I have always been intrigued by what makes people commit murderous acts of rage. This is not a morbid reflection on man’s inhumanity to man, on my part, or indeed an attempt by me to gain vicarious pleasure from learning of the gory details of forensic events. Rather, it is my way of exploring and […]
Jonathan Bowlby has been described by Storr as “one of the three or four most important psychiatrists of the twentieth century.” For the purposes of this post, I intend to focus on his work on Attachment Theory. Bowlby was troubled by the dogmatism and cultism of the psychoanalytic world and argued strongly for open scientific
Can Attachment Theory form part of an integrative model of psychotherapy Read More »
Do you fancy an opportunity to explore the cultural impact and history of Taoism and deepen your understanding of Chinese culture? You could do worse than to pop along to an exhibition at Asia House in Central London. Harmonious Co-existence – Sharing Taoist Culture runs until the end of the month and is free to enter.
Harmonious Co-existence – Sharing Taoist Culture Read More »
One of the dangers in trying to define transpersonal psychotherapy is that one can become overly analytical and miss the core essence of the approach. For transpersonal psychotherapists will maintain that the interaction with the client is heart felt, not theory driven. Unlike psychoanalysis there is no strict adherence to the rule of neutrality or
What is Transpersonal Psychotherapy? Read More »
A major criticism of an existential approach in counselling and psychotherapy (as if it can be seen as a coherent approach) is that it lacks a systematic statement of the principles and practices of therapy. There is an absence of a coherent set of highly developed techniques. The approach can be applied in a haphazard
A transpersonal critique of Existential Psychotherapy Read More »
Integrative psychotherapy should include all states of being, that is what it means to work from a holistic perspective, as well as all major theoretical traditions, this is what it means to be integrative. If human beings exist on at least five levels, namely body, feelings, intellect, soul and spirit, then we have to work
Working from an integrative theoretical approach in psychotherapy Read More »
Whilst psychodynamic approaches focus on uncovering what is in the client’s unconscious and exploring childhood experiences, the Rogerian approach is more concerned with the here and now of the client’s experience through the client’s eyes, from their subjective internal frame of reference. The Rogerian approach can be termed more democratic, perhaps reflecting the evolutionary progression
A transpersonal critique of Rogerian Therapy Read More »
In classic Freudian therapy, psychological ill health emerges when the balance between the id, ego and super ego is distorted. “Patients” will present for counselling in an egodystonic state – when thoughts and behaviours are in conflict, or dissonant, with the needs and goals of the ego, or, further, in conflict with a person’s ideal
Can psychoanalysis be called transpersonal? Read More »
Given the recent 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech I began to wonder whether we all should have a dream. That made me think about what my dream is. Do I have a personal dream to realise my own potential or am I dreaming of a better future for wider
I read an interesting piece of research looking at whether it pays to be selfish or unselfish. The Adami Lab at Michigan State University have used evolutionary game theory (EGT) as a simplified model system to study the viability and stability of behaviour on evolutionary scales. The research project used high-powered computing to run hundreds
Does it pay to be selfish? Read More »