Myth 49: All Effective Psychotherapies Force People to Confront the “Root” Causes of Their Problems in Childhood (50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology)

Most people associate psychotherapy with reclining on a couch, recalling painful memories from the past.

This idea is reinforced in popular culture (Analyze This, Good Will Hunting, The Sopranos). Many Hollywood movies feature the “sudden cure” moment when a particular event from childhood, usually physical or sexual abuse, relieves them of their problems. While these are gripping story lines, they don’t reflect reality.

Freud can be credited with the emergence of this line of thought. He taught that our struggles are connected with traumatic childhood experiences. While understanding the history of a problem is helpful to understanding current maladaptive behaviors, there is no evidence that most adult psychological problems stem from childhood difficulties.

Many modern approaches focus on the present, not the past (Alcoholic Anonymous, group therapy, family therapy). After Freud, a number of psychodynamic therapists emerged (neo-Freudians). These include Jung (1933) and Adler (1922). They both expressed concerns about the conscious life of the patients across the lifespan, and focused on how recent experiences were relevant to current psychological conflicts.

Humanistic-existential therapists, including Carl Rogers (1942), Victor Frankl (1965), and Irvin Yalom (1980), stressed the importance of striving to reach our full potential in the present, rather than relentlessly scouring our memories for negative past experiences. Gestalt therapy was the first to recognize the importance of current awareness, acceptance, and expression of feelings.

Behavior therapists focus on current problems, and the variables that cause them. These therapies are built on the principles of classical and operant conditioning, and observational learning. The behaviorists think that they key is finding adaptive behaviors that can be used in the real world. Achieving insight isn’t really important to them.

Cognitive-behavioral therapists try to find and dispel irrational beliefs such as “I’m worthless.”

Research shows that insight from childhood experiences is not necessary to achieve gains in psychotherapy.

In one study of psychoanalytic (Freudian) treatment (Bachrach, Galatzer-Levy, Skolnikoff, & Waldron, 1991), half of 42 patients improved but showed no increases in insight into their “core conflicts.” Just as tellingly, the therapist’s emotional support was more closely related to improvement than was insight.

Today, psychotherapists usually use a variety of methods to suit the need of the clients based on an eclectic mix of techniques from various approaches.

Source: 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior, Scott O. Lilienfeld

If you are interested in reading books about unmasking human nature, consider reading The Dichotomy of the Self, a book that explores the great psychoanalytic and philosophical ideas of our time, and what they can reveal to us about the nature of the self.

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3. Part 2: Isolate the Victim (The Art of Seduction)
4. Chapter 2: The Terror of Death (The Denial of Death)