The Schopenhauer Cure

The Schopenhauer Cure Alyssa K. Engblom Winona State University In the book The Schopenhauer Cure, Yalom portrays a root therapist, Julius, who uses a intermixture of convention facilitation techniques in order for the collection to be run effectively. The outgrowth technique Julius uses in the chemical gathering is to switch the focus from content to process. Julius intervened by using the group therapists most frequent and most effective tactiche switched the focus from the content to the process, that is, away from the words being verbalize to the nature of the human relationship of the interacting parties (Yalom, 2005, p. 132).During this scenario, Bonnie is feeling insecure almost herself and confronts Rebecca about preening for the men in the group. Phillip is soothe new to the group, and the opposite phalluss argon non too sure what to think of him yet. In order for the group to be refocused, Julius tells e genuinelyone to take a step backand to stress to und erstand whats happening. Let me first put out this question to every last(predicate) of you what do you see going on in the relationship between Bonnie and Rebecca? (Yalom, 2005, p. 132). Julius does non want everyone to focus solely on what Bonnie and Rebecca are aphorism to from each one other, and rather on their relationship with each other.The second technique Julius uses is to cause group members focus on the Here and Now. An off-shoot of the Here and Now technique is to admit members of the group talk promptly to each other, instead of talking about them. Julius had done what the good group therapist should do he had translated one of his patients central issues into the here-and-now, where it could be explored firsthand. It was unendingly more than productive to focus on the here-and-now than to move around on the patients reconstructions of an event from the past or from current outside disembodied spirit history (Yalom, 2005, p. 158).During this group meetin g, Julius is trying to get to the root of why Bonnie feels that everyone else is more valuable or more important to the group than her. However, all of her explanations are all external and the other group members feel that her answers are regressive or dont make sense. Julius then moves into another technique. In his view the work in therapy consisted of two phases first interaction, often emotional, and second, understanding that interaction. Thats the way therapy should proceedan alternating succession of evocation of emotions and then understanding (Yalom, 2005, p. 60). To get to this second stage, Julius asks the group to look back at what occurred in the past few minutes. He was trying to get Bonnie to see that she takes sites or comments and then punishes herself with them. The 3rd technique Julius taught to his group therapy students was Members should never be punished for self-disclosure. On the contrary, risk winning must unendingly be supported and reinforced (Yalom , 2005, p. 218). At this point in the book, the group members are upset at Gill for not telling them sooner that he has a drinking problem.They are angry that he was blaming all his difficulties on his wife, Rose, and not talking about the real problem. Julius then goes on to use a fourth facilitation technique, Horizontal vs. Vertical Disclosure. Julius always taught students the difference between vertical and level self-disclosure. The group was pressing, as expected, for vertical disclosuredetails about the past, including such queries as the scope and the duration of his drinkingwhereas horizontal disclosure, that is, disclosure about the disclosure, was always far more productive (Yalom, 2005, p. 19). He then asks Gill what do it possible for him to open up to them at this particular meeting. At the beginning of the story, Philip did not be homogeneous an appealing character. However, by the end of the book and afterward I got to know his character a potato chip more, I could see certain strengths peeking out. Philip is an extremely intelligent, bright, and committed individual. He was dedicated to contracting a result to his sexual addiction, and worked hard to achieve the result he desired. In the group experience, he offered up bits of advice to the other members.The advice may not have helped them broadly, but at least he was trying to contribute. Philip also challenged the other members of the group as well as Julius. His personality was not very inviting, but this forced the others (and Julius) to try harder to understand him and what make him tick. When Pam returns to the group from her retreat, the mood immediately becomes darker when she sees Philip in her cozy group. She does not feel roaring having him in the group because he had caused her so much pain in the past.Julius found it hard to find forgiveness for Philip, but he tried to identify with him to try to understand why he would have done the things he did. Tony sided with Pam a nd questioned some of Philips statements, whereas Rebecca defended Philip against Tonys attacks. Stuart also depended to protect Philip against Tonys attacks. He reminded Tony that he hadnt seemed sorry for his sexual assault charges in the past. At the end of this confrontational chapter, Pam behaved towards Philip as if he were invisible.Farther on into the role changes, Pam cave ined that she felt defiled that Philip was a part of her group. He was also, in a way, taking away her role as the intellectual of the group. In order to handle these various changes, Julius tries to understand where each person is coming from, whether it is Pam, Philip, Tony, etc. Additionally, he made sure that each group member voiced what they were feeling and if they were comfortable with how the group was proceeding. Bonnie and Rebecca each have various things to say about their admit beauty and attractiveness. Bonnie does not believe that she is attractive in any way.She feels that she isnt in teresting or worth anyones duration. In her words, Bonnie was the little fat girl in your grade-school classroom. Very chubby, very clumsy, hair too curly. The one who was pathetic in gym, got the fewest valentines, cried a lot, never had best adepts, always walked home alone, never had a prom invitation, was so terrified that she never raised her hand in class even though she was smart as hell and knew all the right answers (Yalom, 2005, p. 129-130). She even mentioned that Rebecca was the token of person she envied and wished she could be.Some of those feelings are credibly still raw for Bonnie. Those feelings were recreated in the group when Rebecca started preening for Philip when he entered the group as a new member. Rebecca, on the other hand, used to stop intercourse when she walked into restaurants. She never had to worry about feeling unattractive or unwanted. However, now that she is getting older, her outward beauty is fading from what it used to be. She no longer sto ps conversation like she used to. Philip seems to sum it up perfectly Bonnie and Rebecca have similar afflictions.Bonnie cannot tolerate being unpopular, whereas Rebecca cannot tolerate being no longer popular Happiness, for the both of them, lies in the hands and heads of others. And for both the solution is the same the more one has in oneself, the less one result want from others (Yalom, 2005, p. 157). As the group gives Bonnie and Rebecca feedback, the criticism is not always taken happily. The comments sting, but they do help both women. Rebecca realizes that she likes to be admired, loved, and adored. She likes love. She then goes on later to discuss why she relates more with men than with women.In her discussion with Bonnie, she admits that she finds it more exciting to related to men or to date rather than spend time with girlfriends. After this group discussion and feedback session about why Bonnie and Rebecca react the way they do to beauty/attention, they both seem to be more aware of their unconscious actions or why they seem to do certain actions. When Pam first returned to the group after her retreat, it was a huge shock to see Philip sit in the room. Im sure she never expected to see the man who made her life so confusing and turbulent at just age 18.Pam was extremely upset and did not seem to have any inclination towards ever forgiving Philip for what he did to her, as well as to her friend Molly. Philip did not even seem to have any emotions about the whole situation, which was frustrating for the whole group. How could anyone not have any emotion about such an important confrontation? Over the course of the group, Philip showed abject changes in his behavior. He started to make eye-contact and use the group members names when addressing them in conversation. Pam starts to acknowledge Philip in the conversation eventually, though it was heated.On page 290, Philip and Pam get into an argument. In receipt to Pams assertion that some things a re not forgivable, Philip says, Because you are unforgiving does not mean that things are unforgivable. Many years ago you and I made a short-term social contract I explicitly stated in our conversation pursual that event that I had a pleasurable evening but did not wish to continue our relationship. How could I not have been clearer? (Yalom, 2005, p. 290-291). In a meeting a few weeks later, Pam receives a lot of feedback from the group concerning her rage and why exactly the decided to have an affair with Tony.Philip observes that she honors contracts when it suits her. When Philip broke off their social contract, Pam was livid, but when she broke off her social contract with Tony, she didnt seem to have many emotions about the situation at all. After this particular meeting, Philip could not keep his mind off of Pam. Later on, Pam explains that it is easier for her to forgive others because she wasnt a personal victim of their offenses. With Philip, her life was altered by what happened. But theres more. I can forgive others here because theyve shown remorse and, above all, because theyve changed (Yalom, 2005, p. 16). Philip eventually confesses to everyone that he thought about Pam after the previous session. It was the first time he had genuinely opened himself up to everyone. On page 328, Philip actually admits to needing therapy, because he needs to get his intentions and his behavior on the same page. He needs to be congruent. Ultimately, Philip breaks heap when he describes what he thinks he truly is A monster. A predator. Alone. An insect killer. Full of blind rage. An untouchable. No one who has known me has loved me. Ever. No one could love me (Yalom, 2005, p. 334).Pam shows great strength and kindness when she comfort Philip. I could have loved you Philip. You were the most beautiful man (Yalom, 2005, p. 334-335). After Julius died and the group members went their separate ways, Philip, Pam, and Tony all stuck together. Through all the feedba ck, criticism, and hard-work, Pam and Philip were able to move past the event of the past and live in the present. When in a working group, one does not only focus on his or her own problems. distributively group member brings different life experiences, opinions, and feedback to the table.This creates a unique environment in which each member can receive feedback from more than one person. Members may receive advice or feel a stick to they might not have had with the group leader/one-on-one therapist. Most of the 12 universal better agentive roles appear in The Schopenhauer Cure, but I will only discuss a few of them. instillment of hope and Universality seem to go hand-in-hand with each other. As the members of this group talked about their personal problems and fears, they find that other members shared some of these same problems and fears. This gave them hope that they could potentially overcome these issues.Altruism is an especially helpful factor for Bonnie. The other m embers helped her put her self-esteem issues into perspective and to see that she is, indeed, important. Pam used Catharsis when she recapped her traumatic experience with Philip. This probably lifted a huge weight off her shoulders of the event being a secret. The positive response of the group members to support her after her confession brought them together even more. Group cohesiveness played an extensive part in this novel. Without a cohesive or trust-worthy group, nobody would ever open up and reveal their problems.When various members, Gill, Pam, Tony, Rebecca, etc. , revealed potentially humiliating information about themselves, it was essential that they trusted their fellow group members to keep the information confidential. The Schopenhauer Cure was an excellent example of a working group. It was great to see the different techniques used in diverse scenarios throughout the book. Without these examples, I wouldnt have the good outline of how a group works that I do today. Reference Yalom, I. D. (2005). The Schopenhauer Cure. New York, NY HarperCollins Publishers.