Editorial

We begin this edition by remembering our colleague, friend and a leader in the field of person-centered and experiential (PCE) psychotherapy, Peter F. Schmid who sadly died earlier this year. Peter was, as a founding editor of the Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies Journal, a source of inspiration and guidance for many of us. He will be sadly missed, but his writings will continue to be a source of learning and stimulate deep philosophical thinking that will inform many future generations of PCE psychotherapists. Our first contribution to this issue is from Dave Mearns who has written, at our request, a short note of remembrance. Through this piece, you will find that Dave manages to bring Peter very much into awareness as he recalls their time, together with Robert Elliott, founding the journal. It provides a fitting tribute and remembrance of just how much Peter will be missed by so many.

In our first article of this issue, authors Kefalopoulou and Iossifides report on their work examining national identities drawing on experiences gained, for example, through a workshop conducted at the PCE 2018 Conference in Vienna. In their paper, a wide range of important issues are raised on the topic of identity, and they present a number of challenges worthy for us all, not least as PCE therapists, to consider. For instance, they show how important it is, in understanding our identities as therapists, to have a deep knowledge of our own national histories, discourses and stories when working with clients. They highlight the importance of this as, now more than ever, therapists are connected through globalization and are increasingly working with clients that are ‘different’ to them. Their message is a hopeful one: that humans can live together and form new global identities that promise something beyond despair. Moving from the global to the individual level of identity formation, in our second article Tarnowska, Osińska-Owczarska, Sowicka, and Supel-Szerbic focus on the potential for the therapeutic relationship to provide an opportunity for the growth and development of human capacities for intimacy and autonomy. It is interesting to read these two articles one after the other as they demonstrate how PCE theory and therapy can be applied at such different yet interconnected levels of human experience. There is again a hopeful message contained in this article, as it presents to us the humanistic ideal of human potential in the form of neuroplasticity and the belief that change in a constructive direction is not only possible but naturally achieved through PCE therapy.

The next two articles are concerned with Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT). First, a paper by Qui, Hannigan, Keogh and Timulak explore the experience of going through the process of training to become a certified EFT practitioner. As with many approaches to therapy, and across the therapy profession the world over, standardized curricula are becoming the norm. The authors note how this has, perhaps in part, been associated with the recent rapid spread of EFT training. With the agreed upon curriculum making it a more portable package, different trainers can contribute to an individual’s training across different levels of their training. However, whilst EFT usually demands that trainees are already qualified or experienced as therapists prior to training, this study shows that the process of training in EFT remains a challenging and demanding process. From my own experience there is certainly a great deal to learn when training in EFT! This brings us on to the second EFT paper, that looks at working with transgender and gender diverse clients in EFT. In this paper, Westmacott and Edmondstone present a brief review of literature and overview of issues that cover research on causes for, and descriptions of, distress experienced by transgender and gender diverse clients. Their analysis focuses on experiences of minority stress and how EFT can help by working with emotion schemes associated with this particular form of distress. This is an interesting and thought-provoking paper and in many ways raises questions about the specification of distress and therapeutic responses.

Our final two pieces for this issue include a paper by Behr, Aich, and Scheurenbrand who explore the complementary features of person-centered and experiential therapy with transactional analysis (TA) as two distinct forms of humanistic therapy. The authors consider the potential ways that TA and PCE therapy might inform each other by using practical examples. The paper offers some food for thought and will no doubt be of interest to both those that adopt a more pluralistic stance as well as those who are congruent with the classical theory and philosophy. Once again it is not too difficult to see how the theme of identity can be connected to this paper as our identities as PCE therapists come into focus. The final piece in this issue is a book review offered by Martin van Kalmthout, focused on a new book by Ton Baggerman. Van Kalmthout presents an inspiring review of this book and it is certainly one that I shall be adding to my reading list!