Transformational turning points in the process of liberation

Abstract

Through observations and research, related to treatment and (re)habilitation, transformational turning points, entailing radical rather than an incremental change, have been shown to stand out as significant experiences in the process of liberation. Such turning points may be described as spontaneous insights, “golden moments”, when the past, the present and the future are reorganised into new mental structures so that the past may be integrated with the present and give new perspectives to the future. A turning point may often be elicited in relation to a mental reframing of the existential situation. This novel insight does not primarily emerge from belabouring the past, but by transcending an actual problematic and destructive situation in combination with creative activities. Therefore, new insight and new existential perspectives may open up. The article concludes with an appeal to therapists to be aware of this possibility and facilitate the opportunities.

Keywords:

• turning points
• transformation
• reframing
• creative activities
• coping

View correction statement:

Erratum

Notes

Notes

An existential border is described as a person's experience of being on the outer border of existence when all possible coping vehicles have been actualised without giving a solution to a serious problematic life situation (see also the section Kenneth Pargament's coping theory).

Concerning this first casuistic description, the claim for personal protection is conferred with the Director in Regional Committees for Medical and Health Care Research Ethic (REC) in Norway. In this case no information concerning her name, the institution or other topics which may identify her are given. Informed consent, accordingly, should not be required in this casuistic case. For the three next cases informants from The LP-Foundation have all given informed consent to be quoted and described with pseudonym.

“When the Foundation was at its height, it was considered one of the most successful, as regards rehabilitation of drug addiction and alcoholism, according to an investigation carried out by the sociologist of religion Berndt Gustafsson” (Wikipedia, 2011, author's translation):http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewi_Pethrus. Accessed 1 December 2011.

In 1994 a published official evaluation investigation of Venngarn, one of The LP-Foundation's family treatment homes, was accomplished (Hilborg, 1994) – Venngarn was the central base for the interviews and the study on location in the central study in 1989 (Borgen, 1994a). This evaluation included persons who had been in treatment in the years 1983–1988. Ninety-two persons participated in the study, and these represented 79% of the primeval number of clients. The investigation documents that from those who had been in treatment for six months or more – corresponding to the informants in the study (Borgen, 1994a) – 72% were free from drug abuse six years after treatment (Hilborg, 1994). This must be apprehended as a manifestation of an efficient treatment model compared with generally attained effect. It was among professionals at that time generally known that most treatment institutions attained much weaker treatment results than this. The general attitude was: “Success rates of even 20% after given treatment may be a reason for satisfaction, not despair” (Vailant in Johnsen & Nygård, 1995, p. 42).

The interview guide (Borgen, 1994a, appendix pp. 1–3) was created first by writing down all relevant questions related to knowledge about the informants’ reflections and experiences concerning the objective. These were questions about background and treatment experiences in The LP-Foundation, and special focus was on the rescue experience(the conversion) eliciting a transformational turning point. The questions were then grouped and designed in a “knowledge tree”, which constituted the structure for dialogues in open interviews. The aim was to get as profound and detailed information as possible.

We, in Norway, experienced a transcending experience of enormous dimensions during the days following 22nd July 2011. This horrible, destructive, terror attack shocked the entire world. In connection with this we experienced a national transformational turning point of extreme dimensions. Of course, this unbelievable crime elicited deep sorrow among people throughout the nation. At the same time messages expressing transcendence above hatred, fear and desperation were respectfully mediated immediately after the attack by the prime minister, the king and crown prince, and, subsequently, by central political leaders and also young people who had been caught up in the terror attack on the island.

For more information see http://positivedisintegration.com/