7/Chapter 8: Well Metaphorically Speaking..

Question: Examine psychological support for using metaphor in language to facilitate change.

   

My Answer: 

Often, Adventure Therapy practices see metaphors as tool in order to help clients discover change within themselves.   There are many different approaches to how to implement metaphors into Adventure Therapy practices.  One which I want to focus on for the purposes of this bog is structured metaphoric transfer where the therapist works with the client to co-create a framework of interpretation about their adventure experience before it actually begins.  This approach increases the likelihood of client focusing on their interpretation of the experience, providing one that is tailored to their needs.

A key term associated with structured metaphoric transfer in Adventure Therapy takes part in the isomorphic framing of the experience.  Basically clients use an idea, object or description that is identical, thus comparable, to another idea object or description that they are dealing with in their everyday life (Gass, Gillis, Russell 2012).This object then serves as a physical representation of that emotion they are feeling or problem they are facing.

A similar approach to the use of isomorphism used by other mental health care professionals is seen in the field of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy.  This video may not represent the most memorable experience of all structured metaphoric transfers, although it explicitly represents what structured metaphoric transfer looks like within Equine Assisted Psychotherapy practices.  If you watch the first minute of the video and then skip to 4:20 on, you can get a better idea of how the client takes away or transfer the activity back into his life at home.  In this video the “boat” is isomorphically framed (or introduced) right from the beginning.  This allows the client to view the boat (constructed of a tarps, jumping blocks, cones and various objects) as the idea that needs to be “sunk” in the clients mind. 

Working with horses often provides people with various passageways to introduce metaphors with how to deal with intimidating and challenging situations in life. In a broader sense a client is able to become more self-aware of how the horse relates to them, their herd and how they relate to the horse.  The opportunities for structured metaphoric transfer are limitless.  Some health care professionals believe anything found in relationships with other people, family dynamics, emotional reactions, behaviors and choices can be played out in equine assisted psychotherapy sessions. 

What other ways have you seen Adventure Therapy, Equine Therapy or other practices use structured metaphoric transfers as vessel for clients to experience change? Is this approach more effective for certain lengths of programs, why or why not?

Citations:

Gass, Michael A., Lee Gillis, and Keith C. Russell. (2012).  Adventure Therapy: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: Routledge

Trinity Equestrian Center (2010).  Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Equine Assisted Learning. Retrieved from http://www.trinity-ec.com/trinity_services/eap_eal.phtml

Reins of H.O.P.E. (2012).  Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP). Retrieved from http://www.reinsofhope-ojai.org/eap.html


Romaridge. (2009, January 5) . Life's Obstacles Transitions Equine. Retrieved February, 2013, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGR7NJBFNgk 

6/Chapter 5: Neature is Neat

Pick one of therapeutic benefits of nature and link them to research in one or more of  the following areas:

Abnormal, Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognitive, Developmental, Learning, and Social

Do you see a disconnect?

The benefits of nature in a therapeutic setting are vast.  How do you define them?  I want to start out this discussion with a video clip of a child whose life was literally extended by Adventure Therapy practices.  I had the opportunity to work at this amazing camp this past summer. I encourage you to watch the whole video, to grasp more about the Hole in the Wall foundation, but for the purposes of this blog the primary focus is on Stephen’s story (minutes 5:00-6:30) and his experience within AT.  The question I want to revisit is AT works, but why? 

The beauty, power and mystery of the natural world has a therapeutic effect on individuals.  This environment has been put on the back-burner and people aren't relating to the world in a healthy fashion anymore.  Gillis, Gass and Russell (2012) stated that the theory that people as a society struggle defining themselves in a technological and consumer-driven world.  How do you fit into this fast paced world?  The picture at the top spoke to me and our connection to nature.  Overtime we have advanced in seemingly practical ways, yet in turn we are less connected to our original relationship with nature?

One age group commonly discussed in AT practices is 13-18.  This age frame is also researched in one of Developmental psychology’s most well-known theories, Erikson’s theory of psycho-social stages.  Identify and role confusion aspect of Erikson’s theory of psycho-social stages is when adolescents are newly concerned with how they appear to others.
This is a time where teens need to develop a sense of self and personal identity.  They tend to feel confused or insecure about where they fit into society. It is an important process of creating a strong identity and to developing a sense of direction in life.  I believe that during our lifetime there is a strong possibility that people could get future generations stuck into the consumer aspect of our world and try to seek out their identity in that aspect of our society.  What would our future look like?  Does it look like that now?  Is there was a way that we could intercept adolescents during that sensitive stage and make them aware of the therapeutic benefits of nature?  What are ways which you could see nature being slowly subtlety introduced to these age groups? Let me know what you think!

Citation:

Gass, Michael A., Lee Gillis, and Keith C. Russell. (2012).  Adventure Therapy: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: Routledge

McLeod, S. A. (2013) Erik Erikson. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html

Davis, D., Clifton, A. (1995). Psychosocial Theroy Erikson. Retrieved from http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/erikson.stages.html

Cherry, K. (2013). Stage Five of Psychosocial Development. Retrieved from  (http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocialtheories/a/identity-versus-confusion.htm

The Painted Turtle Camp (2012, March 8). The Painted Turtle Our Founding Story. Retrieved February 19, 2013, from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC1Wh1Arows  

Knowledge of Today (2013). Human Evolution vs. Nature. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=538684419487074&set=a.312286055460246.76583.307551552600363&type=1&theater 

5/Chapter 13: I like learning about AT

Pick one of the outcome areas of AT research and link them to research in one or more of the following areas: Abnormal, Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognitive, Developmental,
Learning, and Social

What does self-concept even mean? According to this website, self concept is how we think about and evaluate ourselves.  Our awareness of ourselves allows us to create a concept of who we are.  If you need to hear it first hand from some adorable children, all you have to do is click here.  If you resisted the urge to click the link (you're missing out they really are cute) the big take away for our purposes is that middle school aged kids describe themselves in less concrete terms and start describing themselves in group membership.  As a child develops into a young person, the begin to continuous compare and contrast their behavior with that of their peers and begin to develop a sense of who they are based on feedback they are receiving (Gass, Gillis, & Russell, 2012).  

Now I bet your wondering, where aspect of psychology could I relate this too? Good thing you asked.  Self-concept draws parallels to learning psychology.  Learning psychology can be seen as creating permanent behavioral change or a potential for creating behavioral change. As learning takes place, you can alter the way you perceive your environment, the way you interpret incoming stimuli and therefore the way you interact and behave. That’s the potential for a lot of change.   

Low levels of self-concept are associated with the continuation of self-destructive behavior in adolescents.  People with this state of mind are often poor judges leading to a multitude of different problems we see in youth today.  But how can we stop these problems? Adventure Therapy to the rescue!  Early studies showed that AT programs enhance the self-concept of adolescents by presenting challenges which are developmentally appropriate because they are concrete, attainable, and increase in challenge as the intervention progresses (Gass, Gillis, & Russell, 2012).  This can also be seen in the reinforcement aspect of learning psychology.  The term reinforce, as associated with psychology refers to a stimulus which increases the probability for a specific response.  Healthcare professionals working in AT can use these reinforcements to achieve desired results in their area of work, whether it’s back-country or the front-country.  Now that’s coming full circle.

Questions I’m left with though is what types of reinforcement should be used primarily, positive, negative, extinction or punishment?  Is it even helpful to generalize in that sense or should everything be taken by a case by case situation?  Should some be used more or less? Here is a link with a definition for these terms so you can help me answer them!

Citation:

 

Heffner, C. (2004, March 24). Psychology 101. Retrieved from http://allpsych.com/psychology101/learning.html 

Heffner, C. (2011, November 29). Chapter 4: Learning theory and behavioral psychology. Retrieved from http://allpsych.com/psychology101/reinforcement.html

McLeod, S. A. (2008) . Self Concept. Retrieved from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/self-concept.html

Gass, Michael A., Lee Gillis, and Keith C. Russell. (2012).  Adventure Therapy: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: Routledge

Note: Youtube video is not cited below because it is from the self concept website, it is just linked as a youtube video for your viewing comfort.

4: Lets get social about AT

How might The Outward Bound Process be used in psychology other than treatment?

In order to find out how the Outward Bound Process model is used in psychology, I felt it would be good to start at this base of the subject.  For this journal, I decided to gather more information about what exactly Walsh and Golins where originally seeking to convey, this is what I found.  I then was kind of curious about what these folks looked like, the picture below is what I found.  Side-note, Don't get to time warped with these outfits and forget to check that killer backdrop. 

Victor "Vic" Walsh is third from the left (note cool hat), Gerald "Jerry" Golins is first on the right

Secondly, I went to a solid reliable source I was familiar with, my notes from my Social Psychology class with Dr. Powell.  Here is a condensed snip it on which part of my notes I focused on. 

The article from the 70s talked about how this social environment is created by a ten group or primary group.  This primary group has about seven to fifteen people who seek a common objective.  Also, a bound and collective consciousness is present.  The size of the group allows them to have stricter conformity in the group and eventually participants realize that fighting against the group is less than ideal and taking a “go with the flow” attitude is imperative for our social being.  Those who don’t find themselves a member of the group might experience self-doubt and having a fear of rejection. 

Another area of the OBP that relates to social psychology is the idea that the learner finds reward in solving concrete and manageable problems within a positive peer environment.  The new attitudes and values allow people to become more likely to tackle upcoming problems.  This leads to the social psychology concept of internalization.  Internalization occurs when behaviors persists after the group is no longer present.  Formally, participants might have experienced cognitive dissonance, which is a disconnect between their internal beliefs and statements leading to discomfort.  There is now, for a participant, no disconnecting between these internal beliefs and the external statement.  Afterwards, A participant has demonstrated the internalized gained knowledge with no feelings of guilt or doubt.

Drawing these points together, the Outward Bound Process can be used in the research component of social psychology.  It can be used to further provide support for these theories and continue to expand and further define these concepts. In conclusion, the OBM has many connections to social psychology with this blog displaying only a few examples.

To gain more insight on these two Outward Bound founders and see more old photos from other pioneers go here.   

 Citations:

Walsh, V., & Golins, G. L. (1976). The exploration of the Outward Bound process.  Denver, CO: Colorado Outward Bound School.

Powell, C. (2012). Unit 1: Conformity. Personal collection of C. Powell, Georgia College, Milledgeville, GA.

Robertson, J. (2012, June) . COBS Pioneers. Retrieved from http://outwardbounds50thanniversary.weebly.com/cobs-pioneers.html

Gass, Michael A., Lee Gillis, and Keith C. Russell. (2012).  Adventure Therapy: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: Routledge