The Journey Toward Self-Actualization

A couple of questions that I consider often in my work as a counselor are, "What is the ultimate purpose of counseling?" and "What is a general result of counseling that seems positive, or something a client would want to achieve through this process?" One answer that I have come to is captured in the term Self Actualization.

What is Self-Actualization? This is certainly a term that will mean different things to different people. Psychologist Abraham Maslow, who has done extensive research on the topic, observed a common characteristic of Self-Actualizing people to be what he calls the peak experience.

He describes the peak experience in the following way:

"Peak experiences are sudden feelings of intense happiness and well-being, and possibly the awareness of "ultimate truth" and the unity of all things. Accompanying these experiences is a heightened sense of control over the body and emotions, and a wider sense of awareness, as though one was standing upon a mountaintop. The experience fills the individual with wonder and awe. He feels at one with the world and is pleased with it; he or she has seen the ultimate truth or the essence of all things."

On a side note, I recently did some climbing in the Olympic Mountains, and when asked how it was making it to the top, I couldn't resist the temptation to say, "It was definitely a peak experience!"

Maslow and others would suggest that part of becoming a more Self Actualized person, is to experience an increase in the frequency of these peak experiences. He further defines the person in the peak experience as feeling more integrated (unified, ,whole, all-of-a-piece), than at other times. They also look, to an observer, more integrated in various ways, less split or dissociated, less fighting against themselves, more at peace, more one pointed, more harmoniously organized, more purely and singly themselves. They tend to feel more fully functioning, more intelligent, more perceptive, wittier, stronger, and more graceful. They are no longer waisting effort fighting and restraining themselves.

Further, there is a sense of effortless ease to their functioning. Some people will describe this experience as a state of graceful, smooth, and easy functioning, where everything "clicks," or "is in the groove." When observing, one sees the appearance of calm sureness and rightness, as if they knew exactly what they were doing, and were doing it wholeheartedly, without doubts, equivocations, hesitations, or partial withdrawal. In other words, there are no glancing blows at the target or softened blows, only full hits. This person feels themselves to be the creating center of their activities and perceptions. They feel more like the prime mover, self determined, (rather than caused, determined, helpless, dependent, passive.) The experience is also described as being free of blocks, inhibitions, cautions, fears, doubts, controls, reservations, self-criticisms, brakes. They therefore describe themselves as feeling more spontaneous, expressive, and natural. They also report feeling more freely flowing outward and creative.

Another aspect of this process called Self-Actualization is that the peak experience will be extended into more of a plateau experience. So instead of lasting for an hour, it lasts for weeks, or even months.

This is the kind of growth I have seen in clients that I would consider to be generally positive. This is the kind of transformation that I would be comfortable considering as a desired outcome of therapy.