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Psychodynamic Foundations of Bioenergetic Analysis

Experiencing, Understanding and Healing the Body and the Mind
1-1-2 The Search for Truthfulness and the Pursuit of Self-Actualization/ Die Suche nach Wahrhaftigkeit und das Streben nach Selbstverwirklichung
Volume 1 Part 1: Body-Awareness and Human Growth Chapter 1.2

The Search for Truthfulness and the Pursuit of Self-Actualization

Christoph Helferich

This essay describes how the search for truthfulness and the pursuit of self-actualization have developed since around the middle of the last century. This period can be divided into three sections. In the heyday of Humanistic Psychology (ca. 1950-1970), the concept of self-actualization stands for a holistic, life-encompassing project in which the encounter between therapist and patient is based on personal sincerity. In Bioenergetics, truthfulness and self-actualization are closely linked to the bodily self, and their successful form is reflected as grace. In the postmodern phase (ca. 1970-2000), the long-term contexts of work, family and relationship life become questionable, while at the same time, a strong emancipatory desire for alternative ways of life emerges, allowing a greater scope for individual lifestyles. Around the year 2000, the digital penetration of the living environment sounded the bell for the phase of performative self-actualization, which is characterized by a strong need for media-based self-expression. In this development towards the virtual, the significance of bodily presence remains open.

Link to the original publication at Routledge

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  • Self-actualization and truthfulness are closely intertwined. Even a life that appears to be personally and socially successful can turn out to be a failure if it is not truthful.
  • Since the Enlightenment, the self-actualization of the individual has occupied a central position in the value system of modern societies. However, the term itself must remain undefined in terms of content.
  • In the second half of the last century, self-actualization became the guiding concept of Humanistic Psychology, which aims to take full advantage of the human potential.
  • With Gestalt Therapy and Client-Centered Psychotherapy, Fritz Perls and Carl Rogers developed a specifically humanistic form of therapy in the second half of the last century, based on the encounter between client and therapist.
  • Alexander Lowen’s Bioenergetic Analysis deepens the humanistic approach by closely linking self-actualization and authenticity to bodily self-experience. The aim of Bioenergetic Analysis is grace that expresses itself in the personality.
  • In the postmodern era (ca. 1970-2000), self-actualization as a guiding concept becomes problematic, as long-term life projects tied to career and family are questionable in the fleeting modern age. At the same time, emancipatory forces such as the student and women’s movements create a new freedom for personally designed lifestyles.
  • In the digital phase of our society (from around 2000), the theme of self-actualization shifts towards the performative self-presentation of personal specialness in social media, and the significance of a bodily presence becomes increasingly questionable.

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Christoph Helferich
Christoph Helferich

Christoph Helferich lives in Florence/Italy and works in private practice as a bioenergetic psychotherapist (CBT), supervisor and local trainer for...

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