The Ikonic Podcast The Ikon Institute of Australia

Title: Ikon Student Podcast

Subject: Narrative, Identity and Integrative Processes

Title: What Happens When I Lose Myself? Possession and the Self

When a self-concept solidifies, the feeling of loss is distinguishable. Philosophically one
might contend that losing oneself is a process of self-transcendence where one moves beyond limited ego-bound identities. Psychologically, losing oneself may denote losing touch with one's sense of self, identity, or agency. It may manifest due to trauma, intense emotional experiences, or mental health conditions. When individuals experience a loss of self, they may feel disconnected from their core values, beliefs, and desires. This disconnection can lead to confusion, uncertainty, and an existential crisis characterised by questions like "Who am I?"

Marnie, Kimberly, and Dillon. 

This presentation was delivered live over zoom on December 8th 2021 at our annual academic symposium. Rebecca was a third-year student at Ikon at the time of recording. This talk is the result of her personal research.

"Psychotherapy is an interactive process summated by the dynamic communication of verbal, nonverbal, and paraverbal information between therapist and client. While psychotherapy – touted as the ‘talking cure’ – originally focused on the verbal realm, the nonverbal properties of communication were only of fringe interest until more recently. In particular, the paraverbal – or prosody – is under-examined in the literature. Prosody – the qualities of voice including intonation, rhythm, volume, speech rate, pauses, and voice quality – communicates much more than most of us are aware of. It is a major stream of relational, affective (emotional) information exchange, and an important component of the Gestalt of human- human reciprocity; the intersubjective matrix that fills and enriches the therapeutic container. When prosodic dimensions of dialogue are attended to in therapy, therapist and client may begin to know and articulate previously unavailable, dissociated self-experiences."
- Rebecca Hirst, Bachelor of Counselling and Psychotherapy

This presentation was delivered live over zoom on December 8th 2021 at our annual academic symposium. Alexandra was a third-year student at Ikon at the time of recording. This talk is the result of her personal research.

"Discussing political affiliations can provoke and expose social divisions and prejudices, and with no less troublesome outcomes, the field of political psychology elevates this discussion to the level of academic inquiry as researchers and theorists attempt to explain why individuals vote for a given party. This symposium serves as a critique to the inconclusive and heterogenous field of political psychology and in lieu offers provisional suggestions as to a new theoretical framework for future study. Drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, Gregory Bateson and developmental psychotherapy, a more complex conception of the dynamic interplay between the political and the personal is offered. Finally, this systemic analysis is applied to the field of psychotherapy, revealing the implicit politics of therapy and the hidden ideological bent of psychological theories."

 - Alexandra Scoleri, Bachelor of Counselling and Psychotherapy

This presentation was delivered live over zoom on December 8th 2021 at our annual academic symposium. Jack was a third-year student at Ikon at the time of recording. This talk is the result of his personal research.

"Every decade or so, research in clinical psychology forces shifts in how we think about the mind and organise treatment in psychotherapy. In the last decade, several eminent theorists have pointed to Sydney Blatt’s Dynamic Structural model of dialectic personality development as just such a shift, potentially serving as the foundation for the future paradigm of psychopathology. For Blatt, personality development is understood simply as the integration of the capacity for relatedness and self-definition. Here, establishing meaningful, mutually satisfying, reciprocal interpersonal relationships as well as establishing a differentiated, integrated, realistic, essentially positive sense of self are the most fundamental processes in personality development, from infancy to old age. Importantly, these twin processes are engaged in a constant dialectic; a mature sense of self cannot develop without satisfying interpersonal relationships, just as mature, reciprocal, interpersonal relationships cannot exist without a coherent sense of identity and relatively clear self-definition. This talk will illustrate Blatt’s dialectic model of development as it manifests in early infant development, as well as extending into the realm of biology and physics, demonstrating this dialectic process from the perspective of systems theory and ecology."

- Jack Dale, Bachelor of Counselling and Psychotherapy

This presentation was delivered live over zoom on December 4th 2020 at our annual academic symposium. Michael was a third-year student at Ikon at the time of recording. This talk is the result of his personal final research project.

ABSTRACT:

This presentation will explore how the unconscious is created by an artificial division between mind and body, and man and nature, through the theory of Enactive Cognition; ultimately explicating a perspective of the unconscious as being a fundamentally embodied process. This proposal aims to transform the theory of the unconscious from an inert theoretical concept, into an intimate aspect of our immediate reality, through re-situating the unconscious as a living process that is actively constituted by the sensate awareness of the body, with vast implications for our conceptualisation of mental health and the human psyche, with the singularity of the self, and for conceiving therapy as a process of embodiment.

Michael Schibeci, Bachelor of Counselling and Psychotherapy

This presentation was delivered live over zoom on December 4th 2020 at our annual academic symposium. Edie was a third-year student at Ikon at the time of recording. This talk is the result of her personal final research project.

ABSTRACT:

Apparently it is ungraceful of me to mention my period in public, however I bleed each month to help make humankind a possibility. The majority of people are comfortable with the 'pornification' of women, the sexualisation of women, the violence and segregation of women. And while they don’t express their disgust about all that, some may be angered and bothered by the topic I have chosen for my talk. I menstruate and they see it as dirty, as if it’s not a bridge between worlds, a labour, a love, a selfless and strikingly beautiful process. I want to live in a world where people who bleed feel at home in their bodies and in their communities; no matter what cultural or religious ideals influence them. Primitive societies have made the threat of menstrual pollution as concrete as possible, whether it be a belief in an evil spirit, a strict domestic and social conduct or a fear and reverence for something they do not understand. When we take a look around the globe at the ancient, and not so ancient, beliefs around menstruation we can see the damaging effects of menstrual stigma and taboo. When we bring education and awareness into our households, schools, workplaces and society, we will make progress towards a society that accepts menstruation as the natural and essential function that it is. Shame has been termed the “master emotion of everyday life” however shame cannot live in the light, so let’s shed some light on this topic and combat menstrual shame.

Edie Bartley, Bachelor of Arts Psychotherapy