Читать книгу Counseling and Psychotherapy - Группа авторов - Страница 135

In his book Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud (1920/1955) stated that “the goal of all life is death” (p. 38). He noted that after people experience a traumatic event, they often reenact the experience, and these reenactments contradict the presentation of the life instincts. If we apply this in a contemporary context, the counselor may recognize this concept as a foundation for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing and other trauma-informed counseling techniques. Within a current psychodynamic view, self-destructive behavior is an expression of the energy created by the death instincts that a therapist may recognize as anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. When this energy is directed inward, it appears as masochism and self-loathing, and the therapist may recognize symptoms of anxiety and suicidal thoughts. If directed outward onto others, it is expressed as aggression and violence. Understanding this concept helps the client illuminate the relationship between life, death, and meaning (Georgescu, 2011), which aligns with existential theoretical components.