Communitas Philosophy 3
New ideas in individual psychology
A central assumption and principle of the Communitas approach is the following: our work with a group or organisation can only be as good as the depth of our understanding of the individuals involved, and that conversely our understanding of each individual depends crucially on our grasp of the group and organisational dynamics which the individual is embedded in. We therefore place equal emphasis on an in-depth understanding of individual and group psychology. How then, beyond that, individual and collective dynamics reflect and replicate each other, is addressed by the notion of 'parallel process' (see below).
Contrary to the behaviourist assumption that - for organisational purposes - the individual's subjective reality is like a 'black box' which does not concern us as long as we can elicit the 'right' or desired behaviour, at Communitas we are interested in the depth of each person's experience.
There is now a wide range of depth-psychological approaches, models and tools available, largely unused and ignored by organisational leaders, management psychology and even much coaching.
This, we believe, is a waste and a shame. With modern neuroscience now confirming in principle as well as in detail the psychological practices we have been involved in developing over the last couple of decades, we are in a position to select the best and most effective aspects of what the wide spectrum of psychological and therapeutic approaches has to offer you.
With a long-standing background in integrative psychotherapy, and recognised as leading experts in the field, Gaie and Michael will help you access models and tools that are both practical and profound.
We think that this integrative spectrum of approaches is so different from the psychology that was taught and practised even 15 years ago, that it deserves the distinguishing title '21st-century psychology'.
It's different from Freud's classic theories, it's different from mid-20th century behaviourism and behaviour modification, and it's different from the great variety of humanistic approaches being ongoingly developed since the 1960's. We draw, of course, on all of these as they have many good things to offer. But all three branches of the psychological field - psychoanalytic, behaviouristic and humanistic - also each come with major limitations and historical baggage. We can help you access the best from that 100-year history, as well as the recent innovations.
As a minimum, a comprehensive list would include the following distinct approaches which help us understand and work with individual psychology deeply and holistically:
- psychoanalytic: object relations, self psychology, intersubjectivity & relational perspectives
- wide range of humanistic-integrative approaches, incl. Gestalt, Process-Oriented Psychology, Transactional Analysis, breathwork & rebirthing, and others like Psychodrama and the existential approach
- drawing on all the schools of the Body Psychotherapy tradition (Reichian, vegeto, bioenergetics, biosynthesis, biodynamic, etc)
- cognitive-behavioural (CBT), constructivist, NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming)
- systemic: Bert Hellinger's family constellations
- transpersonal: Jungian and archetypal psychology, psychosynthesis