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Becoming myself - existential analysis in psychotherapy of a person with relational trauma
 
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1
Szpital Nowowiejski, Oddział Dzienny XX
 
2
Instytut Psychiatrii i Neurologii, Pierwsza Klinika Psychiatryczna
 
These authors had equal contribution to this work
 
 
Submission date: 2024-04-21
 
 
Final revision date: 2024-07-16
 
 
Acceptance date: 2024-08-10
 
 
Publication date: 2024-12-20
 
 
Corresponding author
Dorota Draczyńska   

Instytut Psychiatrii i Neurologii
 
 
Psychoter 2024;210(3):33-44
 
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ABSTRACT
The aim of the article is to present the process of individual psychotherapy according to existential analysis, in the paradigm of four fundamental motivations (4FM), and to indicate the changes that occurred in each of the 4FM in a patient, Mrs. K., a 25-year-old woman, an only child, who after living abroad for three years and ending a relationship returned to her parents’ home. She wanted to feel safe, but this did not happen. She did not understand her reactions, suppressed anger, and was unable to set boundaries. In the relationship with her parents, she felt “like she used to”. As a result, anxiety symptoms appeared (security deficits in 1FM) and depression (2FM – relationship to life). Feeling despair, she activated an internal, critical narrative (3FM – lack of understanding of oneself, lack of consent to be oneself). As a result, she did not find meaning in her current life, and thoughts of resignation and fleeting suicidal thoughts appeared (difficulties in the area of the fourth 4FM, i.e., searching for the meaning of life, and in the three previous ones). During the therapy, she gradually got to know herself, her symptoms, and learned self-regulation. She built her autonomy. Her parents’ home became the harbor from which she set sail into the world. At the helm stood Mrs. K., accepting her family of origin and the influence her family had on her. She learned to distance herself from her thoughts (1FM), understand her emotions, express them and regulate them (2FM) and set boundaries (3FM). She got to know herself and recognized that she has the right to her own boundaries, beliefs and needs (3FM), and she found meaning (4FM), without waiting for reality to be in line with her expectations, which — as she knows — is not possible. In everyday life she finds her “yes” to life.
eISSN:2391-5862
ISSN:0239-4170
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