Psychophysiologic Self-Awareness Training: Integration of Scientific and Humanistic Principles

Abstract

The U.S. medical and scientific communities are undergoing dramatic change, including a reevaluation of positivistic values and assumptions. The integration of scientific and humanistic principles is one objective of humanistic psychology. Development of conscious awareness of normally unconscious mind-body reactivity patterns can allow access to profound existential insights. A humanistic approach to psychophysiologic self-regulation integrates values of humanistic psychology with tools and methodologies of the mechanistically oriented scientific community. Through collaborative clinical, educational, and research efforts, humanistic psychologists and applied psychophysiologists are developing a model system of crossdisciplinary resource sharing that embraces the strengths of the humanistic and the materialistic scientific communities. A single case descriptive analysis with journal entries, imagery reports, and physiologic records is included. It is through such collaborative efforts that humanistic psychology can best contribute to the ongoing reconceptualization of scientific values and assumptions.