"I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows."
So, I feel very accomplished today; I finished my first unit: some 70 odd pages, and I managed to teach a very hard concept to some students, and they actually got it!!! No they really did, 'cause they applied it! YES!!
So I was trying to explain the concept of psychoanalysis, character development, and psychopathology.
Basically I was trying to explain Gestalt's therapy - a form of psychoanalysis to treat mentally depressed or disturbed people. Gestalt believes that "character is what we do characteristically"; i.e. we all act, talk, and think in a certain way that is defined by our character. How we react to situations, or how we respond to problems creates an extra part of the individual character which makes us act. Gestalt also believed that mind and body are in unity. We act the way we think; "what we are and what we do are inseparable." However, this concept is interrupted by several variables: figure formation and contact boundary disturbances.
Figure Formation has several possibilities. One is that behaviour can be subject to uncertainties. We act because we are uncertain and do not take the time to examine our interests. "I must be hungry because it's dinner time!" or "Of course I love you! I wouldn't have married you if I didn't!" Or perhaps our behaviour is modified by what others expect and take our uncertainty in stride. "I know I must be here. My wife and friends told me so."
Another figure that controls our actions is anxiety or fear, like when we don't raise our hand in class to answer the question because we are afraid of being wrong and everyone knowing. On the other hand, when getting into the contact phase of figure formation, often anxiety triggers the need for us to be aloof and not address the real problems at hand.
Contact Boundaries are the boundaries set by society and individuals in general. When in private settings, people are more likely to act the way that they think, but when the contact boundary is "disturbed by an outside awareness [a public forum or a third party], we become unable to distinguish the field as fully as we would be able to if the boundary had not been altered; we may mistake one thing for another and miss certain things altogether." In laymen terms, when we have an audience to a personal problem, we tend to act differently towards a situation, afraid that we are being judged. And with outside influences, sometimes we perceive people or situations inaccurately.
For example, in Othello, when Othello's insecurities about his relationship with his wife are brought to the forefront, he doesn't take up his concerns with his wife but, instead, listens to Iago and acts according to his advice. The "outside disturbance" in this case is Iago, and this is made possible because Othello went from Venice, the city of law, order, and civility to Cyprus, an island cut off from Venice. It is a place in between order and chaos/barbarism (the Turkish Empire). Because Othello cannot take this as a private matter anymore, and he must uphold his honour in front of his men (Iago), he "mistakes" Desdemona for being unfaithful and fails to see the true villain, Iago.