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The old Maslow’s pyramid fantasy I was a practising psychotherapist for over 25 years. Never once have I seen a Self-Actualized person. Self-Actualization is
by reify 3y ago
The old Maslow’s pyramid fantasy
I was a practising psychotherapist for over 25 years.
Never once have I seen a Self-Actualized person.
Self-Actualization is a goal that can never be achieved.
Having met our basic needs at the bottom of the pyramid, having worked on our emotional needs in its middle and worked at achieving our potential.
That statement does not represent any sample of human beings currently living on earth.
- greyface- 3y ago> I was a practising psychotherapist for over 25 years. > Never once have I seen a Self-Actualized person. Would a self-actualized person seek psychotherapy? This perception could be due to sampling bias.
- justanotherjoe 3y agoi assume he meant in his office and in his life, both.
- m463 3y agoI know plenty of people who are self-soveriegn. As an example, I remember a friend of mine started working on cars with his buddy. They finally got to an old vehicle they took all the way apart and put it together. He had gotten to the point where he could pull the engine and put it on a stand, weld things, paint, redo the wiring harness, and more. I recall one day I went and looked at it and he sort of casually said, "I can do anything". He wasn't bragging, or deluded. He had just sort of reached somewhere or something and was sort of balanced.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Vecr 3y agoNeither have you met someone who can move 50% of the probability mass in their world model probability distribution with every bit of information they receive, but that's theoretical perfection. There are things that provably can't be achieved, but are still worth approximating in the best way that you can.
- calf 3y agoIs there an alternative model of human psychology? Would be nice if science could tell us something even if Maslow, or Freud, or cognitive-behavioral therapy each have theoretical deficiencies.
- tmnvix 3y agoNot sure if this is really an answer to your question, but you might find this discussion between Sam Harris and Jay Garfield interesting: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/282-do-you-really-have-a-self https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/282... It's been a while since I listened to it, but if I remember rightly they spend some time talking about a model of human psychology that doesn't depend on any concept of an actual 'self'. Instead, they talk about competing motivations and how they give rise to an illusion of a self.
- nathias 3y agoThe hierarchy isn't a series of steps to be achieved sequentially, it's a hierarchy of needs everyone has at all times that are more or less fulfilled. Nobody goes to therapy because they lack self-actualization, they choose a more fulfilling job, have hobbies or have other forms of self-expression.