Therapy: Definition

It seems that one of the first things to do is to have some understanding of the word Therapy (and to eventually propose some definitions of "Therapeutic Tarot"). The following is a compilation from many sources.

THERAPY
1) the treatment of disease or disorders to cure or alleviate an illness or injury, whether physical or mental.
2) a curative power or quality.
3) any act, hobby, task, program, etc., that relieves tension.
[Me: treatment to alleviate or cure dis-ease or to relieve stress or tension.]
4) used especially of psychotherapy practitioners from c.1930s.

PSYCHOTHERAPY
A generic term for the treatment of mental illness or emotional disturbances primarily by verbal or nonverbal communication (i.e., the transmission of emotions, ideas, and attitudes between individuals).
Also: the goal being relief of symptoms, changes in behavior leading to improved social and vocational functioning, and personality growth.
Also: a practical and purposeful enterprise for relieving suffering and expanding potential.

A key to the meaning can be found in the etymology:
from Gk. therapeia "curing, healing," from therapeuein "to cure, treat."
θεραπων to wait upon menially, that is, (figuratively) to adore (God), or (specifically) to relieve (of disease).
As a verb: to cure, heal, worship.
From Theraps: 1. companion of lower rank, comrade, attendant, aide; 2. servant, slave.
The root is *dher*, which means “carry, support, hold."

Borrowed from the Anatolian (Hittite) word for ritual substitute:
Compare Hittite tarpaßßa-/tarpan(alli)- 'ritual substitute', corresponding formally to Greek theraps/therapôn. To paraphrase Van Brock, the Hittite word designates an entity's alter ego ("un autre soi-même"), a projection upon whom the impurities of this entity may be transferred. The word is used to describe Patroklos when he functions as the epic surrogate of Achilles, who is killed wearing the armor of Achilles (see Homer).

A Theraps is therefore a projective substitute upon whom impurities may be transferred (and then killed off) . . . in a ritual (worshipful) manner, of course. (See *worship* above in the etymologies.)

Possible, though not likely, relationship to Thera = a dangerous wild beast (scapegoat?).

According to James Hillman: The therapist is one who carries and takes care as does a servant. . . . The psychotherapist is literally the attendant of the soul.” _The Essential James Hillman: A Blue Fire_, p. 73.

Other thoughts?

Mary

yes

so what is the purpose of using therapy into tarot readings.?

1. by this defination , we are seeking to alleviate any mental disease, and cure it.
that sounds to me above the poweress of a first tarot reading where we may not see the client again.

2. curative power,,
to many readers come to us and put the power in our hand, and thus the blame. ,

3. to east the tension,,
that sounds like best for helping the client with their stress as it is presently by seeking to help ease it.

4. this phrase is confusing without knowing what the practicioners in the 1930s used.

for the
PSYCHOTHERAPY
we should avoide using this for tarot users unless they do have a degree and it is a natural extension of what they do.

I was wondering when someone would post a ground floor Great stuff.

I do have my own definition of "therapeutic" : If "it" exhibits healing powers it is therapeutic.

Therapy is simply a treatment of any sort for a illness or disorder. Success is not necessarily a part of therapy, just a hope. Success IS a characteristic of therapeutic.


I see "Therapeutic Tarot" as assisting clients in emotional growth and personal problem solving skills though insights and exploration of their untapped abilities. We do this using the cards as our tool of choice, but how we use the tool can change with need.

Multiple cards offer multiple insights to the individual in problem solving and personal growth.

Off the top of my head I think that is about where I am coming from

Holmes, I will give a example of the purpose: if you help someone have a "good day" through a reading that is therapeutic. Their simple illness was having a "bad day" through a form of therapy (a reading) you caused a positive change making the therapy of a reading therapeutic through its desired effect and outcome...a "good day"... not life shattering but a successful therapy all the same. Its not aways BIG.

HOLMES said:

so what is the purpose of using therapy into tarot readings.?

Click to expand...

I was hoping to leave this to a separate thread. I think it's premature to discuss this before we've really explored the terms therapy and therapeutic.

Therapeutic Tarot doesn't necessarily have to achieve all the aims of all kinds of therapy - but if we don't know what therapy is then we don't even know what our choices are.

4. this phrase is confusing without knowing what the practicioners in the 1930s used.

Click to expand...

"used especially of psychotherapy practitioners from c.1930s" means *since or after* the 1930s - not *at the time of*.

PSYCHOTHERAPY
we should avoid using this for tarot users unless they do have a degree and it is a natural extension of what they do.

Click to expand...

Agreed. But, I was not trying to define Therapeutic Tarot - only *therapy.* Therapy is often used in the U.S. in place of the term psychotherapy.

In the U.S., terms such as this are legislated by state. For instance, in California you must be licensed to call yourself a psychotherapist. In New York, anyone can call themselves a psychotherapist. I live in California so I don't ever use the word to describe what I do. But to ignore it when defining the term Therapy is to leave out some important aspects in it's cultural use and in dictionary definitions.

Mary

I see "Therapeutic Tarot" as assisting clients in emotional growth and personal problem solving skills though insights and exploration of their untapped abilities. We do this using the cards as our tool of choice, but how we use the tool can change with need.

Click to expand...

Crowned One - Personally, I'd like to see the applications to tarot in a separate thread called something like "Therapeutic Tarot: definition."

Maybe not everyone agrees with these basic definitions of therapy itself, or they may have something to add to the baseline definitions. It's hard to get back to basics when the discussion has already made a huge leap.

Is therapy inherently problem-solving?
If it is healing, can healing happen without problem-solving or growth?
Can healing be accomplished without success?
What is the ultimate goal of therapy?
How do therapeutic processes accomplish that goal?

I do think your point that success is not a characteristic of therapy, but it is of therapeutic is an interesting one. Could you talk about that further?

Holmes & Crowned One - I don't mean to be pushy about the Therapeutic Tarot thing but I feel like the stated topic of this thread has gotten pushed out of the way before it was really considered.

Mary

From the Penguin Dictionary of Psychology:

Therapy:
An inclusive label for all manners and forms of treatment of disease or disorder.
Because the term is so broad, both connotatively and denotatively, it is typically used with qualifiers to designate the form of therapy referenced.
For example:

Active Therapy:
A general term for any therapeutic approach in which the therapist takes an active, directing role. Also known as Directive Therapy: A general label for any form of psychotherapeutic approach that focuses and directs the client to change. Generally included are ‘hypnotherapy’, ‘rational-emotive therapy’, ‘behavioural therapy’ (in some of there forms).

Didactic Therapy:
A type of ‘Directive Therapy’ in which the therapist instructs the client, explains things in detail, and attempts, to teach the client various specific ways to overcome his or her problem.

Passive Therapy:
Generally, any therapy in which the therapist maintains a low profile and makes little or no attempt either to control the direction of therapy or to direct changes in the client. A good example is Client-Centered Therapy: A form of psychotherapy developed by Carl Rogers. The therapist is non directive and reflective and does not interpret or advise except to encourage or clarify points. The operating assumption is that the client is best able to deal with the personal problems and the best course for the therapist is to offer a non judgemental, accepting atmosphere within which to explore and work them out.

Therapist :
1. A generic label for any individual trained in and practicing the treatment of diseases or other abnormal conditions.
2. An abbreviation of psychotherapist. (Definition below)

Therapeutics:
[A general label for a branch of science or medicine concerned with treatment and cure of disease or other abnormal conditions.

Therapeutist
Therapist.

Psycho –:
Combining form meaning pertaining to mind, psyche, or psychology.

Psychoanalysis: Points 1-4
1. A theory of Human Behaviour.
(1) Meaning #1, is typically used for the comprehensive theory due to Sigmund Freud, although it may be found referring to any of a variety of related dynamic theories that are derivative of it even when quite distinct from the orthodoxy of classical Freudianism. For example: Adler’s Individual Psychology, Jung’s Analytical Psychology.

2. A Doctrine associated with this theory.
(2) refers to a cultural and social movement that has had an impact on a variety of endeavours anthropological, political, esthetic, literary, and philosophical. It is a very loose doctrine that may or may not reflect Freudian purity; its application is detectable largely by the extensive use of interpretation, hypothesization of unconscious motives and a search for deep causes.

3. A set of techniques for exploring the underlying motivations of human behaviour.
(3) This covers the basic method Freud developed over a period of several decades and which have been elaborated and extended on by many others. The core components her are Free Association, rich interpretation and transference. Basically, the subject Free Associates; the analyst interprets the associations produced, the obstacles that bar others and the subject’s feelings towards the analyst.

4. A method of treatment of various mental disorders.
(#4) is the extension of #3 above, in a systematic fashion to treat the psychoneuroses.

Psychoanalyst
1. One who practises psychoanalyst. (see definition #4).
Here the term is reserved for persons who have had psychoanalytic training at a recognized institute.
2. One who is given to interpretations of events in accordance with the psychoanalytic theory. (Refers to psychoanalysis #2 and #3 explanations above)

Freud:
Sigmund Freud – Viennese Neurologist – (1856-1939)

Freudian:
Of or pertaining to the view of Sigmund Freud. Many of the details of specific terms, concepts and principles of psychology/psychoanalysis emerged and coined by Freud. Some particular core concepts that charectize the pure term Freudian: (a) a focus upon the unconscious, specifically the role of unconscious processes as motivators of behaviour; (b) an abiding concern with the cognitive and the symbolic; (c) an affiliation with the basic biological progenitors of human behaviour , especially the sexual and aggressive; (d) a strong assumption that early experiences are the causes of later behaviours; (e) a penchant for deep interpretation, for rummaging down through the layers of the psyche to seek understanding and explanation; (f) the elaboration of the methods of psychoanalytic therapy as a means for producing changes in behaviour, thought and feeling.
Terms common: id, ego, superego, cathexis, displacement, psychosexual stage, although common are not seen as pure representations of Freudianism any longer, as opposed to being so mainstream. What truly represents the appellation is (g) an overarching concern with the most profound conflict of human existence, the agony of recognition of our “creatureliness” with all its evolutionarily dictated baseness balanced against our rich cognitive capacity for transcendent thought with its extensions to symbolism, religion and esthetics – and the knowledge derived from this mental capacity that the base culture must eventually die.

Jung: Carl Gustav Jung – Analytical psychologist – (1875-1961)

Jungian:
Pertaining to or representing the analytical psychology of Carl Jung. Although Jung wrote broadly on such diverse topics such as word associations, mythology, religion, telepathy, spiritualism, and flying saucers, the adjectival form of his name is primarily associated with an approach to psychoanalysis that placed, relative to Freud’s, little emphasis on the role of sex, and sexual impulses and focused instead on the hypothesized deep, inherited ‘collective unconscious’ with its universal ideas or images, the Archetypes. Jungian analysis is of the ‘deep’ variety and concerns itself with rich interpretation of symbols and makes extensive use of dreams.

Therapy - the provision via external means or by a facilitator, of addressing a problem and effecting a positive change or outcome where no adverse reaction is intended.

Thats my simple take.

Milfoil - I like your take

Cheers
Elven x

Teheuti said:

A key to the meaning can be found in the etymology:
from Gk. therapeia "curing, healing," from therapeuein "to cure, treat."
θεραπων to wait upon menially, that is, (figuratively) to adore (God), or (specifically) to relieve (of disease).
As a verb: to cure, heal, worship.
From Theraps: 1. companion of lower rank, comrade, attendant, aide; 2. servant, slave.
The root is *dher*, which means “carry, support, hold."

Borrowed from the Anatolian (Hittite) word for ritual substitute:
Compare Hittite tarpaßßa-/tarpan(alli)- 'ritual substitute', corresponding formally to Greek theraps/therapôn. To paraphrase Van Brock, the Hittite word designates an entity's alter ego ("un autre soi-même"), a projection upon whom the impurities of this entity may be transferred. The word is used to describe Patroklos when he functions as the epic surrogate of Achilles, who is killed wearing the armor of Achilles (see Homer).

A Theraps is therefore a projective substitute upon whom impurities may be transferred (and then killed off) . . . in a ritual (worshipful) manner, of course. (See *worship* above in the etymologies.)

Click to expand...

These are useful reminders. Unfortunately, "therapy" was borrowed by secular Western psychotherapists as their own preserve: this trend seems to be waning, and all for the good. Therapy has wider applications and many means, and one of the most important - which the etymology reminds us of - is the sacred. I think secular therapy - of all description - has proved its limits: it has its uses, of course, but divorced from the sacred, from the worshipful spiritual impulse in either therapist or patient, it cannot heal, it can only alleviate (and sometimes, make much worse).

We are lucky with tarot in that it is a sacred art. The work of spirit is embedded in its imagery and wisdom. That is why several esoteric movements have adopted it, and why it works so well blended with the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, which can be called a therapy (and meditation on it a therapeutic practice!) - whose aim is healing the rift within humans themselves so they can heal their rift with the divine.

I would argue that inner rift, and that rift with the divine, are at the origin of all dis-ease, whether it manifests as illness or as simple unhappiness and discomfort.

This seems to be recognised by more and more who practice the healing arts, and by many who aim to heal themselves. I would say that Tarot gives us one way to practice therapy (on ourselves and others) and to be healed thanks to its sacred wisdom, allied to the more recent secular tradition. And that is as it should be, for as Western Hermeticism, as represented in the tarot, reminds us - Spirit, the element of the sacred and the worshipful, belongs at the centre of life, of healing and therefore, of all definitions of "therapeutic".