NB – just started to write – so the below is not yet ready – so be careful!
Draft:
My main idea below is to discuss clinical psychology/psychophysiology/psychiatry based on a evolutionary biological “brain development” paradigm, which I think may increase the efficacy for clinical work in general as well as in particular for those following in the trace of George Kelly! NB, the below is very much a rough draft, which may to some extent show what I am up to, hopefully. Feedback is very much appreciated, while I think this is not only in line with Kelly´s thinking but also possible to function as a platform for somewhat different paradigms – ?
George Kelly and his Personal Construct Theory, 1955, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_construct_theory) is not yet well understood. His work is way out in front of present psychological main stream (my opinion), where very many probably have not heard of him (?). His outstanding work is finding ways out of psychodynamic without losing psychodynamic connections integrating cognitive behavioral perspective which first now evolutionary biopsychosocial can provide a modern paradigm for.
His emphasis on personal construct and how to reconstruct is today named reconsolidation. His way to approach individuals ‘clinically is rally tailoring out of a prototypic point of departure, which I., based on my dissertation, in my clinical work named “patient as reasonable competent educated resource and co-worker in own rehab”. As we today understand constructs, they are limbic (not details!) based memory construct clusters (spatial, dual conde theory, see below) play a preferably not conscious dominant role in our “mental information/reasoning/decision making/… processing (many different opinion here!). Kelly did not (as I remember) discuss into details consciousness and non-verbal/spatial processing as well as integration of nonverbal (spatial) and verbal processes, something we not yet understand sufficient!
When Freud´s work was beginning to be criticized, it become overall not ok by scientific opinion corridors to refer or even think about non-consciousness. At the same time behaviorism was very much about behaviors. Which actually at least with today evolutionary brain knowledge refers to the limbic systems spatial processes, what was the ”black box” according behaviorism – or?
Now we more and more refer to complex, not well understood interplay between rational. verbal (human brain) and spatial (Limbic/mammalian) processes although not well understood but especially “visible” during dreams. Psychology suddenly become a complex dual code theory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-coding_theory) paradigm which require a new paradigm – or? Already during the 1930-60 George Kelly, in his work with Personal Construct Theory (1955) was founding the later coming cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which did not in the development of Aaron Beck and others reach the outstanding level Kelly was describing (not only my paradigmatic opinion).
Interestingly, Katz made a reconstruction or more right extension, of Kelly´s work when he included a psychophysiological paradigm! See e.g. Personal construct theory and the emotions: An interpretation in terms of primitive constructs https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229884587_Personal_construct_theory_and_the_emotions_An_interpretation_in_terms_of_primitive_constructs
“The Psychology of Personal Constructs (Kelly) is examined and found to suffer from an ‘Origin Problem’. In order to solve the Origin Problem, a new postulate, the ‘Origin Postulate’, is proposed and incorporated into the theory’s assumptive structure. The Origin Postulate leads to a consistent account of the initial formation and elaboration of systems of personal constructs. It suggests that as a consequence of our biological evolution we begin life, not with a construct-free ‘tabula rasa’, but already in possession of a set of ‘primitive constructs’ or constructional predispositions which serve as the starting-points for the elaboration of our personal constructs. It is then shown how the dimensions of the Semantic Differential, the process of imprinting, and even the Jungian archetypes can be understood in terms of the Origin Postulate and its primitive constructs. Another weakness in Kelly’s theory is then pinpointed and, with some aid from the Origin Postulate, it yields to the ‘Emotion Corollary’. A general ‘interpretation’ of emotional phenomena results which incorporates and extends those conceptions originally put forth by Kelly (and later elaborated by McCoy). Emotions are hypothesized to be what occurs when a certain kind of primitive construct is employed in the appraisal of an event. In conclusion, some evidence in support of the proposed interpretation is adduced”
My own work based on Kelly´s work
Inspired of Kelly´s work (not knowing of Katz work at that time), I based my dissertation work on Kelly´s way I understood it connecting to my own ideas within a biopsychosocial medicine paradigm whare “man as a scientist” (Kelly 1955) was turned into COOL (Chief of One Own´s Life, in Swedish Medbestämmande I Livet, MBiL)) , with a manual “patient as reasonable competent educated resource and coworker in own rehab” tailoring their tools from the toolbox guided or not where psychophysiological measurement (assessment professionally and own use of biofeedback was one of the tools in the toolbox), later formulated at the website “Healthcreators” (www.healthcreators.com).
Now back to non-conscious and its importance to consider as decisive for effective medical/psychological/psychiatric clinical work. Most dysfunctions have to varying degree both psychological/emotional and physiological (and social) “sides”, which make hypothesis diagnosis as well as treatments very complicated and not well understood at the same time as we must in optimal ways support the patient in front of us!
Using applied, clinical psychophysiology, we can – to some extent – consciously address not consciously processes (preferably in our Limbi systems and its complex memory construct clusters and their control over much of human behaviors. As we now also consider stress (depending how we define it of course – see below my definition) and we can quite well identify and train individual’s autonomic nervous system (ANS), especially the sympathetic branch, we can identify dysfunctions (general and/or specific personal) and plan for individual integrated (!) biopsychosocial adjusted biofeedback (on- or off line) with measurement or bodily identified behaviors as measurement instrument – or just use data afterwards for documentation – using a version of single case design.
The above may sounds easy but is very complex – especially knowledge based/theoretically but can be practical quite easy to learn where individual motivation is a key for individuals´ to really do what is needed to do – as well as be able to modify to increase efficacy in their practice.
More is to come
See more at www.ipbm.se
