Yesterday, I introduced “disidentification exercise”, but I’d like to explain the psychological effect of a disidentification exercise in more detail. After the class or reading text books, I suppose that the aim of a disidentification exercise is being aware of the fact that “I” is not sensations, emotions, or thoughts but “I” is a person who perceives those experiences as they are. As Firman and Gila (2002) pointed out, ““I” is ever the one who is aware, the experiencer not the experience” (p. 97). This sentence was very insightful for me because I usually regarded my sensations, emotions, and thoughts as “me.” In a word, I was frequently apt to identify with these contents, and I realized that I was not my physical sensation, emotions, nor thoughts thorough this exercise. In regard to the effect of a disidentification practices, there are mainly two important points in it. The first, the main effect of this exercise is that:
The effect and results of the exercise are and should be of a liberating nature; and in fact those who use the technique successfully say that they obtain a sense of freedom, a sense of being, and a spontaneous control of the psychological contents with which they were previously completely identified. (Assagioli, 1965, p. 120).
In addition to that, Firman & Gila (2002) argue that we could notice that “I” is not objective things but always and forever subjective things (p. 100). In my view, the merit of this exercise is significant in our modern society. That is because a lot of knowledge or experiences are flooded into our daily life, and we are overwhelmed by them, as a result, most of us are inclined to identify with those contents.
Reference:
1 Psychosynthesis: A Psychology of the Spirit (Suny Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology)
