Being a Clinical and Educational Psychologist, I sit in therapy with a lot of people, for various clinical, educational and developmental concerns, as well as for mental health and general wellbeing. With the professional experience of around 15 years, many a times I am overwhelmed to comprehend what makes people happy and contended and the things they do to achieve them. I have hardly witnessed anyone whom we can call self actualized (and even researches confirm that only 2 percent of the population fulfills this need). My clients range from politicians to celebrities, industrialists to homemakers, employers to employees, students to retired, almost all the kinds. Every time my clients are sitting on the ‘hot seat’ (nick name that I’ve given to the long chair used for therapy in my clinic) they invite me into their history, telling me stories of their love, loss, motives, deepest desires, challenges, hidden fears and expectations. As a therapist, I am really moved.Over years and years of experience and research, I am in awe over the eminent psychologist Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation. As a humanist, Maslow believed that people have an inborn desire to be self-actualized, that is, to be all they can be. In order to achieve this highest motive in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs however, several more basic needs must be met such as the need for food, safety, love, and esteem.At a decent age we become capable of earning our bread and butter, have an estate to flourish and flaunt, are blessed with a family to return back to after toiling selflessly at the workplace, our offsprings receiving a decent education, have friends and distant relatives to appreciate the weekends and label ourselves as ALL ACCOMPLISHED. At this point , there still exist a big void in our lives. How can we talk of self-actualization, when our esteem needs are struggling to be fulfilled? I’ve seen even the renowned celebrated people thriving for the self-esteem needs. Why?
In a nutshell, as a Self-Esteem Coach, I feel esteem needs are about earning appreciation and respect of others and our subconscious is aware that material assets do earn us ‘esteem’ but only partially’. We need to sense that we are valued by others by making a worthy contribution to the world. We complete our minimum required academic credentials and enter the workforce to earn a livelihood. Having met all the basic needs, we progress further only to get stuck at the level of self-esteem. This motive can only be achieved with the highest level of credentials.Being an educational psychologist, I have researched all the top universities for higher education in Asia and overseas. In this regard European International University, Paris which is nationally recognized and internationally accredited has a lot to offer in the form of Professional Doctoral Certificate programme . Comparing the doctorate degrees and courses of universities in London, U.K., The United States, Australia, Canada and other European countries, EIU in Paris provides advancement opportunities to adults who wish to upgrade and certify themselves with professional doctoral but perceive it as something out-of-reach and beyond their intellectual capacity. It allows them to pursue such high-level scholarly honour in a wide range of specialization areas irrespective of their basic academic degree. First time ever in the history of mankind, great visionaries like Dr. Edward Roy, President EIU and his team have launched this unique vocational doctoral award programmes. It is people like him who could understand the indispensable relationship between the highest professional excellence and gratification of esteem needs to progress further as a self-actualized being.Needless to say, this vocational doctoral certificate programme by EIU, Paris is both cost-effective as well as time saving with duration of minimum 2 years up to 3 years without the constraints of attending routine timetabled lectures and coursework.
Professional Doctoral Certificate by EIU, which is an accomplishment in itself, would be indicative that one is progressive in his/her approach to personal and professional development as well as contributing to the development of the world. As such, this would create a sense of awe for others who hear about the fact that you hold such a ground-breaking qualification of highest professional excellence of learning and development in a specialized field of work / career which no other university or college abroad offers. The only requirement for it being high level of motivation and self-discipline. This recognition by others tend to make you feel more confident which would help you achieve the esteem needs , setting the ground for Self-Actualization. Consequently, achieving the top motive of life i.e. WHAT A MAN CAN BE: HE MUST BE.About the Author: Ms. Shamina Deol, clinical and educational Psychologist in Asia is a renowned Self-Esteem Coach and a Career Counsellor.