of the differences between evil and good, knows what kind of deed is called bad, can very well do it.
From the above information, we can say that awareness is :
- A vision of what is happening in the external and internal world. This refers to a simple observation of sensations, thoughts. Awareness is an invaluable vision. You can’t say anything about him, you can only enter into him and observe everything.
- Immediate experience, but not pondering what is happening. It is neither a thought, nor a sensation, nor a feeling. Awareness can be considered something that unites all this.
Key feature
O consciousness is a state that includes action. Thinking is not awareness. Rather, it can be called reflection, involving judgment, assessment, deliberation, the search for answers, motives, determining why exactly this, and not otherwise, is happening. In this case, the person makes a choice.
With awareness, a slightly different situation. No choice is made, because immediately the only right decision for the individual appears. If there is awareness of the activity , for example, then the questions "how to do?", "What to do?" don't arise.
If a person does not have the necessary experience of awareness, its contents cannot be explained 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 fragmentary. An individual may be aware of thoughts, but not be aware 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 these sensations provoke, what actions suggest.
For example, a person understands that during a conflict his voice should not be raised, as this will lead to negative consequences. However, when a quarrel arises, he automatically starts screaming. This is the main problem of awareness . With a complete, invaluable 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 knowledge. The development of awareness involves going beyond awareness and mind.
Consistency of external and internal factors
It is considered another important sign of awareness. The coordination of actions, feelings, thoughts leads to the fact that the individual becomes a witness to his own actions, his internal state.
At the same time, a person is able to trace the appearance of thoughts, feelings, actions. He is at all levels - emotional, physical, mental - aware of his behavior patterns, stereotypic responses. A person, as it were, from the outside is observing what is happening in the inner world, can follow the ideas that are forming in the mind.
Goals of awareness
The ability to be aware of what is happening allows you to see a personality in its initial state, as it really is. It changes the inner world, the understanding of man. When an individual observes, he can change what he sees.
One can say that awareness is a kind of “turn inward”. The individual begins to see that he is talking about one thing, but in fact something completely different is happening. Moreover, a person begins to realize that his stereotypes, patterns stop working, lose 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 extra effort. There is only one task - 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 helps develop the ability to distinguish what is right and what is not.
A person, as it were, comes into contact with reality, while remaining an outside observer. He perceives phenomena remotely, without mixing with them, without commenting or evaluating them, without even trying to change something. If a person can observe events like this, he will see how the process of disintegration is going on inside him.
Psychotherapy
In the framework of this medical field, awareness reflects the patient's achievement of a full understanding of his “I”, his mental life, relationships with people around him. It contributes to the formation of adequate self-perception. This is achieved through the unification by the consciousness of material previously not recognized by the patient.
In a broad sense, awareness in psychotherapy involves the formation of an adequate understanding of the world.
In almost all currently existing psychotherapeutic areas, awareness takes a certain position. But its specific gravity and significance, focusing on the idea of ​​material not previously recognized by the patient, the techniques, methods used to achieve an adequate idea of ​​what is happening, are fully determined by the basic theory.
The Basics of Psychoanalysis
The issues of awareness of “self” were studied in detail by Z. Freud. In psychoanalysis, techniques and a special understanding of the functioning of the psyche are used. A specific approach provides the choice of therapy and its application.
The desired effect is achieved through special technical methods:
- Free association.
- Dream analysis.
- High frequency sessions.
- Interpretations of protections and transfers, etc.
These techniques allow the patient to become aware of the protective mechanisms activated by his psyche.
The purpose of psychoanalysis is also to determine the nature of traumatic experiences, personal conflicts and release from them.
One of the most important skills of a psychoanalyst is his ability to correlate conscious actions, thoughts, impulses, fantasies, feelings of the patient with their unconscious predecessors.
Cognitive psychotherapy
Understanding along with listening to the patient, the answer with a subsequent return to listening is considered one of the 4 stages of the implementation of the method of expressing the feelings and thoughts of the patient during therapy.
The patient always in the initial stages resists awareness. Successful overcoming of this resistance during psychotherapy ends with an awareness of the mechanisms of psychological defense.
A 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 boils down to the fact that a person becomes unhappy not from occurring phenomena, but from how he perceives them. When confronted with an event that provokes problems in different conditions, the patient begins to come to realize how irrational attitudes can change his perception.
The peculiarity of the psychotherapeutic effect
To describe the phenomenon that provoked the consequences that forced one to turn to a specialist, special conditions would not be required if the patient had not mixed the event itself, its 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.
It should be noted here that an appeal to a therapist is caused by a problem caused, as a rule, by several irrational attitudes. Moreover, between them there are certain connections (parallel, hierarchical, articulatory, etc.). The main task of the patient and the doctor is just to achieve awareness of these connections.
Tactics
At the initial stage, the question of the scheme of action is usually decided together with the patient. One of the main methods of cognitive psychotherapy is to change the angle of perception of an event. This method allows you to bring the patient to an awareness of the irrationality of attitudes.
The patient begins to concentrate not on the phenomenon that causes him negative emotions, but on the process of their occurrence. During therapy, the patient begins to realize the excessive breadth of use of irrational settings, their excessive personalization. As a result, he has the ability to replace them with more flexible and accurate, realistic and adaptive models.
The therapist needs to sequentially structure processes, helping the patient to develop several alternative rules that he could use.
Humanistic psychotherapy
In this area, the meaning of awareness and its key mechanisms is revealed by concepts about the personality, for example, described by Rogers. In his opinion, certain aspects of the experience acquired by the individual in the course of development acquire a character expressed in the awareness of their being and existence. This is what Rogers calls the Self-Experience.
In the process of interaction with the outside world, especially with its part that is significant for the individual, "I-experience" is gradually transformed into a "I-concept." A person has a real picture of himself.
The Perfect Self
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 his environment. Far from always they are consistent with his personal needs and aspirations, that is, with his real, real "I".
In the course of awareness of these circumstances, a person forms a need for a positive assessment. Rogers believes that this need is key for all people.
To maintain a positive assessment from others, a person resorts to falsification of 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 due to frustration (dissatisfaction) of the need to obtain 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 experts Tashlykov, Isurina, Karvasarsky at the Psychoneurological Institute. Ankylosing spondylitis.
Awareness in the framework of this psychotherapeutic direction is usually studied in three aspects: behavioral, emotional and intellectual.
In the latter case, the tasks of a specialist are reduced to bringing the patient to awareness:
- relationship "personality-phenomenon-disease";
- genetic plan;
- Interpersonal personality plan.
Awareness of the relationship between a person, an event, and a disease does not directly influence the effectiveness of psychotherapy. It contributes to a greater degree to the formation of sustainable motivation for the active, informed participation of the patient in the treatment process.
In the emotional sphere, upon awareness, the patient begins to understand his feelings. As a result, he can experience sincere feelings for himself, reveal the problems that concern him, with the corresponding experiences. In addition, working with an emotional background contributes to the self-correction of patients their relationships and reactions. He gains the ability to change the way of experiences, perceptions of interactions with others.
findings
The patient’s ability to correct non-adaptive responses, models of their actions, taking into account their role, importance, functions in the structure of psychopathological disorders, is the main result of the process of awareness in the behavioral sphere.
When using reconstructive (personality-oriented) psychotherapy of Tashlykov, Karvasarsky, Isurina, especially in group forms, not only awareness is important, but also the formation of adequate self-awareness, 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 is paid. With the development of technological progress, it became possible to introduce video technology in practice. This, in turn, allows you to have a more directed impact on the process of forming awareness in the patient in different areas. This, of course, helps to accelerate recovery, ensures the high efficiency of psychotherapeutic techniques. However, of course, at present, work is underway to improve the methods of individual and group psychotherapy, and new concepts of personality are being developed.