[Audio] EP95 Invited Address 10a – Case History – Evolution or Revelation? – James Hillman, PhD

Description:

Invited Address Session 10 Part 1 from the Evolution of Psychotherapy 1995 – Case History – Evolution or Revelation?
Featuring James Hillman, PhD; with discussant Irvin Yalom, MD.
Moderated by Carol Kershaw, EdD.

"Character is Fate"-this classic idea is coming around again in the new molecular biology that attributes deep-set personality traits to heredity. Can therapists sort out what belongs to development and may be influenced by therapy and what belongs to character and is authentic to the soul? Moreover, if congenital character is a major determinant in case history, then the events of childhood need to be revisioned, not only as traumatic errors but as previews, and even as necessary components of fate. This suggests that therapy itself would have to evolve from its long dependency upon developmental models toward a biographical imagination of a case as a whole pattern of life with a peculiarly individual intention. With examples from many biographies.

Educational Objectives:

1. To list what belongs in a case history.
2. To state distinctions between growth of personality and congenital character structure.
3. To describe modes of relating childhood disorders with superior adult accomplishments.

*Sessions may be edited for content and to preserve confidentiality*