A STUDY OF THERAPEUTIC ACTION: INTERPRETATION TO MINDFULNESS

When Freud thought about what it was that enabled his

technique to be effective, he believed it had to do with

making the unconscious, conscious. Where id was, ego shall

be. He believed that this resulted from making timely and

accurate interpretations. “The truth shall set you free”. This

did not turn out to be true. Often patients will respond with “I

know that but it doesn’t matter.” It wasn’t simply a matter of

knowing vs. not knowing.

One of the first departures away from interpretations was the

idea of a “corrective emotional experience” (Alexander &

French). Imbedded in this idea was the notion that the patient

would benefit from something new (support, compassion)

arising from something old (sharing one’s experience with

another person).

This was further expanded with Kohut’s emphasis on the role

of empathy on the part of the therapist. For Kohut, this was

what could enable the patient, now receiving empathic

responses from a listener, to restart her psychological life.

This approach also served as a building block for the

introduction of the school of intersubjectivity (Stolorow and

Atwood) and the relational (Mitchel and Aron) schools of

thought. They also tried to incorporate the Interpersonal

(Sullivan) school’s focus on the here and now. These

approaches focused on the idea that in the Freudian

treatment room, there is only one psychology at work, that of

the patient. The analyst was simply an observer, and listener.

In these newer formulations, the analyst’s psyche was

thought of being equally at play bringing the analyst’s psyche

in as an equal contributor to what was happening to each

 participant. There was no such thing as transference. All

behavior was based on what was really happening in the

treatment room. This was clearly a two person room. Both

psychologies were interacting to each other.

The next and newest idea regarding therapeutic action is

actually the oldest. It is informed by the teachings of

Buddhism, especially regarding mindfulness.

Mindfulness has many definitions however it’s essence refers

to being as fully present in the present moment as is

possible. To be able to recognize the present moment for

what it is rather than to get lost in an internally generated

definition of what is going on. Depending on how we are

feeling, we could decide another person is angry at us at a

moment when we are, as a matter of fact, the one who is

angry at him! We are often swept away thinking about what

the future holds or ruminating about the past. In mindfulness

meditation we are taught to be able to recognize when we

have slipped away from the present moment and how to

return without being self-critical. To be compassionate.

Even though mindfulness sounds miles away from

interpretations, they turn out to share important qualities.

Especially, if you think of the importance that ego awareness

has in Freud’s and other ego psychologist’s model of the mind.

The ego was theorized to stand between

the id and reality. It needed to be strong enough to tell the

difference between fantasy thinking and reality thinking. That

is pretty close to being mindful versus getting lost in some

made up thoughts. Both the Freudian approach and

Buddhism strive to strengthen a person’s ability to appreciate

the difference between reality and a manufactured truth.