Title: What's LOVE Got to do with it? Love, Creativity and Mental Health
1 What's LOVE Got to do with it? Love, Creativity
and Mental Health
- The psychology of Love, attachment and the use of
Creativity. (Key Note Lecture) - By Divine Charura
- (Psychotherapist and Lecturer)
- Annual Conference of Psychological Therapies
Leeds Metropolitan University 2011
2How we will look at Love?
- Attachment Love styles.
- Impact of Love on the Family system.
- Impact of love on the brain/mental health and
issues in Therapy. - Impact of creativity.
3Quotes on Love
- Love is the irresistible desire to be
irresistibly desired." - Mark Twain - Love is patient , love is Kind God is Love
(Bible) - If there had been no love.The world would have
not existed. (Traditional Dalmatian song) - All you need is love.John Lennon Paul
McCartney
4Love exists in many cultures, faiths,
Philosophies and religions.
- Many studies have concluded that Love exists in
every culture. - Is there anyone who has never heard of the word
or the concept of Love?
5Research Studies highlighting importance of Love
and attachment.
- Early 1900's, Of 10,272 children admitted to the
Dublin Foundling home during a single 25 year
period, only 45 survived (Joseph 1999). - R.A. Spitz, (1952) studied institutionalised
Children- display low intelligence, extreme
passivity, attention deficits. - Romanian orphansvirtual black-hole
orbitofrontal cortex (Chugani et al 2001).
6Love Conceptualized as an Attachment Process
throughout life.
- The concept of "attachment", referring to a
continuous tie to a specific person that the
child turns to when feeling vulnerable and in
need of protection (Bowlby 1951) - In Adults - throughout life may manifest as
separation anxiety, grief experiences and
mourning.
7Emotional development Attachment and Development
of Love
- Margaret Ainsworth's (1963) "Strange Situation"
study. - Margaret Ainsworth's John Bowlby (1991) - A
neglectful, stressed or inconsistent parent gave
the kind of care which tended to lead to anxious,
insecure or avoidant children. - Further studies showed prediction attachment
pattern of children aged 5 and 8.
8Why Love matters Parent-Child Attachment
Perspective - Sue Gerhardt
- Earliest relationship shapes the baby's nervous
system, with lasting consequences (2004). - Development of the brain can affect future
emotional well being. - Distress at 4 months old behaviour at 1 and 5
years old predicted.
9Attachment theories- Melanie Klein Love, Guilt,
and Reparation (1921-1945)
- "... The power of love - which is the
manifestation of the forces which tend to
preserve life - is there in the baby as well as
the destructive impulses, .. - Love is central to child development.
10Theories of Love as attachment
- Secure attachment
- Anxious Ambivalent
- Avoidant attachment
- Attachment theory has been criticised for nature
of experiments and by feminists. - Focus is on what then are an alternative theories
of Love?
11Love Styles- Greek Philosophy andColours of Love
(J.A Lee 1973)
- Agápe - Brotherly love
- Éros - Passionate love, with sensual desire
- Philía - Love between family
- Storge- Friendship
- Ludus- Game playing love ( Playful Interactions
Uncommitted Love) - Mania (Eros Ludos) Jealousy Dependency
- Pragma (Storge Ludos) Realistic and
practical Love
12Robert Sternbergs duplex theory of love (1986).
- Liking
- Intimacy
-
- Romantic Love
Companionate - Passion Intimacy
Intimacy commitment - Infatuation Fatuous Love Empty
Love - Passion Passion Commitment
Commitment
CONSUMMATE LOVE INTIMACY PASSION - COMMITMENT
13Do we learn about Love in our primary family
system?
- I propose that concepts of Love Begins in the
family. - What is a family?
- AFT takes 'family' to mean any group of people
who define themselves as such, who care about and
care for each other (AFT 2011).
14Difference and Diversity in family processes and
Love
Jane 47
Sue 50
James 56
Paris 7
Malcom 16
15In my family I learnt that I should Love you
with my whole heart..
- Well actually I Love you with my whole
Brain.and all the chemicals in it make me love
you moreOR hate you. - Its all to do with Brain Biology.
16Impact on the Brain
- Differences in brainstem and limbic forebrain
- If reared in an abnormal, deprived environment,
the limbic system nuclei will atrophy, or neural
pathways will develop abnormally. - Brain Neurochemistry
17Cortisol, Love and the brain
- Cortisol is a Hormone produced in the
hypothalamus responsible for homeostasis, emotion
motor function. - Regulation of Cortisol is experience dependent.
- Too much is linked to depression and fearfulness
too little to emotional detachment and aggression.
18What's Love got to do with it?
- Our own personal lives
- Children
- Death bereavement and loss
- Couples, families or individuals we meet everyday
in therapy - Psychological adjustment M. health
19What's Love got to do with it?
20Conditions of worth and conditional positive
regard- Carl Rogers 1959
- Conditional positive regard.
- Alienated from our true selves.
- Incongruence between the perceived self and ideal
self maladjustment. - Our Work and Love? i.e Therapy, Chaplaincy,
Psychoanalysis?
21 Psychoanalysis and Love
- At base Psychoanalysis is , a cure through Love
(Letter to Jung , 6 December 1906). - Our treatments are treatments of LoveViennese
psychoanalytic Society on psychoanalytic
treatment.
22Love Creativity?
- Research shows that in all therapeutic
relationships what is helpful is - The relationship Love?
- (Haugh and Paul 2008)
- Only one way to Love Creativity
23Forms of creativity
- Exploring a narrative
- Biographical work (photos, letters..)
- Invocatory work- using an object to represent
meaning. - Radical group work
- Art, dance, music
- Complementary therapy
- In whatever we do we can be creative
24Impact of Creativity on Continual development of
The Limbic System
The right side is more visual and processes
intuitively, holistically, and randomly
Left side of the brain is active in language and
processes in a logical and sequential order.
- Love and Creativity stimulates both sides
- Formation of New Nerves.
- Better mental health?
25To love and be creative or not to Love thats the
question?
- Attachment Love styles
- Impact of Love on the Family system
- Impact of love on the brain and mental health and
issues in Therapy. - Impact of creativity
- Above all I wish you true Love
- Thank you