| Abstract: | Faced with a chasm of seemingly geological proportions, scientists and practitioners in clinical psychology and psychotherapy must confront the concealed moral conflicts that permeate the field. Our clinical practices reflect and contribute to the search for the good life in contemporary society. The application of the Enlightenment's view of science and rationality to clinical psychology has led to a demoralization of the therapeutic relationship and an atrophy of our sense of human suffering. Human suffering is explored as a complex process involving physical, psychological, and social elements firmly embedded in the moral realm in such a manner as to make the practice of psychotherapy inevitably also the practice of ethics. The positive consequences of the remoralization of clinical practice and professional identity are discussed, as are possible objections to such an endeavor from various theoretical approaches to psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
