Interview with Dr. Michael Winters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Interview with Dr. Michael Winters - Essay Example As a licensed practitioner of and a firm believer in the merits of logotherapy, the search for and discovery of meaning plays a significant role in Dr. Winters' professional, clinical, teaching, and research activities.The search for meaning has had a strong basis in Dr. Winters' background, as reflected by his two choices for a college major: Theater or Psychology. Broadway's loss was psychology's gain, as he found the search for meaning more lucrative and challenging than, in a sense, its interpretation. After undergraduate and Masteral studies at Purdue, he went to Tennessee for his doctorate at the University of Memphis in 1991.However, it was not until two years ago (in 2005) that he embraced logotherapy, which is based on Frankl's insights on the beneficial psychological effects of the search for and discovery of meaning in human experience (Frankl, 1984/19871998). Frankl has had a substantial impact on Dr. Winters' life and profession, and logotherapy research has become a hug e part of his academic and clinical practice. As a counseling strategy, he uses logotherapy, which fits with the question that he asks every time he faces any of his clients: "how do I help this person to help him/herself move forward" (Winters, 2007)Dr. Winters' extensive experience, however, does not limit his counseling strategy to logotherapy. ... Among college students, though, Dr. Winters addresses more faith-based issues in search of solutions. Dr. Winters is also an expert on clinical depression, and a considerable amount of time was spent during the interview discussing this topic. We started by discussing the symptoms, which are primarily anxiety, pessimism, and lethargy. When asked what the causes of depression are, he paused for several seconds before answering: "anything". Depression is a chemical reaction that affects the mind, and this can be triggered by anxieties over relationships (romantic or otherwise), emotional or physical or psychological trauma. Among young people, common triggers of depression are issues with parents, relationships, or friends, or the search for and development of individual identity. If there is what he could call a master variable that helps one to avoid depression, it is the value of social networking. He noted from his clinical and professional experience that people who know how to get the most out of their social relationships with family, friends, and a special other are farthest away from depression. I guess that an important consideration here is the sense of security that a person feels, allowing him/her to maintain their identity in social relationships, free of false expectations and desires to be what they are not. As Dr. Winters shares with his clients, if they are not happy and truly getting their needs in their relationships, then they should either end it or fix it, working on the issues unless there is violence. He encourages his clients in a depression to move beyond a definition of love that is based on what they could get out of a relationship to one