Monitor on Psychology - November 2011 - (Page 61)

“But some people, not many but some, really do live inside their feelings,” he says. “If they want to explore the roots of their anxieties, I’ll shift focus. You have to work with the framework that the client brings.” Wolfe gives an example of a young, recently married woman who came to him seeking help for her driving phobia. As therapy progressed, he says, they discovered what was behind that phobia. It turned out that her marriage was built on convenience and she regretted the fact that she’d never evolved into an independent person before she settled down. “Her fear was that if she drove too far, she’d never come back home, she’d never come back to her marriage,” Wolfe says. So she felt trapped between her desire for independence and the time and energy she’d invested in her relationship. In other words, an existential crisis. They could have stopped therapy after providing her with the tools to get past her phobia, but she ultimately learned much more about herself, her emotions and needs by going deeper, he says. Criticism and proof Existential-humanistic psychologists consider their looseness and openness a strength, but their approach has also isolated the field somewhat from other forms of psychology that rely more on empirical evidence and quantifiable results. Schneider says that, in the case of existential-humanistic psychology, a qualitative approach instead is often the most useful. “Existential psychology teases out deep, subjective shifts,” he says, which are difficult to capture using quantitative methods. But that doesn’t mean that these issues can’t be investigated and discussed from a more empirical point of view, Sundararajan says. Because it hasn’t yet been done doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be. “It’s entirely possible to do both quantitative and qualitative [research],” she says. “And I think that you should do both.” Some researchers are, in fact, trying to quantify whether existential-humanistic approaches to therapy work, Hayes says. For example, an article published in December in Archives of General Psychiatry (Vol. 67, No. 12) found that mindfulnessbased cognitive-behavioral therapy was as successful as antidepressants in preventing relapse in symptoms of major depressive disorder. But large-scale empirical testing of existential methods and the existential framework remains to be done. That shouldn’t stop clients and other psychologists from turning to the existential-humanistic framework to expand the range of their therapies and emphasize the importance of the big picture, though, Schneider says. That’s a worthwhile and doable goal for anyone looking for more meaning in his or her life. “If it’s ignored, the whole question of what is meaningful in a person’s life — and not just what is meaningful from an intellectual standpoint or from a culturally conditioned standpoint, but from that person’s deep subjective point of view — could be overlooked,” he says. n APA Independent Study Program Continuing Education from your Association! ExpandEd—Now More Programs Are Available! Convention Workshop Programs (CWP) CWP continues to offer outstanding workshop recordings that blend multimedia presentations with interactive and downloadable PowerPoint slides. Professional Development Programs (PDP) PDP provides shorter, targeted trainings with interactive PowerPoint slides and associated educational resources. Best sellers • An Affect Regulation Toolbox • Assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorders • Bipolar Disorder in Children and Adolescents • Duty to Protect: Ethical, Legal, and Clinical Considerations Best sellers • APA Ethics Code • Adult and Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders • Complicated Grief and the Quest for Meaning • Motivational Interviewing For course descriptions: http://webclients.captus.com/apa/catalog.aspx Visit our website for more information on all CE programs: www.apa.org/education/ce n ov e M b e r 2 0 1 1 • M o n i to r o n p s yc h o l o g y 61 http://www.apa.org/education/ce http://webclients.captus.com/apa/catalog.aspx http://www.apa.org/education/ce

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