Why is it that, over the last half-century or so, we can fly to the moon and beyond, our affluence has increased yet, figures on suicide, domestic violence, 5 year-olds now harming themselves, indicate mental health IS decreasing despite increased access to mental health care? A call has been made over recent years for ‘a different paradigm’, yet only more of the same is being funded. By exploring core concepts in Psychology some obvious answers to the reasons for our current difficulties arise.
1. What is a ‘self’, as is promoted in self-esteeming or self-acceptance? What is it in us that observes what we are thinking or feeling?
2. Why do we often talk to ourselves in second person – “You are so silly”? Who is that addressing, who is ‘talking’?
3. If we know we are all equal, why do we so often not feel equal?
4. What is the happiness we strive for which only seems to make us unhappy?
The work of Freud and others following focused on ideas of the self. Yet only Karen Horney recognised two qualitatively different ways of describing self. The rise of empiricism moved away from focus on theory, and gave us self-esteeming which Ellis (2005) describes as ‘probably the greatest emotional disturbance known to humans’. While separating Self from personal attributes is familiar the functional idea of Self remains unfamiliar.
From exploring the questions above a framework reflecting Karen’s Horney’s two views of self will be presented describing 1. the currently-endorsed view of self at the core of virtually all human disturbance, and 2. the functional alternative which embodies a moral and ethical lens for living with each other and managing life difficulties – the core of emotional resilience. Finally, support from factor analysis of a Self inventory will be presented.