D.Litt. et Phil. / The emphasis on the person of the therapist as a subject of theoretical and practical psychotherapy emerges at this time in history largely because of the reemergence of the concern with the uniqueness of human experience over the past century. This study hopes to gain some understanding of the self by focusing specifically on the experience of the trainee Gestalt therapist in order to gain insight into the essence of her experiences of being trained as a therapist. The phenomenological system of inquiry is employed as the mode of research in an attempt to study the experiences of five trainee therapists undergoing specialized training in Gestalt therapy during the second year of their professional training as psychologists at RAU. In an attempt to gain an in-depth understanding of their experiences, phenomenological interviews were held and recorded and thereafter transcribed verbatim. Intra- and inter-individual analysis of the transcriptions were done and a number of central and common themes emerged from the inter-individual analysis which capture the essence of their experiences as trainee Gestalt therapists. The value of this study lies mainly in its ability to gain an in-depth understanding and insight into the lived experience of trainee Gestalt therapists. The responses from the participants has implications for future training in Gestalt therapy as well as the general training of therapists within the South African context.

Thesis (M.A.)--Liberty University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

M.A. / Existentialism and phenomenology as philosophical systems combined to form a branch of psychology called the existential-phenomenological psychology. The philosophical section of this study demonstrates that contribution. Ludwig Binswanger, a Swiss psychiatrist, was one of the major proponents of this paradigm. He applied the concept of “existential analysis” to psychotherapy, in reaction to psychoanalysis. His objective was to integrate philosophy, psychoanalysis, and psychiatry. The existential-phenomenological approach to therapy was introduced to the American audience by Rollo May, one of the intellectual leaders of the “Third Force” Movement. Rollo May’s existential approach contributed to the existential-humanistic thought of the “Third Force.” The “Third Force” Movement was launched in 1964 at the Old Saybrook Conference in Connecticut, United States of America. It started as a social movement in protest against the dominance of behaviourism and orthodox psychoanalysis. An eclectic group of thinkers attended the conference. Some of whom were Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, Carl Rogers, George Kelly, Clark Moustakas, Gordon Allport, Charlotte Buhler, James Bugental, and others (Elkins, 2000). The “Third Force” Movement emerged at this conference. Because humanistic principles (whose philosophical origins are discussed in 2.4 below) were adopted as guiding philosophy of the movement, the name “Humanistic Movement” is often used. The two names are used alternatively in this study. If depth psychology is the “First Force”, and behaviourism the “Second Force”, then humanistic psychology is the “Third Force” (Brennan, 1998a, 1998b). The term “movement” is used throughout the study to denote the diversity of epistemologies within the “Third Force”, namely, existential, phenomenological, transpersonal, and the Gestalt thought. However, this study focuses on the theoretical contributions by the intellectual leadership of the movement (Rollo May, Abraham Maslow & Carl Rogers) with the exclusion of Gestalt therapies. Thus, Rollo May represents the existential-phenomenological approach, Maslow the humanistic-transpersonal, and Rogers the humanistic-phenomenological (though transpersonal to some degree: Section 4.3.2.2 illustrates this notion). Textbooks and journal articles indicate that the history of the “Third Force” Movement is rather complex and inconsistent in terms of reporting. This study reflects on the main events that led to the emergence of the movement and subsequently the current status within mainstream psychology. The “Third Force” moved psychology beyond the confines of the laboratory and the clinic into politics (egalitarian governance), education, and environmental issues. This study discusses existentialism, phenomenology, and humanism as contributing philosophies, the emergence of existential-phenomenology as a paradigm in psychology, and the history and contributions of the “Third Force” Movement. The existential and the phenomenological epistemologies are inherent within the “Third Force”, hence the link (in this study) between existential-phenomenology and “Third Force” humanism. There are therapies that benefited from the existential-humanistic thought. These include the following: Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT), the ecosystemic approach, career counselling, and psychoanalysis (self-psychology). The emergence of postmodernism and cyber technology placed new challenges on the “Third Force.” Consequently, this study reviews the status and vision of the movement in the New Millennium.

Submitted in part fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2009. / This study documents the journey of five addicted individuals who practice energy-based healing interventions over a period of four months, and provides an in-depth understanding of the embodied meaning of addictive and non-addictive being-in-the-world. The design of the study is qualitative and proceeds from an existential- phenomenological perspective whereby the data is collected through unstructured pre and post intervention interviews. Addiction is reformulated in terms of the flow of energy within and without the subtle energy system of the human body, and viewed largely from the chakra system of traditional Indian healing. The addicted person is thus perceived as a resonating node of the universe through which energy exchanges freely and fluidly or constrictedly and addictively.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Duquesne University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-107).

The purpose of this existential-phenomenological study was to investigate the meaning of a romantic love experience. Six adult co-researchers discussed their romantic love experience with the researcher. The co-researchers were asked to recall the time before, during, and after the love experience. Two interviews were conducted. The initial in-depth interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were analyzed according to the method outlined by Colaizzi (1978). Twenty-two themes were explicated from the transcripts. These were written into an exhaustive description of a romantic love experience. The essential structure of the experience was culled from the exhaustive description. The transcripts, the themes, the exhaustive description and the essential structure were validated by the co-researchers. The description of a romantic love experience is a starting point both for future research and for the development of appropriate counselling techniques to be used with clients who are romantic by disposition or by situation. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Maurice Merleau-Ponty thinks that many classical theories of perception, especially reductionism, are influenced by the objective and the scientific form of thinking. Such influence is expressed in two preconceptions. The first preconception is that perception is reduced to units such as “impressions”. The meaning of these units is considered to be a representation of the world. The second preconception is that such perceptual meaning is caused by the world and the living being is passive in its relation to such constitution of meaning. In my view, the results of Merleau-Ponty’s criticism of these two preconceptions constitute his two main concepts: the phenomenal body and the perceptual meaning determined by the structural relation with the world. Despite the fact that some traces of these preconceptions can be found in the introduction of Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception, there is no straight argument that shows how he approached these two results from the rejection of these two preconceptions. My thesis is to present Merleau-Ponty’s view on the phenomenal body based on his criticism of the two preconceptions described above. In my view, Merleau-Ponty’s criticism of these preconceptions can be traced through his argument against Gestalt psychology, associationism, and behavioral associationism.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty thinks that many classical theories of perception, especially reductionism, are influenced by the objective and the scientific form of thinking. Such influence is expressed in two preconceptions. The first preconception is that perception is reduced to units such as “impressions”. The meaning of these units is considered to be a representation of the world. The second preconception is that such perceptual meaning is caused by the world and the living being is passive in its relation to such constitution of meaning. In my view, the results of Merleau-Ponty’s criticism of these two preconceptions constitute his two main concepts: the phenomenal body and the perceptual meaning determined by the structural relation with the world. Despite the fact that some traces of these preconceptions can be found in the introduction of Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception, there is no straight argument that shows how he approached these two results from the rejection of these two preconceptions. My thesis is to present Merleau-Ponty’s view on the phenomenal body based on his criticism of the two preconceptions described above. In my view, Merleau-Ponty’s criticism of these preconceptions can be traced through his argument against Gestalt psychology, associationism, and behavioral associationism.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

A mentor is a qualified mental health practitioner, namely in this instance a nurse who facilitates guides and supervises the learning experience and assesses the student’s competences in practice. This longitudinal study examines the perceptions of mentorship in clinical practice from nurses, as they move from students to recognised professionals with authority to advise and assess students’ competence in practice. This ethically approved study mainly uses qualitative methods. Initially it involved interviewing eight completing mental health nursing students, and 270 mainly qualitative questionnaires were sent to qualified mental health nurse mentors in clinical practice. The final data collection of the study involved interviewing six qualified nurses/mentors who were originally the students in this study. Existential phenomenology was a valuable means of interpreting the perceptions of both the students, qualified nurses and the mentors. This ontological perspective explores the consciousness of the self, operating within a collective consciousness of their world. The data analysis initially followed Van Manen’s holistic approach; then extracting essences, identifying themes and then synthesizing essences. This was then followed by an existential processing of the data from the first and second interviews. The results reveal that the students believe that mentoring is an absolute necessity for their practical training; but the mentoring experience is precarious due to the numerous barriers. The results also highlighted incidences where students who experience ineffective mentoring are inspired to become much more effective at mentoring, because they do not want their students to experience the poor mentoring they had received. The participants in this study said students who are not competent are still passing practice, and the craft of mental health caring is not taught to an appropriate standard. However, learning from the experience of the transitional process was also revealed, and how the development of the self affected the perception of mentoring.