中華心理衛生協會

 Ever since Dr. Der-Heuy Yee proposed a humanistic approach to clinical investigation to challenge the prevailing tradition of positivism ten years ago, how to articulate the epistemology, the praxis, the technique, and the strategy of the teaching and research of humanistic clinical studies has been an important point of discussion. The three essays in this special issue focus on the meaning of suffering and forms of cultural emotion that reflect a humanistic clinical psychology approach. The first paper, ＂Coming face-to-face with suffering: Psychopathology in a humanistic science-oriented clinical psychology＂, recognizes the ontological status of the experience of suffering, which is irreducible, and hence inherently fits a humanistic rather than natural science paradigm. In the second paper, ＂Non-self as the starting point for inquiry into the lived experience of suffering and the practice of healing: A lesson from phenomenology＂, the authors argue that examining the lived experience of suffering uncovers not only an epistemological understanding of a person's disease, but also manifests that person's values and ethical relations with others. To echo their claim, they propose three stages of reflexive concerns as a stepwise process for centering self-other ethics in order to structure and conceptualize the lived experience of suffering for clinical engagement. In the third paper ＂Temporality of the mourning processes: The caretakers' psychological affective experiences＂, the authors argue that bereavement is not only an individual mourning experience, it is also an ethical calling to their families. They conclude that mourning never ends, but is an implicit phenomenon that transcends the relationship. The main purpose of this special issue is not only to present current outcomes of humanistic clinical psychology studies in Taiwan, but also to facilitate a dialogue among scholars and practitioners in related fields.