A selection of articles from Self & Society and others

Here are some taster articles from Self & Society.

Self & Society – Summer 2013

Do not eat soup with chopsticks by Manu Bazzano - A review of China on the Mind by Christopher Bollas, Routledge, London 2012 158 pp ISBN: 978-0-415-66976-4

Bollas premises his exploration of the Chinese mind by saying that Eastern and Western modes of thinking are not ‘different minds’ but ‘different parts of the mind’. Echoing a line of reasoning unbroken in his work, he sees Eastern thinking as leaning towards the maternal order and Western thinking as dependent on the paternal order. Sensitive to the dangers of oversimplification, Bollas admittedly approaches the challenge with trepidation, and is aware, one assumes, of how exposed the book’s central claim is to the charge of championing a belief in a ‘universal mind’, which in a time of imaginative fragmentation is at best archaic. But then Bollas never shied away from regarding psychoanalysis itself (a practice he single-handedly brought back to vivid life from the mechanistic clutches and the knee-jerk interpretative compulsions of the transference/counter-transference brigade) as archaic, albeit in a positive sense, i.e. at variance with aZeitgeist dominated by academic psychology, cognitivism and neuroscientism.

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Psychiatry, big pharma and the nature of distress: Welcome to the paradigm war by Richard House, David Kalisch and Jennifer Maidman

Readers may have noticed psychiatry being very much in the news recently due to the imminent publication by the American Psychiatric Association of the fifth edition of their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (or DSM-5). There has of course been an ongoing ‘paradigm war’ for many years within the psy-field as to whether or not defining psychological distress in terms of discrete ‘mental illnesses’ is scientifically sound, clinically valuable or ultimately helpful to those who are suffering; and Humanistic Psychology has rightfully had a lot to say about these questions. However, the debate has become particularly polarised of late, with no lesser a figure than Dr Allen Frances, head of the task force which produced the previous DSM-4, launching a series of highly critical articles in the mainstream media, describing DSM-5 as a ‘a reckless hodgepodge of new diagnoses that will misidentify normals’ (sic), and pronouncing its publication ‘a sad moment for psychiatry and a risky one for patients’ (Frances, 2013a).

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A qualitative study on the rewards and challenges of being an independent practitioners network participant by Simon Campbell and Janet Grace

Rationale: To date, relatively little research has explored alternative practices to those of the mainstream professional bodies within the field of counselling and psychotherapy. Aim: To explore the rewards and challenges of being an Independent Practitioners Network (IPN) participant. Method: Seven semi-structured interviews and five questionnaires from a self-selecting sample were subject to thematic analysis, alongside the researcher’s participatory observations. Findings: IPN is a vehicle for multiple areas of support for a diverse group of practitioners, who encounter challenges from its structure, a high turnover rate and external forces. Discussion: Despite the limitations of selection bias, the findings provide a rich insight into an alternative model of practice. Conclusion: The IPN and the issues raised in this study have implications for all practitioners. Areas for further research are discussed.

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Thomas Szasz Memorial Seminar with Jeffrey Schaler, Morton Schatzman and Anthony Stadlen, 3 March 2013, London by Jay Beichman

In March 2013 I attended a seminar that was a ‘memorial seminar’ for Thomas Szasz, one of the luminaries of the movement against the medicalisation of ‘problems in living’ commonly perceived as ‘mental illnesses’. In this article I review the seminar with a summary of what the three co-facilitators, Jeffrey Schaler, Morton Schatzman and Anthony Stadlen, said about themselves and their intellectual positions; the conversations these positions in relation to Szasz’s own provoked in the seminar’s participants; and the recent developments of strong challenges to the dominant biomedical model by even such mainstream bodies as the Division of Clinical Psychology of the British Psychological Society.

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Self & Society – Spring 2013

There are some excellent articles in the Spring 2013 issue of Self & Society. Subscribe now and get full access to Self & Society, The International Journal for Humanistic Psychology.

Making Sense of the ‘Digital Generation’: Growing Up with Digital Media by David Buckingham

Young people today are often characterised as a ‘digital generation’ – a group whose identities are being formed in new ways as a result of the impact of new media technologies. For some, this is cause for a gloomy pessimism about the superficiality and lack of authenticity of modern life; while for others, it prompts a celebration of the apparently empowering possibilities of new media. In this article, I challenge the technological determinism of these kinds of assertions, and argue for a more socially, historically and culturally grounded analysis. I discuss some of the broader issues at stake in understanding young people’s relationships with digital media, and then present an overview of current debates, organised around ten key themes. I do not seek either to celebrate or to lament: rather, I hope to provide a more cautious and balanced approach, which recognises the complexity and difficulty – but also the potential opportunities – of growing up in a ‘digital world’.

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The Humanistic Scientist: An Appreciation of the Work of Daniel N. Stern by Patti Owens

I never met Daniel Stern, personally. Even so, his research and writing have meant a great deal to me over the years, both personally and professionally. In this appreciation of his life’s work I aim to identify those features which seem to be of most relevance to humanistic therapy. In doing so, I celebrate his wonderful contribution to our understanding of the way human beings necessarily develop in relationship. This underpins the central importance of the relationship between client and therapist, rather than the supposed efficacy of a particular style or approach.

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Appreciating Cyberculture and the Virtual Self Within by Kate Anthony and DeeAnna Nagel

Relentless connection to social networks, blogs, forums, email, chatrooms, virtual environments and videoconferencing has resulted for many people in what Rosen (2012) has termed an iDisorder. Drawing on the term iDisorder and examining the psychological underpinnings of Disinhibition (Suler, 2004), this article examines disordered facets of the self when in online communication, such as dissociative anonymity (You Don’t Know Me); invisibility (You Can’t See Me); asynchronicity (See You Later); solipsistic introjection or egoistic self-absorption (It’s All In My Head); dissociative imagination (It’s Just a Game); and minimising authority (We’re Equals).

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Self & Society – Winter 2013

Back to the Future: From Behaviourism and Cognitive Psychology to Motivation and Emotion by Manu Bazzano

 After 50 years of the predominance of behaviourism and cognitive psychology, the tide is turning back to motivation and emotion. Contemporary interdisciplinary studies in developmental psychology, child psychiatry and developmental neuroscience are reframing John Bowlby’s attachment theory in its truer context, insisting that crucial aspects of motivation, emotion and self-regulation, present in Bowlby’s original formulation, had been ignored by the mainstream at the time of its inception because of a cultural climate dominated by behaviourism and cognitive psychology.

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The Future of Humanistic Psychology by Dr Dina Glouberman

In the psychotherapy/personal development world of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Humanistic Psychology inspired us and encouraged us to begin a lifetime of development and expansion without ever having to label ourselves as ill or lacking. Its future, hopefully, is to keep reminding us that the personal, the spiritual and the political are all part of the same human yearning to move beyond the old boundaries, boxes and diagnoses to new understandings and new realities. I mind less where it goes, than that it continue to peep through everything we create, and be our inspiration.

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A Tribute to James Hillman by Tree Staunton

I don’t know what life will be like now without James Hillman in it, but I know that he left us a rich treasury of writing that needs to be read, understood and appreciated.

Thomas Moore, Remembering James Hillman in the Huffington Post, 31 October 2011

 He leaves behind a used pair of tap shoes, a yard full of exotic chickens, mornings in Thompson, nighttimes in New York, friends from all over the world….

Published in the New York Times, 30 October 2011

 Sadly I never met James Hillman, nor heard him speak, though he felt close by when I experienced the work of his colleagues – Robert Bly, for instance, and Thomas Moore. During my ten years with a US Jungian analyst, I was told a few whisky-in-the-bar stories about the man ‘Jim’. The stories were often used to illustrate that therapy – like life – was full of uncontrollable twists and turns, and that what thwarts us forms us.

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Self & Society – Autumn 2012, 40th anniversary edition

The Future of Humanistic Psychology  by Nick Totton

In this short article, I am describing my four current interests in psychology/spirituality.  These are forgiveness, the effects of shock, the future of the planet, and non-duality, or questioning the existence of a separate “I”.  Obviously these are huge topics and I do no more than touch on them, but I think each can have a place in the future of Humanistic Psychology.

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The Past and Future of Humanistic Psychology  by Colin Feltham

In this article I declare my personal sympathy with aspects of Humanistic Psychology and state what I consider its strengths to be. I critique what I regard as its weaknesses – its lack of realism, lack of engagement with contemporary, harsh socio-economic realities, and some of its failures to live up to its promise. Humanistic Psychology may become a barely significant set of nostalgic theories and practices or yet find ways to bring its focus on birth, education, feelings and patriarchal civilisation to a new readership and public.

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Beyond the Need for Defensive Practice: Combining Creativity and Accountability with the Best Interests of Clients by Arthur Musgrave

This article welcomes pluralistic experiment in respect of counsellor and psychotherapist accountability. It examines some significant negative consequences for public protection resulting from a case taken out by the Health Professions Council against a Registered Arts Therapist that was appealed to the High Court. It then outlines an example of civic accountability, a creative option that promises benefits for therapists, their clients and the public. A scheme of this kind would be compatible with existing regulatory frameworks and, in the longer term and after testing, may even emerge as a resilient alternative to them.

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