Emancipatory Therapeutic Practice for a New Era: A Work of Retrieval

Unifying Liberation Psychology and Humanistic Values to Promote Social Justice in Counseling

“…Despite their developments in two distinct geographic locations, humanistic and liberation psychology each share the vision that people should be liberated or emancipated from the confines of medicalized psychology and that mental health should focus on human potential and growth (O'Hara, ). As such, their goals have and continue to be to humanize an otherwise “materialistic or dehumanizing psychology” (Martín‐Baró, ).…”

“…They have impacted the worldviews of not only helping professions in Western societies, but also professionals of other countries around the globe. However, dissatisfaction among Western and non‐Western psychologists led to critiques stemming from traditional psychology's “scientization” of the human experience (Dillon, ; Elkins, ; O'Hara, ; Watkins & Shulman, ). These critiques centered primarily on traditional counseling models' neglect of the connection between self and environment, how context influences clients' perception of reality, and how clients make meaning of the world.…”

“…Humanistic psychology developed out of mainstream psychology's limited and distorted view of humans (Giorgi, ); opposing the scientization of cognitive behavioral psychology and psychoanalysis (Hayes, ). O'Hara () explained that humanistic psychology was “designed to be the antidote to the alienation, ethical corruption, and emptiness of modern secular, commercial, and industrialized life” (p. 481). The author further stated that, since its early beginnings, the humanistic tradition has privileged the unique experiences of humans, amelioration and prevention of suffering of the marginalized, the need to make meaning of self in the world, well‐being over pathology, and addressing anxiety at the individual and cultural level.…”

Humanistic Psychology’s Impact and Accomplishments

“…According to David Cain (2003), negative stereotypes in the mass media, too few publications in mainstream journals, lack of political savvy in a conservatively oriented culture, and lack of organization are just part of the list. Negative stereotypes, according to Maureen O’Hara (2001), an 18-year-long associate of Rogers, threatened religious conservatives’ values against emancipation and empowerment of the struggling classes.…”

A Reconceptualisation of the Self in Humanistic Psychology: Heidegger, Foucault and the Sociocultural Turn

“…Bassman, 2001;Honos-Webb & Leitner, 2001). Its distinctiveness within the science of psychology can be seen in its willingness to take a self-reflexive approach to its underpinning theoretical assumptions and practices (Cosgrove, 2007;Geller, 1982;Giorgi, 1987Giorgi, ,1992Giorgi, , 2005Neher, 1991;O'Hara, 2001;Shaw & Colimore, 1988). This stands in stark contrast to mainstream forms of psychology, which appear to demonstrate an unwillingness to question their natural science epistemology and their willingness to accept the social and cultural status quo which has been shown to play a significant role in perpetuating psychological distress and disorder (Fox, Prilleltensky & Austin, 2009).…”