Intrapersonal Reflection Paper

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The Intrapersonal Reflective therapist knows that there are many variables that play into a person’s level of distress and how it is shown in their behaviors and attitudes; people perceive things differently. Something that deeply affects one individual may not hold the same severity to another individual. How is it that something can seem so catastrophic to one person but be easily brushed off by the next? The filter that is used to process the events play a large role on how we feel about a certain event. These filters can be shaped by experiences/ consequences, genetic predispositions, or learned behaviors. One major component of human beings and their level of distress is whether or not they have accepted this existential anxiety of existence or if they have allowed the neurotic anxiety to take over their thoughts and their behaviors. Existential anxiety is defined as …show more content…

This proposed theory believes that the difference between the “normal” individual and the distressed individual is the frequency and intensity of being emotionally upset because of their irrational thoughts. provided a few examples of this irrational thinking are: telling oneself that they must maintain the approval of others, when in fact they don’t because existence is not defined by anyone but the self. This falls into being-for-others, and losing the self and the authenticity in the process. Another thread of irrational thinking is equating needs with preferences, which holds a prominent relation to a mixture of CBT and existential therapy. The difference between existential and neurotic anxiety is often blurred; “NEEDING” to call my spouse every 15 minuets to make sure he/ she is okay…this is a lie that people tell themselves as a way to justify behavior, but in reality an individual does not NEED to call their spouse, it is simply a preference (Prochaska & Norcross

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