Our Unmet Needs
Art Therapy as an alternative language in practice
In “How it began”, I introduced “unmet needs”. What are they exactly and why are we at their mercy to ace in our lives?
Biologically, we started as a helpless fetus in our mother’s womb. We continue to be dependant on our mother for food source and comfort during gestation. Eventually when we greet this world with our full body, we are in constant need for our care-giver to feed our hungry stomach, clean our soiled bottom and ensure a safe environment as we grow to become independent beings. In short, our body has an inbuilt ability to solicit attention for the sole purpose of our survivor.
Maslow Hierarchy of Needs
Explore where you are currently.
When all these needs are fulfilled, we grow up to be resilient and happy beings. And as we grow older, we develop more needs (depicted in the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs diagram above). Modern psychology has proven the initial needs as a fetus and a baby are the foundation of all our needs. When they are unmet in parts, they will set the stage for more complex situations before they get detected, if at all. The meeting of the early stage needs would also shape our behaviour and viewpoint of our world. That is, a fetus whose mother is constantly stressed will have a lower threshold for stress, a baby who grows up in a family with constant abuse will have a highly tendency to lean towards an abusive relationship growing up as that is their understanding of the world, inculcated by their care-giver/s.
The good news is, all of us are also born with the full ability to self-heal, with appropriate guidance. At The Plant Story, we believe we have a plethora of fun and engaging tools to help you navigate this journey.
