THIS WEB PAGE IS STILL BEING UPDATED. Most abstracts from Western presenters are posted; abstracts from East presenters will be posted as they are translated.
Conference Abstracts
(Listed by Author Last Name)
Zhi Mian and the Practice of Mindfulness: Exploring a Possible Relationship
Rob Bageant, PhD
Zhimian psychotherapy and the practice of mindfulness are a well-matched pair. Zhimian, which translates literally as direct looking, meansdirectly facing up to the reality of one's life. Mindfulness practice is perhaps the most direct means of facing one's own internal experience. If directly facing one's life, including the existential givens, is taken as a beneficial approach to the human condition, then the integration of mindfulness practice and zhimian psychotherapy is a logical next step. Mindfulness practice consists of maintaining an honest, nonjudgemental witnessing of each present moment experience as it unfolds, regardless of what arises. As with Wang Xuefu's zhimian psychotherapy, the practice of mindfulness is a means of helping people awaken to the truth of their current situation. While the majority of therapy methods that incorporate mindfulness teach mindfulness mediation to clients as an adjunct to therapy, a small number of pioneering psychotherapy methods, and particularly the Hakomi method, offer tools to integrate mindfulness directly into the flow of the therapeutic session without requiring clients to become meditation practitioners. These approaches offer the means to dovetail mindfulness cleanly into psychotherapy and can make a valuable contribution to Zhimian psychotherapy in particular and existential psychotherapy in general.
Existential Paradoxes: Where the Truth Lies (Inivted Paper)
Richard Bargdill, PhD
This address will investigate personal and therapeutic paradoxes as a real asset for the existential psychologist. The paradox suggests that we are both fighting for and fighting against something and that something is often the same thing. Existential therapists can help clients to discover their core paradox and this can be an opportunity to allow their clients to align their energies and stop fighting against their own selves.
Enhancing Zhi Mian through Reflection
Diane Blau, PhD
To move toward zhi mian, one strives to increase one’s knowing of self through intensive self-examination. While it takes courage to confront oneself, it also requires resources and skills to become introspective. This workshop will focus on enhancing processes and methods of reflection as a way deepen zhi mian. Reflection here is defined as a pausing in time, holding still one’s experience, heightening awareness of each of one’s senses, contemplating one’s body in space, considering the information one receives through self study in the moment, and the meaning one attributes to the emergent knowing. Using creative methods, and through sensory, body, emotional, and cognitive pathways, participants will learn a model of reflective practice to heighten awareness and expand understanding of their experience. The connection between what an individual discovers and the meaning he or she attributes to these discoveries, thus a deepening of zhi mian, generates greater potential for growth.
Facing and Fleeing Being-in-the-World: An Existential-Analytic Consideration of Lu Xun's Zhi Mian
Erik Craig, PhD (Invited Presenter)
Lu Xun’s concept of Zhi Mian bears within it both the individual’s authentic possibility for resolutely confronting the deeply disquieting aspects of being-in-the-world as human as well as the individual’s fundamental tendency to flee in the face of its own existence. What is it about human being that makes it so difficult to face its own being? What does it mean to face or to flee in the first place? Of what do facing and fleeing consist? Although Zhi Mian manifestly speaks to the individual’s distinctive authentic possibility of staring into the face of reality, such authentic facing is always chosen from the unavoidable ground of inauthentic being, being the “they,” in which Dasein, the human being, flees in the face of itself. Drawing on Eastern and Western traditions of thought and practice, this paper offers an existential ontological analysis of the human situation where Zhi Mian presents itself as an imminent possibility. In the West one find critical aspects of Zhi Mian reflected in Plato’s (1974) metaphor of The Cave , Nietzsche’s (1974) Doctrine of the Eternal Return, Freud’s (1958) concept of resistance (Widerstand), and Heidegger’s (1962) ideas about fallenness, anxiety, and authenticity. As Xuefu Wang (2009) has shown us, similar themes and conundrums appear in the work of China’s 20th Century writer, Lu Xun, particularly in his image of the iron house. Other Eastern thinkers, from the ancient Chinese “masters” LaoTzu and Chuang Tzu to more contemporary contemplatives like the Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn (1976), have also been compelled by the contingencies of human existing itself to address the poignant human situation that human beings are constantly called, if they dare hear this call, to tolerate what seems intolerable, to speak what seems unspeakable, to understand what seems impossible to understand. The central premise of Zhi Mian is grounded in one fundamental reality: The human being’s relationship to its own existence. The primary aspiration of this paper is to uncover critical dimensions the phenomenon of Zhi Mian and to open up a field for mutual questioning and dialogue. At stake in such a conversation is our relationship to ourselves, to one another, to nature, and to time.
Dreaming as a Path for Zhi Mian
Erik Craig, PhD, & Richard Bargdill, PhD
According to Medard Boss (1957) dreaming and waking are but two different modes for carrying one and the same existence. Boss’s existential-analytic (Daseinsanalytic) approach to the understanding and analysis of dreams, drawn not only from Western psychotherapy and philosophy but also from his extended journeys and studies in the East (1965) is grounded in a phenomenological hermeneutic respect for human experience and represents, perhaps, the most thorough, systematic approach to the clinical use of dreams in the field of existential psychology and psychotherapy. Existentially speaking, dreams provide the advantage of being carried out in a condition, REM sleep, in which we find ourselves more relaxed, private, safe and free than we are at any other point in 24 hour period (Craig, 1987 a&b, 1988, 1990, 1992, 2005). This relaxation, privacy, safety, and freedom provides a unique quality of openness to our own existence, one that allows us to consider realities and possibilities that we dare or cannot consider while awake and absorbed by the demands of everyday living. This workshop is based the premise that attentiveness to one’s dreaming is a profoundly potentiating path and practice for the development of Zhi Mian, staring directly in the face of reality.
Emerging Metaphors: Suffering, Coffee, and Connoisseurs of Pain
Jason Dias, PsyD
This paper discusses how metaphors for therapeutic work emerged from a gathering of Chinese relief workers and Western therapists outside a disaster zone. A centra lthemes is the synergistic properties of dialogue – meaning that nobody intended for these metaphors to come about or develop in the way that they did. The metaphors emerged as part of an unintended and unanticipated process. An additional topic of importance is that language may be central to productive suffering. Pain is meaningless without reflection, and language gives us the ability to reflect in a special way.
The Cultural Psychology of LuXun and Xuefu Wang
Alvin Dueck, PhD
This presentation proposes that the work of LuXun and Wang Xuefu are examples of indigenous cultural existentialism, a perspective that views culture as psychologically primary and the object of transformation. It is argued that just as Wang Xuefu has found LuXun’s work exemplary, Western psychologies/existentialisms can benefit from LuXun’s wisdom, prophetic stance, and tradition sensitivity. As a hinge figure, LuXun stood between Chinese traditionalism and modernity. In Chinese literature he emerged as a brilliant writer and acute observer of the Chinese psyche. He directed his critical gaze on what he considered to be the cultural state of Chinese people in his day. His literary creation is rooted in his sensitive perception and exposure of the oppressed Chinese psyche, epitomized in his description of the "Ah Q" mentality. Wang Xuefu’s work parallels LuXun in former’s desire to create an indigenous Chinese psychology, his use of LuXun’s notion of Zhi-mian, his response to the larger social context, and his social/therapeutic project of cultural retrieval.
Termination and Zhi Mian in Group Therapy: Catalyst or Stumbling Block
Diane Edwards
The Application of "Zhi Mian" for "Oestrus of life"
Evgenia Georganda, PsyD, Evy Dallas, PhD, Alexandros Harisiadis, M.Sc., Ph.D. candidate and
Katerina Zymnis-Georgalou, M.Sc., Ph.D. candidate.
“Oestrus” is a concept that has many meanings and implications. In ancient Greece oestrus was a Gadfly which stung animals and drove them to react. Socrates was the first to use the image allegorically in describing himself as a gadfly that awakens people from their lethargy and laziness. The term “oestrus”, or estrus, is connected with the passion for life, with creativity and an awakening from the indolence of everyday living. It is also directly associated with the female reproductive cycle via the estrogens related to pregnancy and childbirth. It is thus related with the ideas of attraction, union and creation in general, as well as to spiritual, mental and psychic elation, enthusiasm and inspiration. We believe that Zhi Mian, like a gadfly, leads to awareness and awakening, thus promoting change and turning life into an intense and meaningful experience. It prompts us to give greater importance to life by realizing our time limitations, thereby generating a sense of urgency which does not allow us to waste time and live as if we were eternal. Finally, it has been our experience in seminars and workshops that “oistros” can be used as an existential term, derived from the original concept of oestrus. It provides the existential therapist with a powerful tool that has a directive, an energizing and a generative function which can help the client lead a life full of passion, energy and creativity.
The Poetics of Suffering: Existential Perspectives on Suffering, Loss, and Transformation (Keynote Address)
Louis Hoffman, PhD
Existential psychology and Buddhism share a deep conviction that suffering is an inherent part of the human condition, and not something to be labeled as an illness. Instead of considering suffering as something to be eradicated, emphasis is placed on how one responds to suffering. Existential psychology encourages individuals to journey into or through their suffering to find meaning for, as Viktor Frankl purported, suffering ceases to be suffering when one finds a meaning for their suffering. This keynote address focuses the use of the creative arts, and more specifically poetry, as a medium for healing and transformation. Poetry, whether through the identification with poems written by others or the creation of one’s own poetry, can facilitate self-exploration, interpersonal awareness, engagement with the existential givens, and the creation of meaning. When used in psychotherapy or other interpersonal contexts, the power of poetry is often intensified. Clinical and personal illustrations of the use of poetry in healing are included.
Honoring the Individual and the Collective in Existential Psychotherapy
Louis Hoffman, PhD (Invited Presenter)
Existential thought, including existential psychology, was first identified as a movement within the context of Western culture. Although aspiring to be a highly adaptable approach, like all psychotherapies, early versions of existential thought incorporated many aspects of the culture and time from which it emerged. Many influential writers readily integrated individualism, which is a primary value in most of Western thought, into existential philosophy and psychology. As many have viewed individualism and the individualistic interpretations of freedom as fundamental to existential thought, there are challenges with applying existential psychology in an international context, particularly within cultures that are more collectivist. This paper maintains, however, that the individualist bias within existential psychology to a large degree is a misunderstanding of existential thought. Furthermore, where individualism has become an unchecked bias within existential thought, this is something that needs to be corrected. As an alternative, this paper proposes that individualism and collectivism are two archetypal expressions of the paradoxical nature of human beings. Consistent with this proposal, James F. T. Bugental maintained that individuals have a paradoxical need to be a-part-of (i.e., collectivist needs) and apart-from (i.e., individualistic needs). When individuals or cultures tend to the extreme of individualism, a variety of risks emerge, such as loneliness, disconnection from people and society, lack of concern for the well-being of others, and selfishness. When individuals or cultures tend to the extreme of collectivism, there are inherent risks of the loss of identity, disgenuineness in one’s relationships, and false intimacy. Many clients in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures struggle with meeting the individual and collective needs. Therapists, regardless of culture, need to be aware of both needs in order to help clients recognize and reconcile these paradoxical needs.
Zhi Mian and Faith in Bernard Lonergan's and Raymond Pannikar's Religious Thought
Chae Young Kim, PhD
In this paper I have attempted to compare Bernard Lonergan’s and Raymon Panikkar’s Zhi Mian on new religious situation in our emerging global world. Most especially, I have focused my comparison on how they tackled existentially global religious life to understand what is meant when we speak about faith and what kind of role is played by faith. Admittedly, one cannot attend to all the relevant materials which exist in the writings of Lonergan and Panikkar as these might relate to their respective notions of faith as a heuristic for leading one toward growth in understanding and knowledge. However, I have attempted to make a critical selection which allows me to compare what each man has to say about faith in the existential situation of Zhi Mian as each articulates an understanding that can be found in their major published works.
Additction and Alientation
Bonnie Lee
The fundamentally tragic nature of human existence lies in the estrangement of a person from self, others, and the source of being, according to Paul Tillich, eminent Christian existential philosopher and theologian of the 20th century. This alienation from our essential nature gives rise to anxiety, anguish, grief, despair and in more extreme cases, dehumanization. The dire human condition is illustrated most profoundly in addiction. A clinical case example maps the resonances of existential Christian theology, Buddhist thought, with the aims of an integrative couple therapy centered on congruence in restoring what is broken to wholeness. The projects of religion and of psychotherapy in their aspirations are shown to converge
Using the Transpersonal Mind-Body Practice of Aikido to Train Zhi Mian in Psychotherapists
David Lukoff, PhD
The therapist’s ability to be fully present in therapy, to show positive regard and empathy while helping a client face their life directly, is a research-validated clinical skill. The martial art of Aikido, which has Japanese roots but can be traced back to the Chinese practice of qigong, can be applied by psychotherapists both with clients and for self-care. In martial arts one is facing the client directly and accepting whatever the client brings to the encounter. In the practice of martial arts, one learns to be fully present with “what is. In this workshop we will practice Aikido techniques that are focused on developing therapeutic presence, staying centered when challenged by clients, and blending empathically with clients. It will be low impact and is an ideal introduction for non Aikidoists.
Expanded Well Being, Authenticity, and Contemporary Utility of Integrative Practices
Heather McQueen, MA
This presentation is meant to enhance an understanding of the significance of intrinsic motivation and self-determination theory as facilitators in authentic self-exploration, genuine self-expression, and connection to an expanded sense of well-being especially as germane to the areas of movement and exercise in conjunction with therapeutic and restorative settings. The information may elucidate the importance of increased awareness and intrinsic motivation within individuals as well as the quality of relationship to self and others. Thereby, providing greater unification to the living practice of being authentically human in contemporary society through the praxis of embodied authentic presence.
Zhi Mian and Pointing Directly at the Nuclear Feeling in Taopsychotherapy
Christine Myunghee Ahn
Pointing directly at one’s nuclear feeling or jikjiinsim is one of the most central tenets of Taopsychotherapy, an endogenous Korean psychotherapy approach, which integrates the western intellectual traditions and psychotherapy approaches of the humanistic, existential, and psychoanalytic views with the central teachings of the Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. This paper will begin by defining the experience of Zi Man in terms of jikjiinsim, which means toface directly or encounter one’s core emotional conflict, survive it, become one with it and eventually transcend it. Zi Man or pointing directly at the nuclear feeling is considered as a key to having an authentic encounter within the person, with his or her implicit or hidden self. Being able to point directly or Zi Man at the patient’s nuclear feelings will also be perceived as a prerequisite for experiencing true empathy in the therapeutic relationship. In comparing and contrasting these two concepts, essential positions of Taopsychotherapy as an integration of the East and West existential perspectives will be introduced. In describing its applications in therapeutic care, important givens of Taopsycherapy regarding the nature of human mind, cause of emotional difficulties, healing factors will be explained. Process of therapy will be described as a shared journey where the therapist’s level of Tao or purification of mind provides genuine empathy and warmth enabling a true dialogue between the patient and the therapist. This authentic therapeutic encounter leads to Zi Man within the patient, to the emancipation of the patient from his or her emotional struggle and to beginning a new journey toward Tao.
The "Goal Setting" Process from the Perspective of Existentially-Oriented Transformative Coaching
Oksana Okhrimenko
The word combination “existentially-oriented coaching” seems contradictory. Traditional performance- and life-coaching is considered to be a process, where coaches simply try to help their clients to get what they say they want, whereas the mission of existential therapy is to assist clients in tapping into their authenticity, with the therapist being present to the client exploring questions of “How am I living my life? How am I going to, and willing to live my life in face of everything what is happening?”, in other words, existential therapists help their clients to “get,” what they really, authentically want. Similarly however, the transformative couching developed by Michael Neill, addresses one’s holistic being in the world in relation to one’s context, including exploration of client’s goals and desires. Whether people want to make more money, to find a better job, to improve their relationships, or to develop new skills, most often they want what they want hoping that when they get it, they would feel better, they would have grater experience of their life. However, as Michael Neill says, “If you really want to have a more enjoyable life, reaching your goals is not enough. You’re also going to have to find a more enjoyable way of getting there.” (Neill, 2009, p. 2). It is our moment by moment experience what makes up the life. This presentation will discuss transformative coaching methods through the experience of a coach/counselor entering this field in a multiethnic Asian culture, using an example of assisting client’s exploration of his or her intrinsic motivation, by understanding metaphorically and experiencing the nature of wanting, goals and creativity and how one navigates through the world.
Existential Psychology and Health Psychology: An East-West Study in Contrast Involving Personal and Health Issues Affecting the Competency of US and Chinese Clergy and Barriers to Seeking Help
James Oraker, PhD
The purpose of this study is to utilize East-West cultural research on personal issues affecting clergy competency and barriers faced in seeking help. The overall results from the study will identify and implement resources best fit to assess clergy during their active years of ordained service as well as during their retirement years. In addition, the results will assist ordained clergy sponsoring and mentoring candidates for ministry, in the exploration and understanding areas of their personal lives that could cause problems in their efforts to help others. One helpful construct used in assessing personal and health issues of clergy is a developmental continuum from stress to distress, impairment, impairment behavior, assessment, and intervention.
The Humanistic-Existential Creativity Connection
Steven Pritzker, PhD
Creativity is acknowledged to be a key human characteristic vital to our individual health, healing, prosperity, and survival. Psychological pioneers such as Freud, Jung, and Kris proposed theories about the human need for creativity. In the 40's, 50's and 60's, humanistic psychologists such as Carl Rogers, Rollo May, and Abraham Maslow focused much more on creativity as a characteristic that every individual has the potential to manifest. Maslow was influenced by Buddhism's emphasis on meditation and the idea of being present in the moment. May was impressed with existentialists including Paul Tillich. He entitled his book The Courage to Create based on Tillich's The Courage to Be. The influence of humanistic-existential attitudes toward creativity are being carried forward today by a number of scholars at Saybrook University in San Francisco where May was a faculty member. Creativity Studies is taught at Saybrook as a Specialization in both the Master's and Doctoral programs where students are taught to apply research into domains such as education, business, psychotherapy, and the arts.
Facing the Invisible Dragons: Finding Meaning with a Special NeedsChild in the Family
Juliet Rhode-Brown, PhD & Betty Frain, PhD
Just sixty years ago in America, pediatricians were reluctant to inform parents that their children were born with brain damage. Once children were finally diagnosed, there were few choices in services for their care and education. Parents tended to create a conspiracy of silence in the family, leaving the siblings of the disabled in a quandary about the meaning of life and their place in it, particularly when their own emotional needs were neglected. Once hidden away, the special needs children now often live in group-homes and attend sheltered workshops where many work and receive payment for their contributions. Still, while this is a positive step, even today the “institutionalization,” of a sibling has a profound effect on the often “guilty survivor” (Meyer, 2009; Strohm, 2005) Experiences of interpersonal trauma are not uncommon in such families. The stress and trauma of growing up with a brain injured or special needs sibling does not have to define an existence, though. There is often “post-traumatic growth” that beckons to a richly reflective life, a life that faces adversity directly, yet acknowledges that there is more behind the face of things. Many siblings have gained a deep respect for what their brain injured family members have taught them about the fragility of life and the importance of love and connection. Seeing the world through the eyes of their family member has given them a new perspective on the meaning of life, the limitations of being human and the responsibility that we have towards each other. In this sense, the essence of Zhi Mian is exemplified. There is opportunity for empathy and attunement to other ways of knowing as one engages in a reconsideration of what it is to be human. As the brain injured sibling grows older, siblings may share the parenting of the loved one and become intimately re-connected through this endeavor. This may be the hidden gift offered by the wounded sibling. Cross-cultural conversations could be of benefit in facing the existential crisis of meaning that can emerge in siblings of children with brain injuries and other disabilities. In addition, therapeutic models that blend Eastern and Western perspectives enlighten us to the nuances of the existential experience in general (Craig, 2007) and particularly when growing up with a sibling who resides on the outskirts of “normal” appearance and behavior.
Conflict of Interest in Research on Antipsychotic Drugs for Pediatric Mental Disorders
Brent Dean Robbins, PhD (Keynote)
The pharmaceutical industry, especially the sales of psychiatric drugs, are one of the most profitable businesses in the world. As a result of large profits, pharmaceutical companies find themselves in the position to invest enormous amounts of resources into the sales and marketing of their products. At times, the intense marketing tactics of pharmaceutical companies exert an economic influence upon the research and practice of psychiatry, not to mention medical education, that threatens to have a deleterious effect on the credibility and validity of psychiatric interventions. The loss of credibility and validity in psychiatric science may undermine public trust in psychiatry's ability to adequately meet the medical and psychological needs of patients with mental disorders. By investigating the conflicts of interest in the research of psychiatric medications, and by exploring the recent past in which the efficacy of antidepressants have been called into question, the logic of this analysis leads us to caution psychiatric consumers about the current efficacy and safety of atypical antipsychotic medications, especially when used for psychiatric treatment of vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly. These cautions extend also to the decision of the DSM-V task force to consider the inclusion of new pediatric disorders in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder. The investigation into conflicts of interest between pharmaceutical industry and medical research in psychiatry leads us to the tentative conclusion that the DSM-V task force should place a moratorium on consideration of any new diagnostic category that would promote the prescription of antipsychotic medications to children.
Facing the Surface of the World in Depth: An Introduction to Phenomenology
Brent Dean Robbins, PhD (Invited Presenter)
How does one become a phenomenologist? First and foremost, phenomenology is a way of seeing—it is a style of perceiving the world, others and one’s self. This style of seeing is a sensibility that can be cultivated by drawing upon the liberal arts in all their glory – not only the natural sciences, but especially literature, the arts, and philosophy. The phenomenological attitude begins with a commitment to radically question the most basic, foundational assumptions of one’s perception of world, others and self. In the tradition of Descartes, the phenomenologist begins with a radical doubt in the metaphysical assumptions that have shaped the way we perceive and speak the world. But, in contrast to Descartes, the phenomenologist does not retreat into some kind of interior space inside the mind, but rather questions in a much more radical way the relationship between mind and reality. Setting aside assumptions about the relationship of consciousness and world, the phenomenologist begins much more simply and directly with a description of how things appear in their very appearance as they unfold before us in our perception, without rushing to judging about their epistemological validity. This radical attitude, which is attuned to a raw, direct, existential, embodied contact with others and with things, is the phenomenological attitude – the epoche. Once we have cultivated this way of seeing, then it becomes much more possible to freely play with the appearance of things, and our role in the co-constitution of how other people, things, and even our “selves” come to have the meanings they have. The free play with the meaning of things in our perception can move on, as Husserl taught us, and become an “eidetic analysis.” In this eidetic analysis, the phenomenologist cultivates the means for a critical realism, by which the essential meaning of phenomena are understood to reside in their existential, and culturally-historically situated, validity as interpersonal phenomena. The emergence of an interpersonal meaning is a more ontologically valid understanding of what we attempt to describe by “objectivity,” but without the dualism imported by Cartesian notions of a subject-object dichotomy that has haunted epistemology for centuries. When truth is understood in this phenomenological way, we come to recognize that, when we face the sur-face of the world, and come to the deepest truths about it, these truths are transpersonal—these truths reflect, in other words, an empathic grasp of how other faces have taken in that same profile of the world in different and equally valid ways. The recognition of the truth of a phenomenon as it transcends our limited perceptual horizons, then, is to encounter the phenomena with a deep understanding of how it may appear to others beyond ourselves. A careful, poetic descriptive process will describe what it mean to do phenomenology, including examples of phenomenological work on work with cadavers, embarrassment, and joy
Mindfulness and Zhi Mian
Donna Rockwell, PsyD
This paper will look at the author’s mixed-method research findings, examining the effect on students who took a mindfulness course in a clinical psychology training program. Learning to sit with oneself would seemingly be an obvious pre-requisite to sitting with another person, especially in the professional capacity of clinical psychology. Yet in most Western educational institutions, such mental training and skill-building is rarely included in training programs in clinical psychology. Mindfulness, as the foundation of a whole range of stress reduction and attention generating interventions, is gaining popularity in the psychological realms of cognitive behavior therapy, calling a mindfulness approach to psychotherapy, the “third wave” of CBT; humanistic-existential schools of thought, which hark back to helping the client focus on methods of coping with one’s “thrownness” in life, targeting the “person” at the center of it all; and, psychodynamic notions of the unconscious drives that underwrite motives, mental directives, and projections on the world around us. Irrespective of the psychotherapeutic orientation involved, clinical training programs should utilize mindfulness theory and practice to heighten clinician efficacy and interpersonal presence in the therapy room, as well as the student’s capacity to generate personal well-being and self-care. Mindfulness meditation is conducive to the cultivation of Zhu Main: creating ground for the practitioner to face self, to face other, and to face world—what the early existentialist philosophers called being-in-the-world through umwelt (physical world), mitwelt (social world), and eigenwelt (personal world). Qualitative research responses will be highlighted—specifically how awareness of Zhu Main, or "to face directly," can improve therapeutic skills and promote well-being and self-care. Quantitative measures of observing, describing, non-judging, and non-reactivity will also be addressed.
The Firebrand: Clark Moustakas & the Experience of the Other
Shawn Rubin, PsyD
This presentation will serve as an introduction to the works of Clark Moustakas, an original Founder of the Humanistic Psychology movement in North America. His existential-humanistic worldview is evident in both his personal accounts on the phenomena of loneliness, creativity, love & relationships, and his professional contributions to humanistic education, qualitative research, dream analysis, and relationship play therapy with children. Examples of his Heuristic and Transcendental Phenomenological research models will be discussed, and a video of Dr. Moustakas' final play therapy session will be shown. Placing the ultimate value on "The Experience of the Other" will be emphasized as a connecting theme throughout all of Moustakas' work.
Counterfactual Thinking
Elizabeth Saxon, PsyD
This study replicates the experiments from the study in From What Might Have Been to What Must have Been: Counterfactual Thinking Creates Meaning (Kray et al., 2010). The experiments in the study by Kray (2010) explored whether two uniquely human characteristics, counterfactual thinking (imagining alternatives to the past) and the fundamental drive to create meaning in life are causally related. Research on counterfactual thinking has been an explosive industry over the past 25 years, with emphasis placed on affective states (such as sympathy, regret, and relief) and causal judgments that arise from considering alternatives to the existing reality. Whether it be the thrilling first encounter with a future spouse or the tragic loss of a loved one, reflecting on and mentally undoing moments in which life was profoundly altered is critical for appreciating life transitions. Asking “what would my life be like if this pivotal experience had not occurred?” facilitates understanding of the event’s significance in the big picture of life. The replication of Kray’s (2010) experiments examines the possible impact of the students’ own reflection on meaning of life based on counterfactual thinking of major turning point events. Over 200 Chinese university students from Qufu Normal University in Qufu, China, and 250 American university students from several universities throughout the United States were surveyed for this research.
Awakening to Awe East and West
Kirk J. Schneider, PhD (Invited Presenter)
This address will focus on awe—the humility and wonder, sense of adventure, toward living--as a potential bridge between Western and Eastern perspectives on existential therapy and spirituality. Drawing from a variety of sources, including the writings of LuXun, the Tao Te Ching, Awakening to Awe, Rediscovery of Awe, Ernest Becker, William James, Paul Tillich, and Soren Kierkegaard, as well as selected films, we will consider how the sense of awe can enrich life experience, not only in therapy, but in the day-to-day ventures of childrearing, education, work, and ethical decision-making. Following examples of each of these areas, I will encourage audience discussion and format-permitting, small group dialogue.
Kinesthetic Imagining: A Phenomenological-Kinetic Method to Know Oneself and Reality
Ilene Serlin, PhD (Invited Presenter)
Zhi Mian can be understood as an indigenous Chinese psychology based on the work of Chinese philosopher Lu Xun, and meaning "to face directly." The term "face directly" can be understood to mean face reality, face oneself, or face another.In the spirit of an exchange between Eastern and Western perspectives on Existential psychology, I would like to propose an exploration of the embodied side of existential psychology. Although embodiment has been understood in the Western existential tradition to mean "presence," few Western psychologists have unpacked the nonverbal or precognitive aspect of facing reality as thoroughly as philosopher Maxine Sheets-Johnstone. In her book, The Primacy of Movement, she expands on Husserl's notion of the "things in themselves" and his term "animate organism" as well as the Socratic imperative to "Know Thyself" to show that movement (animation) is foundational to consciousness and animate life. She asks us to language experiences of everyday life in ways that are phenomenologically congruent with dynamically resonant kinaesthetic and kinetic experiences. Reality (umwelt), as empirically-based, is dynamic and constantly changing. In this presentation, we will explore theory and practice of the moving body as a way of knowing oneself and reality that is not filtered through layers of symbolic thought or conceptualizations. It is expressed as unfolding qualities of time, weight, space and time and is fundamental to a sense of human agency ("I can").
Existential-Humanistic Psychology: Bridging Eastern Philosophy with Western Psychology
Rochelle Suri, PhD (Invited Presenter)
For all means and purposes, Existential-Humanistic psychology is embedded within a western framework. Self-sufficiency, self-empowerment, gender equality, self-autonomy, self-development, individualism, and self-determination are some of the characteristics that signify western culture and norms. It could be said that based on such western values, there is probably no place for Existential-Humanistic Psychology in India, a country where familism, interdependence, strong community ties, deference to elders, adherence to religion and authority are of paramount importance. But a closer look at Existential-Humanistic psychology and Indian philosophy or Indian psychology indicates that the two are compatible in more ways than one could perceive. This presentation will be a review of two main concepts: the existing parallels between Existential-Humanistic psychology and Indian philosophy and a brief discussion on how Existential-Humanistic psychology is relevant to present day India. It can also be determined that Existential-Humanistic psychology is in a position to address and serve the psychological needs of the Indian psyche in a complimentary fashion. More importantly, because of the rapid socio-economic changes and intense influences from the West, India is at a fertile stage where Existential-Humanistic psychology can be received in more remarkable ways than one.
Bridge Over Troubled Water: The Use of Metaphor and Images in Creative Arts Therapy
Jennifer Tam, PsyD
Individuals with severe and persistent mental illness are commonly associated with hopelessness, loss of sense of agency, and compounded alienation. These individuals may benefit from therapeutic approaches that use nonverbal approaches to enhance emotional flexibility, self-awareness, expression of emotional experience, and the most important is to provide a safe environment to explore meanings in personal stories. This presentation will present an innovative component of a mental health day treatment community program in the U.S. that inculcates therapeutic change through creative arts treatments. Results show that the use of metaphor and images can create a structure to promote dialogue about possibilities, meanings, and self-determined choices. As participants learn to take greater responsibility for their artistic product, they begin to take responsibility for other aspects of their care and day-to-day life. It is hoped that this program might serve as a template for helping professionals who wish to broaden the range of options available to their clients.
Dare to Know! In Search of Truth, Goodness, Wisdom, and Meaning in Life
James Ungvarsky, PsyD
Clients enter into psychotherapy because something in their lives is not working as they would like. At times therapists refer to these as impairments in a person’s ability to function at an acceptable level in any of several domains of daily activity, including work, social, academic, or family life and seek to help the person function (act) better through therapy. Lying beneath these impairments though, the reasons people seek therapy is to gain or regain meaning, truth, goodness, and wisdom (personal growth) in their lives. Whether it is the individual suffering from schizophrenia who is trying to find meaning in the cacophony of voices or messages that bombard him or her each day (and searches to make meaning of those stimuli by creating a reality in which they fit) or one who is situationally depressed who is wrestling with finding goodness in his or her struggles, the issues of meaning-making is critical. Drawing from philosophy, literature, psychology, neurology, and contemplative practice (which is more broadly defined than religious or spiritual practice), originating in both Eastern and Western thought, the argument is made that humankind has strayed from the path of “knowing oneself” onto a path seeking functionality without regard to purpose.
In Pursuit of Happiness: Recognizing Suffering Beyond the Existential Givens
Gloria Wong, PsyD
Everyone is inescapable from the existential givens, the rebuff of this inevitable part of life leads to suffering. From the Buddhist perspective, suffering rooted in the fact that people grasp the sense of self and the mistaken perception of the reality. In search of happiness, it is vital that we have an accurate understanding and perception of the nature of things. In the clinical context, helping people seeing the impermanence of life is crucial in the letting go and meaning making process. Acknowledging the non-existence of self is daunting; nevertheless this clinging on the wrong perception of self crafts the illusion which set in the root of suffering. Unless, people are aware of this fact of life, it would be thorny for people to break away from the predicament. This presentation aims to examine, from the Buddhist perspective, the activities of the eight consciousnesses and how they give rise to the erroneous perception of reality which generate suffering. By seeing things as they are and recognizing the illusion people created for themselves, it yields to the greatest happiness.
The Beauty of Zhi Mian
Mark Yang, PsyD
Zhi-Mian typically connotes starkness, reality, fear, dread and courage. This presentation will argue that beauty should also be considered an aspect of Zhi-Mian. The beauty discussed is not one filled with the illusion of perfection but a beauty arising out of the confrontation with the existential givens. This presentation will remind us once again that the despair and tragedies that we experience in the human drama highlights it’s opposite, the dignith and nobility of life and the human spirit.
Applying Mindfulness in Recovery Work in a County Mental Health Clinic in California
Paul Yang, MD, PhD
Mindfulness is a common practice in Eastern spiritual traditions to calm the mind, a process that can ultimately lead to experiencing Tao and attaining enlightenment. Mindfulness practice consists of directing attention to moment-to-moment experiences without mental judgment. Mindfulness is a form of existence that encourages an individual to face life directly by cultivating an attitude of acceptance, kindness, compassion, openness, and curiosity and beginner’s mind. Through cultivation of spacious awareness without identifying with mental process, it allows an individual to awaken to the authentic self. Over the past two decades, there is growing evidence to suggest that mindfulness practice can alleviate suffering from anxiety, depression and chronic pain as well as enhancing empathy. Mindfulness has been increasingly applied in mental health treatment and has been dubbed as the third wave in psychotherapy. Parallel to the growing popularity of mindfulness in the Western world, recovery model has spread rapidly in the mental health field through consumer movement and government policy change. It resulted in paradigm shift from focusing on symptom treatment to restoring function and reaching an individual’s full potential. It motivates an individual to take personal responsibility to achieve a recovery goal while engage in day-to-day wellness practices. Mindfulness practice can be integrated into recovery-oriented therapies as an important wellness-recovery action plan (WRAP) for daily wellness-maintenance. In this presentation, the presenter will summarize current literature and share his experience in incorporating mindfulness practice into recovery framework in a county mental health outpatient clinic.