Consciousness, Self-Deception and Psychotherapy: An Analogue Study

Abstract

Clinicians believe that increased self-awareness is synonymous with successful therapeutic outcome, and the reduction of self-deception is viewed as evidence of meaningful personality change. Despite this, no empirical work has been done on measuring the change in self-deceptive tendencies over the course of psychotherapy. The present investigation is an analogue study on the relationship between self-awareness enhancing psychotherapy and its effect on client self-deception and mental health. One hundred and twenty junior college students participated in the investigation. Self-awareness training was found to have no effect on self-deception levels, but a positive effect on mental health scores. The results suggest that self-examination and the reduction of self-deception may not always be desirable or possible in therapy.In the clinical writings, authors have repeatedly stressed the importance of selfawareness and have viewed the reduction of self-deception as an indicator of successful therapeutic outcome. In the experimental literature, awareness and self-consciousness have also been studied, and the findings suggest that selffocusing is frequently aversive, leading to physiological arousal, intrapsychic distress and lowered self-esteem. In this article a review of the literature will be presented on the various psychodynamic positions noted in the clinical literature, followed by a review of the experimental fmdings on self-consciousness and its influence on self-functioning. I will also discuss the literature on the investigation and conceptual delineation of the concept of self-deception, and then present data which empirically examines the influence of self-awareness training on self-deception and mental health. 83