Palliative Care: the Case Study of Patient
Narratives reflect the daily activities of humanity, which makes them effective at communicating messages relating to social problems and their possible solutions. In recent year, the nature of these tales has been highly regarded and is now a standard practice. This ties in with the theory of mind, which states that it is the ability to attribute mental states, as well as understand that others have differing mental state. So while narratives are constantly evolving, the awareness its tellers are able to have is fascinating and proves how essential cognitive awareness is. Specifically, thanks to being able to know what composes perspectives for all, narratives are able to shape the understanding of tales of the past and present.
Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung are the first folklorist and mythologist. Their ideas are of significant application in the twentieth century, and their theories have made it easier to interpret mythology. The two came up with words such as ‘ego’ and archetypes that are commonly in modern-day language (Baring and Cashford, 1991, p. 167). Freud’s whole idea of coming up with his theories was motivated by the desire to understand his clients who were Viennese and lived in a place where emotion was highly subdued. He was brought up in an environment that promoted self-belief and self-importance. Freud believed that in his self-developed theory he could successfully describe the mental nature of his clients who were mainly wealthy middle European Jews through psychoanalysis (Freud et al., 2001). This idea gained fame more than contemporary psychology and psychiatry. Edward Bernays played a crucial role in his popularity by advocating English translation for his book.
Freud’s writing has been termed as mythmaking since he used classical tales to come up with metaphors. Freud’s many self-developed myths are now widely applied in western culture and are influencing peoples’ way of thinking. Freud exhibited an interest in classical myths and termed it evidence for a collective traits for human nature of thought. Freud’s enthusiasm for his ideas is a clear indication that his theories are of importance in trying to understand lore and myths. The complexity of the interplay of artifact and symbolic protagonists has boosted the use of fairy tales and similar genres narratives as a technique to explore the inner functioning of the mind for those interested. This is the basis of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis (Freud et al., 2001). The American folklorists have done exploration on the psychological context of the lore by drawing from the previous works of Freud and Jung. Bruno Bettelheim, who was among the primary investigators, expressed in his works, ‘the uses of enchantment,’ that tales are interpreted as symbols of conflicts and sexual desire (Bettelheim, 1976). Bruno insisted on the fact that the scheme of the stories’ setting is in relation to the dynamics of life. Although his theory was highly criticized by many other subsequent writers, it has remained influential to both the folklorist and the psychotherapists. Alan Dundes, who was the chief criticizer of both the Freudian and Bruno theory, emphasized that folklores are interpreted by combining several approaches and not only the Freudian approach.
Freud’s use of myths was an attempt to explain the mode of human thinking as being universal. He also discussed the effect of tales in understanding conflict and sexual anxiety in Oedipus myth was just but an imagination. Freud was a novelist who was brought up in an age when characters had emotional depth. Therefore, he understood a human being as being psychologically structured which he likened to the dramatic character of Oedipus. Rene Girard and Jacques Lacan use his works in their preliminaries in order to come up with a more refined form of psychoanalysis (Boas, 1962, p.201). They developed a more linguistic form that paid more attention to unlocking and comprehension of the myths’ effect on modern culture patterns. Post Freudians, the likes of Julia Kristeva, Lacan and Girard have played a great role in developing the ‘children of their time’ theory of Freudian ideology and ended up as murky waters of Freud’s ideas. E.R Dodd is a pioneer in the exploration of the ultimate sources of myths. He used the post-Freudian thought to come up with classical mythology.
Carl Jung is another significant contributor to the field of narratives and their possible application in the practical life of a human being. He used hermeneutics in the interpretation of the dreams and myths. He was more concerned in myths just like Freud but mainly for the sole reason of understanding the mode of thinking of human beings particularly the desire for its consecrated meaning. The approaches of these two psychologists to understanding myths are distinct. Jung’s approach is much broader compared to that of Freud because Jung came up with a more inclusive approach to consciousness to mythology (Campbell and Moyers, 1988). Also, his emphasis lies more on images than on words. Jung’s argument in replacing metaphors that are used by commonsense with a system of immensely more intricate metaphors is quite seductive and a source of inspiration. A good instance in his argument is when he defines spirits and archetypes of the collective insensible. The spirits and archetypes are a symbolic model that altogether comprises the unconscious mind. It is exhibited as a model that appears mystically and independent of the conscious mind (Jung et al., 1973). Jung’s archetypes are acceptable and are integrals to the cultural concept.
Typically speaking, Jung’s contribution to the study of folklore and mythology are more comprehensive in comparison to Freud’s. In the 1970s, Jung’s assistant published his works on the approach to the exploration of fairy tales and Carlo Drake and Katherine Briggs made publications with the psychologists’ approach to folktales. However, taking a broad view of the works of Jung, you will find out that he did not do enough on myths to impact on psychiatry. Laurence Coupe’s analysis on Jung’s contribution to explaining myths did not find any substantive strongholds. He therefore concluded that he was an allegorist who aimed at ‘stasis’ instead of ‘dynamism’ (Doniger, 2011). Of the writers Jung inspired, John Campbell stands out for he has amassed great popularity in the western culture, particularly in America. He borrows a lot from Jung but, unfortunately, does not use the facts to precision. Campbell made a notion that a hero is raised by a piece from several myths and legends. However, his ideas have been consistently questioned by mythologists and folklorists. Campbell assumes that the hero characters in myths and legends are animals that have been given human attributes. His description of a hero’s journey is expressed in the book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Myths have been known to give encouragement and a source of guidance when we are suffering and struggling to overcome the adversities of life. These myths are usually diversified from horrific ones to those that give hope. In clinical applications, myths are used to study mythic stories for hope. The representation of those heroic characters in the narrative as being strong enough to withstand all the challenges is a morale boost and can be used as a healing technique to those in ordeals. The tales are educative and give advice on dealing with mid-life hard situations as well as life transitions (Ellwood, 1999). The heroic journey to success is a representation of initiatory adventure that resembles in all dimensions the initiatory process of psychotherapy. When a person experiences hard times and can hardly get a solution the next viable option is to seek help. The sagas expressed in these narratives act like road maps to aid the presently suffering persons deal with their anxiety of experience and fear of the unknown. These educative tales will also serve as the only source of conscious resources for they are records of people who have made it and left the records in the form of insight tales.
The healing nature of stories is depicted when one has reached his or her worst and had no options but to seek help. Therapists have specific narratives that are meant to give these persons who are going through hardships a reason to hold on. When in hardship, it is normally possible that one loses hope. In the case where the patient seeks help it has the implication that they still have some hope in life, therefore, can easily adapt to the healing process if this little hope is boosted. Once they are introduced to the psychotherapy healing process, the therapist narrates stories that are of interest to the patients (Noel, 1986). In some cases, there is a chance that the story relates to the patient and the therapist mentions a line that the patient meditates on as his or her only hope. This acts as a long-time reminder that if others have made it then he or she can also make it.
In a study carried out to test the narrative healing power approach based on the traditional tales, the participants who were distressed women decreased their level of anxiety in their preliminaries. As time went by, they portrayed signs of further improvement in form of self-acceptance, growth, life appreciation, and perception of self-importance. This study is a concrete example of the educational, healing ability and problem-solving capability inspired by these stories. Positive group psychotherapy is one of the positively accepted and clinically endorsed interventions that have been proved to work in a manner that increases resilience, and self-confidence and brings satisfaction in life (Lawrence and Jewett, 2002, p.185).
Another aspect of boosting self-confidence in the patients is reading the fairy tales and making a discussion out of the stories. Discussion make the patients of psychotherapy share their views concerning the tales, pointing out their favorite stories and giving them a chance to come up with theirs. This helps to relieve any possible tension and promote creativity, playfulness and increased cohesion to eliminate the feeling of loneliness. Active participation will ensure that the patients opens up and share their experiences. The process of sharing makes them realize everybody is faced with challenges all that one needs to do is devise a way to overcome them. The study showed that active participation was the most efficient mode of relieving anxiety. Creativity, flexibility, and self-awareness are essential to solving and overcoming the adversities of life (Zipes, 2002). These virtues can easily be introduced by folktales.
Narrative stories, myths, and folktales are an enriched source of encouragement and hope. These reflect upon the life of those who have hard times and still manage to push through the difficult times. The contribution by psychologists—such as Jung, Campbell, and Freud—were resourceful approach to the field of literature and other disciplines whose narrative effect is felt. The knowledge gathered from these folklorists and psychologists is critical to understanding human nature and thinking. Specifically, the idea of understanding that one’s opinions and beliefs is different between the self and others. Even though some are not real stories, the attributes expressed in their setting is of significance to the many readers that comprehend that narratives can help them understand the thinking of the world, or their own.
