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Papers by Carol Wolter-Gustafson

Research paper thumbnail of Toward convergence: Client-centered and feminist assumptions about epistemology and power

… feminism and the …, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Going Global Initiative: The Role of Personal and Community Power in Shifting Cultural Consciousness

Research paper thumbnail of Rogers’ Generative Framework of Organismic Integrity: Scientific Evidence Challenging Academic, Medical, and Pharmaceutical Forces

Research paper thumbnail of TOWARD CONVERGENCE: CLIENT-CENTERED AND FEMINIST ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT EPISTEMOLOGY AND POWER

Client-centered theory and feminist theory have each evolved over the past half century as two se... more Client-centered theory and feminist theory have each evolved over the past half century as two separate streams running parallel to each other. Each has developed with scant attention or accurate knowledge of the other. Each has written cogent critiques of the dominant psychoanalytic paradigm. Of greater value, however, are the fresh frameworks they offer in several significant areas. These include: restructuring power relationships, reassigning epistemological authority, the centrality of relationality and intersubjectivity, and the historical contextual nature of all knowledge. This radical reconstruction offers a truly inclusive, emancipatory, and egalitarian vision for the practice of psychotherapy and of all human relationships. My intention is to lift some common themes from feminist and client-centered theory to suggest points of convergence. It is my contention that the increased power generated by the convergence of these streams will serve to create the change both envision. In order to create that possibility, we must increase our mutual understanding of these two theoretical movements, examine the intellectual milieu and historical context in which each developed and carefully consider the existing critiques of each movement. These models developed independently of each other, separated by several turbulent decades of the twentieth century. What is the legacy of these two powerful attempts to radically re-conceptualize psychotherapy? Theory is always influenced by the conditions which shape it, thus, it is important to ask the following: • What are the implications of feminist theory emerging in reaction to Freudian psychoanalytic theory? • What are the implications of client-centered theory emerging from Rogers' early empirical training, and his evolution toward an existential/phenomenological perspective? What follows is a contribution to answering these questions and building connections between these theoretical viewpoints.

Research paper thumbnail of The Power of the Premise: Reconstructing Gender and Human Development with Rogers' Theory

Women Writing in the Person-Centered Approach, 1999

This article explores fundamental epistemological and methodological themes in the visionary work... more This article explores fundamental epistemological and methodological themes in the visionary work of Carl Rogers and colleagues. These revolutionary themes contribute to the creation of an integrative, post-patriarchal, post-dualistic paradigm for psychology, human development, gender studies and other related fields. These themes hold significance far beyond the boundaries of personality and psychotherapy. Research on the perceptual and phenomenological approach to psychotherapy and personality development, generated by an amazing cohort of client-centered theory creators was prophetic and is still vibrant today. (Raskin

Research paper thumbnail of Non-Dualism and Non-Directivity: A Person-Centered Concept of Health and the Fully Functioning Person

Reflections on Human Potential: bridging the person-centered approach and positive psychology, 2008

The binary brain of the lizard suits its context. Lizard survival depends upon accurate answers t... more The binary brain of the lizard suits its context. Lizard survival depends upon accurate answers to simple questions: Is this food, or not food? Is there danger, or no danger? As humans, we share this ancient, primitive, binary brain structure with lizards-yet the limited capacity of the binary brain does not, by itself, suit any human in the context of twenty-first century life. Questions of survival remain simple, but life-promoting strategies, in the sense of skillful or efficacious actions, require processing an exponential explosion of interdependent variables, themselves contingent upon shifting interpretations of ever-changing events.

Research paper thumbnail of Casting a Wider Empathic Net: a case for reconsidering gender, dualistic thinking, and person-centered theory and practice

Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 2008

Gender is an intimately experienced feature of who each of us is as a person. Gender is also a so... more Gender is an intimately experienced feature of who each of us is as a person. Gender is also a source of theoretical upheaval. Reconceptualization of the concept of gender is underway throughout the academic world. Joining this effort, I give a brief overview of relevant feminist literature and explore some of the ways gender is treated in person-centered and experiential (PCE) theory and practice. I discuss a number of negative consequences in our theory and our life together that result from ignoring the effects of gender issues and suggest that increasing our empathic attention to the gendered context in which we live would prepare us to more fully embody the liberating potential with each other that is inherent in our theory, and better communicate that potential beyond the PCE community.

Research paper thumbnail of Casting a Wider Empathic Net: A case for reconsidering gender, dualistic thinking and person-centered theory and practice / Das empathische Netz erweitern: Warum wir Gender, dualistisches Denken und personzentrierte Theorie und Praxis überdenken müssen / Creando una red empática más amplia: Argum...

Gender is an intimately experienced feature of who each of us is as a person. Gender is also a so... more Gender is an intimately experienced feature of who each of us is as a person. Gender is also a source of theoretical upheaval. Reconceptualization of the concept of gender is underway throughout the academic world. Joining this effort, I give a brief overview of relevant feminist literature and explore some of the ways gender is treated in person-centered and experiential

Research paper thumbnail of Toward convergence: Client-centered and feminist assumptions about epistemology and power

… feminism and the …, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Going Global Initiative: The Role of Personal and Community Power in Shifting Cultural Consciousness

Research paper thumbnail of Rogers’ Generative Framework of Organismic Integrity: Scientific Evidence Challenging Academic, Medical, and Pharmaceutical Forces

Research paper thumbnail of TOWARD CONVERGENCE: CLIENT-CENTERED AND FEMINIST ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT EPISTEMOLOGY AND POWER

Client-centered theory and feminist theory have each evolved over the past half century as two se... more Client-centered theory and feminist theory have each evolved over the past half century as two separate streams running parallel to each other. Each has developed with scant attention or accurate knowledge of the other. Each has written cogent critiques of the dominant psychoanalytic paradigm. Of greater value, however, are the fresh frameworks they offer in several significant areas. These include: restructuring power relationships, reassigning epistemological authority, the centrality of relationality and intersubjectivity, and the historical contextual nature of all knowledge. This radical reconstruction offers a truly inclusive, emancipatory, and egalitarian vision for the practice of psychotherapy and of all human relationships. My intention is to lift some common themes from feminist and client-centered theory to suggest points of convergence. It is my contention that the increased power generated by the convergence of these streams will serve to create the change both envision. In order to create that possibility, we must increase our mutual understanding of these two theoretical movements, examine the intellectual milieu and historical context in which each developed and carefully consider the existing critiques of each movement. These models developed independently of each other, separated by several turbulent decades of the twentieth century. What is the legacy of these two powerful attempts to radically re-conceptualize psychotherapy? Theory is always influenced by the conditions which shape it, thus, it is important to ask the following: • What are the implications of feminist theory emerging in reaction to Freudian psychoanalytic theory? • What are the implications of client-centered theory emerging from Rogers' early empirical training, and his evolution toward an existential/phenomenological perspective? What follows is a contribution to answering these questions and building connections between these theoretical viewpoints.

Research paper thumbnail of The Power of the Premise: Reconstructing Gender and Human Development with Rogers' Theory

Women Writing in the Person-Centered Approach, 1999

This article explores fundamental epistemological and methodological themes in the visionary work... more This article explores fundamental epistemological and methodological themes in the visionary work of Carl Rogers and colleagues. These revolutionary themes contribute to the creation of an integrative, post-patriarchal, post-dualistic paradigm for psychology, human development, gender studies and other related fields. These themes hold significance far beyond the boundaries of personality and psychotherapy. Research on the perceptual and phenomenological approach to psychotherapy and personality development, generated by an amazing cohort of client-centered theory creators was prophetic and is still vibrant today. (Raskin

Research paper thumbnail of Non-Dualism and Non-Directivity: A Person-Centered Concept of Health and the Fully Functioning Person

Reflections on Human Potential: bridging the person-centered approach and positive psychology, 2008

The binary brain of the lizard suits its context. Lizard survival depends upon accurate answers t... more The binary brain of the lizard suits its context. Lizard survival depends upon accurate answers to simple questions: Is this food, or not food? Is there danger, or no danger? As humans, we share this ancient, primitive, binary brain structure with lizards-yet the limited capacity of the binary brain does not, by itself, suit any human in the context of twenty-first century life. Questions of survival remain simple, but life-promoting strategies, in the sense of skillful or efficacious actions, require processing an exponential explosion of interdependent variables, themselves contingent upon shifting interpretations of ever-changing events.

Research paper thumbnail of Casting a Wider Empathic Net: a case for reconsidering gender, dualistic thinking, and person-centered theory and practice

Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 2008

Gender is an intimately experienced feature of who each of us is as a person. Gender is also a so... more Gender is an intimately experienced feature of who each of us is as a person. Gender is also a source of theoretical upheaval. Reconceptualization of the concept of gender is underway throughout the academic world. Joining this effort, I give a brief overview of relevant feminist literature and explore some of the ways gender is treated in person-centered and experiential (PCE) theory and practice. I discuss a number of negative consequences in our theory and our life together that result from ignoring the effects of gender issues and suggest that increasing our empathic attention to the gendered context in which we live would prepare us to more fully embody the liberating potential with each other that is inherent in our theory, and better communicate that potential beyond the PCE community.

Research paper thumbnail of Casting a Wider Empathic Net: A case for reconsidering gender, dualistic thinking and person-centered theory and practice / Das empathische Netz erweitern: Warum wir Gender, dualistisches Denken und personzentrierte Theorie und Praxis überdenken müssen / Creando una red empática más amplia: Argum...

Gender is an intimately experienced feature of who each of us is as a person. Gender is also a so... more Gender is an intimately experienced feature of who each of us is as a person. Gender is also a source of theoretical upheaval. Reconceptualization of the concept of gender is underway throughout the academic world. Joining this effort, I give a brief overview of relevant feminist literature and explore some of the ways gender is treated in person-centered and experiential