It seems to me that a very great deal of one's well-being is determined by how much personal freedom one exercises, that includes how much one accepts the way they exist in this world (with one's gender, ethnicity, status, etc). A philosopher once pointed out the importance of living by one's own subjectivity, getting in touch with one's own point of view in making decisions so that they can have the ability to take responsibilities of whatever decisions they have made, and thus becoming a moral person. While it is a matter of fact that one cannot have it all, one must live in accordance to the way they have already decided to live, with what they can have and they cannot have.
Some people, however, may have already been content automatically with themselves, regardless how much control they feel they have over their choices, for example for embracing the fact that oppression is inevitable and by surrendering to a greater Being to find justification of their condition. Though I personally believe that to some extent they will somehow express their need to exercise their free will, it is of great benefit for everyone's well-being to do so. By this I mean they will become happier of the present and optimistic about the future; by this it means they will give positive energy to their environment which can be felt especially to the people around them. After all somehow it is easy for one to spot a company who is not happy even though he or she is not being grumpy, simply by the feeling that it is not comfortable being around him/her. My idea of free will then, despite its necessity for the society (philosophically speaking), it is also a necessity to one's sense of well-being. It is basically a good human gift.
Perhaps it is reasonable then to regard a certain approach in psychotherapy and counseling, which is the humanistic approach, a very beneficial discovery in the field of mental health. While striving to become a practitioner I have come to experts in the field as clients, finding that it was that kind of feeling I wanted to experience after the session - finding that despite the oppression I have received from certain powerful figure, despite the great tension I have felt from it, I would always have a choice; that I could choose whether to fall under it or make my own destiny. This, however, includes the necessity for me to accept both choices' costs, and benefits. Sometimes one has to make choices that are hard to make; choices that are limited by time, space, and other circumstances which are simply inevitable. Therefore it is crucial to weigh every options and determines what is best to choose, and it is not easy especially when things like time constraints in decision-making process become part of the limitations one should count. Even though the one's final decision is to go with the oppression, feeling that such decision is made by full awareness and as a result of exercising one's free will to do so may make one feels a lot different then when the decision was made without it. The process remains different when the result is still the same. Yet, especially if the decision is a hard one, one may show different behaviors once the decision was made and one has to live by it.
Conflict of interests have always become the problem of men since ancient civilization. In fact the postmodernism view which is adopted today is based on the recognition that reality is actually a subjective matter; everybody sees things their own way, sometimes this relates to the interests they have. Even during psychotherapy and counselling sessions, professional practitioners may have already a concept in their mind on the best choice the client should take; yet, making the client feel free to choose is important so that they make the choices at least not in a negative light, for they have the chance to exercise their free will. What a practitioner can do perhaps pointing out the consequences to each option of choice that is available, and letting the client decide which option he/she would prefer to take.
The Practitioner-Client Relation Problem
One careful note however, must be made in relation to the relationship between the practitioner or client, which is of course more related to the characteristic of the client and not the practitioner, since it is the practitioner's job to understand and assess the client, not the other way around. I am very well aware that while some people may benefit from exercising their free will while making their choices, some may not, for they regard the practitioner as more like an authority figure - a figure from whom they expect to find enlightenment in terms of the best decision they should take without caring pretty much about the arguments that based such decision. In other words, providing more options or giving a lot of freedom would lead to confusion instead of positive feelings from being able to exercise their free will. Instead of putting themselves as the center of the relation, these people put the practitioner in that position. What they expect to do is listen and follow; not listen, reflect, and decide.
Some colleagues have asked me about whether a practitioner is allowed to give suggestions to clients (in terms of directing the client). Honestly since I have not done any clinical training (for the record, I base this writing based on my experience as a client and reader) I cannot give any certain answer to that. But I believe that in every action that one takes, one should have pretty good arguments that makes it reasonable. In this case, I guess what I can say is that whether or not a practitioner should give suggestions to the clients depends on the characteristic of the clients. I have already articulated the reason behind this. In addition, this is also supported by some references [1, 2] I have read about how culture affects the way a counseling and psychological intervention should be carried out and putting it to a smaller scope, which is the relationship between the counselor and the client; some cultures prefer therapy and counselling that involves reflection with placing their selves at the center of the therapy/counseling process (e.g. psychodynamic approach, humanistic approach), while others prefer a more structured and directed approach, placing the practitioner at the center of the process. Therefore client assessment during the first minutes of encounter plays a great role in choosing the best approach to deal with the client. While it is inevitable for the practitioner to start by looking at the client's cultural background from the data available (e.g. ethnicity and nationality), it does not necessarily give a reliable information: the degree to how much a person confirms to such culture should be assessed too. Globalization is a phenomenon that impacts every human being in every country, therefore it is not surprising to find westernized individuals in East or Southeast Asia, or the other way around. While some people, regardless of their ethnicity and nationality, may feel that being directed is annoying, others may benefit a lot from it and perhaps even expected it. On the other hand, perhaps what some need is the belief that they have control over their own choices, and they will feel happier that way.
Finally, the problem I have put forward is limited to the issue of how much a self-focused psychological and/or counselling practice should be carried out in relation to practitioner-client relationship and the culture the client has adopted, not whether or not exercising personal freedom or free-will is of necessity and is a need of individuals who adopt one culture and not the others. I myself believe that the latter is a universal phenomenon; an individual may exercise personal freedom with full awareness or not. Thus, regarding this I agree with Kierkegaard's view of an individual who embraces their whole existence as a human being. While one can experience a lot of tension of all the rules and regulations to which they must obey, others may not, because they have embraced the rules and regulations and chose to obey them as part of their individual existence.
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