Week 4 - Psychological Needs

Vitality - the–noun, plural -ties.

1.exuberant physical strength or mental vigor: a person of great vitality.

2.capacity for survival or for the continuation of a meaningful or purposeful existence: the vitality of an institution.

3.power to live or grow: the vitality of a language.

4.vital force or principle.

The organismic approach to motivation really resonates with me.  I find this theory to be quite psychologically holistic and all encompassing.  It is based around the concept that the survival of an organism depends on the environment and the fact that the environment is constantly changing and so the organism must develop and adapt with the environment.  It is most certainly a very biological based concept which has been transferred to a psychological perspective.  There are three key ingredients required for a full behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement.  These are autonomy, competence and relatedness.  When the three are satisfied one will experience vitality and in my mind, full contentment within the world.

Autonomy is the perception that an individual has control over their behaviour.  It is a concept that is so simple yet so many people seem to get it wrong especially parents! Having the correct balance of autonomy in your life leads to satisfaction, happiness and intrinsic motivation.  This makes me think of when I was growing up, I had a friend who had authoritarian parents who were very controlling.  This led to my friend experiencing great psychological distress, which presented itself as an eating disorder, something she could control.  Further down the line she stopped talking to her parents and moved out at a young age.  All because they were trying to control her every action and not let her do things that she wanted to do.

Competence is the ability to interact effectively with the environment, such as work, school, relationships and other activities.  More specifically when we reach a state of flow we will feel enjoyment in our lives.  Flow is the point at which challenge matches skill. Whilst reading this I was thinking about myself working out at the gym.  I go to the gym almost on a daily basis and to ensure that I don’t get bored I constantly push myself a little bit further.  I put heavier weights on the bar, or do more reps or go faster on the treadmill for longer.  This makes things challenging enough that I enjoy it but not so challenging that it is above my skill level and thus I reach a state of flow.

Relatedness is the need to have close emotional bonds with other people; furthermore they need to involve caring, liking, accepting and valuing.  It is not enough to just have quantity, they need to involve quality as well.  A person needs to feel as though they are truly accepted as individuals, can be themselves and still liked by others.  A sense of belonging acts as a buffer to many psychological problems, especially depression. 

I truly believe that if people work at finding these elements they will be able to feel a positive satisfaction in their lives and in therapy these elements should be emphasised.