Nihilist Cowboy

A Sick Man, A Spiteful Man, An Unattractive Man
2021-07-01 06:09:00 (UTC)

My Twisted Perception 1: Mitwelt

One of the biggest consequences of being a therapist that was never taught in school is the constant self analyzing self critiquing that happens on a daily basis. You learn a new therapeutic technique and the first thing you do while reading the text is use it on yourself. At least that has been my experience.

I finished reading Discovery of Being by Rollo May. This book features several theories in existential psychotherapy which is one of the approaches I want to focus on in therapy practice. One of the chapters focused on Daseinsanalysis which was created as a fusion between the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and Freudian psychoanalysis. Daseinsanalysis is psychodynamic in nature focusing on drives and the unconscious. However, this form of therapy focuses on more than just repression, libidinal energy, and other forms of the unconscious mind. The drives are only one third of the entire picture according to Daseinsanalytic Theory. There are three dimensions of one's reality that have to be in harmony to achieve positive mental health. Non harmonious dimensions can bring in the common neuroses such as depression or anxiety.

These three realities are as follows: The Umwelt is the physical and biological environment. Umwelt includes all of the Freudian drives and the physiological processes. Hunger thirst, and sex drives would all be under this segment of reality. The second is the Mitwelt. Mitwelt is the reality when concerned with others. The final dimension is the Eigenwelt. Eigenwelt is the reality of the "self" which could be synonymous with self actualization. Neglected Eigenwelt could cause the existential anxiety as described by Kierkegaard 200 years ago. These three dimensions of reality come together to form Dasein. This concept also known at "being in the world" is based on the notion that we do not live in a vacuum. We are living in a world controlled by the drives, with others, nature, and ourselves.

For the rest of the discussion, I want to focus on Mitwelt.

I want you to take a moment and think about something: How do you really view other people? Do you view others as nothing but mere objects, what about a being of nothing but drives similar to a robot. Or, do you view someone as an equal subject just like yourself? Would you even be aware if you objectified another human? Would your decisions that you make when regarding others be different if you viewed people as subjects instead of objects? In order to experience "being," we must have the ability to not see others as purely objects to bend and manipulate as we see fit.

Most people most likely do not see others as subjects in the world. I know that I didn't. Over the next few entries I want to discuss my warped and twisted Mitwelt and caused me to have so many problems especially in the dating and relationship realm of life.

Next time, I want to discuss the time when 14 year old me spent his days online on cringe pick up artist sites.... What does this have to do with Mitwelt, Dasein, and an idiot therapist? We shall see.




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