Personal construct psychology (PCP) has long offered a distinctive approach to assessment and diagnosis, emphasizing the unique and individualized meanings that clients develop about their experiences. Unlike traditional psychiatric models that utilize standardized diagnostic categories, PCP adopts an idiographic method in which clinicians seek to comprehend clients' personal worldviews and help them to experiment with alternative ways of construing. It is argued that the more recently developed Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) provides a promising opportunity to raise awareness of the personal construct perspective. The PTMF, which some clinicians have begun using as a meaning-focused alternative to conventional diagnosis, links mental distress to broader social contexts and challenges prevailing mental health practices. Although the PTMF is not a diagnostic tool, its orientation aligns with PCP's commitment to a meaning-centered orientation, offering new avenues for PCP practitioners to share and apply their approach. This article outlines both PCP and the PTMF, highlighting their synergies and discussing potential ways in which clinicians aligned with the PTMF but still wishing to utilize PCP's approach to assessment and diagnosis can do so.

In 1960-1961, George Kelly, the American psychologist renowned for developing personal construct psychology (PCP), took a trip around the world, visiting many different countries. Along the way, he hobnobbed with prominent university professors and delivered his now-famous article, "Europe's Matrix of Decision." However, Kelly's trip was more than just an academic sojourn. It was paid for by the Human Ecology Fund, which we now know was a front of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Was Kelly aware of this? The historical record suggests that he was and that he was probably reporting regularly to the CIA throughout his trip. Arguments and evidence for this interpretation-including uncovered documents showing that Kelly's travels were a formally proposed project funded by the CIA's controversial MKULTRA "mind control" program-are provided. Furthermore, Kelly's probable participation in other CIA initiatives is examined. Compelling proof of Kelly's CIA activity, while never gathered and summarized in one place, has long been available. This article lays to rest any doubts by documenting the many strands of evidence illustrating Kelly's CIA involvement. The implications of this evidence for thinking about George Kelly, the challenges encountered by psychologists during the Cold War, and the issues facing historians of this period are explored. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The late Donna Rockwell had an outsize influence on the Society for Humanistic Psychology. In addition to recounting two important interactions that reflected the personal impact she had, several powerful quotes from Donna are shared to convey her commitment to the principles and practices of humanistic psychology.

This article memorializes Franz R. Epting (1937-2023), emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Florida. Franz had a long and accomplished career as an internationally recognized humanistic psychologist. His work focused on George Kelly's personal construct psychology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Public Significance Statement This study found that nearly 90% of psychologists use DSM despite dissatisfaction with it. Psychologists see DSM's main advantage as third-party insurance reimbursement. Though they wish to see alternatives developed, they are unfamiliar with and unsupportive of any besides the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Psychologists want alternatives but have a practical need to get paid that DSM currently meets. A survey of psychologists' attitudes toward the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5), and its alternatives was conducted. Almost 90% of psychologists reported regularly consulting DSM-5, despite dissatisfaction with it. However, opinions varied by theoretical orientation. Cognitive-behavioral psychologists held positive attitudes about DSM, whereas psychodynamic and humanistic/constructivist/systems psychologists were negatively inclined toward it. Integrative/eclectic psychologists were in between. Diagnostic codes and identifying pathology were seen as DSM-5's biggest advantages, and the medicalization of psychosocial problems and obscuring individual differences as its biggest disadvantages. Psychologists supported developing alternatives to DSM-5, but when asked about six alternatives-International Classification of Diseases (ICD), Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual-2 (PDM), Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis (OPD), Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP), and Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF)-they were generally unfamiliar with them except for ICD. Although not wishing to abandon the medical model, psychologists (except for cognitive-behaviorists) said DSM-5 relies too much on medical semantics and questioned whether mental disorders should be considered a subset of medical disorders. Overall, psychologists use DSM for practical reasons (diagnostic categories and codes) more than scientific ones (validity and reliability). This finding affirms something remarkable: Despite ongoing attention to revising and improving DSM over the past four decades, psychologists remain lukewarm toward it and strongly interested in alternatives. However, until alternatives are better known and provide the necessary practical advantages, psychologists will likely continue to use DSM despite their mixed feelings about it.

The Diagnostic Manual and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is a lot like the cyborg villains in the The Terminator films. Just when you think you have killed them, they spring back to...

We outline a context-centered therapy approach to helping clients cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Context-centered therapy is a constructivist approach that emphasizes shifts in an individual'scontextsas the best way to generate therapeutic change. Contexts are defined as sets of presuppositions that shape a person's experiences. We examine how two very common contexts,mindandself, can inform therapists' understanding of how their clients are responding to the coronavirus pandemic. The mind consists of a person's defensive and protective postures in the face of perceived threat, whereas the self takes a broader perspective and emphasizes human connections and interrelatedness. Therapists can use several mind/self contrasts-blame versus responsibility, insufficiency versus sufficiency, being at effect versus being at cause, and avoidance versus mastery-to assist people who are struggling in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Various researchers have been developing alternatives to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fifth edition; DSM-5). However, most clinicians are too busy to keep up with progress on these alternatives. Therefore, this article serves as a "primer" for clinicians by introducing four alternatives to the DSM-5 that are currently garnering significant attention: International Classification of Diseases (10th and 11th editions), Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual-2, hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology, and power threat meaning framework. The research domain criteria research initiative is also briefly discussed. The basics of each alternative system are presented and their primary strengths and weaknesses identified. All four systems show promise but have significant obstacles to overcome before they can be deemed viable substitutes for the DSM-5.

Held (2020) portrays critical and Indigenous psychologists as subscribing to an epistemological “anti-objectivism” that inhibits their ability to combat oppression. She believes that their anti-objectivism yields a troublesome relativism in which truth is overly context-dependent; what counts as true knowledge for one Indigenous group may not count for another. This commentary explores whether critical and Indigenous psychologists are strict “anti-objectivists,” as Held contends. It also challenges the need for epistemological consistency, while encouraging a shift from “objectivism” and “subjectivism” as essentialized states to “objecting” and “subjecting” as complementary ways to explore and study the world.

In George Kelly’s (1955/1991a, 1955/1991b) personal construct psychology (PCP), hostility involves extorting evidence to confirm a social prediction that has already failed. Those behaving hostilel...