Ian Rory Owen

University of Wolverhampton, Psychology and Psychotherapy Service, Faculty Member

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Ian Rory Owen holds a first degree in Engineering and a Masters and PhD in Counselling and Psychotherapy. He has qualifications in medical anthropology and cognitive behavioural therapy also. He is the author of seven books and 76 papers mainly on the applications of phenomenology to the practice of individual brief therapy and uses the original connections between Kant, Husserl and Heidegger to focus on human identity as gendered and embodied. Now retired, he was previously a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society from 1993 to 2021 and a Registered Integrative Psychotherapist with the UKCP Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy Section. He worked as a Principal Psychotherapist in Leeds and York PFT, Leeds UK, from 2001 to 2021. Before that, he was an Award Leader for 3 masters degrees, and taught the theory and practice of Freud and Rogers to psychology undergraduates, midwives, nurses and on a Doctorate in Counselling Psychology, from 1995 to 2001.
Address: https://youtu.be/8utPZ77HepY

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Papers by Ian Rory Owen

Formulations of Intentionality

Springer eBooks, 2015

This chapter uses the idea of intentionality to argue for formulation of the development and main... more This chapter uses the idea of intentionality to argue for formulation of the development and maintenance of specific syndromes of meaningful distress. This is the worth of intentionality in mental health care, qualitative human studies and natural psychological sciences. This application of intentionality is for understanding multifactorial causes of distress in the context of considering how its conditions of meaning and motivation can be rectified through the ego working on how it construes its world and itself in it. This chapter answers the problem of how to understand the experiences and motivations of clients in a general way. A case of how to help someone who is suicidally depressed is used to bring out key problems that occur when therapists meet clients for the first time in assessment. Such meetings are against the backgrounds of greater unknowns such as multiple interpretative professional views, for there is much information available but little agreement about what helps people with any specific set of problems. The answers provided are that it is most value-free and pragmatic to understand meaning-maintenance in terms of intentionality and its repeating processes (whatever their causes might be biopsychosocially). Below the basic problems of how to practice any brand of therapy or mental health care are answered by creating understanding through applying the universals of intentionality to their current lifestyle. Formulation is discussed as a gateway from distress to better awareness and reflection on self, so beginning improved self-care. Such a discussion also identifies people who are pre-contemplative in as yet being unready to make changes in their lifestyles or may have difficulty in understanding the connections between their own thoughts, feelings, behaviours, relationships, habits and beliefs. Therapy is not a panacea and some people are unable to use what it offers for a variety of reasons.

Two Interpretative Positions in Phenomenology

Contributions to phenomenology, 2015

This chapter introduces the case for a method of theory-making and idealism about meaning in Huss... more This chapter introduces the case for a method of theory-making and idealism about meaning in Husserl’s two approaches for understanding how consciousness makes sense through its mental processes. The two types of phenomenology are transcendental phenomenology and pure psychology. It is the case that: “Psychology as an empirical science naturally concerns human beings as they actually, empirically are”, (XXIV, 146–147). But pure theoretical psychology is “not a factual science of the facts of this sphere of inner intuition but is a science of the essence, i.e., one which investigates the invariant, properly essential structures of a soul or of a community of psychic life”, (V, 144). The aim is creating an ideal understanding of consciousness as the fundamental way to grasp instances and universals of meaningful experience. The chapter explains the two approaches to consciousness in overview. Below, it is shown how these two versions of phenomenology differ in their theory-producing method and stance. The chapter regards both forms of phenomenology as types of making sense in working from instances towards universals, which is a way of structuring an argument for increased self-reflexivity in the natural scientific and other disciplines. The sequence of topics below starts with a note on the commonality between Husserl and Kant and notes hermeneutics as a ubiquitous term for sense-making so that reductions are regarded as serving the function of overthrowing the deadwood of received wisdom and re-invigorating professional discourses about their experiential referents. Second, experiential hermeneutics is explained in relation to its traditional meaning in the history of philosophy and with respect to the type of critique made in Philosophy as Rigorous Science. The third and fourth sections also employ hermeneutics in the sense of contextualisation to explain the two types of phenomenology. The difference between pure psychology in the world and transcendental phenomenology, allegedly outside of it, is explained. This study endorses pure psychology as intentional analysis of intentional implication and modifications of forms of being aware and intersubjective intentional implication. Intentional analysis operates within a theoretical context that is contemporarily called biopsychosocial that Husserl called “psychophysical”, (IX, 279, 305), where all is understood as intentional processes. Husserl’s perspective goes past the Cartesian opposition between spirit and nature, consciousness and biological substrate, to include three foci as they appear to consciousness. The consequence for pure psychology is the possibility of being able to work with contemporary empirical disciplines because all viewpoints are relative to consciousness in intersubjectivity. If psychology did become more qualitatively focused on understanding meaning then it would ensure its connection to making an impact on everyday experience.

Attachment processes in assessment

The standard interpretation and its processes

On Attachment: The View from Developmental Psychology

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On the Status of Psychological Knowledge

Changes, May 1, 1997

Power, boundaries, intersubjectivity

British journal of medical psychology, Jun 1, 1995

The first part of this paper is a brief overview of the keynote speech given by Jeffrey Masson at... more The first part of this paper is a brief overview of the keynote speech given by Jeffrey Masson at the Sixth Conference of the Society for Existential Analysis, London, entitled Issues of power in the psychotherapeutic relationship, in which Masson raised various questions about the assumptions of what constitutes the alleged inappropriate behaviour of therapists, and the boundaries of the professional role that must not be overstepped. These criticisms are begun to be addressed in this paper. The overall aim of this paper is to promote a sceptical and critical discussion of the psychotherapeutic relationship and a few of its founding assumptions.

Applying social constructionism to psychotherapy

Counselling Psychology Quarterly, Oct 1, 1992

Social constructionism is the view that many of the abstract quantities, our relations according ... more Social constructionism is the view that many of the abstract quantities, our relations according to these, and the relationships of everyday life, are human-made processes and contexts. We have been born into these or we can gain access to them by our credentials in society. Social constructionism has so far investigated personhood, male-female gender roles, sexuality, crosscultural aspects of healing and mental health and the different types of socially appropriate roles and emotional displays. All fields of science, study and debate are seen as historical processes occurring in human contexts of supporters and dissenters who gather round in a complex changing pattern. Explanations are not regarded as indisputable facts or truths, but only as more or less adequate approximations: parts of discourses between schools of thought. Abstract quantities, the attribution of qualities to people and events between people are regarded not as fixed things but as descriptions or explanations which are created, maintained and passed on through speech, writing and between people in the present moment. The social constructionist view Social constructionism is a reminder that all values, ideologies and social institutions are made by human beings (Gergen 1985; Harre 1988, p 13). At first glance this may not seem very profound or far reaching but it takes some time to allow the full implications of this view to become appreciated. An example from astronomy illustrates some key points. At one time it was taken to be a fact that the Earth was the centre of the universe and that the other planets revolved around it in circular orbits. In 1663 Galileo thought differently and posited that the Sun was the centre of the universe and that the Earth and the other planets revolved around that. His view to the orthodox establishment appeared to be a heresy or madness and he was put in prison for his views. It took many years for it to be accepted. Social constructionism is the claim and viewpoint that the content of our consciousness, and the mode of relating we have to others is taught by our culture and society. It includes the viewpoint that all the real and abstract metaphysical quantities we take for granted are learned from others around us. Social constructionism has an important message for psychotherapists of all kinds and in this paper I would like to take time to fill in some relevant background before discussing its implications for theory, training, research and practice. Any theory about universal human nature and the nature of any one person are placed in question.

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Introduction to Part III

Routledge eBooks, Mar 22, 2018

Are we before or after integration? Discussing guidelines for integrativepractice via clinical audit

Counselling Psychology Review, Aug 1, 1996

Consciousness in Its Habitat of Other Consciousness

Springer eBooks, 2015

Chapters 7 and 8 were a focus on solo consciousness to spell out the simple findings on the noeti... more Chapters 7 and 8 were a focus on solo consciousness to spell out the simple findings on the noetic universal forms in general. However, those details are not representative of how consciousness is connected in culture to other consciousness. This chapter begins with how to read key aspects of the highly condensed account of intersubjectivity in Cartesian Meditations. The reading made is one that identifies eight major phenomena in the sphere of intersubjective ownness revealed by a special transcendental reduction. The empathic sense of the other is what belongs to self and is further broken down into five contributing parts. The role of retentional consciousness is emphasised as this is read as the storehouse of prior social learning held in individuals. Husserl’s mathematical thinking is such that he identified constant and universal necessities in intersubjectivity that are posited as ideal and form real world instances of meeting with actual and merely possible others. The universal form of intersubjectivity is called “triangular” because it is involves three continually inter-related moments: a self in relation to another who empathises them and their view of a common cultural object that is also available to self. For the other, this triangular form is the same but reversed and overlapped with the perspective of self. Hence intersubjective meetings between two or more people are comprised of such overlappings of sense which when encountered and learned, comprise the whole of the meaningful world. Husserl posited that: “consciousness has an essence “of its own” and that, with another consciousness, it makes up a self-contained concatenation of the stream of consciousness”, (III, 70). The ideal position made in the transcendental view is empathised by recourse to the use of deixis, which although it belongs to linguistics, serves to identify the inter-perspectivity in general that Husserl identified. In short, the sharing of meaning in the world obeys ideal forms and while it’s impossible to have the other’s consciousness as one’s own, their social acts and nonverbal communications “speak the language” that has been learned in enculturation to date. It is both true to say that we can never have their experiences first-hand and we always gain an impression of them even if they don’t say a word. The ideal and universal study of the triangle between self, other and cultural object is defined at the end of Sect. 44 of Cartesian Meditations (I, 129–30). The conclusion there is read as the irreducibility of intersubjective senses in self which means that meaning is intersubjective.

Introduction: The Naturalistic Attitude Cannot Grasp Meaning for Consciousness

Contributions to phenomenology, 2015

This chapter introduces are the basic of what it is to be aware and notes that there are a number... more This chapter introduces are the basic of what it is to be aware and notes that there are a number of traditions that interpret the consciousness-biology or consciousness and natural being relationship in ways that refuse to acknowledge the abundant evidence of how the world is represented in consciousness. This chapter focuses on the problems of their positions and their consequences in general as a false problem and briefing offers a genuine solution to the being of consciousness. The first section comments on the problems of the natural attitude and the limits of the naturalistic attitude of natural science that refuses the existence of the consciousness that gives it its methods and meaning. The dominant natural psychological scientific paradigm is sketched and absurd consequences of Scientism are noted. Second, the problem of naturalistic approaches that cannot grasp meaning for consciousness because they mis-interpret the consciousness-being relationship and forever remain in an unclear position with respect to consciousness that they cannot or will not represent while asserting that natural being is the only being worthy of consideration: a version of a doubly negative dualism. Third, some brief comments are made about Husserl’s brief sketch of the type of answer provided is made. The starting point for understanding consciousness is phenomenology, a methodical qualitative cognitivism that identifies the contours of its territory before any empirical approach to ensure that the empirical methods properly refer to conscious experiences. A taxonomy of the types of intentionality has consequences that helps understand the infinite set of instances of conscious experience involving processes that are implicit, tacit, preconscious or unconscious and highly variable. The fundamental territory to be understood are emotions, moods, thoughts, behaviours, mental habits and relationships between people and are evident in how persons treat themselves. The reflective phenomenological attitude provides helpful insights about consciousness and its processes of intentionality. There is consciousness of what it is like to be you or me, to be a child or adult, to be someone in history or merely a person in general who thinks and feels and struggles to understand. The project is to identify consciousness in general from its evidence. Being conscious is evidently discussible through speech and is certainly not the type of being of an inanimate thing. Indeed, some phenomena of being consciousness are undeniable and can be used to structure qualitative and quantitative reasoning in psychology and psychotherapy for instance.

On Being Unable to Control Variables in Intersubjectivity

Springer eBooks, 2015

Given that the proofs of the exact essences like mathematics are the achievements of the natural ... more Given that the proofs of the exact essences like mathematics are the achievements of the natural sciences and technology, it is to be seen what the empirical impact will be from inexact morphological essences. This chapter compares psychometrics and the numericisation of meaning in natural psychological science with the pure psychological approach. The argument below is that empirical methods need to be suitable for the form of being that is researched. For instance, randomised control trial (RCT) methodology is suitable for testing pharmaceutical products; but it is also used for testing the effectiveness of different brands of therapy. RCT methodology like any type of empiricism makes a series of ontological assumptions which in testing pharmaceuticals are acceptable. But if it is agreed that variables in intersubjective processes like therapy are incapable of being investigated in the same way, then findings from that method are unacceptable. The main problem is the difference between treating the client-therapist relationship as if it were a pharmaceutical product when it is a meaningful, evolving interaction between two or more people. The RCT methodology is compared to another form of psychological testing of the efficacy of therapy practice. The aim of the chapter is clarifying the differences between the naturalistic attitude and the pure psychological one. Naturalistically, if the focus is on serotonin in the brain then it would be necessary to medicate because the assumptions is that serotonin helps decrease the strength of all emotions and so helps the brain alters its physiology through naturalistic causes. Empirical psychology is noted as permitting the Popperian falsificationist style of hypothesis-driven methods, observations and experiments. Testing falsifiable claims can become sharper when testing what really counts. Given that therapy techniques are ways of understanding and changing meaning, the pure psychological view considers brands of therapy and mental health care as merely alternate means to the same end. In a close attention to detail the natural psychological approach to experimental design is to make two groups of participants who are judged to be sufficiently similar. Psychometric testing is applied to quantify some psychological aspect of both groups and to measure the impact of a treatment in therapy research (or some other intervention that is given to one group but not the other). The assumptions made are that there are other unmeasured and uncontrolled variables that will affect the participants and show up in the psychometric scores obtained. However, with a large sample size it is assumed that such tendencies will be averaged out to show the impact of the intervention and its absence on two equivalent groups of participants. The acceptability of this assumption is challenged below. The chapter ends with noting the consequences for an empirical therapy and mental health care based on formulation.

Therapeutic Hypnosis

Self and society, 1989

Exploring the similarities and differences between person-centred and psychodynamic therapy

British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, May 1, 1999

Husserl’s Phenomenology of Intersubjectivity

Husserl’s Phenomenology of Intersubjectivity, 2018

The IPJP is published in association with NISC (Pty) Ltd and Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. w... more

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THREE ASPECTS OF PHILOSOPHY AND ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUE

Existential Analysis, 1992

This essay aims to reaffirm an aspect of analytical technique by noting its place in a philosophi... more This essay aims to reaffirm an aspect of analytical technique by noting its place in a philosophical context. The essay is about analytical practice and is illustrated by an overview of three aspects of philosophy which are clearly defined. It is suggested that these three terms apply to all psychotherapies and the human sciences. My aim is to make psychotherapeutic thought more rigorous and scientific. My emphasis is on attending to what might be present, and trying to find out the nature of this, without rushing off into hasty judgements or interpretations. The influence of Franz Brentano is noted. He taught philosophy and psychology to Freud and Edmund Husserl, the originator of phenomenology. Epistemology Epistemology can be defined as the study of knowledge. It is the set of rules for knowing something, that one person has or that a group of people share. It is the answer to the questions "How do you know that?" Or "How do you know you know that?" An epistemology is the way in which a person makes sense of the world and others. As Bateson put it: "All descriptions are based on theories of how to make descriptions", (1977, pl47).

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Psychotherapy and phenomenology: On Freud, Husserl and Heidegger

Psychodynamic Practice, 2007

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Are we before or after integration? Discussing guidelines for integrativepractice via clinical audit

Counselling Psychology Review

Towards A Sociology of Psychotherapy

Counselling Psychology Review

There are many forms of research into psychotherapy which attempt to formulate what is effective ... more There are many forms of research into psychotherapy which attempt to formulate what is effective between clients and therapists. These fall into the two broad groups of process and outcome research. Process research is where the overall set of discussions and events within and between successive sessions are studied. Outcome research investigates what has happened after therapy, by comparing how clients fared before therapy commenced. Literally, sociology means the study of companionship. A sociology of psychotherapy researches the processes inside of the consulting room and places them in the context of society in general. The sociology of psychotherapy is a new approach that stands back a little further, yet also tries to unravel the processes that make up therapy sessions.

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Formulations of Intentionality

Springer eBooks, 2015

Two Interpretative Positions in Phenomenology

Contributions to phenomenology, 2015

Attachment processes in assessment

The standard interpretation and its processes

On Attachment: The View from Developmental Psychology

Download

On the Status of Psychological Knowledge

Changes, May 1, 1997

Power, boundaries, intersubjectivity

British journal of medical psychology, Jun 1, 1995

Applying social constructionism to psychotherapy

Counselling Psychology Quarterly, Oct 1, 1992

Download

Introduction to Part III

Routledge eBooks, Mar 22, 2018

Are we before or after integration? Discussing guidelines for integrativepractice via clinical audit

Counselling Psychology Review, Aug 1, 1996

Consciousness in Its Habitat of Other Consciousness

Springer eBooks, 2015

Introduction: The Naturalistic Attitude Cannot Grasp Meaning for Consciousness

Contributions to phenomenology, 2015

On Being Unable to Control Variables in Intersubjectivity

Springer eBooks, 2015

Therapeutic Hypnosis

Self and society, 1989

Exploring the similarities and differences between person-centred and psychodynamic therapy

British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, May 1, 1999

Husserl’s Phenomenology of Intersubjectivity

Husserl’s Phenomenology of Intersubjectivity, 2018

The IPJP is published in association with NISC (Pty) Ltd and Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. w... more

Download

THREE ASPECTS OF PHILOSOPHY AND ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUE

Existential Analysis, 1992

Download

Psychotherapy and phenomenology: On Freud, Husserl and Heidegger

Psychodynamic Practice, 2007

Download

Are we before or after integration? Discussing guidelines for integrativepractice via clinical audit

Counselling Psychology Review

Towards A Sociology of Psychotherapy

Counselling Psychology Review

Download

On attachment: The view from developmental psychology

This work summarises the four main attachment processes according to the individual differences m... more This work summarises the four main attachment processes according to the individual differences models of the strange situation procedure with children and the adult attachment interview. It connects these findings to further empirical research on the qualitative processes in individual therapy with adults. It states how to recognise these processes in the moment and and how assess and treat through an understanding of attachment. https://youtu.be/8utPZ77HepY

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Ian Rory Owen

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