Journal of Humanistic Psychology current issue

Editor's Commentary

2008-06-19

The Person-Centered Approach Meets Neuroscience: Mutual Support for C. R. Rogers's and A. Damasio's Theories

Motschnig-Pitrik, R., Lux, M. — 2008-06-19

Neuroscience offers new ways and levels to look into the functioning of our organisms. It thus can be used as a means to confirm or question psychological phenomena. In this article, the authors aim to view Carl Rogers's theory of personality and behavior in light of Antonio Damasio's theories and hypotheses concerning emotions, feelings, and conscious thought. The results indicate a tight correspondence of basic concepts and hypotheses such as the actualizing tendency and the vital role of feelings in thought. Furthermore, several ways accrue in which neuroscience and psychology complement one another in producing a more complete and, hence, reliable image of human functioning.

Therapeutic Neuropsychological Assessment: A Humanistic Model and Case Example

Gorske, T. T. — 2008-06-19

One of the challenges the field of clinical neuropsychology faces is to develop an assessment process that is relevant to the needs of patients and referral sources and responsive to those needs. One method for meeting this need is for psychologists and neuropsychologists to extend their services to develop clinical interventions that serve to enhance patients' cognitive and emotional well-being. Feedback to patients from the results of neuropsychological tests is an intervention that is considered an important part of the assessment process, and there is evidence that direct feedback has positive therapeutic effects for patients. Although many authors have provided suggestions and principles for conducting neuropsychological test feedback, there is no agreed-on conceptual framework for doing so. The following article presents a humanistic model for providing feedback from the results of neuropsychological tests and a case example of its application with a young woman suffering from a brain tumor.

The Humanistic Psychology of Human Evil: Ernest Becker and Arthur Koestler

Bartlett, S. J. — 2008-06-19

Little effort has been made in psychology and psychiatry to study pathologies that afflict, not the aberrant neurotic or psychotic individual or social group, but the greater population of the psychologically normal. A study of such "universal pathologies" requires a focus on the "evil of banality," and not the more restricted "banality of evil." Where the latter phrase was used by Hannah Arendt to refer to the psychological normality of delimited groups of individuals who perpetrate evil (specifically, Nazi leaders during the Holocaust), the "evil of banality" refers to pathologies of normality—to the psychological constitution of the average person that predisposes him or her to participate in aggression and destruction. The article begins by summarizing conclusions reached in the author's The Pathology of Man: A Study of Human Evil (Charles C. Thomas, 2005). This study provides an up-to-date frame of reference within which are discussed the complementary and insightful observations concerning human evil made by two psychologically oriented humanists, Ernest Becker and Arthur Koestler.

Wilber's Integral Philosophy: A Summary and Critique

Paulson, D. S. — 2008-06-19

An integral philosophy, such as that promoted by Ken Wilber, can be very useful in providing an individual with a wide-scope theory to serve as an orienting worldview and container enabling them to develop their spiritual practices. Wilber's view is particularly useful in that it covers objective, intersubjective, and subjective world spaces at once. Used too rigidly, it can become an overly mechanical process of merely downloading a canned integral program into one's internal operating system. Authentic spirituality, although using theory, argues for developing one's own spiritual practice. In developing one's own practice, the pragmatic writings of Dewey, Peirce, and James can serve as a guide, in that the practice is practiced, is pluralistic, requires participation with others, and is provisional.

Viewing Resistance as Ambivalence: Integrative Strategies for Working With Resistant Ambivalence

Engle, D., Arkowitz, H. — 2008-06-19

Resistance to change is a problem that has long evaded easy solutions. In this article, the authors suggest the value of understanding and working with some forms of resistance as ambivalence. They describe resistant ambivalence in the context of an integrative and multivoiced understanding. A person who is ambivalent possesses a voice that moves toward change and a voice that struggles against change. The authors sought therapy methods that were consistent with the multivoiced integrative understanding of ambivalence and that could be useful in its resolution. Motivational interviewing and the two-chair method are described in this article, along with illustrative case material. These methods share a common spirit and therapist style that is accepting of the client's worldview and creates a strong partnership between the therapist and client. These methods can be used in conjunction with other therapy approaches and have a research base supporting their use.

Short-Term, Linear Approaches To Psychotherapy: What We Now Know

Elkins, D. N. — 2008-06-19

This article critiques short-term, linear approaches to psychotherapy and raises fundamental questions about the claims for their effectiveness. The article delineates the inherent weaknesses of short-term, linear approaches; summarizes a recent meta-analysis that challenges their effectiveness; and summarizes research showing they are less effective than longer-term, traditional psychotherapy. The author suggests that psychologists who are drawn to short-term, linear approaches embed these in a broader, more complex theoretical framework such as that which humanistic-existential psychology provides.