The Michelangelo Phenomenon and the Real Self: Applications to Psychotherapy

Written by Carmine Giordano for NAAP

For Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo Buonarotti, every block of stone possessed a preexisting concetto, or image “that the artist’s hand, obeying intellect, needed to discover and labor to bring forth.” As such, he saw the essential sculptural act as a “taking away” —a process of removing (levare) pieces to “real-ize” the latent form. “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” (Michelangelo)

For many psychologists and counselors, human beings are viewed similarly as having inherent potentialities which, when allowed to unfold, will help them develop their full human capacities, and much like Michelangelo’s sculptor, they envision their therapeutic work as helping patients remove (levare) the elements that encumber those potentialities, allowing them gradually to discover and reveal themselves as fully and authentically as possible.

As a useful working metaphor, Buonarotti’s perspective was first introduced and applied to patient therapy as the Michelangelo Phenomenon by psychologist Stephen Michael Drigotas and several collaborators who observed pattens of relationship interdependence in which close partners influenced each other’s dispositions, values, and behavioral patterns in such a manner as to bring them closer to their ideal selves.

In the study, one partner influenced the other through perceptual and behavioral affirmations which encouraged the self of the other partner to align with the promoted ideal and ultimately develop many of its capacities and assume its traits.

Among applicable therapeutic approaches, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, schooled in the woes of the ladened psyche, may also find it useful to implement the Michelangelo Phenomenon in their work with patients.

The original study focused on the influence of an imagined concetto of an ideal self on the subjects examined rather than considering the undeveloped innate or inherent potentials of their actual selves. The affecting ideal self was defined collectively as an individual’s wished-for dreams, and aspirations; attributes they currently possess; and qualities they felt obligated to possess for self-esteem or as a neurotic defense.

For the psychotherapist, however, a broader and more useful working concept or concetto, might be the ideation of the real self as defined in the psychoanalytic theory of Karen Horney, viz. the intrinsic potentialities including temperament, talents, capabilities and predisposition that are part of every person’s genetic makeup and need a favorable environment in which to develop.

As defined in her writing, the real self is ultimately a speculative, sort of end-goal phantasm of the human being in, as much as possible, fully actualized potential—an abstraction, serving as a lodestar guiding the therapist and patient — an abstraction, though postulated and theoretical, which is “nevertheless felt and when glimpsed, felt more real, more certain, more definite than anything else.” (Karen Horney)

In working with patients, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists might implement the Michelangelo Phenomenon and the guiding concetto of the real self in a number of ways:

Belief in the Client’s Potential — Assume patients have inherent potentials for growth, self-understanding, and healing. Assist them in uncovering and realizing those potentials.
Facilitating Self-Discovery — Help patients peel back layers of defenses, trauma, or maladaptive behaviors to uncover their true selves by exploring deep-seated beliefs, past experiences and unconscious motivations.
Guided Uncovering — Guide patients through the therapeutic process by active listening, empathy, and thoughtful questioning.
Non-Directive Techniques — Create a supportive environment that allows patients to explore and understand themselves. Act more as a facilitator than a director. Trust that patients have the ability to find their own solutions and insights.
Respect for Individuality — Be attuned to the specific needs, strengths, strengths and challenges of each patient. Be open to different approaches for specialized needs rather than accommodate the formulations of any favored therapeutic theory or model.
Patient Empowerment – Empower patients by reinforcing the belief that they have the answers and strengths within themselves. Define and enact the role of the therapist as someone who helps patients to discover and harness their own internal resources.
Process Over Outcome — Focus on the ongoing process of exploration, organic growth, and authentic transformation rather than rushing to any preconceived outcome.

By integrating the Michelangelo Phenomenon, the concetto of the real self, among their therapeutic approaches, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists may foster a deeper, more-respectful, and patient-centered approach, ultimately helping clients uncover, embrace, and function as much as possible as their authentic, true, and real selves.

Works Cited

Drigotas, Stephen M. (February 2002). “The Michelangelo Phenomenon and Personal Well-Being”. Journal of Personality. 70 (1): 59-77.

Horney, Karen. (1950). Neurosis and Human Growth.

Liebert, Robert S. (1983) Michelangelo: A Psychoanalytic Study of His Life and Images.

Paris, Bernard J. (June 1999). “Karen Horney’s Vision of the Self”. The American Journal of Psychoanalysis. 59: 157-66.