Ethics,metaphysics, and psychoanalysis∗

An attempt is made to point out some of the moral presuppositions and implications of psychotherapy in theory and in practice. In the various forms of dynamically oriented psychotherapy, the setting of goals and decisions concerning maturation and health have value components. Even in psychoanalysis in its strict sense, decisions made in accepting or rejecting contracts and determination of the terminating point of analysis are value laden.

Finally, in the theorizing of Freud and others about psychotherapy moral positions are assumed.     

Inherent moral practice in group psychotherapy

The large amount and variety of group psychotherapy practiced today enjoins us to determine its morality, that is, its rightness or wrongness. In this essay group therapy and morality are briefly defined. Using the writings of both philosophers and psychologists, evidence of morality is sought in the intentions and actions of both the patients and therapist and in the group process itself. Paying attention to "personal valuative acts," which are moral in nature and in outcome, group psychotherapy results in the good of the patient, of the therapist, and of the art or practice of group psychotherapy itself.     

Cross-fertilization versus transmission: Recommendations for developing a bidirectional approach to psychotherapy dissemination research

Psychotherapy researchers are increasingly engaged in collaborations with clinical practitioners and mental health administrators. Each party brings its own perspectives, values, and agendas to bear in these encounters. Viable research—practice collaborations depend on understanding and negotiating some of the tensions in these relationships. In this article, we discuss the contexts that prevail for various participants in a psychotherapy dissemination study as well as the values, goals, costs, and benefits related to research participation. This article is a collaboration among the researchers, mental health administrators, therapists, and clients involved in an ongoing treatment dissemination study. Our recommendations for research—practice collaborations are based on our experiences and dialogues over the course of this study.     

Halachic Judaism's Influence on the Practice of Psychotherapy

This paper enumerates and discusses some halachic principles and values which are exerting increasing influence on the practice of psychotherapy. This trend is linked to the resurgence of spiritual values and content in mainstream psychology and therapy, and to the changing concepts of the philosophy of science. The cultural roots of psychotherapy, specifically the contrast between the Greek and Jewish approaches to freedom are also briefly analyzed. The Jewish stand is viewed as imposing a set of values which has as its core enormous respect for the person and his/her ability to choose. Another factor regarded as pivotal is that Jewish teachings foster esteem for objectivity as opposed to the rampant subjectivity seen in some contemporary psychotherapeutic methods. An additional factor discussed is the relation of character traits to therapy. Finally, some facets of the unconscious are analyzed as to their relation to psychotherapy and Judaism.     

How does evidence-based practice in psychology work? – As an ethical demarcation

Evidence-based practice in psychology (EBPP) is ordinarily understood to demarcate between legitimate and illegitimate psychotherapy practice, based upon the epistemic demarcation distinguishing scientific from non-scientific knowledge. EBPP emphasizes the value of effective and efficient interventions identified through randomized controlled trials and cost-benefit analyses. Basing the template for choice of action or strategy on randomized controlled trials and cost-benefit analyses create a deceptive appearance of ethical neutrality. However, there is an implicit ethical demarcation at work in EBPP, which favors a non-articulated specific position in normative ethics. More particularly, evidence-based practice in psychology is structured according to a utilitarian framework, severely limiting the kinds of ethical perspectives available to assess psychotherapy practice. The latter point is illustrated through a new mode of delivering psychotherapy services called “Internet-based guided self-help” (IBGSH). In EBPP the only relevant ethical question is to what extent any intervention, such as IBGSH, is effective and efficient. Some of the limiting effects of the ethical, utilitarian, demarcation are showcased by presenting three alternative ethical perspectives by which psychotherapy practice in general and IBGSH in particular can be analyzed. The analysis concludes that EBPP is not suited to ethically regulate the practice of psychotherapy.     

Cross-fertilization versus transmission: Recommendations for developing a bidirectional approach to psychotherapy dissemination research

Psychotherapy researchers are increasingly engaged in collaborations with clinical practitioners and mental health administrators. Each party brings its own perspectives, values, and agendas to bear in these encounters. Viable research—practice collaborations depend on understanding and negotiating some of the tensions in these relationships. In this article, we discuss the contexts that prevail for various participants in a psychotherapy dissemination study as well as the values, goals, costs, and benefits related to research participation. This article is a collaboration among the researchers, mental health administrators, therapists, and clients involved in an ongoing treatment dissemination study. Our recommendations for research—practice collaborations are based on our experiences and dialogues over the course of this study.     

Ego,moral, and faith development in near-death experiencers: Three case studies

Near-death experiencers (NDErs) commonly report shifts in basic values and attitudes, toward intensified compassion and a sense of unconditional love, sprituality, and a sense of mission, and away from materialism and competitiveness. Some researchers have suggested that these attitudinal shifts represent a new stage in human evolution, which will produce major social change. However, knowledge of these reputed NDE aftereffects has been based on NDErs' subjective reports, unverified by objective measures. This study examined relationships between three NDErs' levels of moral, ego, and faith development, as measured by standardized instruments, and extensive qualitative data describing their NDEs and personal attributes. The results suggest that currently available instruments, designed to measure the lower self, may not reflect the awakening to a transpersonal plane of functioning that follows an NDE.Dr. Newsome is in the private practice of psychotherapy and counseling. This paper was derived in part from her Ph.D. thesis submitted to Walden University.     

积极心理治疗思想概要

积极心理治疗虽然是以积极心理学作为自己的理论基础,但积极心理治疗的实践却早已有之。积极心理治疗作为心理治疗中的一个新生事物．它以反传统医学式心理治疗的面貌出现,运用故事作为治疗者与病人之间的媒介,充分发挥病人的直觉和想象,在与病人的观念不发生直接冲突的情况下提出改变病人观点的建议,这一较符合人性特点的心理疗法正越来越多地受到社会的广泛关注。     

Psychotherapy as a moral enterprise

This article addresses the phenomenon of psychotherapy as a moral enterprise by discussing the notion of morality as it relates to the therapeutic task, enumerating ways in which the practices of psychotherapy can confuse a moral sense of things and by offering suggestions as to how psychotherapy can be undertaken as a moral enterprise.     

Doubts about ordinary language in ethics

Many writers assume one of the major functions (if not the major function) of ethical theory is to analyze the “ordinary language”; of moral discourse. This paper argues that different social groups develop quite different concepts of values; that there are many “ordinary languages.”; What analysts often in practice arc concerned with is middle‐class ethical usage. In addition, it is argued that widely accepted moral usages may be incorrect because they are based on faulty empirical generalizations, pre‐scientific opinions, or socially‐determined prejudices. “Ordinary language”; needs to be viewed critically, therefore, rather than to be assumed as correct.     

Psychotherapy Supervision in the New Millennium: Competency-Based, Evidence-Based, Particularized, and Energized

Psychotherapy supervision has increasingly become or is on the fast track to becoming competency-based, evidence-based, particularized, and accountable. In this paper, I explore how that appears to be so by: (1) briefly considering the concepts of ??competencies?? and ??evidence-based practice?? as preeminent guides for psychotherapy supervision practice and training; and (2) briefly reviewing the current status, pressing needs, and future possibilities of psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic-existential, and integrative psychotherapy supervision. Based on my examination, the following conclusions are proposed: (1) the supervision relationship, individualization, developmental differentiation, and self-reflection (for supervisee and supervisor) appear to be crucial cornerstones for the conceptualization and actuation of supervision process and practice across psychotherapy-based supervision approaches; (2) all indications suggest that three emphases??competency-based supervision, evidence-based practice, and accountability??will continue to substantially influence, affect, and inform psychotherapy supervision practice for its near and distant future; (3) psychotherapy-based supervision approaches will need to be and indeed appear to now be in the process of becoming increasingly particularized in how each of their respective approach-specific competencies are defined and explicated; and (4) psychotherapy supervision has come to be increasingly viewed as an educational process and practice that is best facilitated by: (a) a rich and enriching supervision training environment that vigorously addresses and attempts to meaningfully integrate declarative, procedural, and reflective knowledge bases throughout the supervisory endeavor; and (b) the considered and deliberate utilization of facilitative technology that has the potential to substantially enhance and expand the value of the supervisee??s training/supervision experiences. Some discussion is provided about those four conclusions, and a retrofitted psychotherapy supervision for the new millennium is considered.     

Culturally adapted psychotherapy and the legitimacy of myth: a direct-comparison meta-analysis

Psychotherapy is a culturally encapsulated healing practice that is created from and dedicated to specific cultural contexts (Frank & Frank, 1993; Wampold, 2007; Wrenn, 1962). Consequently, conventional psychotherapy is a practice most suitable for dominant cultural groups within North America and Western Europe but may be culturally incongruent with the values and worldviews of ethnic and racial minority groups (e.g., D. W. Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992). Culturally adapted psychotherapy has been reported in a previous meta-analysis as more effective for ethnic and racial minorities than a set of heterogeneous control conditions (Griner & Smith, 2006), but the relative efficacy of culturally adapted psychotherapy versus unadapted, bona fide psychotherapy remains unestablished. Furthermore, one particular form of adaptation involving the explanation of illness-known in an anthropological context as the illness myth of universal healing practices (Frank & Frank, 1993)-may be responsible for the differences in outcomes between adapted and unadapted treatments for ethnic and racial minority clients. The present multilevel-model, direct-comparison meta-analysis of published and unpublished studies confirms that culturally adapted psychotherapy is more effective than unadapted, bona fide psychotherapy by d = 0.32 for primary measures of psychological functioning. Adaptation of the illness myth was the sole moderator of superior outcomes via culturally adapted psychotherapy (d = 0.21). Implications of myth adaptation in culturally adapted psychotherapy for future research, training, and practice are discussed.     

Psychotherapie bei Depression

Due to significant limitations in mental and physical being, social relationships, and working and functional abilities, prevention and treatment of depressive disorders—predicted to be the most common disorder in 2030—are of particular importance. In the S3 guideline Unipolar Depression, psychotherapy has gained in significance for the acute treatment of unipolar depression. It is noteworthy that psychotherapy is in general recommended as monotherapy or in combination in all degrees of severity of depression. The lasting effects of longer-term psychotherapies are often underestimated. A reflection of the current body of evidence based on the empirical research paradigm and its impact on clinical practice is presented.     

The Hope,Promise, and Possibility of Psychotherapy

In this paper, five values—diversity, science, education, practice, and spirit—(a) are examined within the professional context of psychotherapy, (b) are presented as forming the foundation of much if not all that is psychotherapy, and (c) are considered as binding values that join us as a community of practicing, theorizing, and researching psychotherapists. Some of the positives of each value are reviewed. Diversity has heightened our sensitivity to and respect for individual and cultural differences. Science has kept us focused on empirically challenging and empirically informing our practice. Education has maintained emphasis on providing solid training/supervision in psychotherapy and transmitting its culture. Practice has provided us with opportunities to increasingly implement and expand on our role as helpers and healers. Spirit has been the guiding light—the heart and soul—that supports, infuses and informs all of our therapeutic endeavors and gives them meaning. What follows is a celebration of sorts—(a) capturing some of what we have done and are doing right in psychotherapy, (b) reflecting some of the weight of those “right” efforts, and (c) conveying some of the inherent hope, promise, and possibility that forever guide us in our work.     

Counseling's Inescapable Moral Visions

In this article, philosophical hermeneutics is combined with interpretive social science perspectives to generate a framework for considering the influence of cultural values and assumptions on counseling theory and practice. The core of this framework is the claim that people necessarily live within moral visions that answer the questions: (a) what is a person? and (b) what should a person be or become? Culture provides answers to these questions not only through folk and indigenous psychologies but also by shaping psychological and counseling theories. Moral visions are generally unacknowledged because of the fact-value dualism and the ideals of neutrality that pervade Western culture. Consequently, moral visions, like individualism, operate as disguised ideology in counseling theory and practice.     

Boundaries as pre-conditions.

Boundaries in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy can be considered either as indicators of moral transgressions or as guidelines for therapeutic intervention. This paper suggests that these categories be better delineated in the hope that less attention be paid to that of moral mistakes and more to that of treatment effectiveness.     

‘Does class count?’ Social class and counselling

This article explores the importance attached to social class by experienced practitioners taking part in a co‐operative inquiry group. A review of the literature from the last thirty years indicates that there is very little research on class in relation to counselling and psychotherapy reported in the UK. Both authors position themselves as coming from working class origins. Nine co‐researchers from both middle and working class origins joined the group. Eight meetings took place over a period of nine months. Extracts from the group's discussions are represented and integrated with ‘presentational knowing’ drawn from contemporary culture, including poetry and popular music. This study suggests that social class is a neglected aspect of diversity in the counselling field. Implications of the study have relevance for the language of counselling and psychotherapy and class based values; social class and its impact on initial education; and ongoing counselling practice and access to therapy for working class people.     

DAVID BEN‐GURION ON PLATO

The purpose of this article is to clarify the relationship between David Ben‐Gurion’s political thinking, his political practice and his interpretation of some aspects of Plato’s political philosophy. Ben‐Gurion ascribed to Plato three main political values: activism, or the ability to reject existing norms and mold society after the moral laws of man; a striving to create a unified society; and the ideal of a society based on justice. These values also form the bedrock of Ben‐Gurion’s Zionism. The “Jewish Revolution”—as he called the profound changes brought by the Zionist movement—is an active effort to control Jewish destiny. Its main goal is to create a unified people and realize moral norms. Activism and unity were also, as the article tries to demonstrate, the central guiding principles of Ben‐Gurion’s practice as a political leader, as exemplified in his reliance on pioneering and in fostering a strong political centre of authority.     

Issues relating to the use of forgiveness in counselling and psychotherapy

This paper explores forgiveness, which is a key component of spiritual pastoral care. Encouraging forgiveness is also one of the spiritual interventions most frequently used by psychotherapists. However, although forgiveness has been explored as an element in psychotherapy, the models generated have had little impact on research and practice. Recent research into forgiveness in therapy is considered, including several models put forward for its use. Some of the implications of the use of forgiveness in therapeutic practice are examined and guidelines for the use of forgiveness in psychotherapy are put forward based on the work of the Forgiveness Project at the University of Manchester.