Category Archives: Professional Activities

Raskin Elected President of Society for Humanistic Psychology

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Raskin Elected President of Society for Humanistic Psychology

I have been elected as president of the American Psychological Association‘s Society for Humanistic Psychology (Division 32). I will serve as president-elect during 2019-2020, president during 2020-2021, and past-president during 2021-2022.

According to the Society for Humanistic Psychology website:

The society represents a constellation of “humanistic psychologies” that includes the earlier Rogerian, transpersonal and existential orientations as well as the more recently developing perspectives of phenomenological, hermeneutic, constructivist, feminist and postmodern (social constructionist) psychologies.

Jonathan Raskin

Podcast: Constructing Alternatives to the DSM

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Podcast: Constructing Alternatives to the DSM

Photo of phrenology bustsOn MIA Radio, MIA’s Jessica Janze interviewed Dr. Jonathan Raskin, in the Department of Psychology at the State University of New York at New Paltz, where he serves as department chair and teaches classes in psychology and counselor education. He recently authored a textbook titled Abnormal Psychology: Contrasting Perspectives.

Dr. Raskin describes a recent article he wrote (What Might an Alternative to the DSM Suitable for Psychotherapists Look Like?) that highlights psychotherapists’ dissatisfaction with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5) and suggests some principles for building alternative models.

Listen to the podcast and read the transcript on the MIA site.

Or listen to the podcast by clicking play below:

My Future of Mental Health Interview

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My Future of Mental Health Interview

RaskinThe Future of Mental Health virtual conference starts today, February 23, 2015. It’s free and runs all week. Video interviews with 15 great experts from around the world, including me!

The Future of Mental Health

with Dr. Eric Maisel + 15 Experts / February 23-27, 2015

There isn’t just one way to think about mental health. Today adults and children in distress are presented with a single picture: that they have some “mental disorder” requiring “medical treatment.” In this groundbreaking symposium, top experts from around the world challenge this paradigm, present alternatives, and provide you with the tools you need to live a healthier life. Learn about this mental health revolution from its front-line leaders!

Listen to my interview:

Plenary Address at Personal Construct Congress

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Plenary Address at Personal Construct Congress

I will be giving a plenary address at the 20th International Congress on Personal Construct Psychology in Sydney, Australia. The title of the address is “Beyond Relativism and ‘Anything Goes’: A PCP-based Constructivist Model of Ethical Meaning-Making.”

Summary:

Critics say that constructivism embraces an “anything goes” ethics that permits any position. I disagree.  In my understanding of constructivism, ethics is unavoidable because people are always embedded in ethical perspectives that infuse everything they do. “Anything goes” is never an option, even if what goes varies by person. This talk is divided into three parts. First, I’ll distinguish three versions of constructivism and distinguish epistemological versus ontological modes of construing. Second, I’ll summarize and counter criticisms that portray constructivism as endorsing “anything goes” relativism. Third, I’ll outline a constructivist model of ethical meaning-making.

Sydney-PCP-congress