Welcome to the Association for Humanistic Psychology in Britain

Image of two hands touchingAHPb is an organisation for anyone who shares humanistic values and wants to make a difference – counsellors and psychotherapists, educators, health professionals, community and social workers, psychologists, sociologists and academics. The AHPb was founded by a broad band of people from many disciplines in and beyond psychology and therapy, including history, poetry, philosophy, anthropology and spirituality.

Humanistic Psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century partly as a response to the limitations of Sigmund Freud’ psychoanalytic theory and B. F. Skinner’ behaviorism. Considered a ‘third force’, this approach emphasized individuals’ inherent drive towards self-actualization, the process of realizing and expressing one’s own capabilities and creativity. It moved away from a medical model to a democratic and holistic one, based on fostering communication, creativity, and personal development throughout life for everyone.
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AHPb is closing down


AHPb is in the process of closing down. This website will close down later this year – the date has not yet been decided, but it is likely to be towards the end of the year.
The details have been covered in emails to members last year. The American AHP have generously offered free professional membership for the first year to all AHPb members. Read more…


The following two articles appeared in the final issue of Self & Society:

UKCP Chair Petitions the Prime Minister on the Government Misuse of Behavioural Science

The detailed Open Letter that follows was sent last year to the British Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Rishi Sunak. The letter, written by the current Chair of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), raises grave questions about the arguably unethical deployment of behavioural science and psychological techniques by the British government during the Covid period.
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UK Government Use of Behavioural Science Strategies in Covid-Event Messaging

Responsibility and Communication Ethics in Times of ‘Crisis’
Dr Gary Sidley

Throughout the Covid event the UK Government, in keeping with many other countries, drew on behavioural-science interventions – often referred to as ‘nudges’ – to strengthen their public- health communications, and thereby increase compliance with the pandemic restrictions and subsequent vaccine roll-out.
Read more…


Publications

Self & Society is our international journal for Humanistic Psychology. It is currently published four times a year as part of the membership package offered by AHPb – two paper issues and two online issues.

Celebrating 50 Years of Self & Society

The cover of Self&SOciety

The year 2022 is the fiftieth year of publication of the premier Humanistic Psychology journal in the United Kingdom, Self & Society – which has just been re-named Self & Society: An International Journal for Humanistic, Existential and Transpersonal Psychology. The new issue of the journal is a special commemorative double issue (Volume 50 [1-2]) of over 140 pages in length. Read more…

 

The cover for the Autumn 2021 Self & SocietyThe Self & Society Journal is currently published twice a year. It contains a range of articles at the self–society interface, including (but not exclusively) articles relevant to practising therapists and human potential workers; it also contains book reviews, review articles and poetry, as well as regular columns. Read more…

Image of the online journalThe Self & Society Online Magazine is emailed to members twice a year and is also available for viewing on this website. The issues are all available in the online archive. Approximately one third of the articles in each issue are freely available for viewing, the rest can only be viewed by members of AHPb.


Current and Recent Articles

Celebrating a Great Life: John Heron (1928–2022): A Symposium

John Heron (1928–2022) was a towering giant of British Humanistic Psychology, who has left a rich legacy of work that has provided HP with a formidable and rigorous foundation of both theory and praxis. In this commemorative symposium, we include tributes from Peter Reason, Richard House and others.
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Paul’s Political Column

Of course I understand that constantly looking
at life through a political lens is not most
people’s cup of tea. Not everyone either
wants, or can bear, to wake up each morning
and take in the latest government
machinations around the Covid pandemic.
Read more…

Spiritual Awakening Experiences –
Christian Stokke & Mira Cataya Rodriguez

This article studies the phenomenon of spiritual awakening experiences from the perspective of transpersonal psychology. We examine four individual cases, obtained through qualitative in-depth interviews with individuals who have experienced phenomena of peak experiences, kundalini awakening, heart opening, and dark nights.
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The Coronavirus Pandemic, the Trump Presidency, and Humanistic Psychology
© Elliot Benjamin, Ph.D.

The harrowing consequences of the United States presidency of Donald Trump are now being acknowledged and conveyed in professional Humanistic Psychology circles.
In the present article I will amplify my perspective on how Humanistic Psychology can be beneficial in dealing with the dire consequences of Trump and the coronavirus pandemic…
. Read more….

Previous featured articles are available in the article archive.


Books

Cover of the Imagework book‘ImageWork: The complete guide to working with transformational imagery’ is a practical, concise and accessible training book for therapists, counsellors, coaches, consultants, supervisors and helping professionals, focusing on best to work with the imagination to enhance learning, health, creativity, or spiritual discovery. Published on April 7, 2022, and available to order from Amazon or PCCS. For further details please see www.dinaglouberman.com.

The Self & Society Online Archive

The cover of an issue of Self & SocietyAll the printed editions of Self & Society, from 1973 to date (excepting volume 18), are available to members in the online archive. In order to view the articles, you need to be a member of AHPb and log in to the website. This represents by far the richest online resource for Humanistic Psychology in the UK – and is perhaps the world’s most affordable HP resource.


Some Humanistic Wisdom