A conqueror by stealth: Introduction to the special issue on humanism, existentialism, and psychotherapy integration.

Abstract

In the last few decades, the existential-humanistic tradition in psychology-also known as the third force-has taken over the field of clinical psychology. It did so quietly, almost unassumingly, without resorting to monumental political arrangements ("empires") or bombarding psychologists with decisive messages about the approaches superiority. Evidence as to this "conquest by stealth" abound, and some are noted in this introduction. The purpose of this special issue is to appraise the link between The third force and the psychotherapy integration movement. Five articles touching on the links between humanistic-existential psychotherapy and, either other forms of therapy or explicitly integrative treatment modalities are published. A commentary by Barry Wolf addresses these articles and the potential for an additional impact of the humanistic-existential tradition on psychotherapy integration.

Exige-stential leadership: exploring the limits of leadership in a crisis

“…In instances where the experience has been particularly traumatic, the provision of counselling support should be made available. Shahar and Schiller (2016) point to the potential benefits to be derived from therapeutic approaches influenced by existential-integrative psychology. Altogether, then we need to consider how leaders can move beyond “being in the world” to an individual meaning of their world.…”

Reformulated Object Relations Theory: A Bridge Between Clinical Psychoanalysis, Psychotherapy Integration, and the Understanding and Treatment of Suicidal Depression

“…This enabled these perspectives to gain respect within academic psychology (see, for instance, Seligman et al, 2013 ; Fosco et al, 2016 ), and thus be considered seriously in published guidelines for psychological treatments for a wide range of mental disorders (e.g., Guideline Development Panel for the Treatment of Depressive Disorders, 2019 ) 1 . This pattern is particularly noteworthy with respect to the humanistic-existential perspective, which shares with psychoanalysis a fascination with the humanities and a philosophical/romantic writing style (see Strenger, 1989 ), but which has always played a major role within academic psychology and evidence-based psychotherapy (Shahar and Schiller, 2016a ).…”

Cognitive-Humanistic Psychodynamics: Sidney Blatt’s Theoretical-Philosophical Legacy

“…The first is the quintessential role of expressing warmth and benevolence toward patients (what Rogers calls “unconditional positive regard”), a sentiment without which, according to Blatt, even the wisest interpretation would fall on deaf ears. The second humanistic tenet is empathy : to provide an interpretation, one needs to understand the patient from within, and in his/her totality, or gestalt (see, e.g., Bugental 1964; Shahar and Schiller 2016a,b). The third humanistic tenet, superimposed on the others, is that nurturing therapeutic relationships are in themselves curative.…”