Chapter 1

Key concepts of mental health

 The definition of mental health
 Mental health as a concept or a state:
It refers to the adjustment that a person achieves with himself and his
environment.
 Mental health as a science:
It refers to the organized scientific study of the human being in the
cases of normality and abnormality in their relative meanings.
 The mental health goals:
1- The theoretical goal:
It aims to understand the factors and obstacles of mental health, to
reach the foundations and laws that control the phenomenon of mental
health and affect it negatively or positively.
2- The protective goal:
It aims to identify the causes of mental disorders, and then identify
the factors that prevent these disorders.
Psychological counseling and guidance play the main role in
achieving this goal.
3- The therapeutic goal:
it is the most famous goal of mental health.
It is concerned with therapeutic interventions for the treatment of
mental disorders.
This is done in psychological counseling centers and psychiatric
clinics.
 Mental health criteria

The problem of determining normality and illness, and the detection

of criteria or indicators that can be relied upon in this determination was
not an easy matter at all, but it was and still is one of the difficult
problems in the field of mental health, this problem was known as the
Diagnosis Problem.
Researchers in the field of mental health rely on the use of a set of
agreed upon criteria to address the problem of diagnosis, and to determine
the level of mental health of individuals. Linguistically, the word norm
standard means that the standard used to judge a specific thing, and
therefore the word normal includes the meaning of adherence to this
standard so that the level of normality is determined in light of the degree
of agreement with the rule adopted in this standard. Attempts to
determine this criterion have led to many types of criteria that are used in
determining the level of mental health and distinguishing maladjusted
personality, as evidenced by the following presentation of mental health
criteria:
1- Statistical Standard
According to this criterion, the concept of normality refers to that
statistical rule known as the normal distribution, in which the normal
curve takes the form of a bell. This means that any psychological
phenomenon, when measured statistically, is distributed according to a
moderation distribution, meaning that the majority of the statistical
sample receives average scores, while two corresponding groups get high
scores (above the average) and low scores (below the average). That is,
about 68% of the population fall in the middle region of the curve, while
the two ends of the curve include 32% of the sample distributed by 16%
at each end of the curve.

However, some manifestations of abnormality may take a positive

nature, such as intelligence and innovation, which is known as positive
abnormalities, while other abnormality manifestations may be of a
negative nature, such as neurotic and psychotic illnesses, behavioral
disorders, and mental retardation.
2- Clinical (Medical) Standard
Here, normality is determined on the basis of the absence of
symptoms and the absence of manifestations of illness, and on the
contrary, abnormality is determined on the basis of the presence of
symptoms of disorders.
This means, of course, the necessity of having a prior identification of
symptoms or manifestations that characterize the various psychological
disorders, then we have to match the individual's condition with the lists
of these symptoms that classify the different disorders, and the less the
individual's share of identification with the characteristics described by
these symptoms, the greater his chance of normality.
3- Self-report
That is, normality as the individual perceives it in himself, meaning
that it is up to the individual how he sees in himself balance, happiness,
and contentment. Normality here is an internal feeling and a subjective
experience. If the individual feels anxious, unhappy, or dissatisfied with
oneself, he is considered abnormal according to this criterion.
4- Social (Cultural) Criterion
Here, normality is determined in the light of social desirability, where
the normal is the conformity of behavior with the styles that determine
the socially recognized correct behavior.
According to this point of view, defining the concept of a normal
personality is inseparable from the socio-cultural framework: what it
approves of rules and standards of behavior and relationships on one side,
and what it deplores and rejects of behaviors and temperaments on the
other side. For this, it is preferable to deal with the normal personality as
a cultural concept, as what is normal in one group may be considered
abnormal in another group, which means that the judgment on normality
or abnormality can only be reached after studying the individual’s culture
and exploring the civilized context in which he lives.
 Normal personality traits
1- Realism and self-acceptance.
 Self-acceptance is the realistic understanding and realization of
one's own strengths and weaknesses.
 It is an individual's feeling about himself that he has a "unique
value".
 Realism is understanding the limitations and controls of the
environment and dealing with them as they are, even if this
involves some difficulties.
2-Independence
• It refers to individual freedom and responsibility.
• It means accepting reality without denying it, but rather choosing
the best available alternatives.
• It refers to the individual achieving his goals by relying on himself
without refusing to cooperate with others
3-the meaning of life
• A normal person lives to achieve specific goals in life.
• The absence of the meaning of life may lead a person to suffer
from disorders, or more than that, it may lead to death or suicide
4- self actualization
 The famous psychologist "Abraham Maslow" studied the concept
of self-actualization, and placed it at the top of the hierarchy of
psychological needs.
 Maslow's hierarchy of needs is as follows:

self-actualization

Self-esteem

belongingness and love needs

safety needs

physiological needs

5- Continuous growth:
 The psychological adjustment includes continuous growth that
does not stop except with death.
 an positivity requires continuous self-transcendence and
permanent growth.
 Chapter2
Mental Health Theories
- Psychoanalysis
-Cognitive behavioral orientation
-Humanistic orientation
Introduction

Psychology began as a modern science with the first writings of

Herbert, who published a set of books in which the term psychology was
used for the first time. His book "Psychology as a Science" in 1924 is
considered by many to be the practical birth of contemporary psychology.
The essence of psychology at that time was to separate from metaphysical
philosophical thought, and to embrace the prevailing trend in the natural
sciences. In other words, attention has been focused on observation and
experimentation, and verification of hypotheses through measurement
and statistical treatments, while the interest in abstract ideas and
interpretations that are not based on physical evidence that can be
measured and experimental has declined. Psychology developed in the
direction of the natural sciences in an extreme fashion, which led to the
generation of the dialectical opposite of this extremism. The so-called
depth psychology emerged, which was based in its beginnings on
criticism directed at psychology’s abandonment of the realities of the
human soul lurking in the depths. Over-confidence in works that depend
on the fragmentation of psychological phenomena into small units
measured in a semi-detached manner from the overall context of the
personality has led to the loss of the original subject of the study of
psychology, which is the human psyche as a whole. The exaggeration in
the belief that the truth of man is only his external behavior distracts
attention from the determinants of personality related to the underlying
aspects of psychological construction.
 In any case, psychology has made leaps and bounds on the path of
development through that dialogue between the language of
experimentation and numbers and the accuracy and objectivity they bear,
and in return it penetrates deep into the human soul in search of the facts
of the human soul. The accusation of the supporters of the first trend of
the second group of being unscientific, or the accusation of the supporters
of the second trend of the first group of superficiality, were nothing but
obstacles that psychology has overcome on the path of development and
maturity. This dialogue has produced the most important theoretical
trends prevailing in the fields of studies and practical applications of
contemporary psychology, which we can call the mental health theories
represented in the school of psychoanalysis, the cognitive-behavioral
school, and the humanistic approach, The trend of psychoanalysis in the
field of mental health represents that distinct trend of depth psychology,
which deals with the human personality with a primary focus on the latent
aspects and unconscious motives, and considering the apparent behavior a
distorted reflection - in most cases - of the underlying motives and
conflicts, and an echo of experiences and memories acquired during the
early childhood stages of human life. As for the cognitive-behavioral
school, it is a product of the merging of traditional behavioral trends with
cognitive psychology, where the human personality is considered as a
product of the cognitive components that in turn produce the behavioral
habits characteristic of each human being. The schools of humanistic
psychology are considered a natural development in the direction of
restoring the total unity of the human personality, in which the cognitive-
behavioral aspects are combined with the emotional aspects, and the
emotional contents are integrated with the unconscious components.
Psychoanalysis

The school of psychoanalysis is historically considered the first

school that provided an integrated vision of the psychological structure of
man that includes what we can call “theory”, as the theoretical framework
of psychoanalysis included the three basic pillars necessary for the
establishment of the theory:
* A psychological theory of personality.
* A theory in developmental psychology.
* A theory in psychopathology.
* A method of psychotherapy.

Basic Concepts of Psychoanalytic Theory

Freud presented his vision about the human psychological structure in

three axes that form the basic structure of psychoanalytic theory. These
axes include the structure of personality, basic principles, and stages of
psychosexual development.

(1) personality structure:

Personality, in the light of psychoanalytic theory, is composed of
three organizations: the Id, the Ego, and the Super Ego, which are not
independent entities, but rather functions of the psychological system that
arise and develop successively with the growth of the human being. Each
of these organizations has its own functions, characteristics, components,
principles, and dynamics, yet they interact so closely that it is difficult to
consider the impact of each one separately. While the Id represents the
biological aspect, the Ego represents the psychological aspect, and the
Superego represents the social and moral aspect.

*Id

The Id is the name Freud used for the primitive image of the personality
before it received any discipline or adaptation by the society surrounding
man, and this organization has a fundamental role in preserving human
life and species in terms of being a repository of instincts and motives
that require in a primitive way the satisfaction of basic human needs.

It is the oldest organization of personality in terms of origin, and the

largest in terms of the amount of energy stored in it, which Freud called,
from an early period, as libido or the energy of life instincts. That energy
is responsible for driving the human being to achieve gratification and
charging the other two organizations - later - with enough energy to run
psychological processes.

*Ego

As a result of the influence of the real external world surrounding us,

a part of the id undergoes successive developments. What was originally
a simple and primitive psychological system that receives stimuli and
seeks direct gratification, starts to create a special organization that
mediates the id and the outside world. This section of our psychological
life Freud called the ego. One of the main characteristics of the ego is that
it controls voluntary actions. Ego also begins to play a major role in the
task of self. It receives moderate stimuli and conforms to them, and
finally learns to modify the external world to benefit it through positive
action, that is, the ego responds to the outside world with appropriate
qualitative responses, either by escape, conformity, or positive acts.
As the ego begins to gain mastery over the demands of instinctive
motives of the id by deciding whether it should be allowed to satiate or
postpone this gratification until better favorable conditions in the outside
world or works to suppress its stimuli to avoid colliding with the controls
and restrictions of the surrounding reality. Therefore, the ego is the
administrative organ of the personality because it controls the outlets of
the mind and behavior and chooses from the environment the aspects to
which it responds and decides what instincts it will aim to satisfy and in
what manner this gratification is achieved. When the ego performs these
functions, it must work on integrating demands that often conflict with
each other, and this is not an easy thing. The ego is the organized part of
the id, and it comes into existence to organize the achievement of the id's
goals, not to frustrate them, even if this is done in a conciliatory manner
by avoiding collision with the controls of reality.

*Super Ego

The third and most recent organization to arise in the personality is

the superego, which is the internal representative of the values of society
as demonstrated by the child's parents, and as imposed on him by a
system of reward and punishment.
 Man is distinguished from all other creatures by the length of his
childhood and his dependence on others to provide for his basic needs
and to maintain and secure his life. During this long infantile period, the
child is almost completely subject to the parental authority, so he learns
about the outside world through his parents, and his behavior is shaped in
the light of their instructions that he receives in the form of commands
and prohibitions. Therefore, the superego arises as a response to the
reward and punishment issued by the parents, as the moral judgment on
behavior. His concern is to decide whether everything is acceptable or
unacceptable, based on the moral values dictated by the representatives of
society, especially the parents. The child inserts into his higher ego
everything that the parents condemn and punish him for doing. The child
also inserts into his conscience all that the parents agree to and compel
him to do, and this represents the second part of the system of the
superego (his ideal ego).
Thus, the main function of the superego is determined in that it
punishes the person by making him feel guilty for approaching the taboo
(doing the forbidden act) and rewards him by making him feel proud of
himself because he performs what satisfies the parents as the main
representatives of reality. Then the child's superego during his individual
development receives new additions from alternative parents such as
teachers, prominent figures in public life, and ideals in society.
 It is clear, then, that the id and the superego, despite their differing
aims, agree that they represent the past. The id represents the beginning
and the inheritance, while the superego represents - in its essence - what
the child took from others in his early developmental periods. As for the
ego, it is constantly renewed, with the experience it acquires and through
its direct contact with reality. Thus, the id can be seen as the biological
component of the personality structure, the rational component is the ego,
and the super ego is to be considered the social and moral component.
While the content of the id is always unconscious - that is, beyond the
reach of the conscious mind of man - the ego is often conscious, although
it retains some psychological experiences in an area called in
psychoanalysis the pre-conscious - that is, the area of forgotten
experiences that can be called with some effort - It also has some
subconscious aspects such as those related to defense mechanisms.
Psychoanalysts assume that there is a close link between ego strength and
mental health, the more the ego organization is strong and able to achieve
the required balance between all the personality organizations, the person
will have a greater share of mental health.
(2) Basic principles:
According to psychoanalytic theory, there are a set of laws that
govern the psychological activity of man through the stages of his
development. The psychological system of the child tends, from the very
biginning, to the activity through which the satisfaction of basic needs is
achieved in order to avoid the painful tension that accompanies the
absence of satisfaction. The rules of this activity, in their entirety, belong
to a basic principle, the principle of constancy, from which the two
principles of pleasure and reality are derived.

A- The principle of constancy: it is sometimes called “Nirvana”, and

it is a principle borrowed from the natural sciences, where the tension of
matter tends to gradually fade away until the matter regains its balance
and stability. According to this principle, the psychological tension
resulting from the absence of gratification tends to push the organism to
seek to restore the state of constancy by achieving this satiation to reduce
the painful tension to the least possible amount. Thus, psychological
activity is always motivated by the desire to restore a state of stability
closer to complete stillness, a state that cannot be fully reached unless the
organism dies. Therefore, Freud interprets all forms of human activity by
seeking to restore the inorganic state, which serves the instinct of death,
not the instinct of life.
 B - The principle of pleasure/pain: It is a modified form of the
principle of constancy, in which the human being transforms from a state
of passivity to a relative degree of activity. The state of tension that
motivates this activity is painful, while obtaining gratification and
reducing stress leads to the acquisition of pleasure. therefore, human
responses that are related to pleasure tend to be repetitive, while the
association of tension with pain leads a person to avoid stressful
situations and what leads to them to avoid pain. At the beginning of life,
man is governed by the principle of pleasure/pain, as the newborn child
shows extreme anxiety in the absence of satiation and security because
they are painful states of tension, while he repeats the responses through
which satiation is achieved and the pain subsides.
C - The principle of reality: It is another modification of the principle
of pleasure through further contact with reality. This principle also aims
for the individual to obtain pleasure and avoid pain, but with a
commitment to conform to the conditions imposed by the external world.
The developing child may postpone the attainment of pleasure to avoid
being ostracized by the community. That is, immediate pleasure may
conflict with the individual's needs for acceptance from those around him
and a sense of security, so he prefers future pleasure that does not deprive
him of the advantage of acceptance and security. The process of growth is
nothing but a forced delay of pleasure.
D- The principle of compulsive repetition: This principle refers to the
psychological activity that tends to repeat experiences even if they are not
related to pleasure. Rather, it refers to the repetition of painful
experiences. Freud interpreted the principle of compulsive repetition,
which appears to contradict the previous three principles. It is an
ambiguous interpretation and has been the subject of criticism from many
currents of thought in psychology.

(3) stages of psychosexual development:

Perhaps the discovery of the long history of sexual motives prior to
the stage of physiological sexual maturity is one of the most important
and most fundamental discoveries of psychoanalysis, as it revealed
childish sexual tendencies that precede those tendencies that explode with
the eruption of the adolescence stage, although they are characterized by
concentration in areas other than the genital area and with different
themes and objectives. The pre-genital erogenous regions are a source of
instinctive gratification accompanied by pleasure, and upon normal
sexual maturity, these regions lose their importance successively and
begin to occupy a secondary position in relation to the genital region,
which becomes dominant. These erogenous zones are the mouth, the
anus, and the penis. Freud, with his early formulations of psychoanalytic
theory, emphasized the importance of the sexual drive as a primary driver
of human activity. He also stressed that sexual activity does not appear
suddenly with puberty but is preceded by childish activities aimed at
obtaining sexual pleasure, but it differs from adult sexuality, which is
linked to reproductive goals. Thus, psychoanalysis distinguishes between
the concept of infantile sexuality, which is governed by partial instincts,
and the principle of pleasure, and adult sexuality, in which partial
instincts are organized to serve the goals of life instincts through
reproductive sexuality.
In light of this perception, Freud assumes that the stages of human
development are five stages, the first three of which occupy the early
childhood period, which is the period in which the structure of the human
personality is determined in relation to sexual development, while sexual
development slows down in the fourth stage to make way for mental,
social, and moral growth, then the puberty comes to conclude the stages
of human development.
From a psychoanalytic point of view, the first three stages usually
take the first five years of a person's life. Therefore, this period of life is
of special importance in psychoanalytic theory, so that the owners of that
school believe that the human personality is determined in this period and
that it remains governed throughout his life by the effects of
psychological experiences that he goes through the stages of
psychosexual development before reproductive. These three stages are
followed by latency and adulthood, i.e., the asexual stage (occupies the
period from about the age of six until puberty) and then the reproductive
stage, but their relative importance in influencing the personality is not
important as the first three stages.
(a) Oral stage:
This stage begins at birth and lasts the first year of a child's life. The
first organ to appear as an erogenous zone presenting its libidinal
demands for satiation since birth is the mouth. Psychological activity is
centered around satisfying the need of that area. What you do first and
foremost is to achieve the goals of the instinct of self-preservation
through the process of feeding. At this stage, pleasure is achieved through
oral gratification by tactile stimulation of the mouth and lips.
This stage is divided into two sub-stages, both of which are
predominantly oral inclinations to obtain pleasure. However, the first sub-
stage has a negative receptive character and is called the receptive oral
stage, and the activity that brings pleasure in that stage is sucking. As for
the second sub-stage, it is positive and aggressive in nature and is called
the sadistic oral stage, and the hedonic activity is related to the child's use
of his jaws in occlusion (biting).
At this stage, the child does not distinguish external objects. Rather,
he considers it an extension of his own narcissism. The satisfaction
obtained through breastfeeding (Nutrition) relates to feelings of
satisfaction from obtaining food and a sense of warmth and security. The
child may obtain sufficient satisfaction at this stage and grow confident in
the love and acceptance of the world for him. He may not obtain this
satisfaction and grow with a painful feeling of lack of self-confidence a
feeling of apprehension and lack of security.

(b) Anal stage:

This stage takes the second and third years of a child's life. After the
digestion of food, the waste accumulates to be expelled by the reflex
action when its pressure on the anal muscles reaches a certain level
(expelling the waste removes the source of distress and creates a feeling
of comfort). However, this training has far-reaching effects on personality
development. This stage is characterized by the positive activity of the
child and the emergence of signs of self-reliance and stubbornness in the
face of the mother. The most fundamental activity in this phase is the
conflict between mother and child over training in hygiene and excretory
habits. The anal area also gains supremacy as the erogenous area, as
hygiene habits and the increasing importance of the process of excretion
support the transmission of sensual pleasure to this new organ.
The normal growth at this stage supports the independence of the
child and the strength of his personality, through the moderation of the
parents in advising and not relying on methods of blame and punishment.
Excessive punishment and forcing the child to perform certain activities
lead to serious consequences that have a long-term impact on the child's
personality in many abnormal directions.
(c) Oedipal stage:
This stage lasts from the third to the fifth year, and the erotic region
in this stage is the male reproductive organ, so the stage is sometimes
called the phallic stage. It is one of the most controversial stages of
growth. It is also the stage of the Oedipal conflict, which is sometimes
called the Oedipal Complex. With and during the phallic stage, the first
infantile sexuality reaches its climax and approaches decline. From now
on the fates of males and females differ, as the gender factor begins to
interfere in determining personal identity.
At this stage, the child begins with two main interests:
* Reconnaissance of the genitals, from which he begins to feel arousal.
* Emotional tendency of the opposite sex parent with obvious hostility
towards the same-sex parent.
The child, through several complex operations, has to abandon the
subject of his first love, and give up his emotional feelings for fear of
severe punishment that he expects from the parent of the same sex as he
is a competitor on the subject of love, and this is what psychoanalysis
defines as ending the Oedipus through the victory of the principle of
reality over The primitiveness of instinct, and the regression of incest, to
make way for normal sexual gratification later.

(d) Latency stage:

It extends from the age of six to twelve approximately. It is
characterized by relative calm, where instinctive tendencies are
suppressed because of the oedipal ending, and instinctive energy is
directed to mental, mathematical interests, or relationships with peers…
etc., and instinctive interest is reduced for physiological and
psychological reasons. This stage is also a preparatory stage for growth in
the last stage of psychological development. Freud paid little attention to
this stage and considered it not to be included in the stages of
psychosexual development, although it takes a time equal to the previous
three stages combined. However, sexual interests recede to the extent that
they seem to have vanished completely, but the truth is that the latency
stage, according to the opinion of many psychologists, The calm before
the storm of adolescence.
(e) Reproductive stage:
 It is the last stage of development from the point of view of
psychoanalysis, as it begins with puberty and ends before old age, which
is considered the longest stage in time. Although the stage begins with the
beginning of the adolescence period, Freud considered it the end of
psychosexual development because the sexual instinct is at its peak. As
for the other developmental aspects that take a long time to mature, Freud
did not pay much attention to them. However, the developers of post-
Freud psychoanalysis - beginning with his daughter Anna Freud - turned
a lot of attention to those aspects neglected by classical psychoanalysis,
which was implied by the trend of renewed analytics attention to what is
known as the psychology of the ego.

The Cognitive-Behavioral Approach

What is known in psychology now as the cognitive behavioral

approach to human personality is in fact a product of the interaction
between several theoretical frameworks, but the real birth of the cognitive
behavioral school could not have been achieved except on those
foundations put forward by the traditional behavioral school.

1-The traditional behavioral school

Behaviorism arose as an extreme reaction to the exaggerated

deepening that dominates psychoanalysis, as behaviorists considered that
most of what psychoanalysis came with is pure fabrication and there is no
scientific evidence of its true existence. Therefore, behaviorism rejected
most of the analytical concepts of the unconscious, personality
organizations, and children's sexual desires. A person, according to the
traditional behavioral school, is nothing but what we can see, observe,
measure, and then change through the practice of behavioral techniques.
Whatever behavior cannot be observed and measured cannot become an
object of scientific research. Thus, traditional behaviorism not only
questions the validity of psychoanalytic theory, but also challenges its
scientificness.
The theory of behaviorism in psychology is based on the early work
of Pavlov and Thorndike, then Skinner, Watson, and others. It is basically
a theory of learning processes, as behaviorists believe that learning plays
the greatest role in shaping the human personality. The human personality
is a system of habits acquired through learning.
The behavioral school is basically an environmental school, meaning
that it is a school that believes in the essential role that the environment
plays in shaping the human personality through learning processes that
start with the simple, then develop in the direction of complex learning.
Where the individual is born with some basic needs that he works to
satisfy through innate behavioral methods, then he begins through
constant contact with the environment to acquire new behavioral habits
that prepare him to deal with a society whose complexities are increasing
little by little. These habits are established in the formation of the
personality through reinforcement, and then the learned habits begin to be
organized together, forming that integrated structure known as the human
personality.

Basic Concepts of Traditional Behaviorism

 Conditional learning is the central concept for the traditional
behavioral school, as the acquisition of human personality characteristics
is subject to the principles of conditioning starting from the association of
the response to the stimulus, to reinforcement, generalization, and
discrimination, and then extinguishing. Since the child begins to practice
his positive activities after the end of the stage of reflexes and negative
reactions, he learns to repeat the responses directed to certain stimuli if
they receive reinforcement.
For example, if a child finishes his food without dirtying his clothes,
he receives encouragement and reward from the mother, so he repeats the
same behavior every time in the hope of obtaining that positive
reinforcement. But if he did not finish his food or if his clothes and the
place where he eats was dirty, then the mother gets angry with him and
scolds him. This anger plays the role of negative reinforcement that
pushes the child to avoid the behavior that brings him these unpleasant
results. With the repetition of positive reinforcement of the desired
behavior, it tends to establish a component of what is known as the habit,
where the child has the habit of eating food in the desired way that the
mother is satisfied with and accepted by those around him.
This remains the main way to acquire habits and skills that a person
learns. The required behavior is established through the process of
repeated reinforcement, forming the habit, and the unwanted behavior
gradually disappears because it does not receive reinforcement. With the
acquisition of more and more fixed habits in the behavior of the
individual, the features of his personality begin to become clear and
steady. According to this point of view, it becomes clear that the
acquisition of habits is subject to a single law, whereby desirable habits
and bad habits are acquired in the same way during the learning process,
and the decisive factor in its stability or disappearance is the results
obtained by the individual for his behavior, those results that play the role
of reinforcement and support, or avoidance.
As for the role of generalization and discrimination processes, it is a
kind of development that occurs in behaviors and habits acquired within
the same original process: conditional learning, whereby reinforcement
directed at a particular behavior can reinforce other behaviors through
generalization. A child who learns hygiene habits at mealtime generalizes
the behavior of hygiene in similar situations, so that he maintains his
hygiene while playing or drawing with colors, or while taking a walk
with friends, and so on. As for discrimination, as the child may learn to
fear bees because of a bee stinging him at one time, then he begins to fear
all insects through the generalization process, but with the repeated
association of bees alone with the painful experience of stinging, and
their absence from the rest of the insects that the child finds harmless, he
learns to fear bees alone, distinguishing them from other insects. If after
that it is repeated that the child encounters bees - in the gardens, for
example - without harming him, the fear response from bees disappears,
or in behavioral terminology it is extinguished, and this is what is meant
by extinguishment, that is, the demise of the learned response if the
reinforcement is repeatedly absent.

2- Cognitive-behavioral orientation
 During the last half of the twentieth century, the development in
many scientific fields led to the development of that specialization in
psychology, which is called the cognitive trend. This trend is rooted in a
variety of origins, including Gestalt psychology, behaviorism, and even
humanism. Scientists from various disciplines, including linguistics,
computer science, and information technology, also contributed to its
formation. The shift from traditional behavioral psychology to cognitive
psychology is accompanied by more emphasis on the responsibility
placed on learners for their learning. The view of learners is no longer as
recipients of information, but rather, they are active in reorganizing the
learned material, rebuilding the knowledge contained therein, and linking
it to knowledge. This contributes to the formation of more stable
cognitive structures. These cognitive structures become responsible for
the formation of the human personality instead of the system of habits
recognized by traditional behaviorism. The person is not what he
behaves, but rather the person is what he knows, and his cognitive
structure is what directs his behavior, whether it is in the right direction,
or in the direction of disordered behavior.
The Humanistic Approach

The humanistic movement in psychology is the third school among

the basic theories in contemporary psychology. It is distinguished from
the first two theories in that it includes in its general context different
schools of thought, distinct to a large extent, theoretically and practically,
as each sub-school of them has developed a special theoretical basis that
expresses the viewpoint of its owners in personality psychology and
psychopathology, and therefore each of them has a therapeutic system
that employs the theoretical framework in a unique and distinctive way.
We find humanistic trends in some schools of cognitive psychology, such
as those developed by Ellis and whose applications are known as Rational
Emotive Therapy. Existential psychology and its proponents are also
practitioners of existential psychotherapy such as Frankl, Rollo May,
Yalom and others. What these distinct schools have in common with you
is that they are based on a humanistic orientation in psychology, a trend
imbued with philosophical tendencies aimed at restoring the humanistic
spirit that has been missed in the other two schools of psychology.
Ellis defines humanistic psychology as “the study of the individual as
a whole by empirical means that are distinctly human, with the aim of
helping the individual to live a happier, more innovative, and self-
fulfilling existence. It focuses on making the most of people’s
experiences, values and abilities to determine their own destinies”. This
means that humanistic psychology is committed to the systematic
scientific study without ignoring the humanity of man, as man is the
subject of the study, but at the same time man is the researcher, and he is
also the target of the study, as the goal of psychology is to serve the
human being in order to become more normal, happier, and better self-
fulfiller.

The basic emphasis on human sovereignty over nature - not the other
way around - is what the humanistic school of psychology derived its
principles from. The common principles to all schools of humanistic
psychology are as follows:

1- The emphasis on the human condition:

The human being is the starting point and the goal in humanistic
psychology, where the supporters of the humanistic school emphasize
that the starting point is the study of the human being as a human being,
and that the target is linked to achieving his goals and working to make
him happy and complete his humanity. This completeness is not achieved
by dividing man into feuding organizations or divergent aspects
(physiological, psychological, social ... etc.), but rather he is an
indivisible whole that works as one unit.
2- Rejection of reductionism and false scientific approach:
Where humanists refuse to consider man as just a body or a biological
being with animal tendencies as Freud saw it, or just a victim of
environmental conditions and wrong learning (as seen by traditional
behaviorists), the humanists refuse to consider man as a mere object or
subject for study under the pretext of scientific objectivity, and consider
this claim a false scientific approach, as the employment of the empirical
methodology or the methodology of the natural sciences cannot provide a
real understanding of a phenomenon that differs qualitatively drastically
from natural phenomena, which is the human phenomenon.
3- Free will versus Pan-determinism:
Whereas the traditional behaviorists see the human personality - ill or
healthy - as a mere product of a learning process in which the
environment plays the greatest role, and while the psychoanalysts see that
the future and present of man are determined by his past experiences, the
humanists assert that man is (free) and that freedom of will is the most
important characteristic that distinguishes man from other creatures.
Despite their recognition of the role of genetics, the environment, and the
biological basis, they value them as the least factors affecting the human
personality. They refuse to consider man as a victim of these influences,
or powerless against them. Despite all the circumstances, man remains
free, and he has endless choices and alternatives for the direction he
deems best for his life. Man in his wellness and illness is also the one
who has the choice and the bearer of responsibility, and when a person
gives up his freedom of choice for fear of the responsibility associated
with this freedom, only then does he become sick, because he loses the
most important characteristic that distinguishes him as a human being -
his free will.
4- Self-realization:
Psychoanalysis considers the reconciliation of personal organizations
to be the essence of human well-being, and traditional behaviorists are
satisfied with the absence of symptoms and the availability of socially
acceptable habits, but humanists do not consider a person to be mentally
healthy unless he actualizes his true self and is satisfied with the level at
which he exploits his human potentials. Self-realization is the pinnacle of
mental health among the humanists. Thus, the world opens up to man -
especially through the horizons of creativity and innovation.
5- Employment of the phenomenological method:
 Most schools of humanistic psychology agree on adopting the
phenomenological methodology in the study of human phenomena. It is
that methodology that does not start from predetermined postulates, but
the only postulate is that the truth is presented by the phenomenon itself,
and it does not exist - and cannot exist - in a way that precedes the
phenomenon in any theoretical perception of a researcher or scientist.
Phenomenology, then, is that philosophical approach that aims to stop the
subjective acceptance of all preconceptions to arrive at an understanding
of reality, which is the "pure phenomenon". Phenomenology aims to
address the phenomenon as it is given, without being affected by previous
theoretical knowledge related to this phenomenon. Psychological identity
is not an abstract reality, but a concrete reality. And that concrete fact is
the goal for which any real objective science must be based.
Chapter 3
Dynamics of mental health
The dynamics of mental health are those psychological variables that
interact with each other to form the distinctive features of the individual’s
personality with all its pros and cons.
In this chapter, we present the most important dynamics that
contribute to form the human personality, namely: Motives, emotions,
frustration, conflict, anxiety, and defense mechanisms.
 Motives
Human activity in all its forms is a "motivated" activity which means
that a person does not conduct any behavior or perform any activity
unless there is a goal that he seeks to achieve through this activity.
Thus, the motive is “that kind of tension that provokes a person’s
activity to make a specific effort to reach a specific goal, achieve
satisfaction, or reduce the state of tension resulting from the lack of a
psychological needs”.
 Motivation in the light of the traditional behavioral theory:
Since behavioral theory is concerned only with apparent observable
and measurable behavior, the behaviorists tend to classify motives in the
light of learning processes.
They divide motives into innate motives that a person is born with
and equipped with, that is, he does not need to learn and acquired
motives in which processes of learning and socialization play an
important and essential role in its formation, as follows:
(a) Primary or biological motives:
They are those motives with an organic biological basis that arise as a
result of an imbalance in the organic state of the individual such as the
motive to eat that arises as a result of a state of hunger or the sexual
motive that arises as a result of the sexual arousal.
Although the primary or biological motives do not arise as a result of
the learning process, the behaviorists assert that the method of
gratification is refined and organized through learning processes. The
motive to eat, for example, begins with training the child on certain habits
that guarantee hygiene and physical health, then the social behaviors play
an important role to determine the way food is eaten and when it is eaten.
(b) Secondary or psychological Motives:
Secondary or psychological motives have no organic basis. The most
important differences between these motives and the primary motives is
that the primary motives are common among all individuals, while the
secondary motives differ according to the circumstances of time and
place and the nature of individuals.
 Examples of secondary motives include the motive for success,
excellence, competition, the motive for independence, the motive for
belonging, and the motive for cooperation...etc.
From this it becomes clear that secondary motives are infinite and
more diverse than biological motives.
 Motivation in Psychoanalysis:
While behaviorists classify motives into biological and psychological
motives, the psychoanalytic theory returns every human behavior to a
single motive, which is the instinctive biological motive.
The theory of motivation in psychoanalysis is a theory concerned
with instincts, as the scientists of the psychoanalysis refer all kinds of
human behavior and activity to an organic and instinctive basis, even
activities of a transcendent human nature such as artistic, literary or
scientific activity.
Even the activities that bring a person an income that can cover the
daily sustenance requirements of food and clothing. These are sexual
activities within the scope of work and seeking knowledge. The ultimate
goal of these activities is to preserve life and survival for the human
being. So the main motive in psychoanalysis theory is the sexual or the
instinctive motive.
 Motivation in the Humanism Theory:
Humanists refuse the helplessness of the individual and his negativity
towards those forces that almost control him.
Humanists are concerned with values, spirituality, and meaningful
goals, and see them as the most important human motives.
They consider self-actualization to be the peak of human motivation, as
the individual seeks to benefit all of his energies and potentials.
 Emotions:
- Emotion results from the frustration of motives or hindrance of
instinctive behavior.
- Emotion also appears when a sudden change occurs in the physical or
social environment, as if a fast car surprised the individual or was
unable to respond to an insult.
As for Freud, he offers a more comprehensive explanation than these
previous interpretations, where he sees that the emotion is “the apparent
manifestation of the instinct”. If the instinct is satisfied, the emotion is
pleasant, and if it is hindered, the emotion is painful.
 The components of Emotion:
1- The perceptual component:
Where the person realizes the stimulus that generates the emotion,
whether it is external or internal, and the significance of this stimulus.
2- The expressive component:
Emotions include various expressions, movements and gestures made by
the excited person, such as laughing, crying, screaming...etc.
3- The organic component:
Such as an increase in the heart rate, or the secretion of adrenaline in the
blood, and a change in the electrical activity in the brain ... etc.
 The relationship between motives and emotions:
Guilford summarized the relationship between motives and emotions, as
follows:
1-Emotions and motive force:
The stronger and more intense the motivation is, the more likely the
response will become emotional.
2- Emotions and frustration of the motive:
We get agitated when our motives are frustrated, and then our emotion is
directed at the impediment that hindered the achievement of the motive.
3- Emotions and exclusion of motives:
The sudden exclusion of the motive - either by its achievement or by
despair of its complete achievement - leads to the agitation of emotions.
The surprise variable in achieving the motive or cutting off hope for its
achievement plays the main role in arousing the emotion.
 Emotions and mental health:
Emotional maturity is necessary to achieve the highest level of
individual’s mental health.The emotionally mature individual is free from
childish tendencies, such as selfishness, dependence on others or fear of
taking responsibility.
Emotional maturity does not mean that the individual ceases to be
emotional but rather that his emotion is appropriate to his level of
development and appropriate to the situation as well.
 Anxiety:
Anxiety is defined as “a painful emotional experience in which the
individual anticipates danger” and the individual is often ignorant of the
nature of the danger that threatens him.
The state of anxiety is usually accompanied by some physiological
changes such as an increase in the number of heartbeats, an increase in
the secretion of adrenaline in the blood, and an increase in the secretion
of sweat.
Anxiety is different from fear; In the case of fear, a person can
determine the source of his fear, while the source of anxiety is vague and
unspecified. Fear also focuses on an issue in the present, while anxiety is
characterized as an expectation of danger in the future.
 Anxiety in psychoanalysis:
Psychoanalytic theory considers "birth trauma" to be the primary
source of the anxiety in humans. When the newborn moves from the calm
and safe environment of the womb to the external environment that is
completely different from the reassuring womb environment, he feels
unable to confront this world with his weakness, and he feels the anxiety
for the first time.
The main cause for the feelings of anxiety from this point of view is a
combination of ignorance of the nature of the threat and a sense of
powerlessness about it.
Freud tried to explain anxiety with a theory that he soon modified
when he discovered its flaws. So Freud had two theories of anxiety. In his
first theory - known as the “libido-transformation theory”- Freud believed
that the frustration of sexual gratification causes that the frustrated libido
energy is turned into anxiety.
As for the second anxiety theory, Freud interpreted anxiety in light of
the ego’s defensive function, as he considered that the threat of the id to
reveal its contents in the ego’s consciousness space in order to seek
gratification is a dangerous stimulus that the ego receives as a shock that
predicts its collapse, so the ego uses the anxiety response to regain its
control over the id.
 Anxiety in the traditional behavioral theory:
Anxiety in the traditional behavioral theory is a learned response
according to the rules of conditional learning. The behaviorists match the
anxiety response with the fear response, and the only difference is the
stimulus that is normal in the case of fear, and conditional in the case of
anxiety.
Behaviorists differentiate between normal anxiety and pathological
anxiety. Anxiety - from their point of view - is a natural response unless it
is provoked by stimuli that do not receive the same response in most of
the individuals, or if the anxiety response is very severe and its degree
increases in one of the individuals in an excessive way compared to
others.
For the cognitive-behavioral theory, anxiety is not just a behavior, but
rather an experience with a cognitive content. However, the method of
acquiring the trait of anxiety remains mechanical, like the method of the
traditional behavioral theory.
 Anxiety in the humanistic theory:
The humanistic theory pays great attention to anxiety. From its point
of view, anxiety is the essence of the nature of the human soul. The
human being is the only living organism who senses anxiety and suffers it
as a continuous daily experience that begins with his birth and ends with
his death.
The existential approach - which is one of the representatives of the
humanistic theory - identified the sources of human anxiety, or the
sources of what is known as existential anxiety as follows:
a. Death:
 It is the first and the most prominent source of anxiety for human
being. man is the only living being who realizes the inevitability of his
end, he is only ignorant of when his life will end, so the whole life bears
that anxiety because death is an expected danger at any moment.
b. Threatening values:
Although man considers the danger of death the most dangerous threat
he faces, the value of his life itself diminishes in front of the values he
believes in. Therefor any threat to these values is a source of human
anxiety.
c. Freedom:
Person's life is nothing but a series of making decisions and assuming
their responsibilities. A person may make decisions based on past
familiar choices, giving up his freedom and being persuaded to dissolve
into the group, doing what they do and avoiding what they refuse. Here
he loses his individuality - by his own will - to take refuge in the group.
Otherwise man accepts what his free-will dictates to him and abandons
the security that the group provides for him, in order to explore the
unfamiliar and go through experiences that no one else has experienced.
This insistence on going through new experiences, despite the lack of
guarantee of their success, is causing anxiety.
Normal anxiety in the humanistic theory is that motivational anxiety
that makes a person seek to change his reality for the better. Whereas,
pathological or neurotic anxiety is a type of anxiety that paralyzes a
person's ability to choose and change, restricts his freedom and reduces
his chances of growth.
frustration:
The concept of frustration is closely related to the concept of
motivation, as it is not possible to understand the nature of frustration
except in terms of frustration of a specific motivation in a person, where
the satisfaction of motivation or emptying of tension resulting from the
accumulation of arousal is disrupted - partially or completely.
Frustration - then - is the emotional and distressing experience that the
individual senses when he encounters an obstacle or an obstacle that
prevents the satisfaction of a specific motive, or the achievement of a
goal that a person seeks. Frustration may be the result of an external
obstacle, so it is frustration from an external source, i.e. as a result of the
pressures of the environment, society or economic conditions .... to the
last of these sources, or the result of an internal obstacle related to his
own mental, physical and psychological capabilities and preparations.
 It is possible for frustration to have a double source related to the
formation and psychological or physical nature of an individual. At the
same time, it is related to the conditions of his society, his environment,
and all the external pressures surrounding him. In all circumstances, the
pressures or obstacles that lead to the formation of a state of frustration in
a person are not the ones that determine in themselves the extent of the
seriousness of the situation for the psychological health of the individual,
but rather the extent to which a person is affected by the state of
frustration is determined in the light of a set of variables, perhaps the
most important of which are:
1- The period a person spends in a state of deprivation from satisfying the
motive or depriving him of releasing the accumulated tension: the
longer the period, the deeper the state of frustration, and its effect on
the final outcome of the individual’s compatibility and mental health.
2- Intensity of the motive and its degree of urgency: defeating some
motives that have an organic physiological basis may lead to
devastating results on both the physical and psychological levels,
while defeating other motives described as less urgent may allow
postponement without significant effects.
3- Prioritizing motives: motives differ in their value from one society to
another, and within each society and persons
Thus, the concept of frustration is a relative concept of different
nature and different effects on the individual’s share of compatibility and
psychological health in light of the different circumstances mentioned
above.
Interpretation of psychology schools for Frustration:
Some behaviorism have claimed that the most honest and general
psychological “equations” are those that lead to aggression. However,
behaviorists assume that every aggressive behavior must be preceded by a
state of frustration. As for cases that encounter frustration and then do not
issue aggressive responses, they explain them in the light of social
learning theories in which the individual is rewarded when he controls his
emotions resulting from frustration and suppresses his anger and does not
turn it into aggression.
As for the psychoanalytic point of view, the attention here is focused
on the absence of libidinal satiation, or the denial of the release of sexual
tension. Since the sexual instinctive drive is of central importance to
analysts, impeding the satisfaction of this impulse, whether it is emotional
or reproductive, is one of the most dangerous types of frustration that
threatens human mental health. In the second place comes the aggressive
motive (aggressive destruction instincts and death instincts), where
frustration is also considered here as a threat to the mental health of the
individual.
In the first case, man is exposed to the accumulation of sexual tension
that seeks gratification through the pressure that a id organization expects
on the ego. If the ego succeeds in suppressing the contents of the id
through the use of various defense mechanisms, then the sexual instinct is
completely exposed to the restraint, which endangers the human sexual
ability. Or that the ego is not able to mobilize sufficient periods of
defense mechanisms against the danger of immersion on the part of the
Id, so it is forced to simulate the symptoms of mental illness to achieve
gratification in a distorted way that exempts it from the punishment of the
super ego.
In the case of defeating aggression, the aggressive energy may not
find an alternative external outlet, so it reverts to the self, exposing the
ego’s equilibrium to imbalance, starting from the simplest feelings of
guilt to threatening life itself through suicide attempts.
Although the humanistic psychology do not reject the views of
psychoanalysis in this regard, humanists believe that the most dangerous
type of frustration that threatens a person’s psychological health is the
frustration of the will for meaning. And human self-realization is
achieved through the realization of this meaning or the achievement of
that goal. If a person is unable to discover the meaning of his life or adopt
a case through which he achieves a goal that satisfies his humanity, then
he suffers from the frustration of his will for meaning, so his life becomes
of no real value and he experiences a feeling of helplessness and despair.

Psychological Conflict:
Unfortunately for a person that his motives do not always
coincide in way that he want, but sometimes clash with each other when
the goals that he seeks to achieve conflict with. In this case, the person
suffers from psychological conflict. Since man is always motivated by his
different motives, and because motives often contradict and contradict, it
is natural that psychological conflict is a normal thing. There are even
those who go to say that conflict is the nature of human psychological
life.
Conflict is The situation that involves the individual being
subjected to equal forces that push him in multiple directions so that he
becomes unable to choose one destination from them, and the individual
feels in such a situation feelings of distress and tension due to his
inability to choose.

The psychoanalytic point of view on the issue of conflict is

summarized in the set of bases on which the distribution of
psychological energy between different personality organizations. Each
organization presses with its relative force to achieve the greatest
degree of distinction from the rest of the personality organizations, and
this is the nature of psychological conflict. And the conflict is resolved -
often - in favor of the stronger organization.

As for the view of the traditional behavioral theory, it relies on

transforming the manifestations of conflict into behaviors that arise in
response to external situations, as the internal conflict translates into
hesitant responses between approach and avoidance.

The types of conflict are:

*approach-approach conflict: It is a conflict of desire or approach. It

results from the presence of two attractive attitudes, and taking one of
them includes refraining from the other.
* Avoidance-avoidance conflict: It is the struggle of fear or
avoidance. It arises from the presence of two repulsive attitudes, and
refraining from one of them involves taking the other.

* Approach-avoidance conflict: It is the struggle of desire and dread,

or approach and avoidance. It arises from the presence of a situation
that has two sides, one attractive and the other repulsive.

Behavioralists believe that the attitude of a approach-approach,

or a position of avoidance-avoidance, despite the difficulty of resolving
them, but that a person often succeeds in the end in favoring one of the
two responses. As for the struggle of Approach-avoidance to the same
stimulus, it is usually more difficult to resolve, and more affecting the
psychological balance of a person.

As for the psychological conflict, from the point of view of

humanistic psychology, it is a conflict in which many parties involve
the entire human existence. In fact, it is a struggle between human
existence and non-existence, in other words, it is a conflict between
existence and non-existence. Death and disease are biological factors
that threaten human existence on the physical level, and on the
psychological level, his endeavors are threatened by many social and
psychological obstacles, and the fear of failure to choose and assume
the responsibilities of an independent life threatens his quest for self-
realization on the complete human level. It is a renewed struggle that
man experiences in every moment of his life, and it is not completely
resolved as long as the person is alive.
Chapter4
 Defense Mechanisms
Most of the knowledge we have about defense mechanisms is largely
credited to psychoanalysis. Freud and the early analysts made a great
effort in identifying the nature of this type of psychological activity,
classifying its types, and identifying the function that it performs. The
new Freudians continued the effort to further study of defense
mechanisms and added many additions to it in the context of their study
of ego psychology, and their increased interest in ego functions and
emotional aspects of personality.
Defensive mechanisms are one of the activities of the ego
organization, whose practice aims to maintain the balance and integrity of
the personality. The defensive mechanism is only a method of satisfying
desire without provoking the control of the superego and without
conflicting with the disciplines of the outside world.
The instinctive desire demands immediate gratification, and the id
imposes pressures on the ego, demanding fulfillment of gratification by
exposing the desire consciously. As an answer, the super-ego refuses
explicit gratification, and the reality also does not allow this satiation in
its direct primitive form. So, the ego deceives the super-ego and the
controls of reality through a method that allows indirect satisfaction of
the impulse that can be accepted by reality without provoking the super-
ego.
The collision of desire with the forces of ego defense releases anxiety
to act as a warning signal that pushes the ego to devise the appropriate
method to replace a defensive ploy with another when the first fails to
achieve the required reconciliation. It is not surprising that the ego uses a
set of defensive tricks that, by employing them for the purposes of
reconciling desire and defense, guarantee the best possible results. Thus,
we can say that the success of defense mechanisms is counted among the
successes of the ego in achieving reconciliation between desire and
defense, meaning that it is an achievement in a positive direction allowing
an appropriate degree of self-integration and mental health of the
individual.
Classification of defense mechanisms
Psychological defense mechanisms can be classified based on the
nature of the function they perform, and their success or failure in
achieving psychological balance and maintaining an adequate level of
mental health, and on this basis, they can be divided into two main types:
successful defense mechanisms, and disease-generating mechanisms.
This is in addition to a special kind of defense tricks that activate during
the state of sleep called “mechanisms of dreaming”.

(a) Mechanisms of dream work

During sleep, the superego loosens its grip over the id, and the control
of the external reality is absent, then the id seizes the opportunity to
search for gratification, but the state of sleep prevents actual satiation. In
fact, the release of id contents portends that the weakened defenses would
interrupt the dream to stop the flow of id contents to the consciousness of
the sleeper. Here the ego plays a dual role, as it uses the mechanisms of
dreaming to achieve some reconciliation between desire and control (a
similar role of the ego in a state of awakening), in addition to
circumventing the control of the superego that prevents the latter from
interrupting dreaming and sleeping, as the ego preserves the state of Sleep
also by ensuring the continuation of the dream.
The mechanisms of dream action assume the function of transforming
thoughts expressing the desires of id into a dream that performs the
function of fulfilling the desire under the consent of the control (the
superego). This is done through the work of four mechanisms:
symbolization, condensation, theatrical formulation (theatricalization),
and secondary formulation.
The symbolization mechanism means transforming the idea
representing the desire into symbols that actualizes and camouflages the
desire at the same time; for example, the sexual intercourse is
transformed into an act of climbing a tree. Condensation means using the
same symbol to achieve more than one goal or merging a group of ideas
that fulfill many desires into one symbol or one act: dancing in front of
spectators represent sexual gratification (the movement), showmanship
(spectators), and avoiding disapproval (the applause and admiration of the
audience).
Theatricalization helps transform ideas into scenes that translate
them, as it is akin to the work of a screenwriter who transforms the ideas
of a written story into scenes, dialogue, and actors. As for the secondary
formulation, it works to fill the gaps and complete the deficiencies in the
final dream, or what is known as the apparent content of the dream. The
dream is usually more like a tight cinematic film that has a beginning and
an end and a logical sequence.
 If all dream mechanisms work successfully, the dream performs its
function as a tool for acceptable gratification, as a preserver of the state of
sleep, and as a tool of the ego that achieves psychological balance and
mental health. But sometimes the dream fails in its function as a sleep
guardian, this happens when the primitive desires become clearer and
more capable of being detected by the censor, so it intervenes to cut off
sleep. By ending the dream in a sudden dramatic way, such as the
nightmare that usually ends with the sleeper awakening in a state of great
panic, he suffers for moments from a state of overwhelming anxiety
accompanying the near exposure of the unconscious material explicitly in
the apparent content of the dream, then soon loses the state of sleep
Suddenly announcing that the superego regained control of the situation
by ending the dream and violently awakening the sleeper.

(b) Successful defense mechanisms

The success of defensive mechanisms in performing their
reconciliation function - which is one of the functions of the ego
organization - is a manifestation of mental health, as it maintains the
balance between personality organizations. However, there are defense
mechanisms that belong more than others to mental health, the most
important of which are: successful repression and sublimation.

As for successful repression, it is often associated with other defense

mechanisms, precedes, and paves the way for them. It means excluding
the thoughts and actions representing the primitive instinct into the
unconscious space, where the conscious mind of the human being cannot
comprehend them, yet it allows a small amount of the instinct’s energy to
be released to obtain satiation. And regulating the amount of energy
allowed out is what makes the task of the ego easier and can be
controlled. Sublimation means exploiting the energy of the unacceptable
impulse to achieve acceptable, even commendable, satisfaction. Such as
aggressive impulses excessively intense (such as sadism), which are
sublimated to the practice of surgery as a profession, or the practices of
heroes of armies in wars.
(C)Neurotic defense mechanisms
When a defense mechanism fails, the ego calls another one to perform
the same task, and this process continues until it can achieve the required
control. The ego may never reach satisfaction and continue to revolve in a
vicious circle of unsuccessful defenses that drains its energies and
increase the distortion of the images of satiation that begin to take on the
forms of pathological symptoms whose severity ranges from cases of
minor personality disturbances to cases of deep mental illness. Denial
may be one of the most dangerous defense mechanisms that generate
mental illness, as the individual ends up denying the painful, frustrating,
and insatiable reality, denying it in its entirety, so that the patient loses all
relationship with reality and lives in an illusory reality of his own world,
which is the world of the schizophrenic. In the schizophrenic world, true
reality is not recognized. Projection is also one of the defense
mechanisms that generate mental illness, where the person refuses to
acknowledge the existence of unpleasant stimuli in himself, so he drops
them on others or on the world. The mechanism of Introjection works in
some forms of psychotic depression, where the person introjects the
beloved subject that he has been deprived of, and then directs his
aggression (and his love also because he is ambivalent), so he directs his
aggression to the other introjected in himself until he ends up destroying
himself.
As for the Undoing and Isolation mechanisms, they are active in
cases of obsessive-compulsive neurosis, where they form the patient's
compulsive thoughts and rituals. Also, the mechanisms of Repression and
Isolation are involved in the formation of some hysterical symptoms, and
the Displacement mechanism activates in cases of phobia. It is also
important to point out the role of the mechanisms of regression and
fixation in determining the final picture of mental illness in their
association with the weaknesses found in the psychosexual
developmental history of the patient.
Basic defense mechanisms
(1) Repression
Basic defense mechanism, rather, it is the basic defense mechanism.
Where the stimulus, or the feelings associated with it, are excluded into
the subconscious space to avoid the threat that the ego experiences
because of id pressures.
(2) Sublimation
Model of successful defenses, so that most defenses that succeed in
performing their role can be sublimation. In sublimation, the original
impulse vanishes because its energy is withdrawn to an alternative goal
that is acceptable to the ego, the superego, and the surrounding reality.
(3) Fixation
A defensive mechanism for dealing with abnormal forms of
gratification in the early stages of psychosexual development (whether
satiation is excessive or frustrating infrequent). Where some aspects of
the personality, or the whole personality, attach to certain periods of
development, so that they seem to refuse to grow and mature. It may be
attached to the methods of gratification at the stage in which the fixation
occurs, or to the model of a particular person that has a special effect at
that stage.
(4) Regression
A defensive mechanism to deal with intense pressures on the ego in
early development stages. As a result of the work of this mechanism, the
ego regresses to previous stages of growth in which it was free from these
pressures. The work of regression is completed by meeting with the
fixation points where the ego re-engages in the distinctive activities of the
stage in which the fixation occurred and the ego reverted to.

(5) Denial
"Anna Freud" calls this type of defense: the pre-stages of defense,
where the ego simply denies the bad aspects of reality and does not
recognize its existence. This mechanism is an evidence of the weakness
of the ego, and the greater the weakness of the ego, the wider the area
covered by denial until reality disappears completely. This mechanism is
particularly active in psychotic states.

(6) Projection
This mechanism is based on the first judgment issued by the ego,
where “swallowing” is the first form of acceptance, and “spitting” is the
first form of rejection. Whatever the ego rejects as part of it, it drops it.
This primitive mechanism operates on a large scale when the ego's
function in reality testing has been degraded by a regression that blurs the
boundaries between ego and non-ego, facilitating the task of projecting
primitive impulses or reprehensible feelings onto the world (the non-ego).

(7) Introjection
This mechanism is defined on the grounds that it is the opposite of
projection, as it is associated with ingestion, so that everything that is
pleasant and acceptable is introjected. Although introjection expresses
love, it destroys the beloved object as an independent object. And when
the ego realizes this, it learns to use introjection for aggressive purposes.
Therefore, the mechanism of introjection is deep in emotional
contradiction, as it can express at the same moment love and excessive
aggression.
(8) Identification
It is one of the mechanisms that contribute to the emergence of the
ego, and then to control instincts. However, the ego usually uses this
mechanism later on to achieve goals that it is unable to achieve them, so
it resorts to uniting with the person - or the moral value of the person -
who can achieve these goals for it. This is like uniting with the feared or
aggressor, which enables the ego to overcome the anxiety and fears raised
by that aggressor or uniting with the beloved in order to avoid feelings of
guilt if the loved one is an incest, for example. Or uniting with the envied
in pursuit of what the envied enjoys.
(9) Undoing
This mechanism activates when the ego tries to correct what it
considers to be an explicit expression of a primitive impulse and includes
coming up with actions or sayings intended to nullify the effect of the
first reprehensible act. This mechanism is considered primarily
responsible for most compulsive acts.
(10) Isolation
Isolation – like undoing - aims to correct the expression of primitive
impulses that bypassed the control of the ego, albeit by cutting the links
between actions with reprehensible acts and their emotional content, so
the ego precedes the act that saturates the impulses without feeling shame
or regret, for example. Isolation can also take place at certain periods that
carry unacceptable connotations, so that a person separates them from the
rest of his life context, so he practices what he deplores during those
periods and not others, as if in this way he can drop them from the scope
of his responsibility.
(11) Reaction Formation
Reaction formation is often resorted to as a kind of support for
repression in the face of excessive instinctive impulses, where the
expression of repressed desires by using their opposite becomes a kind of
indirect catharsis to ensure the tight control of repression over the
repressed.
(12) Displacement
The use of this mechanism allows directing the emotional charge to
an alternative topic that is easier to deal with than the original topic, or
the effect caused by a particular object can be transferred to another
object that is easier to avoid. It is easy to direct aggression, for example,
to a person who is weaker than the feared one, originally intended with
aggression. This is the mechanism that activates in phobias.
(13) Justification
It is a mechanism by which the ego ward off feelings of anxiety
through fake causes beyond the person's control, so that the ego appears
compelled - not voluntarily - to take certain actions that have a
reprehensible connotation. Here the ego does what it desires, claiming
that it disapproves of it, and that its action was only under the pressures
of circumstances stronger than it.
(14) Rationalization
Here, the ego ward off anxiety by trying to provide logical or morally
acceptable justifications for actions or events that have a reprehensible
connotations, and logical justifications or rational reasons may be
justification for actions, thoughts or feelings, and sometimes pathological
symptoms, compulsive acts, that the ego feels confused in the face of
their irrationality, they fabricate justifications in order to avoid revealing
the real motives that involve the original instinctive stimuli.
 Chapter 5
Psychological Disorder

 Schizophrenia
 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
 Agoraphobia
 Antisocial Personality Disorder
 Histrionic Personality Disorder
 1- Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a disorder that lasts for at least 6 months and includes

at least 1 month of active-phase symptoms (i.e., two [or more] of the
following: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly
disorganized or catatonic behavior, negative symptoms)
Diagnostic criteria for Schizophrenia
A. Characteristic symptoms: Two (or more) of the following, each
present for a significant portion of time during a 1-month period (or less
if successfully treated):
(1) Delusions.
(2) Hallucinations
(3) disorganized speech (e.g., frequent derailment or incoherence)
(4) Grossly disorganized or catatonic behaviour
(5) Negative symptoms, i.e., affective flattening, alogia, or avolition
Schizophrenia Subtypes
The subtypes of Schizophrenia are defined by the predominant
symptomatology at the time of evaluation
Paranoid Type
The essential feature of the Paranoid Type of Schizophrenia is the
presence of prominent delusions or auditory hallucinations in the context
of a relative preservation of cognitive functioning and affect.
Diagnostic criteria for Paranoid Type
A type of Schizophrenia in which the following criteria are met:
A. Preoccupation with one or more delusions or frequent auditory
hallucinations.
B. None of the following is prominent: disorganized speech, disorganized
or catatonic behaviour, or flat or inappropriate affect.
Disorganized Type
The essential features of the Disorganized Type of Schizophrenia are
disorganized speech, disorganized behaviour, and flat or inappropriate
affect.
Diagnostic criteria for Disorganized Type
A type of Schizophrenia in which the following criteria are met:
A. All of the following are prominent:
(1) Disorganized speech
(2) Disorganized behaviour
(3) Flat or inappropriate affect
B. The criteria are not met for Catatonic Type.
Catatonic Type
The essential feature of the Catatonic Type of Schizophrenia is a marked
psycho-motor disturbance that may involve motoric immobility,
excessive motor activity, extreme negativism, mutism, peculiarities of
voluntary movement, echolalia, or echopraxia.
Diagnostic criteria for Catatonic Type
A type of Schizophrenia in which the clinical picture is dominated by at
least two of the following:
(1) Motoric immobility as evidenced by catalepsy (including waxy
flexibility) or stupor
(2) Excessive motor activity (that is apparently purposeless and not
influenced by external stimuli)
(3) Extreme negativism (an apparently motiveless resistance to all
instructions or maintenance of a rigid posture against attempts to be
moved) or mutism
(4) Peculiarities of voluntary movement as evidenced by posturing
(voluntary assumption of inappropriate or bizarre postures), stereotyped
movements, prominent mannerisms, or prominent grimacing
(5) Echolalia or echopraxia
Undifferentiated Type
The essential feature of the Undifferentiated Type of Schizophrenia is the
presence of symptoms that meet Criterion A of Schizophrenia but that do
not meet criteria for the Paranoid, Disorganized, or Catatonic Type.
Diagnostic criteria for Undifferentiated Type
A type of Schizophrenia in which symptoms that meet Criterion A are
present, but the criteria are not met for the Paranoid, Disorganized, or
Catatonic Type.
Residual Type
The Residual Type of Schizophrenia should be used when there has been
at least one episode of Schizophrenia, but the current clinical picture is
without prominent positive psychotic symptoms (e.g., delusions,
hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior). There is continuing
evidence of the disturbance as indicated by the presence of negative
symptoms (e.g., flat affect, poverty of speech, or avolition) or two or
more attenuated positive symptoms (e.g., eccentric behavior, mildly
disorganized speech, or odd beliefs)
Diagnostic criteria for Residual Type
A type of Schizophrenia in which the following criteria are met:
A. Absence of prominent delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech,
and grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior.
B. There is continuing evidence of the disturbance, as indicated by the
presence of negative symptoms or two or more symptoms listed in
Criterion A for Schizophrenia, present in an attenuated form (e.g., odd
beliefs, unusual perceptual experiences).

2- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
The essential features of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder are recurrent
obsessions or compulsions that are severe enough to be time consuming
(i.e., they take more than 1 hour a day) or cause marked distress or
significant impairment. At some point during the course of the disorder,
the person has recognized that the obsessions or compulsions are
excessive or unreasonable
Obsessions are persistent ideas, thoughts, impulses, or images that are
experienced as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety
or distress. The intrusive and inappropriate quality of the obsessions has
been referred to as “ego-dystonic.” This refers to the individual’s sense
that the content of the obsession is alien, not within his or her own
control, and not the kind of thought that he or she would expect to have.
However, the individual is able to recognize that the obsessions are the
product of his or her own mind.
The individual with obsessions usually attempts to ignore or suppress
such thoughts or impulses or to neutralize them with some other thought
or action (i.e., a compulsion). For example, an individual plagued by
doubts about having turned off the stove attempts to neutralize them by
repeatedly checking to ensure that it is off.
Compulsions are repetitive behaviours (e.g., hand washing, ordering,
checking) or mental acts (e.g., praying, counting, repeating words
silently) the goal of which is to prevent or reduce anxiety or distress, not
to provide pleasure or gratification. In most cases, the person feels driven
to perform the compulsion to reduce the distress that accompanies an
obsession or to prevent some dreaded event or situation. For example,
individuals with obsessions about being contaminated may reduce their
mental distress by washing their hands until their skin is raw.
The obsessions or compulsions must cause marked distress, be time
consuming (take more than 1 hour per day), or significantly interfere with
the individual’s normal routine, occupational functioning, or usual social
activities or relationships with others.
Diagnostic criteria for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
A. Either obsessions or compulsions:
Obsessions as defined by (1), (2), (3), and (4):
(1) Recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that are
experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and
inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress
(2) The thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply excessive worries
about real-life problems
(3) The person attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts, impulses, or
images, or to neutralize them with some other thought or action
(4) The person recognizes that the obsessional thoughts, impulses, or
images are a product of his or her own mind (not imposed from without
as in thought insertion)
Compulsions as defined by (1) and (2):
(1) Repetitive behaviours (e.g., hand washing, ordering, checking) or
mental acts (e.g., praying, counting, repeating words silently) that the
person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession, or according
to rules that must be applied rigidly
(2) The behaviours or mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing
distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation; however, these
behaviours or mental acts either are not connected in a realistic way with
what they are designed to neutralize or prevent or are clearly excessive
B. At some point during the course of the disorder, the person has
recognized that the obsessions or compulsions are excessive or
unreasonable. Note: This does not apply to children.
C. The obsessions or compulsions cause marked distress, are time
consuming (take more than 1 hour a day), or significantly interfere with
the person’s normal routine, occupational (or academic) functioning, or
usual social activities or relationships.
D. If another Axis disorder is present, the content of the obsessions or
compulsions is not restricted to it (e.g., preoccupation with food in the
presence of an Eating Disorder; hair pulling in the presence of
Trichotillomania; preoccupation with drugs in the presence of a
Substance Use Disorder; preoccupation with having a serious illness in
the presence of Hypochondriasis; or guilty ruminations in the presence of
Major Depressive Disorder).
E. The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a
substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical
condition.

3- Agoraphobia
Diagnostic Criteria:
Marked fear or anxiety about two (or more) of the following five
situations:
1- Using public transportation (e.g., automobiles, buses, trains, ships,
planes).
2- Being in open spaces (e.g., parking lots, marketplaces, bridges).
3- Being in enclosed places (e.g., shops, theaters, cinemas).
4- Standing in line or being in a crowd.
5- Being outside of the home alone.
Diagnostic Features:
The diagnosis requires endorsement of symptoms occurring in at least
two of the following situations:

1- The individual fears or avoids these situations because of thoughts that

escape might be difficult or help might not be available in the event of
developing panic-like symptoms or other incapacitating or embarrassing
symptoms.
2- The agoraphobic situations almost always provoke fear or anxiety.
3-. The agoraphobic situations are actively avoided, require the presence
of a companion or are endured with intense fear or anxiety..,
4-. The fear or anxiety is out of proportion to the actual danger posed by
the agoraphobic situations and to the sociocultural context .
5-. The fear, anxiety, or avoidance is persistent, typically lasting for 6
months or more.
6-. The fear, anxiety, or avoidance causes clinically significant distress or
impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of
functioning.7-. If another medical condition (e.g., inflammatory bowel
disease, Parkinson's disease)is present, the fear, anxiety, or avoidance is
clearly excessive..
The fear, anxiety, or avoidance is not better explained by the symptoms
of another mental-disorder—for example, the symptoms are not confined
to specific phobia, situational type; do not involve only social situations
(as in social anxiety disorder); and are not re-lated exclusively to
obsessions (as in obsessive-compulsive disorder), perceived defects or
flaws in physical appearance (as in body dysmorphic disorder), reminders
of traumatic events (as in posttraumatic stress disorder), or fear of
separation (as in separation anxiety disorder.-
Note: Agoraphobia is diagnosed irrespective of the presence of panic
disorder. If an individual's presentation meets criteria for panic disorder
and agoraphobia, both diagnoses should be assigned.

4- Antisocial Personality Disorder

An antisocial personality is characterized by a lack of respect for the
moral or legal norms prevailing in society. It is also characterized by the
inability to get along with others or to abide by social rules. This disorder
is more prevalent in males and its symptoms begin to appear after the age
of eighteen

Diagnostic Criteria:
A. pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others,
occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three (or more) of the
following:
1. Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors, as
indicated by
repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.
2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning
others for
personal profit or pleasure.
3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead.
4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights
or assaults.
5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others.
6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain
consistent
work behavior or honor financial obligations.
7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing
having hurt,
mistreated, or stolen from another.
B. The individual is at least age 18 years.
C. There is evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15 years.
D. The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the
course of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder
5- Histrionic Personality Disorder
Diagnostic Criteria:
A pervasive pattern of excessive emotionality and attention seeking,
beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as
indicated by five (or more) of the following:
1. Is uncomfortable in situations in which he or she is not the center of
attention.
2. Interaction with others is often characterized by inappropriate sexually
seductive or
provocative behavior.
3. Displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions.
4. Consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self.
5. Has a style of speech that is excessively impressionistic and lacking in
detail.
6. Shows self-dramatization, theatricality, and exaggerated expression of
emotion.
7. Is suggestible (i.e., easily influenced by others or circumstances).
8. Considers relationships to be more intimate than they actually are.
Chapter 6
 Introduction to psychological counseling
Introduction:
Perhaps one of the most important features of our current
era is the technological progress that absorbs all aspects of life in
agriculture, industry, economy, information technology and
communication. This progress has been accompanied by a parallel
change in the possibilities that occur within the human being;
therefore, the severity of psychological, social and behavioral
disorders has increased, and hence the need for counseling has
become a necessity in order to reach solutions to such disorders.

First: The concept of psychological counseling:

-Counselling is an English term that means to talk together.
- psychological counseling is an educational process that helps
the individual to understand himself, by identifying the aspects of
his personality, so that he can make his own decisions and solve
his problems, which contributes to his growth, through a human
relationship between him and the counselor.
- Psychological counseling is a dynamic, interactive,
professional and conscious relationship between the counselor
and the case that aims to help the client to know himself and
understand himself in order to be able to solve his problems, which
helps to reach consensus and mental health.
- Counselling is a dynamic and purposeful relationship between
two people، in which the procedures vary according to the nature
of the client's need, but in all cases there is a mutual participation
of both the counselor and the client, focusing on the client's self-
understanding.
-Psychological counseling is the process in which a relaxation of
the self-structure of the client occurs within the framework of the
security provided by the relationship with the counselor, and in
which the client becomes aware of his excluded experience in a
new self.
- Psychological counseling is a process that includes an
interaction between a counselor and a client in a special situation
with the aim of helping the counselor to change his behavior so
that he can reach an appropriate solution to his needs.
-Psychological counseling is the process through which the
counselor, who is a person who is specializedly qualified to carry
out counseling, tries to help another person in understanding
himself, making decisions, and solving problems.

Second: Misconceptions about psychological counseling:

There are some misconceptions about psychological
counseling, which reduce the effectiveness of any psychological
counseling program and make it fall short of achieving its goals.
These concepts are as follows:
1 - Some believe that psychological counseling provides its
services to psychiatric patients:
The truth is that the counseling service is provided to ordinary
individuals as well as psychiatric patients.
2- The belief that psychological counseling is limited to the
emotional problems of the individual:
It is correct that it deals with the individual in all areas of his
personal, educational, professional and marital life.
3- Belief that psychological counseling provides ready-made
plans, solutions and advice for those who seek guidance:
The right thing is that psychological counseling helps the
individual according to his capabilities and in light of his self-
understanding, and he has the right to self-determination for
himself.
4- Believing that psychological counseling is just services
that are added to the activity of any institution:
But it is true that psychological counseling is an integral part of the
program of any institution and is not an additional activity that may
be undertaken or not.
5- Believing that psychological counseling is done by any
person:
However, it is true that guidance needs qualified and trained
specialists in theory and practice, and that their personalities must
have some characteristics; In order to carry out his humanitarian
mission to the fullest, he has a license to practice the profession.

Third: The difference between psychological counseling and

other concepts:

1- Psychological counseling and psychological guidance:

psychological guidance: Psychological counseling
1- It includes the psychological 1- It does not include guidance.
counseling process

2- It is concerned with theoretical 2- It is concerned with practical

aspects. aspects.

3- Anyone can do it. 3- It must be done by the

psychological counselor.

4- guidance is a group process. 4- Individual or group.

.

5- Like directing to education. 5- Like counseling for

psychological treatment.

2-Psychological counseling and Psychotherapy:

Psychological counseling Psychotherapy:
1- Caring for the normal and 1- Caring for neurosis and
 normal individuals psychosis patients

2. The problems are less 2. The problems are more

serious serious

3- Solving problems at the 3- Focusing on the

level of consciousness subconscious.

4- The client is conscious 4- The therapist is

and reorganizes himself responsible for reorganizing
the patient's personality.

5- The role of the 5- The role of the

psychotherapist is small. psychotherapist is large and
essential.

6- Short term. 6- Long lasting.

7- It provides its services in . 7- Provides services in

counseling centers psychiatric hospitals.

fourth: The aims of psychological counseling:

1. Maintaining the individual's mental health in the best possible
position.
This is done by helping the individual to assume his responsibilities to
grow in a sound manner, satisfy his needs, and live a psychological life
free from threats.
2.Helping the client direct his growth and develop his energies
This goal can be achieved through self-awareness and that it is less
distorted, self-acceptance of its strengths and weaknesses, belief that
freedom lies in choice, the ability to express feelings and rights freely,
rooting the meanings of striving and desire for excellence, and bearing
responsibility and its consequences. Self-confidence, discovering ways to
be creative.
3. Helping the client to make a positive change in his personality.
By feeling his problem, seeking change himself, and doing what he can to
overcome the unwanted behavior.
4. Increasing the client skills in dealing with problems.
That is, increasing his skills in dealing with stressful life situations and
the problems that he encounters realistically, in order to reach adjustment
5. Helping the client to improve his relationship with others.
These problems that some counsellors face may be the result of their
relationship with others, and thus it is possible with tolerance, sympathy,
altruism and perseverance to reach the desired goal.
6. Self-actualization of the client.
It means that the client is satisfied with himself and accepts it correctly
and objectively, whether he is normal, superior or academically
backward, that is, he has a willingness to understand his potential and
invest it to the maximum extent possible and the growth of a positive
concept for him.
7. Improving the educational process.
By creating a healthy psychological climate suitable for students to allow
them to adjust academically and psychologically by raising their
motivation for achievement, taking into account the differences between
students, and enabling them to have the skill of solving the problems they
face.
8. Achieving adjustment.
That is, dealing with the environment and the individual with
modification and change in order to achieve a balance between the
individual and his environment, and one of the most important areas of
adjustment.
a. Personal adjustment: It means achieving psychological satisfaction
and happiness with oneself.
b. Social adjustment: It means achieving happiness with others.
C . Educational adjustment: It means investing in the student’s abilities
and tendencies and exerting maximum effort to achieve academic
success.
d. Professional adjustment: It means the worker's satisfaction with his
professional status and a feeling of satisfaction, achievement and
efficiency in his profession.

Second: The importance of psychological counseling:

Recent research and studies have confirmed that psychological guidance
and counseling has become an urgent necessity necessitated by the great
challenges that have emerged in the current century in all areas of life.
Among the most prominent of these challenges that support the
importance of the need for psychological counseling are the following:
1) The stress of life in the current time:
We live in an era called the Age of Anxiety because society is full of
conflicts and ambitions. It may be family, school, professional or nervous
pressure, which leads to a decrease in the human’s ability to bear and
suffer from some psychosomatic diseases, Toffler (1977) emphasized that
the pressures of the age can be limited The current pressure (pressure
destroying the senses - pressure increasing the burden of information -
decision-making pressure), which calls for the need to employ crisis
counseling.
2) Abuse of space time among young people:
Such as watching adults, children and young people on satellite channels
that broadcast what provokes the instincts of young people (sex films, for
example) and the rush to commit crimes, rapes and fall into the cycle of
deviation.
3) Development in the field of education:
The increase in the number of students in schools and universities
resulted in some problems such as the increase in repetition and dropout
rates, the failure to take into account the differences between the
outstanding and the retarded, and the increased emphasis on self- and
continuous education, which calls for the need for educational
counseling.
4) Scientific and technological progress:
The entry of the Internet into homes changed the ideas and trends of its
members, increasing the aspiration for the future in a way that does not
correspond to the real capabilities of the individual.
5) Critical transition periods:
Every individual goes through critical growth periods in his life in which
he needs guidance and counseling, such as the individual’s transition
from childhood to adolescence, and the transition from marriage to
divorce.
6) Family changes:
The emergence of small independent families and the weak relations
between their members and the restriction of visits to events or other
means of communication (via the phone - mobile), women going out to
work to support the family economically and leaving the children to
suffer problems and not find anyone to care about them and the lack of
the family’s role in supervising the children, problems arise Delayed
marriage age, marriage strike, and spinsterhood, all of these things call
for the need for marital and family counseling.
7) Changes in work and profession:
Mechanization invaded the world of work and profession and expelled
workers abroad, overwhelmed by unemployment because the machine is
faster and more efficient in the era of speed and technological progress,
and then the emergence of future anxiety, which calls for the need for
professional counseling

Fifth: Methods of psychological counseling:

There are three approaches aimed at achieving psychological counseling,
which are the developmental approach, the preventive approach, and
the therapeutic approach. The three approaches must be carefully
planned in the psychological counseling program.
1- The developmental approach:
It is sometimes called the construction strategy, and its importance is
due to the fact that the extension services provide a basis for ordinary
people to achieve the increase and efficiency of the individual to the
maximum extent possible.
This is achieved through self-acceptance, setting normal goals for life,
and caring for the manifestations of personal growth, physically,
mentally, socially and emotionally.
2 - Preventive method:
It is sometimes called the psychological immunization approach
against mental disorders, which is consistent with the well-known
proverb “Prevention is better than treatment.” The preventive approach
has three levels:
A - Primary prevention: It includes trying to prevent the occurrence of
the problem or disorder by removing the causes that may lead to it.
B - Secondary prevention: It includes an attempt to detect and diagnose
the disorder in its early stages to control it and prevent its development.
C - Third degree prevention: It includes an attempt to reduce the effect
of obstructing the disorder or prevent the chronicity of the disease.
Seventh: The foundations of psychological counseling:
* General foundations:
Relative stability of human behavior:
Behavior can be defined as every activity of a living organism, whether
this activity is physical, mental, emotional or social. This behavior is a
characteristic of relative, not absolute, stability, and therefore it can be
predicted in the future.
Flexibility of human behavior.
Human behavior can be modified through teaching and learning. The
principle of flexibility applies to basic personality organization and self-
concept as well.
- Individual human behavior - collective:
Each individual is distinct from the others, but the influence of the group
is evident in him.
A person’s readiness for guidance and direction:
It means that the individual seeks guidance for himself when he falls into
a problem or a predicament, so he feels a desire to change.
The right of the individual to benefit from guidance and counseling:
It is the right of the individual, male or female, student or worker, to
benefit from psychological counseling services, and it is the duty of the
state to provide these services to all.
The right of the individual to self-determination for himself:
It means recognizing the freedom of the individual, for the guide is free,
and his freedom is responsible.
Client accept:
It means that the counselor accepts the client without conditions or
restrictions, regardless of his behavior.
Continuity of counseling process:
A person needs psychological counseling from childhood until the end of
life. He needs counseling as a child, and when he faces problems related
to his studies, profession, marriage, divorce and retirement.

* Psychological and educational foundations:

- Individual differences :
The principle of individual differences must be taken into account during
the practice of counseling; Because each individual has its own
characteristics and independent personality that are unique to others as
a result of genetic and environmental factors
The differences between the sexes:
The psychological counselor must take into account the differences
between the sexes in all areas of school, vocational, family and marital
counseling.
Growth Requirement:
The normal psychological development of the individual at each stage of
his development requires several needs or demands, which he must
learn in order to become happy in his life.

*Social foundations:
Attention to the social aspects of the individual:
Man is a social being by nature who lives in a society that influences him
and is affected by it.
Benefiting from social institutions:
In his daily life, man deals with a group of people and social institutions,
whether directly or indirectly, that provide assistance to individuals,
materially and morally.

* Ethical foundations:
Adequacy of the scientific and professional counselor:
The psychological counselor must be scientifically and practically
qualified.
License:
It is a prerequisite for practicing the profession of counseling, and this
license is granted by an official staff that qualifies him to carry out the
responsibilities of this profession.
Maintaining confidentiality of information:
The counselor is fully responsible for maintaining the secrets of the
client and the information he provides during the counseling session.
The professional relationship:
It must be characterized as a specific professional relationship within a
framework of social, ethical and legal standards, otherwise it will
develop into another type of relationship (romantic, materialistic,
interest, .......etc.).
Working as a team (case conference):
The counseling process sometimes requires an integrated team of
specialists (such as the psychological counselor, social worker,
psychiatrist, organic physician, and parents, in order to achieve the goal
of the counseling process.
Client transfer:
The psychological counselor must refer the client to another specialist if
necessary.