The American Psychological Association and the Hoffman Report
Based on findings documented in the Independent Review Relating to APA Ethics Guidelines, National Security Investigations, and Torture, more commonly known as the Hoffman report, this guest editorial describes how the American Psychological Association (APA) colluded with the Department of Defense during the Bush administration to provide ethical cover for the Department of Defense’s interrogation program and for psychologists working in the program. Describing the actions of APA as "one of the greatest ethical breaches in the history of psychology," the article discusses APA’s offenses, what has been done abo...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - February 10, 2016 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Elkins, D. N. Tags: Invited Commentary Source Type: research
Field Attunement for a Strong Therapeutic Alliance: A Perspective From Relational Gestalt Psychotherapy
This article addresses the basis for the centrality of the therapeutic relationship in effective therapeutic outcomes, especially as distinct from technique, which prevails in the 21st-century Australian mental health context as a focus in determining what constitutes evidence-based practice. Presence-oriented therapeutic approaches infer an intersubjective field within which transformative enquiry can occur. This forms the basis of the article’s exploration of the function of the phenomenon of the "field" for intersubjective therapeutic relationship and its relationship to Levinas’ "third" as the basis for tra...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - December 10, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Day, E. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Humanizing the Racialized Self
The aim of this article is to address axioms of humanistic psychology, such as individual meaning-making and authentic personal power, as they are relatable to the experiences of Blacks and other People of Color. The effects of racialization generally preclude these groups of individuals from fully partaking in the entitlements that many Whites inherit at birth. As such, the author suggests a new manner of conceptualizing existentialism and humanistic psychology for the racialized self. The author presents many of the ideological issues in humanistic psychology that could be reconsidered for a deeper relevance to People of...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - December 10, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Lemberger-Truelove, T. L. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Caring for a Man Who Sexually Abused Children
Child sex abuse is a serious health concern, involving considerable pain, suffering, and hurt for victims and their families, as well as generating public interest and scrutiny. Such abuse damages, weakens, but perhaps surprisingly does not necessarily sever all family ties. In this article, people from familial networks within which child sexual abuse has occurred recount their experiences of extending compassion and support to a man who has sexually abused children. Crucially, the supporters acknowledge the gravity of child sex abuse and their stories emphasize the need to ensure the safety of the victims of abuse and ot...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - December 10, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Young-Hauser, A. M., Hodgetts, D., Coleborne, C. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
A Humanistic Approach to Problematic Online Sexual Behavior
Problematic Internet use for sexual activity is often explained by some combination of unique features of the Internet and user characteristics. Disease models of addiction are also often used. Experiential personal construct psychology offers an alternative, humanistic, nondisease diagnostic conceptualization of problematic online sexual activity. A detailed case example demonstrates an experiential personal construct psychology conceptualization. The article concludes with reflective comments provided by the client described in the case example. (Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology)
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - December 10, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Thomas, J. C. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Alvin R. Mahrer, PhD
(Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology)
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - September 15, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Kleinplatz, P. J. Tags: In Memoriam Source Type: research
Mentoring Person-Centered Spiritual Maturation: A Quasi-Experimental Mixed Methods Study of a Contemplative Self-Inquiry Curriculum
This article reports the effectiveness of a curriculum to mentor this learning process in higher education. We conducted a quasi-experimental, mixed methods study (triangulated qualitative and quantitative data) with experimental and control groups. Qualitative analysis (written student narratives, experimental group) documented five dimensions of growth (behavioral, cognitive, social–emotional, contemplative, and integrative) that culminated in a resilient worldview and prosocial behavior. Statistical analysis (experimental and control groups, pre–post intervention) confirmed these findings, demonstrating sign...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - September 15, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Kass, J. D., Baxter, J., Lennox, S. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Existential Psychotherapy With a Person Who Lives With a Left Ventricular Assist Device and Awaits Heart Transplantation: A Case Report
This is a case report about long-term existential psychotherapy with a person who lived with a ventricular assist device after a fulminant heart attack and who awaited heart transplantation. The therapeutic relationship lasted over 2.5 years with over 120 therapy sessions in total. The frequency of meetings was flexible. Most meetings took place in the therapy office at the hospital, with 50 minutes per session on a weekly basis. In the acute care phase and in a subsequent crisis, this frequency was increased to daily meetings in the inpatient unit. Using heuristic inquiry as a methodological approach, a co-constructed cas...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - September 15, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Schulz, C. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Must Out of Sight Mean Out of Mind? Levinas, Language, and the Schizophrenic Other
Levinas reminds therapists that the loss of words suffered by schizophrenic patients is not mere silence. It is also isolation. If a patient lives in a world for which there are no words, then it is difficult to relate across distance that separates human beings. Sometimes the best a schizophrenic patient can do is present amorphous fragments to a therapist. Instead of concentrating solely on the forms of the words themselves, a therapist should also explore expressed meaning. All words reveal and conceal this meaning, but some words conceal more than others, especially if they are very general. Even now, mainstream psycho...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - September 15, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Fetters, A. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
My Journey With Kierkegaard: From the Paradoxical Self to the Polarized Mind
This article is adapted from an invited address sponsored by European Humanities University, Vilnius, Lithuania, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Soren Kierkegaard’s birth. In this article, I show how Kierkegaard’s philosophy—in particular that depicted in Fear and Trembling and the Sickness Unto Death—runs through each of my major books on existential psychology and practice, from The Paradoxical Self to my latest work The Polarized Mind. I conclude that Kierkegaard, like William James succeeding him, is one of those rare philosophers who is likely to have as much impact on philosophy an...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - September 15, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Schneider, K. J. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
The Double: Manifestations of Pathology and a Deluded Self
This article explores the psychological and literary aspects of the Der Doppelgänger, The Double. A Double is related to the concept of multiple personality. Such mental conditions are classified as instances of dissociation. However, a much earlier history of a Double exists in literature rather than in psychology. In the literary past, a "Double-Personality" embodied the creative imagination of writers. Aspects of this condition have been reported in all cultures. In some societies a "Double-Personality" is thought to manifest great power whereas in others it represents illness. After Freud, writers fostered psychoa...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - September 15, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Stone, M. H. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Assessing Spiritual Crises: Peeling Off Another Layer of a Seemingly Endless Onion
What feels like spiritual experience to believers could seem like psychosis, a break from reality, to another. Validating measures that discriminate spiritual experiences from psychopathology reduce iatrogenic effects of misdiagnosis. We tested the reliability and validity of the Spiritual Emergency Scale (SES), assessing internal consistency, test–retest reliability, structural, convergent, and divergent validity. The reliability and validity of the Experiences of Psychotic Symptoms Scale (EPSS) were tested to explore potential convergent and divergent relationships between SE and psychosis. Feedback from a spiritua...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - June 17, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Bronn, G., McIlwain, D. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
A Neuroscientific Renaissance of Humanistic Psychology
Advances in cognitive neuroscience are creating a significant theoretical rapprochement between neuroscience and humanistic psychology. Since the decade of the brain, there has been a steady increase in neuroscientific research on characteristically humanistic topics such as selfhood, choice, and collaborative meaning making. Moreover, the fundamental postulates of humanistic psychology are playing a central role in a host of contemporary viewpoints within neuroscience. As a result, neuroscience is paving the way for a renewed appreciation of humanistic psychology. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of t...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - June 17, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: DeRobertis, E. M. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Will the Real Scientists Please Stand Up? Taboo Topics, Creative Risk, and Paradigm Shift
The "real scientist" brings not only investigative ingenuity but also courage and integrity that permit a challenging of the status quo. Here, three issues and their relationship are considered: (a) Taboo Topics as per Norman Farberow’s 1963 book, where conscious/unconscious fears and prohibitions can hinder scientific progress, (b) creative qualities catalyzing open-mindedness and pursuit of truth, and (c) factors heightening or lowering resistance to paradigm shift as per Thomas Kuhn—including sudden change when the data become overwhelming. A key illustration involves parapsychology and the work of Stanley K...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - June 17, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Richards, R. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
Questioning the Unquestionability of the Expert's Perspective in Psychology
Psychology’s infatuation with precision, objectivity, universality, refutability, and verifiability brought about a focus on the legitimacy of the perspective of the knower namely the expert who, at the center of discourse of power, could collect and analyze the data and then embark on generalizing the information for the sake of generative theories. The article argues that mainstream psychology has mainly acted from the perspective of the observer and not perspective of the actor and this has largely silenced the reality of the actor. While focusing on the underlying components of the perspective of the expert, the ...
Source: Journal of Humanistic Psychology - June 17, 2015 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Fatemi, S. M. Tags: Articles Source Type: research
