Kathleen Kelava Athabasca University Graduate Centre for Applied Psychology The Ubiquitous Nature of Human Suffering: The Phenomenology that Connects All

Is suffering the ubiquitous human experience, one that transcends all apparent external boundaries? Is it potentially caused by the propensity to sever the unity that is inherent in the human experience? Research Question...

Research Goals... Enactment of empathy (Rogers, 1961) Offering of permission to suffer (mitigation of mental health and associated stigma) Acquisition of breadth and depth (for helping professionals to assist others on their holistic journeys)

Nonduality... Ken Wilber’s Integral Psychotherapy (1996) and Transpersonal Theory (1993) Nonduality is the core of transpersonal theory The propensity to differentiate and segregate may ultimately lead to a sense of alienation and a disjointed experience of reality (and, thus, suffering)

Four Forces, Theoretical Orientations and Theorists, and Dualities... (1)Psychoanalytic: Robert Stolorow’s Intersubjective Systems Theory (IST) (2007) isolated (Cartesian) mind versus integrated whole (2)Behavioural: Marsha Linehan’s Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) (1993)  acceptance versus change (3)Humanistic: Viktor Frankl’s Existentialism (2006)  freedom versus responsibility (4)Systemic: David Pare’s Postmodernism (2012)  objective versus subjective

The reconciliation of these dualities is potentially the means by which one can transcend human suffering, under each unique encapsulating theoretical orientation. Link to Research Question...

Research Methodology... PHENOMENOLOGY Edmund Husserl’s ( ) transcendental (descriptive) – bracketing Martin Heidegger’s (2010) hermeneutic (interpretive) – reflexivity Max van Manen’s (1990) hermeneutic – individual experience immersed in that of the collective

Research Plan... (1) Create theoretical conversations in the voices of select theorists (2) Distribute proposed theoretical and clinical metatheory to experienced helping professionals (for review, reflection, and input) (3) Incorporate feedback from distribution to solidify a transtheoretical document on the ubiquitous nature of human suffering

Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man’s search for meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Heidegger, M. (2010). Introduction: The problem situation of philosophy. In M. Heidegger (Ed.), Phenomenology of intuition and expression (pp ). Retrieved from Husserl, E. (1906/07). Phenomenology as science of pure consciousness. In U. Melle (Ed.), Introduction to logic and theory of knowledge: Lectures (pp ). Retrieved from = Linehan, M. M. (1993). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder. New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Pare, D. (2012). The practice of collaborative counseling and psychotherapy: Developing skills in culturally mindful helping. New York, NY: Sage Publications. Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. Stolorow, R. D. (2007). Trauma and human existence. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. Van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Wilber, K. (1993). The spectrum of consciousness. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books. Wilber, K. (1996). A brief history of everything. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications. References