The Goal of Creativity in Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is, like other therapies, a creative art which applies the findings of biological, psychological and sociological science to reach the goal of mental health. This goal depends on the subjective values and philosophies of patient and therapist. They may or may not arrive at a consensus about these goals, and an outspoken discrepancy of overt or covert goals will, of necessity, hamper a succesful collaboration.

Thomas Szasz1 has written a book on the Myth of Mental Illness. However, we could also talk about the “Myth of Mental Health” as a goal of psychotherapy, since not only the psychotic and the neurotic patient, but also every human being is liable at times to fail, to some degree, in reaching his goals of satisfaction and security in collaboration with his human and non-human environment. Where is the human being who reaches full maturity and mastery of his fate, who in all contingencies rises, with ever renewed force, to reassemble a creative synthesis of his unique identity in harmony with his environment, actualizing the optimal potentialities of his growth and development? And usually when he grossly fails in this attempt, the label of a psychopathological diagnosis is fastened on him. Such a diagnosis is different from the diagnosis of pneumonia or appendicitis. In an organic illness the total personality need not be disturbed, nor the patient's interpersonal relations. Burdened with an organic illness, the patient feels entitled to receive treatment and support from his fellowmen. The mental patient also often reaches out for help, but he is frequently insecure about his claim. He may feel that his integrity is being attacked by his community on which he depends or against which he rebels. He may feel accused as a nonconformist with a more or less disturbed conscience. His guilt feelings may increase the opposition and resentment of the family, the more fiercely the more unstable the family is. When the patient in this struggle loses faith in t