The Influence of Social Systems on Self-Discovery: A Personal Account, Study notes of Sociology

Download The Influence of Social Systems on Self-Discovery: A Personal Account and more Study notes Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! Social Work Notes: Awakening to “Self” or in the words of Carl Rogers (1989) “to be that self which one truly is”, is not a simple task. It requires considerable tenacity and discipline. Wayne Muller in his book entitled How Then Shall We Live: Four Simple Questions That Reveal the Beauty and Meaning in Our Lives (1996) discusses the difficulty of discovering our essential self due to the powerful influence of the community from which we come. Every human system that we interact with from individuals to larger social systems such as families, neighborhoods, organizations and governments have considerable influence in the way we perceive ourselves. All human systems have certain expectations of us that can either enhance our awakening self or obstruct its development. This realization was clearly illustrated for me in a professional setting early in my career. I once worked in a prestigious inpatient psychiatric hospital where my professional colleagues had very clear ideas about the treatment of mental illness and who was in the best position to make clinical decisions about patients. I quickly learned what was appropriate for me to comment on and what was not in team meetings. For example, at no time could I imply that the patient behaviors I observed in the hospital were normal. Pathology reigned supreme in this setting and my role was to offer information regarding discharge planning; would the patient be able to maintain his/her medication regimen in the community; were the social supports for the patient sufficient to monitor his/her mental illness. On one occasion I suggested to my supervisor that several patients had interacted with me repeatedly in a very appropriate manner when members of the psychiatric team were not present; usually in the recreation room or in the Docsity.com