Creative consciousness that begins with the question of distress

—During dialogue between the patient and clinical psychotherapist—

Abstract

What types of consciousness do clinical psychotherapists encounter in the clinical setting in the face of patient’s agony? Viktor E. Frankl never takes “distress” negatively. “distress” leads people to a higher level of consciousness, and is positioned as a process in which each individual moves toward a unique existence value. In this paper, I discuss the state of consciousness as a psychotherapist and the attitude required to realize it, while looking back on my clinical experience and referring to the words of Viktor E. Frankl.

An important starting point for the psychotherapist in dealing with patient’s agony is to be aware that it belongs to the patient. In this paper, I attempt to express the processes through which the clinical psychotherapist begins the dialogue from the question of patient’s own agony and reaches recognition of the meaning of patient’s own distress. As a psychotherapist, I focus on the potential of the human psyche and continue to seek dialogues to realize patient’s own values.