Ordinary Ecstasy: The Dialectics of Humanistic Psychology

by John Rowan

Humanistic Psychology ranges far and wide into education, management, gender issues and many other fields. Ordinary Ecstasy, first published in 1976, is widely regarded as one of the most important books on the subject. Although this new edition still contains much of the original material, it has been completely rethought in the light of postmodern ideas, with more emphasis on the paradoxes within humanistic psychology, and takes into account changes in many different areas, with a greatly extended bibliography.
Ordinary Ecstasy is written not only for students and professionals involved in humanistic psychology - anyone who works with people in any way will find it valuable and interesting.

304 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2000

Reviews

[Thomson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Humanistic psychology seeks to deeply understand what it looks like for a person to be healthy, "whole", fully functioning - for without such a vision, the attempt to treat or heal people is doomed to lapse into blind band-aid fixes or surface-level pathologizing. The subfield is characterized by a holistic view of body/mind/spirit, a careful look at what influences hinder us from being fundamentally "all right", and a belief that every person is capable of reaching the peaks of the human experience (what Maslow, one of the pioneers of the field, termed "self-actualization" and with which he crowned the famous hierarchy of needs).

Rowan's survey is not necessarily the most readable front-to-back, but it is packed chock full of jumping-off points into more detailed and specialized writings. I do recommend at least skimming it if you're interested in topics such as peak experiences, self-actualization, societal ills and cures, the relationship between systemic oppression and mental health, growth and maturity, and generally living up to the immense potential in the human condition.