Monitor on Psychology - November 2011 - (Page 60)

leanings. But in 2008, he contributed a chapter to a book edited by Schneider, “Existential-Integrative Psychotherapy,” encouraging researchers and practitioners to home in on the more existential, client-focused elements of therapy, such as presence and therapeutic alliance. Many fields of psychology, he says, have specialized so much that while they’re great at helping clients work through specific issues, an existential framework might work better to help clients see the big picture in their lives, if that’s what they’re looking for. The fact that cognitive-behavioral treatments are beginning to incorporate aspects of meditation and mindfulness hints that psychology as a field is starting to buy into the existentialhumanistic framework, says Bruce Wampold, PhD, a counseling psychologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an Methodology in Psychology expert on various modes of psychotherapy. “It could be,” he elaborates in a 2008 PsycCritiques article, “that an understanding of the principles of existential therapy is needed by all therapists, as it adds a perspective that might ... form the basis for all effective treatments.” In fact, many of existential-humanistic psychology’s insights might already be at work among mental health workers, according to a paper published in January in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology (Vol. 51, No. 1). In it, Elliot Benjamin, PhD, a mathematician and doctoral student studying humanistic psychology at Saybrook University, notes that the core ingredients of a humanistic approach — empathy, authenticity and dedication to creating a bond with a client — are frequently practiced by mental health professionals, whether they identify those as existential-humanistic practices or not. The strength of a specifically existential approach, says Hayes, is that therapists can go beyond helping clients address their stated concerns and get at the roots of a client’s cognitive distress. “It’s one thing to label something as existential angst and it’s another to know how to identify it in someone’s life and … to understand where they came from in the first place, to learn why the modern world would give rise to anxiety,” he says. Barry Wolfe, PhD, a clinical psychologist in Rockville, Md., integrates existential and humanistic practices with other forms of therapy such as cognitiveMeasuring Methodologies for behavioral therapy and psychodynamic therapy. In a typical session, he says, Psychological Constructs Conducting Research Advances in he’ll first work to build a therapeutic on Giftedness Model-Based Approaches Edited by Bruce Thompson alliance with his client, because that’s Edited by Susan E. Embretson and Rena F. Subotnik the foundational step for any effective 2010. 312 pages. Hardcover. 2010. 280 pages. Hardcover. therapy. Next, he’ll use cognitiveList: $79.95 • APA Member/Affiliate: $49.95 List: $69.95 • APA Member/Affiliate: $54.95 ISBN 978-1-4338-0691-9 • Item # 4318069 ISBN 978-1-4338-0714-5 • Item # 4318068 behavioral therapy to give people the tools to get past their fears and anxieties. But then he gives his clients a choice: Advanced Methods Studying Ethnic Minority whether to delve deeper into their for Conducting and Economically anxieties and figure out what’s ultimately Online Research Disadvantaged behind them, or to stop there and leave Edited by Samuel D. Gosling Populations and John A. Johnson them with their cognitive-behavioral Methodological Challenges 2010. 328 pages. Hardcover. tools. and Best Practices List: $79.95 • APA Member/Affiliate: $49.95 Many people are just fine stopping George P. Knight, Mark W. Roosa, ISBN 978-1-4338-0695-7 • Item # 4311014 and Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor at that point, he says. The existential2009. 264 pages. Hardcover. humanistic framework isn’t universally List: $69.95 • APA Member/Affiliate: $49.95 applicable. Action-oriented people who ISBN 978-1-4338-0474-8 • Item # 4318056 want to know what to do to get over FAD0033 their insecurities and then move on with their lives don’t care much about the root www.apa.org/pubs/books • 800-374-2721 causes of those insecurities. M o n i to r o n p s yc h o l o g y • n ov e M b e r 2 0 1 1 60 http://www.apa.org/pubs/books http://www.apa.org/pubs/books

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - November 2011

Monitor on Psychology - November 2011
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
Guest Column
‘Grand Challenges’ offers blueprint for mental health research
Documentary seeks to reach parents of LGBT kids
Treating veterans will cost at least $5 billion by 2020
Selfless volunteering might lengthen your life
Combat and stress up among U.S. military in Afghanistan
South Africa to host international psychology conference
Study uncovers a reason behind sex differences in mental illness
Navy psychologist gives a voice to combat trauma
In Brief
Psychologist suicide
On Your Behalf
Journey back to Heart Mountain
Psychology is key to pain management, report finds
ACT goes international
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
Time Capsule
Questionnaire
Science Watch
Behavior change in 15-minute sessions?
Health-care reform 2.0
Perspective on Practice
Giving a heads up on concussion
Practice Profile
Searching for meaning
Inspiring young researchers
Aging, with grace
Public Interest
Thank you!
APA News
Division Spotlight
American Psychological Foundation
The man who gave Head Start a start
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - November 2011

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