Authenticity in psychotherapy

Abstract

The authors of this paper point to the importance of detecting and developing a patient's hidden and restrained authenticity. The dominant psychological problems of many modern patients stem from the traumas and injuries of narcissism that can occur in a wide range of circumstances and interactions throughout life, and their consequences are rigid defenses. The defenses that protect the self from new injuries and traumas also compromise the patient's authenticity and freedom. These defenses are incorporated into the structure of character and affect the entire life of a person (1). Among the defenses against the traumas and injuries of narcissism, dissociation has a dominant role. The second defense is described as a false self (2,3). A patient who intensely occupies himself by avoiding the injuries of narcissism avoids any risk, even at the cost of stagnation and sterility of his life. The patient thus loses their authenticity, because the true self remains trapped by defenses and hidden, and its authentic needs do not have the opportunity to become realized through life experiences. The realization of the needs of the nuclear (core) Self (4,5), the real self (2,3), as much as possible in therapy, and then in life, is an essential goal in psychodynamic psychotherapies and is associated with the increase of the authenticity of the patient.