Self Image and the Intelligences

By Dr. Dany Lousky

People who work in a place of work only because of the need to earn their livelihood, without joy of life and without interest, eventually will develop illnesses so that they can avoid the frustrating work. Society can and should evaluate abilities according to the profile of personal intelligences and thus it can create openness and acceptance of many diverse occupations such as poetry, dance, acting, sport, healing, carpentry, machinery, etc. In this way, it is possible to allow many people who do not want to be engineers, lawyers, or physicians to feel worthy and wanted in society and to allow them to excel in the area in which they can best express themselves. This issue is a main aspect in integrated medicine and seeks to address the prevention of illnesses and mishaps through the reinforcement of the self-image.
Every intelligence is related to an environmental aspect and therefore it is necessary to examine it in an aspect familiar and suitable to a person and to provide optimal environmental conditions, which extend the expression ability of the intelligence.
The role of the therapist is to identify the person’s abilities, to help him reach an area that suits his abilities, an area that allows him effectiveness and competition ability, satisfaction, and reinforcement of the intelligences in which he excels. This will contribute to the promotion of his self-image and to the realization of his personal potential (Walizer, 1999).
Despite the differences among people and the infinite variety of the ‘profile of the intelligences’, evaluation is still performed using uniform ‘conventional’ tests. In this strange situation, the abilities that primarily are based on two intelligences – lingual intelligence and logical-mathematical intelligence – are emphasized. The meaning is that people who excel in these two intelligences are considered strong and successful, while others are considered to have difficulties, to be weak, and to fail to meet requirements. They just have a low self-image and are caught in a frustrating cycle of mediocrity or failure.
The therapist’s role is to allow every person a stage and window for opportunities to express the diverse texture that characterizes intelligences, which sometimes are latent and are not expressed. As the therapy is more diverse in terms of the activities and learning materials, the more it will be possible to discover interest and motivation, to express the self in the context of the remedial activity, in diverse ways suited to the personal profile of intelligences. Beyond the experience of such learning, the therapist will be allowed to ascertain reliability and validity, on the basis of the patients’ performance, if indeed they understand what is learned and can intelligently use the knowledge they have acquired. The therapist can assess abilities, tendencies, strong points, and fields of interest, alongside points that require improvement and mistaken perceptions. In light of this assessment, the therapist can design the continuation of the treatment so that he will encourage patients to emphasize their strong abilities and fields of interest. From this positive perspective, it is important that the therapist will be helped by strong points as an impetus for the promotion of other abilities, which are not sufficiently developed and should be improved or so that mistaken perceptions will be uprooted (Walizer, 1999).
If we adopt this ‘educational’ approach in integrated medicine, it is possible to create optimal conditions that inspire motivation and that encourage the patients’ growth and the realization of their innate potential. This treatment approach, which enables the patient to present himself in diverse ways that suit his personality, his inclinations, and his abilities, according to his choice, may instill a sense of efficacy and belief in his ability. Thus, we will cause the increase of their security and self-image. All these will lead to motivation and openness to personal learning, which will help them leave the circle of failure or mediocrity in which they are caught.
The educational process is a process of self-healing (Lousky, 2005). Exposure, stimulation, practice, and training of intelligences will help the development of the effectiveness of the intelligences (Gardner, 1996), for the purpose of self-healing as well.
When a person does not excel in the intelligence of speech (and therefore has difficulties phrasing verbal responses), but is talented in intelligences of touch, it is possible to encourage him to evince the knowledge he has acquired through drawing, sculpting, construction of a model or presentation, in a process or action of his choice.
A patient who has received the recognition and esteem of the uniqueness of his developed intelligences will display greater interest in further learning and improvement in his less well developed areas (Walizer, 1999).