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Features of grief and mourning when a child dies
Published in Celia Hindmarch, On the Death of a Child, 2018
The more fluid and flexible understanding of grief in contemporary thinking is reflected in the movement towards recognising the human capacity for growth through adversity. This is not a ‘Pollyanna’ view of grief, but an understanding of how traumatic experiences can bring opportunities for positive psychological changes. This concept is not new: the idea of personal gain through suffering is to be found in the major religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the tradition of humanistic psychology, Rogers (1961) and Maslow (1987) emphasised the capacity for becoming fully functioning human beings, always growing towards our full potential. Other significant figures in this trend include Frankl (1959), a holocaust survivor who understood that the search for meaning can transform one’s experience of tragedy; Seligman (1998), who rescued psychology from a medical model of illness and treatment and initiated a general shift towards a positive conceptualisation of mental health; Joseph and Linley (2006), who have developed these ideas into a coherent approach to positive therapy; and Yalom (2008), the existential psychotherapist who has encouraged our capacity for finding positive meaning in death.
What is the person-centred approach?
Published in Rachel Freeth, Brian Thorne, Mike Shooter, Humanising Psychiatry and Mental Health Care, 2017
Rachel Freeth, Brian Thorne, Mike Shooter
The person-centred approach is commonly associated with humanistic psychology. Humanistic psychology is described by Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), one of the most prominent humanistic thinkers, as ‘third force psychology’, providing an alternative to the first two psychological approaches of psychoanalysis and behaviourism. The view that a human being ‘is positive in nature - is basically socialised, forward-moving, rational and realistic’ (Rogers, 1967, p. 91) stands in stark contrast to the ‘bad animal’ view of human nature often postulated by psychoanalysis, particularly Freudian schools. Humanistic psychology though, rather than being a single, organised, theoretical system, is a school of many ideas from a great variety of thinkers, both when it was developing as a new movement in the 1960s, and currently.
Mental health promotion
Published in Chambers Mary, Psychiatric and mental health nursing, 2017
Thomas J. Currid, Carl Chandra
Drawing from both psychological and social research, others4,5 have offered a more operational definition of positive mental health, based on concepts of hedonic and eudemonic well-being. Hedonic well-being relates to feelings of pleasure, happiness, satisfaction and interest in life. It originates from social research into the quality of life of Americans, which was aimed at increasing knowledge of well-being which could then be incorporated into policies that sought to improve quality of life.4 However, opponents to the hedonic movement argued that well-being was much more than seeking pleasure and happiness and argued that living a life of virtue and actualizing one’s potential was also an important pathway to mental well-being.5 For example, proponents of humanistic psychology focused on self-actualization and personal growth, rather than focusing on the compensation of weakness and deficits which was dominant at that time in the field of psychology.6 As a result, research into eudemonic well-being which focused on achievements and realizing one’s potential was carried out, and these concepts are now universally accepted as forming part of the definition and as being essential for mental health.4
Providing Psychological Support for the Junior to Senior Transition in Professional Female Football: An Individual Case Study
Published in Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 2022
Michael McGreary, Robert Morris
At the time of consultancy, I (first author) was enrolled on a professional doctorate, which combined British Psychological Society (BPS) Stage Two training with a level 8 doctoral qualification. I was employed as an intern Sport Psychologist at a professional women’s football club competing in the Women’s Super League 1 (WSL1). This role primarily involved working with the coaching staff, with support to players provided on an ad hoc basis. During the early stages of my training, my philosophy of practice was primarily underpinned by mental skills training (MST), based upon the cognitive behavioral model, as is often the case for early career practitioners (Tod & Bond, 2010). Through reflecting on my philosophy of practice (throughout my training) and a process of self-examination and self-discovery, I was able to better match my practice to my core values and beliefs. Therefore, my philosophy of practice now focuses on holistic support and development of the client with the understanding that performance and wellbeing are linked (Brady & Maynard, 2010). My approach to consultancy with this client focused on humanistic psychology, delivering client-centered sessions based on counseling techniques.
Occupational Therapy’s Role in Understanding the Subjectivity of Spiritual Suffering
Published in Occupational Therapy in Mental Health, 2022
Christopher V. B. Lazzaro, Cheryl B. Lucas
The occupational therapy profession was founded on multiple schools of thought, including the arts and crafts movement, progressivism, pragmatism, and the moral imperative of humanism to alleviate suffering from illness, disability, and socio-economic disparity (Anderson & Reed, 2017; Collins, 2010; McColl et al., 2015). Humanism as first used in the OT profession emphasized the dignity and worth of human beings, occupational justice for all, and the promotion of human achievement through occupation (Burnitt & Mayers, 1993; Cole & Tufano, 2020). Humanism in its historical form rejects God or divine power. However, when used by occupational therapy practitioners, it would be defined as in humanistic psychology, which aims to promote ‘person centered practice… [and] recognize and respect all beliefs, including the religious beliefs, of the individuals with whom [one] work[s]’ (Johnston & Mayers, 2005, p. 389). Humanistic thought would then encompass the recognition of individual subjectivity of health, wellness, and spirituality as a deeper understanding for human belonging and quality of life (Collins, 2007; Hemphill, 2020; Wilcock, 2007). Humanism forms a foundation for the occupational therapy profession to embrace spirituality as the subjective process of creating meaning from activity and the importance of doing to promote a sense of well- being (Collins, 2010; Farrar, 2001; Mthembu et al., 2017; Sutton, 2010).
Humanist chaplaincy according to Northwestern European humanist chaplains: towards a framework for understanding chaplaincy in secular societies
Published in Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 2021
C. M. Schuhmann, J. Wojtkowiak, R. van Lierop, F. Pitstra
The philosophical roots of humanism as a worldview can be traced back as far as Hellenistic culture in the fifth century B.C. (Copson, 2015; Van Praag, 1982). Humanistic psychology was developed as a ‘third force’ in psychology over half a century ago, in the 1950s (Hansen, Speciale, & Lemberger, 2014; McLeod, 2003). Humanist chaplaincy, however, generally has a far shorter history. Although humanist chaplaincy is gaining ground in several European countries and in the US, the Netherlands is the single country where humanist chaplaincy has a history of several decades and has become firmly integrated in public institutions. This unique situation is on the one hand related to the high level of secularization in the Netherlands (Bernts & Berghuijs, 2016; Van IJssel 2007) but also and especially to the efforts and vision of one person, Jaap van Praag (1911 to 1981), a key figure in Dutch humanism. In his main work, Foundations of Humanism, Van Praag (1982) developed a theoretical framework for understanding modern humanism as a dynamic, multifaceted view on life, that is characterized by the attempt to understand the world and life by appealing to human abilities only. Van Praag was a founding father of the Dutch Humanist League in 1946, of the Humanist Educational Institution in 1963 (which in 1989 became the University of Humanistic Studies), and of the profession of humanist chaplaincy in health care, prisons, and the army. He also played a key role in founding the International Humanist and Ethical Union in 1952 (Derkx, 2009).