Entitlement In Robert Townsend's Psychodynamic Approach

What is Entitlement?
Townsend defines entitlement as, “The belief that I am exempt from responsibility and I am owed special treatment. It consists of four main components: 1) I am special 2) I am owed something that I haven’t earned or worked for 3) A refusal to accept responsibility 4) A denial of one’s impact on other people. An entitled person refuses to live by God’s rules of responsibility, ownership, and commitment (The hard way).
Townsend uses the phrase “the hard way” to describe what he believes is the best way, the Lord’s way, to live out our lives. He defines it as “The habit(s) of doing what is best, rather than what is comfortable, to achieve a worthwhile outcome”. He contrasts the hard way specifically against the
The parents are deeply disturbed by chronically ongoing issues between themselves and their son. The young man is twenty five years old, is frequently unemployed, and still lives at home. After numerous attempts to help and motivate their son to begin providing for himself, the parents are both frustrated and exhausted. The son, who has reluctantly agreed to also speak with Townsend, believes that a major problem between himself and his parents is their stubborn refusal to “chill out” and view the situation like he does, as “perfectly fine.”
In the mind of this adult son, his parents still providing for him is not the core problem in their relationship.
Nor is it the fact that he spends much of his daytime playing video games and his nights partying. According to this young man, the root of the trouble stems from his parent’s negative attitude toward him. Dr. Townsend probes deeper, with several clarifying questions. Only then does the young man’s truer, previously veiled attitudes and beliefs rise to the surface. Besides his parent’s failure to respect and accept all his choices
Despite providing clear outlined expectations, and the necessary tools and training, the team leader and her sales team are simply not closing the appropriate number of sales. Furthermore, the team leader doesn’t appear to grasp the significance of the problem. When confronted with the issue, she finds it very difficult to accept that merely showing up each day at work on time, completing expected duties, etc. and having good relational skills actually falls short of satisfying her current employer. “Shouldn’t that be enough?” she asks Dr.
Townsend. “After all, I am a good person, a caring person. I hold this office together with my relational skills.”
Her employer on the other hand, understands that productivity in the form of sales and profits keeps the company operational. Consequently her boss requires and expects this employee and her sales team to actually make sales, close deals and create profits (in order to justify their salaries and hold their jobs.)
Townsend says, “No matter what I did or said, I could not move her from the position that her relational