Journal of Humanistic Psychology

Only two published studies, both from the early 1980s, have specifically examined psychologist attitudes toward the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The current article rectifies this by presenting the results of a recent survey of attitudes toward the DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5. Though the DSM has changed over the years, psychologist attitudes toward it have remained remarkably consistent. Although more than 90% of psychologists report using the DSM, they are dissatisfied with numerous aspects of it and support developing alternatives to it—something that psychologists over 30 years ago supported, as well. The finding that almost all psychologists use the DSM despite serious concerns about it raises ethical issues because professionals are ethically bound to only use instruments in which they are scientifically confident.

Evidence from existential–humanistic psychology suggests that addiction is a response to boredom, loneliness, meaninglessness, and other existential struggles. This research is a case study of an existential, meaning-centered therapy practiced at an addiction treatment facility. Meaning therapy assumes that addiction is a response to a life that lacks personal meaning. The solution, therefore, is to help the client live a fulfilling life. The research question asked if, and in what ways, meaning therapy influenced how participants made sense of their addiction and recovery. The study used a mixed-methods design. Sources of qualitative data were pretreatment and posttreatment interviews, psychiatric reports, researcher field notes, and participants’ life stories. Quantitative data were pretreatment and posttreatment measures of items relevant to meaning and symptom reduction. Eleven participants volunteered for the study. Themes that emerged during a grounded theory thematic analysis revealed that therapy positively influenced nine (81.8%) participants in developing self-definition, interpersonal relatedness, and intrinsic motivation. Quantitative analysis revealed significant increases in measures of meaning and decreases in symptoms and daily problems for seven participants (63.6%). About 6 to 9 months posttreatment, eight participants (72.7%) who pursed self-definition, relatedness, and intrinsic motivation reported abstinence since discharge, fewer symptoms and problems in daily life, and the pursuit of personal goals. This study provides therapists with a better understanding of meaning therapy and suggests implications for addiction treatment.

This article explores the cognitive process and awakening experience associated with natural recovery from alcohol or drug addiction in English-speaking Hong Kong residents. It is an exploratory study using qualitative research methods. Advertising and snowball sampling recruitment methods yielded two English-speaking Hong Kong residents, one White male expatriate from the United States and one female native Hong Kong resident who is half Chinese and half White American. Reported natural recovery process was evolutionary, occurring over a long period of time with intervals of cognitive appraisal and quit attempts. Awakening interpretations included having a greater insight about their cognitive process, addiction behavior, or emotional experience. The awakening experience played a role in natural recovery and may be used to enhance already existing interventions.

Two studies examined the characteristics of the Rogerian fully functioning person from the positive psychology perspective. Based on the findings of extant research in support of the Rogerian metatheoretical model, indicators were selected to represent characteristics constituting the fully functioning person. Using confirmatory factor analysis, a single factor structure of the fully functioning person was assessed with young adults aged 16 to 19 years (x¯ = 16.86). Participants of both studies completed measures of life satisfaction, positive thoughts and feelings, authenticity, organismic valuing, aspirations, basic psychological needs, anxiety, and strengths use. Participants of Study 2 also completed a measure of character strengths endorsement. Analyses revealed that variables consistent with the Rogerian fully functioning person loaded positively on a single “fully functioning person” factor. Overall, results suggest that the fully functioning person is high in life satisfaction, has increased positive thoughts and feelings and decreased negative thoughts and feelings, low anxiety, and moves toward intrinsic values rather than extrinsic values. The fully functioning person component was positively correlated with the character strengths of enthusiasm, bravery, honesty, leadership, and spirituality and negatively correlated with modesty and fairness. Results supplement research indicating strong links between positive psychology and the person-centered theory of Carl Rogers.

A hermeneutic phenomenological analysis reveals the complexity of bipolar disorder. Operating at biological, psychological, and social levels this phenomenon creates dilemmas and people must account for their choices in a moral order. Two participants suffer from the condition, whereas a third is employed to deliver mental health treatment. Three themes are identified showing that all the participants struggle to feel they are competent and consistent decision makers. They feel exposed, fearing that others will impose interpretations on their behavior. They resist the imposition of a medical model, wanting to believe that choices are personal and related to life experiences. This person-centered interpretation is favored because it offers the potential for learning, for achieving autonomy, and growth. By attending to the interpersonal aspects of emotion and subjectivity, this analysis challenges the idea that autonomy can be undermined by a disease process in a simple manner. It is suggested that mental health care systems need to deliver services in which the personal and interpersonal aspects of recovery are adequately managed.

This article is about ethics, specifically, the myriad of unethical practices characterizing recruitment for psychiatric trials. Using a case study approach, honing on recruitment material, and examining the typical, the author explores recruitment in two studies—one involving electroconvulsive therapy, the other, a psychiatric drug. The bulk of the article is on these trials. The ethical problems which surface include minimization of risk; euphemism; lack of transparency; false and misleading claims, unfair inducement; failure to mention most of the common and serious negative effects; and a predatory quality. The author also identifies some worrisome new trends. Of special interest to the humanistic counselor is the attempt to implicate people’s own counselors and therapists in recruitment. The article ends with reflections on the onus that such practices place on all practitioners striving to be ethical. The author concludes that it is critical that counselors and therapists not be complicit and beyond that they take it on themselves to confront and expose. Concrete practice suggestions include adopting an explicit policy against such referrals, alerting any clients who may be considering such trials of the danger, and countering false claims.

Natalie Rogers, humanistic pioneer, creator of Person Centered Expressive Arts, author, and daughter of Helen and Carl Rogers, passed away October 17, 2015, at her home. She raised three daughters, Naomi, Frances, and Janet. In 1970, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to establish herself as a psychotherapist, artist, and feminist activist. Her first book, Emerging Woman, offers a candid and heartfelt description of the transition many women were making at that time, from a life defined by the expectations and needs of others to one that sprang from her own deep interiority. Hers was the voice of a generation of women who grew up in the claustrophobic 1950s who were expected to submerge their own potential in favor of their husbands’. In California she developed her own distinct form of transformative practice combining art with psychotherapy, which she called the creative connection. With her father’s encouragement and participation, she went on to create the Person-centered Expressive Therapy Institute and trained practitioners, worldwide. Her books, Creative Connection and Creative Connection for Groups, describe the process. Natalie was a peace activist, feminist, and teacher. She will be remembered for her contribution to humanistic psychology and her fierce yet graceful efforts on behalf of people oppressed, peace, and the environment.