BRUCE
WOCHHOLZ

40th ANNIVERSARY WEB RESOURCES AND NEW MEMBERLINKS ON AHPWEB

The existentialists along with many other groups are helping to teach us about the limits of verbal, analytic, conceptual rationality. They are part of the current call back to raw experience as prior to any concepts or abstractions. This amounts to what I believe to be a justified critique to the whole way of thinking of the western world in the 20th century, including orthodox positivistic science and philosophy, both of which badly need re-examination. — Abraham Maslow

WEB RESOURCES

Archives of the History of American Psychology links to History & Philosophy of Psychology Web Resources, provide excellent detailed accounts and a very thorough listing of links.

Perhaps one of the most important theoretical antecedents to humanistic psychology is the work of Kurt Goldstein. Craig Holdrege writes in his article Seeing Things Right-side Up: The Implications of Kurt Goldstein’s Holism that a colleague of his wrote after his death: “It would be petty to raise the question of whether Kurt Goldstein stood first chronologically or logically among the proponents of holistic thinking, for the essential fact is that he went all the way.”

" We have said that life confronts us in living organisms. But as soon as we attempt to grasp them scientifically, we must take them apart, and this taking apart nets us a multitude of isolated facts which offer no direct clue to that which we experience directly in the living organism. Yet we have no way of making the nature and behavior of an organism scientifically intelligible other than by its construction out of facts obtained in this way. We thus face the basic problem of all biology, possibly of all knowledge. The question can be formulated quite simply: What do the phenomena, arising from the isolating procedure, teach us about the “essence” (the intrinsic nature) of an organism? How, from such phenomena, do we come to an understanding of the behavior of the individual organism?" — Kurt Goldstein, 1939, The Organism

C. George Boeree provides two more excellent sites, one on Abe Maslow, and the other on Rollo May, . In 1951, Maslow started serving as the chair of the psychology department at Brandeis for 10 years, where he met Kurt Goldstein (who introduced him to the idea of self-actualization) and began his own theoretical work. It was also here that he began his crusade for a humanistic psychology—something ultimately much more important to him than his own theorizing. Rollo May is the best known American existential psychologist. Much of his thinking can be understood by reading about existentialism in general, and the overlap between his ideas and the ideas of Ludwig Binswanger is great. In 1958, he edited, with Ernest Angel and Henri Ellenberger, the book Existence, which introduced existential psychology to the U.S.

A “history” of Humanistic Psychology would not be well-rounded without reference to James Bugental and the summary of his work. Not “healing an illness,” but a philosophic venture in which the person dares and learns to confront self and world. Not “learning to adjust,” but facing infinite un-adjustability. The therapist sees the patient as an encumbered person who struggles against the limitations imposed by her encumbrances . . . Therapy’s mission is to make patients conscious of the inner conflicts that give rise to defensive and constrictive maneuvers, and encourage the growth tendency of striving for actualization which will overthrow the defensive maneuver

The person-centered approach is well documented at “Taking a Closer Look at Carl R. Rogers,”, as is “The Humanistic View”

MEMBERLINKS

AHP staffers Bonnie Davenport and Ron Lukens suggest two superb sites, each highlighting the Rogerian approach: Person-Centered Expressive Therapy Institute, Natalie Rogers’ website highlights both her practice in person-centered expressive arts therapy and the 100-year anniversary symposium in honor of her father Carl Rogers this summer, .

At Elizabeth Bennett’s Peer Abuse Know More site, the goal is to educate others on the psychological effects of Peer Abuse. Issues such as signs, symptoms, theories, and possible treatment are covered.

Joan C. Barth’s Coaching website can help with many areas of your life, including developing or strengthening relationships, changing jobs/careers, creating new businesses, enhancing family ties, reclaiming a sense of humor, and advancing despite a physical handicap.

BRUCE WOCHHOLZ, ahpweb Content Developer, is an AHP member who contributes his experience in health education, gerontology, and humanistic psychology and expert knowledge of web content and architecture to AHP publications. In addition to writing this column, he will also be helping AHP to explore "e-learning" and distance education opportunities. Note: Members are encouraged to submit sites for consideration for Web Resources and AHP Memberlinks to Kathleen Erickson, at EricksonEditorial@att.net or AHP, 1516 Oak St., Suite 320A, Alameda, CA 94501. These sites and more can be reached through ahpweb.org. Click on Web Resources and Memberlinks. Your next issue of AHP Perspective will be a Somatics issue, so if you have submissions, please send them in as soon as possible. Sites for review in the Perspective must be primarily educational or informational, and relate closely to AHP’s interests. AHP member submissions for the Memberlinks section may emphasize current members’ services, books, workshops, tapes, or other commercial offerings.