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PCE2006
7th World Conference for
Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counseling
July 12–16, 2006, Potsdam, Germany
Topic:
Philosophy, Religion and Spirituality, History
Symposia, Paper Sessions, Workshops, Round Table Discussion Groups:
Geert Franzenburg
Von-Schonebeck-Ring 75, 48161 Münster, Deutschland, phone: +49 2533
919204, e-mail: franzenburg@t-online.de
Abstract:
People today often suffer from many sorrows, problems, fears and disadvantages.
The analysis sets out to demonstrate how spiritual education can help people in coping with these difficulties in a non-therapeutic but nevertheless healing fashion.
Three paths of coping will be analysed and combined with three methods of working: St. Augustine, confession as a model for the path of changing one’s life, Jean Jaques Rousseau, confession as the path of roots, John Updike, self-consciousness as the path of dreaming.
These examples will show that by educational help in seminars, school and adult education, a novel point of view, a new attitude towards life and its difficulties and a new behaviour in everyday life can be achieved. Therefore the autobiographical method is of great importance. Through remembering one’s own life experiences, especially in childhood, people can learn how to avoid mistakes in their future life, how to change certain attitudes and how to manage situations.
Thus it is necessary to remember the most important results concerning the discussion about childhood, about adulthood and about coping. Writers are not reporting on the process of their singularisation, they are performing it. But this is not a process about which they can be altogether easy because it involves them in what in any society in which autobiography has been practiced would be looked upon as deviant were it not sanctioned by its status as literature. Therefore spiritual biographical work can be a person-centred approach to a helpful coping with crisis in any form.
Detlev Haimerl
Dipl.-Psych., Dattenfelder Str. 6, 51109 Köln, Germany, E-Mail: detlev.haimerl@t-online.de
Abstract:
The author’s standpoint is that a continuing debate about a PCA-vision is desirable.
PCA today is confronted with two contradictory developments: One is the postmodern scepticism against all trials to give our world a foundation we can rely on.
The other is the omnipresent tendency of installing evidence based systems with the intention to give economic decisions an objective base.
These developments can be understood as a double challenge for the PCA:
(a) Which consequences do deconstructive or poststructural systems have on the
humanistic base of the PCA and
(b) What response could be found on the tendency of standardization/economisation without getting anachronistic.
The author's personal vision:
- Statement 1: The omnipresent obligation for objective evaluation in health systems produces resistance. Standardization often neglects too many differences that are decisive in the individual context.
Nomothetic methods give priority to the rule and not to the individual.
Perspective: The PCA should continue to promote plurality in scientific methods. PCA-specific methods should be developed. Young and idealistic researchers and presence at university are needed.
- Statement 2: The society of our days is characterized by strong effects of economisation in professional and private life. Individuals have to cope with social burdens.
Perspective: The PCA should care not only to deal with social problems on the base of individual therapy or counselling. The PCA can become mouthpiece for those who suffer as a result of social problems or economisation. As
"unconditional positive regard" is essential part of its base the PCA can make the difference to the process of economisation as the latter is necessarily based on conditional regard.
- Statement 3: In statements 1 and 2 visions for the PCA are outlined following the idea that our approach has the power to relate absolute settings of other approaches.
This is half of the truth.
Perspective: If the PCA wants to avoid anachronism and give new impulses it has to promote – strange as it
may sound – not itself but its own relativity and deconstruction.
Naoko Hatase
Kansai University, Osaka, Japan
Abstract:
What is the universal experience of spirituality among people. Doesn't it sound scarly, frighteningly, or terrifyingly in your culture? When you use the word spirituality, doesn't they misunderstand you as fraud psychotherapist?
As I live in the culture, especially I live in ancient capital of Japan – Kyoto, where people still believes mysterious traditional awful religious spiritual power, I was wondering about the word spirituality.
Carl climbed up Mt. Fuji when he was twenty years old. "It was the first time in my life, or the life of anybody in my family, I'm sure, that I had climbed high enough to look down a cloud blanket over the whole country.
Beautiful. You could see the light coming and the billowing clouds and the sun rising. A whole line of pilgrims shouted when the sun came up, and it was a remarkable experience full of a real spiritual feeling of wonder and awe. I think that's one aspect of religion that I've never lost-the since of awe at many natural phenomena, and that was certainly such an experience then."
As I wanted to get the same experience, I climbed Mt. Fuji with students who were the same age of Carl. I am going to show you the scenery of the mountain and introduce the experience of young Japanese students. I hope to share with your spiritual experience together.
Georg Hummler
Dipl.theol., pastoral counselling Klinik Schillerhöhe, 70839 Gerlingen
Abstract:
Cancer disease causes deep psychical problems for the client. The client looses all congruence-competences: the client feels emotionally paralized by his diagnosis.
The therapist often reachs limits of verbal intervention in the person-centered approach.
Are there means to touch deeply the wounded heart of the client in a nonverbal way?
Old sacred icons (from Greece, Serbia or Russia) are offering us a special kind of psychospiritual matrix dynamizing the clients' emotional resources in different situations of suffering during the progress of cancer disease.
Nonverbal inputs by different icon-motives in different situations of the clinical interventions change the self-feeling and the self-acceptance of the client in a catalytic way. The therapist realizes new methods by the means of old icongraphic spiritual messages in order to move congruent in his relationship with the client.
Literature: Hummler, G. "Himmlisches Licht – von der heilenden Kraft der Ikonen" (KÖSEL-Verlag)
Peter Jewel
Assistant director, the Center for English Language Teacher Education, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom,
phone: +44 24 7652 3200, e-mail: celte@warwick.ac.uk,
Internet: www. warwick.ac.uk/celte
Abstract:
The paper suggests that a fruitful way of looking at the work of Carl Rogers and the
development of Person Centred counselling, a way that has had little attention
paid to it, is to see Rogers as an heir to the Romantic tradition. It argues that the
term "Romantic", which, for reasons of focus, is taken in this context to refer
specifically to the English Romantic tradition, does convey something of great
significance, in particular to do with the importance of the individual sensibility. It
further argues that this emphasis on the primacy of individual experiencing was
highlighted in their work on the English Romantic poets by a group of American
literary critics writing in the middle of the twentieth century at the same time that
Rogers was formulating his account of Person Centred counselling theory. It hopes
to demonstrate that the language in which Rogers conveys his ideas matches
closely the language, drawn from English poetry of the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, in which these American critics write of that poetry. It thus
postulates a three way connection between the major English Romantic poets, a
group of American literary and cultural critics of the 1950s and 1960s, and Rogers
himself, which exemplifies and enhances what Rogers meant by "A Way of
Being".
Martin van Kalmthout
Mook, The Netherlands
Abstract:
Many people in the secularized world of today experience the cosmos as completely indifferent to the fate of the individual and the destiny of mankind. Personal trauma and collective disaster offer empirical evidence for this position, which is often referred to as the experiencing of
"the death of God." While modern man no longer derives meaning from such traditional religious concepts as God or heaven, moreover, this does not mean that modern man no longer searches for life meaning. As a matter of fact, there is a great need for new approaches to the old question of life meaning.
My assumption is that person-centered therapy constitutes a modern system of meaning that can help modern man find life meaning. Viewed in such a manner, person-centered therapy can be conceptualized as what Rogers called a practical philosophy of living in his later work.
In this presentation, I will discuss the consequences of adopting such a view of person-centered therapy and the relations of such a person-centered therapy to science and religion. Special attention will be further paid to the concept of
"atheistic spirituality" and the question of whether it is possible to conceptualize a practical philosophy of living in which the scientific and religious go together to constitute an approach to the good life that is neither reductive (as most scientific approaches tend to be) nor dogmatic (as most religious approaches tend to be).
Caroline Kitcatt
Centre Director, The Norwich Centre for Personal & Professional Development, 7 Earlham Road, Norwich NR2 3RA, UK,
phone: +44 1603 617709, fax: +44 1603 886999, e-mail: ckitcatt@norwichcentre.org,
http://www: norwichcentre.org
Abstract:
Fear remains a major issue in many therapeutic relationships. In this paper I explore person-centred perspectives on fear in relation to work, theoretical understanding and the personal life of the person centred therapist. I also address issues arising from sexuality and spiritual/theological insights and the implications of these for the training and supervision of therapists.
Thorne believes that as therapists we must face fear by being representatives of a different order, by rekindling hope, by our way of being and by responding to the client in a way that conveys that
"there is the possibility of a positive force at the centre of life that is more fundamental than the direst
destructiveness." (Thorne, 1998, p108). He believes that although medication and therapeutic techniques and insights may have their place,
"without love they are likely to profit nothing".
I believe the core conditions are in themselves the attitudes which can develop in us the capacity to love both ourselves and others. The process in which we are all engaged as person-centred therapists of becoming as much of the core conditions as we can be, can be conceptualised as a process of learning to love more deeply, more truly and less fearfully.
How can I, how can we, stay loving of ourselves and others in the face of fear? To answer that question, I believe, is to become more effective therapists and more rounded human beings.
Grigoris Mouladoudis
Associate Professor at the University School of Educational and Technological Training, Kyzikou 20, 55133 Thessaloniki, Greece, phone:
+30 2310456427, fax: +30 2310456427, e-mail: bm-clwrzc@otenet.gr
Abstract:
The aim of the paper is the critical look of the dialogue held in 1965 between the German existential theologian and philosopher Paul Tillich and the American psychologist Carl Rogers. We explore six questions all asked for Tillich by Rogers: a) the importance of self-affirmation, b) the concept of demonic, c) the basic alienation and estrangement of man, d) Tillich’s theological language and terminology, e) the acceptance in interpersonal relations, and, f) what constitutes the optimal person. By using comparative analysis of their views, we tracing the similarities and slight differences among them.
Bernie Neville
MA., PhD., Assoc. Prof., School of Educational Studies, La Trobe University, VIC 3086, Australia, Phone: +61 3 9479 3925, Fax: +61 3 9479 3070,
e-mail: B.Neville@latrobe.edu.au,
Internet: www.latrobe.edu.au/educationalstudies/Staff/neville.htm
Abstract:
Person-centred and experiential psychotherapies emerged in the work of Rogers and Gendlin at the University of Chicago, at a time when that institution was the centre of Whiteheadian studies in philosophy, theology, physics and biology. In this context, it is not surprising that Whitehead’s process philosophy should have influenced their thinking about the therapeutic process.
When Roger’s reflects on the foundations of the person-centred approach in
A Way of Being (1980) he returns to Whitehead’s cosmology, writing within a framework which is far removed from the individualistic assumptions which have characterised much of the discussion of client-centred therapy of the past fifty years. He distinguishes between the actualising tendency he wrote about in the fifties and
"a formative tendency in the universe, which can be observed at every
level". Growth is not something the client has or does. It is not even personal to the client. It is an energy within which we all live and move. Our experience is an element in the
universe's becoming.
Rogers calls on contemporary science for support for this idea, citing such names as Szent-Gyoergy, Capra and Prigogine. If he were writing now he would have a much longer list of credible scientists to cite, and would no doubt include Arne Naess and the deep ecologists. He makes a point of mentioning the contribution of Whitehead to his thinking.
In this presentation I will look at the ways in which an understanding of
Whitehead's cosmology can illuminate our purpose and practice as person-centred and experiential counsellors.
Mikio Shimizu, Hosei University, e-mail: kiorammm@yahoo.co.jp
Makiko Mikuni, Housei University, attending as a co-facilitator
Abstract:
1. Introduction:
Four days residential BEG is more popular length for the intensive group experience period in Japan. Usually it will be set a long free time in the afternoon of the third day of the workshop. In the free time, some of members offer his or her special interest session, such as Dancing, Drama, Music, Taking a walk, Yoga, and so on. I started the Doodling work in the free time as one of the interests in 1990, to create the participant's atmosphere more closer to each other, exchanging their feeling freely through the work. I have found it works well. The idea of Doodling has been developed from Rudolf Steiner Education.
2. What is the Doodling Work?
Have you ever had some experiences with drawing some picture on a piece of paper, continuously over and over again on the same lines talking with someone on telephone? It is the origin of the Doodling Work. If you try it with some soft music, you might have some image or inspiration coming up during the work. Sometimes it might make you release after the works with spiritual experiences.
3. Materials: Drawing paper (A3), a set of crayon (12 colors), soft music CD and CD player.
Bring your own drawing paper and crayon if you could. It's OK even a piece of paper and ball point pen and color markers.
4. Demonstration with the participants.
5. Discussion with participants
Brian Thorne
University of east Anglia & The Norwich Centre for Personal & Professional Development, 7 Earlham Road,
Norwich NR2 3RA UK., phone: (01603) 617709, fax: (01603)613515, e-mail:
admin@norwichcentre.org, website:
http://www.norwichcentre.org
Abstract:
This paper explores the person-centred view of human-nature and of the power of relational depth to effect personal transformation and to engender transcendental experience. Drawing on the later work of Carl Rogers, the insights of the medieval mystic, Julian of Norwich, and the diaries of the holocaust victim, Etty Hillesum, a theory and practice of spiritual accompaniment are presented appropriate to the existential anguish of a century caught up in the fear of terrorist violence and ecological disaster.
Keith Tudor,
Temenos, Sheffield; Liverpool John Moores University
Paul Wilkins, Manchester Metropolitan University
Abstract:
In this workshop the presenters will facilitate a discusssion about the theoretical and practical implications of the various terms which have been used to describe the therapeutic activity within the
"nation" this conference represents. We will trace the roots – and draw out the implications – of the terms
"non directive therapy", "relationship therapy", "client-centred therapy",
"person-centred therapy" and "the person-centred approach", and trace the history and development of different traditions or
"tribes" within the "person-centred/experiential" nation. The workshop will include some presentations and facilitated discussion, and will offer participants an opportunity to explore their own views about their ways of working. We will also explore the value of a congruence or
"fit" between 1) personal philosophy, 2) the principles of a particular theoretical orientation, and 3) practice. Finally, we will also offer a critique of the nomenclature
"person-centred", and some thoughts about the necessity of robust dialogue between
"person-centred" practitioners and those from other disciplines and theoretical orientations.
Mary Susan Westhoff, Counselor of Ex-Patriot Adults, Children and Adolescents
Abstract:
Becoming aware of the person-centered idea can mean beginning to recognize its many expressions and forms.. These we have found in religion (Taoism, some Native American Indian ideas and Buddhist Tonglen meditation), in poetry (some of the works of W.H. Auden, W.B. Yeats, Emily Dickinson, and the Poetry Therapy Movement), in music (some of the songs of John Lennon, Billy Joel, Ralph Mc Tell, and others), in art (some of the Expressionists, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko), and in therapy (the process therapy of Anne Wilson Schaef, the Healing-into-Life-and-Death exercises of Stephen Levine, the reality therapy of Byron Katie, the Open Heart exercises of John Welwood, to mention a few).
This presentation will be a game of sounds, colors and thoughts to vibrate on our person-centered frequencies, as entertainment, as play.
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