Extraverted Intuition. This implications of personality type was explained and followed up with a discussion of how this might inform a counselling practice. Keywords: Jung, testing, counselling Jung and His Explanation of the Human Psyche Jung felt that the psyche comprised all of the parts of the personality and was the essence of a person. Like Freud, he believed that everybody has an ego. Jung reported that the ego is conscious, is the core of our personality, and is where we hold our self-identity. The second component of the psyche is the personal unconscious.
This is an interesting area because although we are unaware of what resides there, these thoughts and feelings are all accessible. There are only 2 reasons we do not access the information in the personal unconscious -either we don''t need it at any specific time, or we have repressed it because it is a threat to the ego. The personal unconscious can emerge in dreams during which an opposing point of view to our conscious thoughts is expressed. The purpose is to restore equilibrium. (Freidman & Schustack 2012) The final aspect of our psyche is the collective unconscious.
It is universal. It is made up of archetypes that are present in everybody. It has been passed down as memories in our brain, through our ancestors. This collective unconscious determines emotional responses to specific stimuli, such as the mother-child bond, or fear of snakes. Each individual integrates various archetypes (those emotional symbols that have always been present for all humans) in to their personality and the goal is to achieve self-realization by integrating the archetypes into your personality. Freidman & Schustack 2012) Following is a list of Jungian archetypes housed in the ollective unconscious: Animus and anima, animus being then male aspects of a woman, and anima being the female aspects ofa man Mother (mother or church) - this archetype can be good, evil or both The Persona and Shadow are two opposing archetypes that represent our outward and inner self. The persona is an idealized archetype of what a person should be, while the Shadow represents desires and motives that are shameful. The hero and demon represent opposites, the hero is a good force that will battle an enemy to rescue somebody from harm or evil.
As clairvoyant), Child-God (elf) (Freidman, H. nd Schustack, M. 2012). Jung also developed the theory of complexes, which are thoughts, feelings and ides that are related to a theme and are emotionally-charged. He felt that people have emotionally charged thoughts and feelings that are in opposition and the healthy person is able to achieve a state of equilibrium to by balancing these various forces. .(Freidman & schustack 2012) There are four ways the mind functions to achieve this equilibrium. They are sensing, thinking, feeling, and intuiting.
Thinking and feeling are rational functions because they entail Judgement and reasoning. Sensing and intuition are irrational - they rarely involve conscious thought. That''s not all that is going on in Jungs assessment of how the mind functions. The final two dynamics involve attitudes called extroversion and introversion. Just as one type of thinking dominates in an individual, one of these attitudes dominates in each individual. As you would expect, extroverts tend to direct their attention to the external world and introverts are more inwardly focussed. Freidman, H. and Schustack, M. 2012). When you look at the possible variables with the 4 functions (sensing, thinking, feeling and intuiting) and the 2 ttitudes (extroversion and introversion), there are 8 possible personality types. This set of 8 personality types can be tested, and is the underlying framework for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. (Freidman & Schustack, 2012). One final fundamental aspect of Jungs philosophical work is his willingness to consider the function and importance of spirituality. Freidman & Schustack, 2012) Methodology The online personality test was a multiple choice test, with each response requiring me to pick one of four possible answers, even if none of them felt accurate. Most of them were related to whether and how I would participate in an activity. Unfortunately, as soon as I moved to the analysis the test disappeared, and I was unable to study it further. There was no information supplied about the specific methodology of the analysis. Once my responses were analyzed, a personality code was supplied along with detailed elaboration of the significance of the code.
Test Results The analysis reported that I have an ISTJ personality type. The test determined that I am Introverted Sensing with Extraverted Thinking. The specific Jungian functional preference ordering that I fit is as follows: "The Duty Fulfiller" Dominant: Introverted Sensing Auxiliary: Extraverted Thinking Tertiary: Introverted Feeling Inferior: Extraverted Intuition Introverted - is focused internally; I experience things through my 5 senses and a literal way. The secondary mode is external - I deal with things rationally and logically.
I am organized, quiet, reserved, appreciating security and a peaceful lifestyle. As a friend, I am loyal, faithful, dependable, honest, and I act with integrity. I have a sense of responsibility to family and community, but despite being basically serious, I have a quirky sense of humour and lots of fun within the family and at ork. As an 1ST] personality type, I believe in laws and traditions and have the same expectations for others. It is important for me to develop my intuitive side so I don''t get stuck on rules.
Because I am so dependable, I sometimes agree to more work/ responsibilities than I want, but my sense of duty makes it difficult for me to say "no". I have to be alert in order to not end up being taken advantage of. I work for as long and as hard as necessary to fulfill a goal. On the other hand, if something doesn''t make sense to me, I won''t participate. Unless theories and abstract thinking have a ractical application, they do not interest me. Because I have such respect for facts (gathered through Sensing), I will readily support a cause that makes sense to me.
My preference is to work alone but I work well in a team when necessary. I get satisfaction out of being accountable and am comfortable with being in a position of authority. Because I am good at taking a task, defining, organizing, and following through to completion, and I do not let set-backs interfere with my commitment to a goal, I see my successes as a natural outcome of my work and don''t need to give myself a lot of credit for achievements. However, when stressed, I can catastrophize, imagining all that could go wrong, and am hard on myself when considering how things could have gone better.
This can lead to depression. Although I am naturally reserved when it comes to expressing emotions and affection, my strong sense of duty and my ability to see what needs to be done in any situation normally enables me to be supportive and caring, especially concerning the people I love. Once I am aware of the emotional needs of people who I am close to, I make a true effort to meet their emotional needs. This extends to a strong sense of loyalty and aithfulness. I put a lot of effort into making my home and family run smoothly, am a responsible parent, generous provider and care deeply about family.
I express my love mostly by doing things, rather than through words. Because I have a great amount of potential, because I am capable, logical, reasonable and effective with a strong motivation to create security and a peaceful environment, I can be highly effective at achieving any goal I choose. (BSM research 2013) Discussion It is always important to pursue knowledge of oneself, to be aware of biases, preferences, strengths and weaknesses. The Portrait of an 1ST] personality is useful in that it points out some of my strengths and weaknesses and I can then address the weaknesses and take advantage of my strengths.
I can''t say that it told me anything particularly enlightening, and I can''t say that I think it was totally accurate. How could it be? There was no discussion, no opportunity for original thought, and no opportunity for direct interaction with another person or persons. As a result of the number of things became very clear. One insight that I had in that work which also would apply very well to counselling work is that test results on their own are merely est results and provide information about the individual in a limited way. Test results when evaluated on their own can and often do steer you in the wrong direction.
It is a phenomenon that especially plagues inexperienced diagnosticians. It is essential to actually interact with the patient and observe his/her behavior. Only after that step can you weigh the importance of test results, come up with a useful diagnosis and start planning interventions. This Jungian Personality test was a one- time test. It has been shown in previous experiments that timing of tests has an mpact on results, and multiple testing is required to achieve reliable generalizations. (Freidman& Schustack 2012) With these things in mind, I will look at the ISTJ code and how the information might inform my counselling practice.
First and foremost, I need to be deliberate about creating a calm and peaceful environment, and extending sincere warmth and compassion toward the client. This will enable me to establish rapport, to begin a therapeutic alliance. Right from the moment of introduction, I can check with the client re: the seating and lighting and temperature and make ppropriate adjustments in accordance with their preference. This can set the stage for a collaborative approach to BPS wellbeing. From this beginning, I must further establish and maintain the collaborative approach to therapy, and avoid taking a position of authority. Meltchert, T, 2012) The test results suggest that I am not naturally in tune with my feelings or the feelings of others, so I need to remind myself to acknowledge efforts made by a client and watch for body language cues to determine his/her emotional status. I also need to explore his/her feelings and thoughts. This will enable a more accurate psychological assessment, keeping in mind that a client''s psychological status will change and must be re-assessed regularly. Since my strength is to thoroughly gather information and organize it, I will be able to fulfill requirements related to the biological and social aspects of a patient''s life.
Seeking out confidential discussion/collaboration with colleagues (team members) will also assist me in determining that the patient''s interests and needs are addressed most effectively. If the client has a setback, I have to learn to assess what happened and then move on o how the therapy can be more effective. At the same time, I must avoid getting stuck in self-recrimination. Once again, collaboration with colleagues can be useful, as well as personal work related to the ability to be compassionate yet remain in a state of calm neutrality on my part. This is something I have had to practice regularly as a registered nurse.
By reviewing whether I did all I could do for a patient, I have learned to put my role into perspective. At the same time that I can''t forget or be untouched by a tragedy, I do not feel more responsible for an outcome than is realistic. Keeping my role in perspective also applies to successful interventions - the credit goes mostly to the client, with myself as the facilitator, and the goal on my part is to enable the client to monitor and maintain his/her own BPS wellbeing in the nature of their illnesses and reconciling with whoever they care to contact.
It is gratifying to be able to help, but it is the patient who did the real work. The Jungian assessment states that I express my love through action but not through words. This is not how I perceive myself - I have been told many times that I express my appreciation for others verbally as well as by doing things. However, in case this is true, I must keep my eyes and ears open for times when appreciation needs to be directly expressed. In counselling this would manifest at least as verbally acknowledging the hard work a patient is doing to achieve their goals.
Specifically citing where they are and how they are focussing their energies would be useful feedback to the client. It is also important to provide direct expression of appreciation to colleagues for thoughtful feedback. As for humour, I think it is always appropriate to include a laugh or two in a serious interaction, as long as the frivolity s not at anybodys expense, and it does not target any minority groups, ethnic groups or nationalities. References Freidman, H.
S. & Schustack, M. W. (2012) Personality, classic theories and modern research, 5th edition, Boston: Pearson. Melchert, T. P. (2011) Foundations of professional psychology, the end of theoretical orientations and the emergence of the biopsychosocial approach. London: Elsevier BSM Consulting, Inc. , Portrait of an 1ST] - introverted sensing thinking Judging (introverted sensing with extraverted thinking) Retrieved from http://similarminds. com/]ung. html
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