What is Applied Metapsychology?

Applied Metapsychology (www.tir.org)

“Meta” means “beyond”. The term metapsychology, coined by Freud, has been defined by Frank A. Gerbode, M.D. as follows “The science that unifies mental and physical experience. Its purpose is to discover the rules that apply to both. It is a study of the person, his/her abilities, and experience, as seen from his/her own point of view. It goes beyond the study of behavior to the study of that which behaves, the person him or herself, and the person’s perceptual, conceptual, and creative activity.”

In other words, you are at the center of this work when you embark upon the adventure of applying this subject.

Applied Metapsychology then is the application of structured techniques within a generally person-centered context, designed to permit a person to examine his or her: life, mind, emotions, experiences (including traumatic experiences), decisions, fixed ideas, and successes, with the aim of resolving areas of emotional charge and returning to a more productive and satisfying life.

Dr. Gerbode began the development of Applied Metapsychology in the 1980s. It grew mainly out of the work of Carl Rogers and Sigmund Freud. In “Two Short Accounts of Psycho-Analysis”, Freud describes a method to resolve sequences of similar traumas:

“What left the symptom behind was not always a single experience. On the contrary, the result was usually brought about by the convergence of several traumas, and often by the repetition of a great number of similar ones. Thus it was necessary to reproduce the whole chain of pathogenic memories in chronological order, or rather in reversed order, that
latest ones first and the earliest ones last; and it was quite impossible to jump over the later traumas in order to get back more quickly to the first, which was often the most potent one.”

Freud seems to have abandoned this technique in favor of the technique he called free association, but we have found it enormously fruitful when done very systematically and when a person is allowed to go through each incident several, or possibly a great many, times before proceeding to an earlier incident. Going through an incident repetitively allows a person to confront its contents much more fully than only going through it once.

The work of Carl Rogers was invaluable in providing rules – such as a proscription against interpretations and evaluations – and an overall viewpoint of respect for the authority of the client, both of which tend to help create a safe environment.

Although Rogers first described his work as “non-directive” and later as “person-centered”, Dr. Gerbode took the position that “non-directive” doesn’t mean the same thing as
“person-centered”, and that these two are actually orthogonal (not on the same plane) to each other. He defined “person-centered” as the attitude of respect for the superior authority of the client and the concomitant rules for not stepping on the client’s reality, and “non-directive as the client giving structure to the session. For instance, classical, free-associative psychoanalysis is non-directive, but not person-centered. Cognitive and behavioral therapies are non-person-centered (because the therapist disputes the reality of the client) and directive (the therapist determines the agenda). Rogers is non-directive and person-centered. Applied Metapsychology techniques fall into the fourth category: person-centered and directive.

What Dr. Gerbode has achieved with the development of this subject is an internally consistent body of work, based on clearly stated philosophical principles. From a client’s point of view, the work begins by meeting with a practitioner (facilitator) and doing an intake interview. From the information gathered from the interview, the facilitator makes a plan to
address the issues of concern to the client (viewer). Some viewers come in with their attention on one particular traumatic event, maybe a recent one, which can be effectively addressed using Traumatic Incident Reduction. Ideally, the viewer and facilitator have the opportunity to do a complete Life Stress Reduction Program, designed specifically to meet the needs of that viewer.

Freud once said that the purpose of psychotherapy was to take people from “hysterical misery to normal unhappiness”. The first stage of Applied Metapsychology work (including Traumatic Incident Reduction and Life Stress Reduction) is designed to take people from anywhere on the scale of “hysterical misery – normal human unhappiness” to a point of
satisfaction and resolution.

Beyond that, in the second phase of Applied Metapsychology work, where we move into the realm of personal growth, enhanced abilities, and the exploration of full human potential. Since Applied Metapsychology work is considered to be educational in nature, this extensive piece of work is called the viewing “Curriculum”.

The purpose of Applied Metapsychology is to:

Bring about more rapid and complete resolution of the traumatic stress that results from all sorts of traumatic events:

Injuries
Accidents
Emotional and physical shocks
Illness

Losses of all kinds including:

Loss of a loved one
Loss of a relationship
Loss of a job or career

Provide an effective method to address problematic life issues such as

Relationship difficulties
Low self esteem or self-confidence
Career problems
Loss of vitality and enthusiasm
Move beyond the goal of returning someone to a normal level of functioning and feeling relatively all right, to empowering real personal growth and self-actualization
Explore human potential

When You Can’t Use Applied Metapsychology:

We believe that Applied Metapsychology is beneficial for most people, with a few exceptions, outlined below. This assumption is based on the provision that they are working with a facilitator who is working inside of the rules of the techniques.

Have ongoing problems with street drugs or alcohol. Clients need to be stably off such substances before your work can begin.

Certain kinds of medications don’t work well with our techniques. In general, these fall into the category of sedatives, strong pain-killers, and major and minor tranquilizers. Lithium and selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac, have been found not to interfere with the work, since they do not tend to reduce awareness.

Have a psychiatric disorder that interferes with their ability to mentally focus on a specific area.

Have been sent to work with a facilitator by an outside party, for instance, a concerned relative or the courts, but are not themselves interested in being helped. This is not to say that such clients cannot be worked with, but to make progress with these techniques, a client must first be engaged and their willingness to do the work obtained.

Are in life situations that are too painful or threatening to permit them to concentrate on anything else, such as the work of the session. Such individuals may benefit from Consultation or may need some other kind of intervention before beginning the this work.