Positive Family Therapy: Positive Psychotherapy Manual for Therapists and Families

By Nossrat Peseschkian, MD

The book, "Positive Family Therapy Positive Psychotherapy Manual for Therapists and Families", focuses on the given capacity of the family as a whole to deal with conflicts within the family and the afflictions of its members through group discussions.

Revised edition:
International Academy for Positive and Transcultural
Psychotherapy Peseschkian Foundation, Wiesbaden, Germany

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Aug 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524662059

Nossrat Peseschkian, MD

Professor Nossrat Peseschkian, M.D. (1933-2010), a German Board-certified specialist in psychiatry, neurology, psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy, was born in Iran and lived in Germany since 1954. After graduating from Frankfurt University, he received his postgraduate psychotherapeutic training in Germany, Switzerland and in the United States. Besides his daily work in his psychosomatic and psychotherapeutic private clinic in Wiesbaden, Germany (1969-2000), he was an associate professor for psychotherapy at the Academy of Continuing Medical Education of the State Medical Association in Hesse since 1974. He is the founder of Positive Psychotherapy, a humanistic psychodynamic method based on a transcultural and interdisciplinary approach. Positive Psychotherapy has been introduced by Professor Peseschkian in seminars and lectures at universities and medical centers in more than 70 countries world-wide. Professor Peseschkian was the founding director of the Wiesbaden Academy of Psychotherapy, a licensed postgraduate institute for medical doctors and psychologists, the founding president of the World Association for Positive Psychotherapy (WAPP) and the German Association for Positive Psychotherapy (DGPP).

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© 2016 Nossrat Peseschkian, M.D. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 08/09/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6204-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6203-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-6205-9 (e)

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Title of the Original German Edition:

Nossrat Peseschkian, Psychosomatik und Positive Psychotherapie

© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York

First English Edition:

© 2013 International Academy for Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy - Professor Peseschkian Foundation, Wiesbaden, Germany

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owners.

Enquires should be addressed to

International Academy for Positive and Transcultural Psychotherapy

- Professor Peseschkian Foundation -

Langgasse 38-40, D-65183 Wiesbaden, Germany

[e-mail]

www.peseschkian-foundation.org

For further information on Positive Psychotherapy,

please visit the international website of the world of Positive Psychotherapy at

http://www.positum.org

Positive Psychotherapy (PPT after Peseschkian, since 1977) has applied in 2015 for a Community trade mark (Word mark) at the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market of the European Union (OHIM). The application number is 014512578. The same application has been made for Canada and the United States of America.

CONTENTS

A Story for the Positive Process: The Dream

Six Theses of Positive Family Therapy

Introduction

Part I. Introduction to the Theory of Positive Family Therapy

1.   The Situation in Science. Religion, Education, and Psychotherapy

2.   What is Family Therapy?

3.   What does Positive Family Therapy mean?

4.   Guidelines for the Reader

Part II. Transcultural Psychotherapy (The East-West Concept)

1.   Social Changes and the Image of Man

2.   Practical Aspects of the East-West-Concept in Family Therapy

Part III. From Family Therapy to Positive Family Therapy

1.   The Family as Hell

2.   The Family as Heaven

3.   The Family as Fate

4.   Forms of the Family

5.   The Family Equilibrium

6.   Family Therapy: Who should be treated?

7.   Family or Clinic

8.   The Development of Family Therapy

9.   What does Positive Family Therapy deal with?

Part IV. The Tools of Positive Family Therapy

1.   The Three Pillars of Positive Family Therapy

2.   The Positive Starting Point

3.   What is Positive Family Therapy?

4.   The Positive Image of Man - Unity in Diversity

5.   The Basic Capabilities in the Literature

6.   Possibilities for Reinterpretation

7.   Practical Applications of the Positive Interpretations

8.   Aids for Changing One’s Perspective

9.   What are Concepts?

10.   Positive Family Therapy does not remove anything

11.   The Patient as Therapist

12.   The Positive Procedure in the Therapeutic Process

Part V. Conflict Contents and Conflict Dynamics

1.   Four Forms of Dealing with Conflict and How They Work

2.   The Four Forms of Dealing with Conflict, as used in Positive Family Therapy

3.   The Four Model Dimensions

4.   The Four Forms of the Model Dimensions in Positive Family Therapy

5.   Actual Capabilities

6.   Microtraumas: The So-called Little Things

7.   Making Contents Concrete

8.   The Significance of the Actual Capabilities

9.   Actual Capabilities as Signs of Transcultural Differences

10.   Using the Differentiation Analytical Inventory (DAI)

11.   Actual Conflict and Basic Conflict

12.   The Three Stages of Interaction

Part VI. The Five Steps in Positive Family Therapy and How They Operate

1.   The Stage of Observation / Distancing

2.   The Stage of Taking Inventory

3.   The Stage of Situational Encouragement

4.   The Stage of Verbalization

5.   The Stage of Goal Expansion

6.   The Strategy of Positive Family Therapy

7.   The Relationships between Therapeutic Models

8.   Positive Family Therapy: Language and Social Strata

Part VII. Practice of Positive Family Therapy

1.   Concepts and their Application in Positive Family Therapy

2.   Concepts in Therapeutic Work: The Change of Perspective

3.   Stories and Sayings as Aids for Changing One’s Perspective

Part VIII. Concepts and their Effects in Positive Family Therapy

1.   Frigidity: The Ability to Say No with one’s Body

2.   What do Stomach Troubles have to do with Frugality?

3.   My Parents raised me wrong

4.   Adiposity

5.   A Heart Neurosis

6.   What will People say?

7.   Literary Concepts: Who is your favorite Author?

Part IX. Family Tradition and Identity

1.   Traditional Neurosis

2.   Hanging onto Concepts or Changing them

3.   The Undecided Generation Conflict

4.   Till Death do you part

5.   The wrong Way

6.   Delegated Concepts

7.   The old Prohibition

8.   Dangerous Tea

9.   Can One Hurt Other People?

10.   The Redeemer

11.   The Concept Family Tree

12.   Tradition of Symptoms

Epilogue

Bibliography

Overview of Books written by Nossrat Peseschkian

Positive Psychotherapy (Summary)

Institutions of Positive Psychotherapy

LIST OF STORIES

A Story for the Positive Process: The Dream

The Proper Prayer

A Rooftop Garden and Two Worlds

About the Courage to Risk a Test

The Prophet and the Long Spoons

Whom Should You Believe?

About the Crow and the Peacock

Late Revenge

The Dirty Nests

Fifty Years of Politeness

Give Him Your Hand

Believe in God and Tie Your Camel Securely

The Right Price

The Hakim Knows Everything

The Magician

The Pharisee and the Publican

The Two Halves of Life

Iron is Not Always Hard

A Reason to Be Thankful

A Story on the Way

The Difficulty of Doing the Right Thing for Everyone

The Golden Tent Spikes

Nossrat Peseschkian, M.D. was a specialist in psychiatrics and neurology and a psychotherapist, as well as specializing in psychotherapeutic medicine. He was born in Iran in 1933 and had lived in Germany since 1954. He did his medical studies in Freiburg, Mainz and Frankfurt and received his psychotherapeutic training in the Federal Republic of Germany, Switzerland and the United States. From 1969 to 2010, Professor Peseschkian had a psychotherapeutic practice and day clinic in Wiesbaden. He was the founder of Positive Psychotherapy and a professor at the Academy for Continuing and Further Education in Medicine of the Hessen State Medical Association. In 1997, Nossrat Peseschkian received the Richard Merten Prize for his work, Computer Aided Quality Assurance in Positive Psychotherapy. In 2006, Nossrat Peseschkian received the Order of Merit, Distinguished Service Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany. (Bundesverdienstkreuz). The International Academy of Positive and Cross-Cultural Psychotherapy - Professor Peseschkian Foundation - was established in 2005. Nossrat Peseschkian passed away in April 2010 in Wiesbaden, Germany.

A list of the books by the author Nossrat Peseschkian is included at the end of this book.

PREFACE

The author’s principal aim is to win over the patient through the development of the positive aspects of his psychopathology - a concern the significance of which I have also discovered, especially in schizophrenic therapy. It is in this specific sense that Peseschkian speaks of positive psychotherapy. His model is a notable synthesis of psychodynamic and behavior-therapeutic elements, making an essential contribution to unified relationships within psychotherapy.

In this way Peseschkian is attempting not to directly confront the patient’s resistances. The consultation takes place in a loving way through allusions to poetry, proverbs and oriental fairy tales and myths, to which Peseschkian, as a Persian, has direct access. His ability to offer his patient a great treasure of handed-down wisdom knows no bounds. Anyone who has personally experienced the author’s therapeutic enthusiasm and optimism will understand why this method of short psychotherapeutic procedure is highly successful in its effects.

Professor Gaetano Benedetti, M.D.

Psychiatrische Universitäts-Poliklinik, Basel, Switzerland

FOREWORD TO THE 2016 EDITION BY

NAWID PESESCHKIAN, M.D.

As the son of the late author - Professor Nossrat Peseschkian - and a child/adolescent psychiatrist/psychotherapist, and general psychiatrist/psychotherapist, it is an honor and a privilege to have been asked to write a foreword to the English edition of my father’s book Positive Family Therapy. It was first published in the German language in 1980 by Fischer-Verlag, and in 1986 in English by Springer Publishing Trust.

Of all the many publications of my late father, this one in particular was so very dear to him. At a time when it was not customary to speak of the family as a whole or a unit and the focus was placed more on the individual, the unified concept of individual and family and the mutual influence that each one had on the other, became a matter of concern to Nossrat Peseschkian. He demonstrated how these two complementary elements and essential components of societal structure work together when they function in tandem and share a common sense of direction. Neither one will succeed or achieve a state of mental well-being if they don’t work in harmony, which in turn, impact society as a whole.

As Mother Teresa has said:

If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.

Positive Psychotherapy was developed in the late 1960s, and being a neurologist and a psychiatrist, Nossrat Peseschkian applied this new methodology to the treatment of disorders, and used the concept of Positive in mental health and education at a time when the term positive implied some strange feeling. Since the development of Positive Psychotherapy in 1977 and Positive Psychosomatics in 1991, the Positive has led to the development of Positive Psychology (1998) and Positive Psychiatry (2012).

Thirty-six years after its first publication, this book is now re-published for a broader international audience. Meanwhile, this book has been published in several languages, and has been a reliable textbook and manual for some generations of doctors, psychologists and other mental health professionals working with patients who have a variety of disorders in different cultural settings. At the same time, like all the other 31 books of Nossrat Peseschkian, it uses a language which can be understood by everyone who wants to use this as a self-help book.

This book was first published in German in 1980 and has since been a source of inspiration to anyone who is interested in family therapy. The use of stories and proverbs at that time had been almost unknown to many people and seldom used in psychotherapy. From this perspective, we can say in all modesty that the founder of Positive Psychotherapy was indeed a pioneer in his field. We must also remember that this book was published at a time when it was not common for practitioners or leaders of thought in the field of psychology/psychiatry to have the perspective that human beings are good by nature, that the individual has the power and capacity to take care of his or her own wellbeing. We must decide to let ourselves be happier. Through his work and the development of these theories and concepts, we can see how Nossrat Peseschkian was greatly influenced by his belief as a Baha’i, the central teachings of which foster the concept that man is a noble and spiritual being with unlimited potentialities for growth. In the words of the Founder of the Baha’i Faith, Bahá’u’llah, Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value.

This positive attitude of man has its direct impact on the individual and the family and at large on the world, because if we cannot have a sense of harmony and unity within the individual and the family how can we have unity in society and the world at large. Family is the cellular nucleus of society.

Through his own transcultural background, Nossrat Peseschkian draws on stories from his Persian roots. In these stories he does not focus on the illness, rather, he emphasizes the strengths of the positive nature of the individual and the inherent capacity of the soul and mind of man. He puts the patient/client at the centre of his work. Through many examples the reader will get a better understanding of the family in light of positive psychotherapy. In addition to a sound theoretical framework many practical examples are provided. Nossrat Peseschkian explains in very simple, but clear language, how micro as well as macro traumatas have direct influence on man’s body and soul and, therefore, on the family. This book demonstrates how qualities and characteristics of humans such as courtesy, politeness, honesty, love, and justice can have a profound influence on the wellbeing of an individual and can be used for the betterment of family.

It is my sincere hope that you enjoy this marvelous work of my father and that it can bring families together at a time, where families are falling apart, because the individual is being focused on instead of the family and group. As long as we think what can I get out of my family for me, how can my family help me, instead of how can I help the family to blossom, we will not reach the aim of a constructive family life, where the individual and the family can grow and be nourished in a win-win-situation.

Nawid Peseschkian, M.D.

German Board-certified, child and adolescent psychiatrist & psychotherapist as well as psychiatrist and psychotherapist, practicing in privately-owned office in Wiesbaden, Germany since 1998.

A STORY FOR THE POSITIVE PROCESS: THE DREAM

A Middle East king had a frightening dream. He dreamt that all his teeth fell out, one after the other. Very upset about this, he summoned his dream interpreter.

The man listened with great concern to the king’s account of his dream and said to him, Your Majesty, I have bad news for you. Just as you lost all your teeth, you will lose all of your family, one after the other.

This sad interpretation kindled the king’s rage. The dream interpreter, who had nothing better to say, was thrown in jail at the king’s command.

Then the king summoned a different dream interpreter. This one heard him tell the dream and then said, Your Majesty, I have good news for you. You will become older than all of your family. You will outlive them all.

The king rejoiced and rewarded the man richly for saying this.

But the courtiers were very surprised. Your words were really no different from your poor predecessor’s. But why was he punished, while you received a reward? they asked.

The lucky dream interpreter replied, You are right. We both interpreted the dream in the same way. But it is not a question of what you say, but also how you say it.

SIX THESES OF POSITIVE FAMILY THERAPY

1. Self-Help:

Positive Family Therapy proceeds from the word positum, i.e., from what is factual and given. Disorders and conflicts within a family are not the only things that are factual and given. The family also brings with it the capacity for dealing with the conflicts. In the framework of Positive Family Therapy, the patient relinquishes his role as patient and becomes the therapist for himself and his environment.

2. Universal character:

Positive Family Therapy views an illness as more than a mere feature of the individual person. It is also a reflection of the quality of the relationships within the family and society. Positive Family Therapy offers a basic concept for approaching all illnesses and disorders.

3. Transcultural Aspect:

Transcultural thought is the basis for Positive Family Therapy. This holds true for the person as a member of a group and as an individual. Every person stands within the cultural sphere he grew up in. But he also has his own personal sphere as a result of his upbringing. This can lead to transcultural problems in dealing with his fellowmen.

4. Content aspect:

Positive Family Therapy tries to answer the question What do all people have in common, and in what ways are they different? To answer this, the therapy describes an inventory of conflict contents. Within the individual, these are as powerful as in the family and society. The conflict contents are the basis for the therapeutic instruments used in Positive Family Therapy.

5. Meta-theoretic aspect:

Since Positive Family Therapy proceeds from the contents, it offers a concept within which various methods and directions can be used to supplement each other.

6. Relativity of family ties:

Positive Family Therapy is a special form of therapeutic thought. Although the family stands in the center, the therapy does not limit itself to the family as the therapeutic unit. Rather, it tries to look at the family members as individuals and include social factors in the treatment.

If we transfer the ideas of Positive Family Therapy to the entire realm of social relationships (groups, peoples, nations, and cultural circles), we can perhaps develop a social theory that, alongside economic factors, would focus on the formational possibilities of concrete interpersonal relationships.

INTRODUCTION

If two people each have an apple and then exchange them,

they still have only one apple.

But if the same two each have an idea and exchange them,

each thereby has two ideas.

- after George Bernard Shaw

When people in Europe or the United States meet acquaintances on the street, they say hello and then begin a game where the question How are you? automatically elicts the reply Fine. And you? In the Mideast, the dialogue runs a bit differently, for the people there are more likely to ask, How are you? And how is the family? Asking about the family is an accepted part of the ritual. Rarely does a person fail to include it when starting up a conversation.

Behind these differences in the rituals, there seem to be different concepts of what constitutes identity. In the West, the ego is the center of the individual’s identity. It is assumed that if I am okay, then things are also fine with my family, my job, et cetera. In the Mideast, however, there is a different point of reference. A person there would reason If my family is well, then I am fine, too. The family is an integral part of one’s identity and sense of worth.

When the Massai of Kenya meet, they greet each other with the following words: I hope your cattle are well! Cattle are their only source of livelihood, and so they devote much trouble and care to looking after them. Their cattle provide them with their three staple foods: milk, meat, and blood.

The concepts described here have their advantages and disadvantages: close ties with the family and the breaking of these ties. It is not my concern here to prove that one concept is better than the other. My aim is simply to consider the conditions in which such concepts develop, to describe their consequences, and to look for ways of utilizing them in the context of therapy and self-help.

TRANSCULTURAL ASPECTS OF THE POSITIVE FAMILY THERAPY

Since 1968 I have been working on a new method of psycho-hygienic and psychotherapy. I have tried to examine the behavior and conflicts of patients from viewpoints that were somewhat unconventional. The motivation for starting this new method may have been that I am, personally, in a transcultural situation.

It is the effect of a new development that national, ethnic, and cultural groups open themselves to the outer world, i.e., toward other groups. This trend carries new possibilities, which we shall describe as transcultural problems. They can therefore be reduced to two basic problems:

1. What is it that all men have in common?

2. By what do they differ?

An essential characteristic of the group is the standards valid in a group, which are re-produced for the individual as psychosocial standards with emotional components. There are, for instance, different attitudes, expectations, and behaviors regarding the psychosocial standard politeness in two different cultures (e.g., the Federal Republic of Germany and Iran). Typical representatives of both groups place great importance on politeness. Lack of politeness can lead to social, psychic, and psychosomatic disturbances in both groups. However, each understands something different by politeness.

In Germany when you are invited to a meal, it is considered polite to eat all the food that you are offered. It is considered old-fashioned to leave some food for the sake of politeness. If you finish all the food that is offered, it is considered a compliment to the hostess.

A German visitor to Iran became sick. She complained:

I don’t want to look at any more food. The first week that I was here, I was invited to the houses of different families nearly every day. My hosts were very kind and did everything to pamper me. But the amount of food became too much for me. When I had finished my portion and it was always very good they would fill my plate again. Not wanting to be impolite, I would finish that, too. But they would continue to give me more, and this continued until I almost vomited. Consequently, in sheer self-defense I had to abandon all consideration for my hosts and leave the food. Still, my conscience bothered me because they had been so kind and nice.

This visitor would not have felt guilty if she had known what she finally learned - leaving some food on her plate is considered polite in Iran.

This does not mean that one model is better than the other, but that they complement each other with regard to the totality of human experience. The transcultural aspect provides a more extensive alternative interpretation. According to the cultural and historical evaluation, an illness or a symptom can be given different significance.

From these aspects, my attention was drawn to the meaning of social standards for the socialization as well as for the development of inter-human and intra-psychic conflicts. And I found in Oriental as well as in European and American patients that behind the existing symptoms, as a rule, were conflicts the origins of which are usually found in a number of recurring behavior standards.

These experiences and reflections prompted me - in the field of psychotherapy as well - to regard the individual not merely in isolation, but also in the context of his interpersonal relationships and - as was the case in my own development - his transcultural situation, the things that in fact make him what he is. The transcultural approach colors the whole of Positive Psychotherapy. Part of my work involves investigating the relationships between culture and disease and between cultural concepts in twenty different cultural groups.

THE POSITIVE CONCEPTION OF MAN

Medical, psychological, and psychiatric terms are not used without regard for what is involved. They must be understood in terms of the theories and scientific concepts that created them, and they are part of the history of these theories. A term used in connection with its theory acquires a meaning that presupposes knowledge of the theoretical premises involved, as well as the possible diagnoses and therapeutic measures. In order to understand the word superego it is necessary to be familiar with at least the basic principles of psychoanalysis. To understand the meaning of support in psychotherapy, some knowledge of the theory of learning and its application in behavioral therapy is required.

Positive psychotherapy, dealing as it does with basic human abilities - potential and realized - is in a position to get through to people from different social backgrounds and to shed light on transcultural problems. The principles of education, therapy, and psychotherapy have always been derived from the conception of man prevailing at any given time. This conception is formed by the experience gained with parents and peers and by those beliefs that have been assimilated from others or that are part of tradition. They are group-specific and in the broadest sense dependent on the system of values associated with the philosophy of life and religion prevalent at any particular time. An important reason for my own concern with Positive Psychotherapy may also have been that I am in a transcultural situation. I am an Iranian, but I have been living in Europe since 1954. In this time, I have noticed that many modes of behavior, habits, and attitudes are evaluated completely differently in the two cultural groups. This observation, which I had already made during my childhood in Teheran, applies particularly to prejudices of a religious nature. As Bahá’i, we were always in the cross fire between our Islamic, Christian, and Jewish schoolfellows and teachers. This led me to reflect on the relations existing between the religions and on interpersonal relationships. I came to know the families of my schoolfellows and to understand their behavior on the basis of their philosophy and their conception of the family. Later I witnessed similar confrontations, when during my specialist training I experienced the tension existing among psychiatrists, neurologists, and psychotherapists or psychoanalysts and the violence with which psychiatric and psychoanalytical ideas conflicted. I began to take an interest in the intrinsic nature of this type of tension and the reason behind it. Of particular importance for me was the realization that the family could have another form and organization from those I had experienced in my childhood and youth. The family in which I grew up comprised not only my parents and brothers and sisters, but a multitude of relatives and other dependents with whom we had close ties. In it, I experienced a feeling of belonging to a group, of reciprocal care and security, but also a feeling of dependence and restriction. The typical American family, which sets great store by its independence, seemed to me - with all its advantages - to complement the Oriental system. I came to regard the family as a kind of switch-board where certain capabilities and human possibilities are developed and others are suppressed. The family thus exerts a powerful influence in many areas of life. It helps to determine one’s choice of a career and spouse and affects how one relates to other people and faces one’s own future.

These ideas led me to look at people primarily in terms of their interpersonal relationships. Even in psychotherapy, I no longer regarded a patient as an isolated individual. As in my own development, I began to look at a person’s transcultural situation. I wanted to find out what shapes him into what he is.

This transcultural view is evident throughout all of Positive Family Therapy. We give it such great importance because it helps us understand the individual’s conflicts. It can also be important in dealing with such social issues as the treatment of illegal aliens and refugees, foreign aid for the Third World countries, problems in dealing with members of other cultural systems, interracial and transcultural marriages, prejudices, and alternative life-styles adopted from other societies. It can also be applied to political problems brought about by transcultural situations.

This book would have been impossible without the family I grew up in and the one I call my family. I am especially grateful to my wife, Manije, and sons, Hamid and Nawid, whose probing questions continually motivate me to reassess my own ideas. Special thanks also go to my colleagues for their helpful suggestions. My spiritual teachers provided the impetus for work and contributed much help along the way. My secretaries have given invaluable help through their untiring and meticulous work. I would like to express my warm thanks to the translator, Mrs. Martha Rohlfing, of Chicago.

Of special importance to me was the creative atmosphere within the Psychotherapeutic Discovery Group in Wiesbaden (PEW) and the German Association for Positive Psychotherapy (DGPP). The participants in these groups provided an excellent example of how members of various therapeutic disciplines, social workers and practitioners can work together meaningfully and positively on a day-to-day basis.

Nossrat Peseschkian, M.D.

Wiesbaden, September 1985

PART I.

INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF POSITIVE FAMILY THERAPY

It is not possible to fly with one wing alone!

Should a man try to fly with the wing of religion alone,

he would quickly fall into the quagmire of superstition,

whilst on the other hand,

with the wing of science alone he would also make no progress,

but fall into the despairing slough of materialism.

- Abdu’l Bahá, Paris talk

THE PROPER PRAYER

While on a trip, Abdu’l ‘Bahá, the son of Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’i religion, had been invited to dinner with a family. The wife had good intentions and wanted to show her great culinary artistry. When she brought out the food, she apologized for the fact that it was burnt. While cooking it, she had been reading prayers in the hope that the meal would be especially successful. Abdu’l ‘Bahá answered with a friendly smile and It’s good that you pray. But next time you’re in the kitchen, pray from a cookbook.

This story illustrates the close ties between religion and daily life, which the devout adherent of a religion clearly perceives. It deals with the difference between religious and everyday tasks and aptly points out religious narrow-mindedness and the mental disorders that stem from the confrontation with ecclesiastical rules of morality.

1.

THE SITUATION IN SCIENCE. RELIGION, EDUCATION, AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

The current situation of psychotherapy needs the development of methods that are at the same time economical and effective. Positive Psychotherapy (Differentiation Analysis) is a method of that kind. It works as a therapy concentrating upon conflict.

Our present-day situation is interpreted and explained in different ways. People talk of the age of fear, the age of depression, the age of aggression, the age of the loss of trust, and the age of hopelessness. When we look more closely, we realize that complaints and symptoms are being used as a basis for these interpretations. Behind these symptoms, we can discover certain one-sided views, one of which seems to play a central role.

The scientific aspect is overemphasized and the religious is neglected or the religious aspect is overemphasized and the scientific neglected. The neglected area is usually pushed aside and frequently becomes the source of conflicts and difficulties.

The present situation in science, religion, education, and psychotherapy is in many respects similar to the following Oriental story:

An elephant was being exhibited at night in a dark room. People crowded around to look at it. Since it was dark, the visitors could not see the elephant so they tried to touch it to get an idea of what it looked like. But as the elephant was very large, each visitor could only touch a part of the animal and describe it the way he had felt it. One of the visitors, who had touched the elephant’s trunk, said that the elephant was like a thick column. Another, who had touched the elephant’s tusk, described the animal as something pointed. A third, who had touched an ear, said the elephant was like a fan. And the fourth, who had stroked the back of the elephant, insisted that the elephant was straight and flat as a bed.

- After Mowlana, Persian poet

RELIGION AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

To transfer this example to science, religion, education, and psychotherapy: Everybody sees correctly, but not everybody sees everything. Thus, it is not surprising that so many parents, pedagogues, and therapists are at a loss when they realize this lack of unity.

When we look back into history, we see that in earlier times science and religion were considered as one. As the area of work was divided more, religion and science also diverged. This differentiation not only