I agree that that arguing seems to be an important part of psychology.  I sense that psychology has been mired down in a Game of Thrones where the question that keeps people on the edge of their seat is who will survive.  I am learning through all of these psychology courses that, truly, the profession has been fractured in so many different ways, and not unlike hard science, has struggled to find footing upon which to stand in a unified manner.  Overall, an essential process, albeit messy.

Humanistic psychology’s credibility suffered from a social perception that aligned with movements of the 1960’s existentialism, politics and complementary and alternative approaches to care (Schneider, Pierson & Bugental, 2015), a path divergent from the medical profession’s affinity for a more mainstream approach such as cognitive-behavior therapy (Felder, Aten, Neudeck, Shiomi-Chen, & Robbins, 2014).  Moreover, at the early stages of humanism, popular branches emerged from its roots with Maslow’s transpersonal psychology and Roger’s client-centered therapy. This left humanistic psychology without a brand ambassador.

I would offer that humanistic psychology will prevail as science reveals the essential requirements of relationship as a condition for brain health, and the benefits of mindfulness meditation as part of treatment programs (Khusid & Vythilingam, 2016) . Humanistic psychology will serve as the balance against reductionists who will continue an attempt to partition the human person. Its branches will flourish. We are seeing this in medicine whereby surgeons are being invited to consider that there is a person attached to the knee upon which he is operating (Zale, Ring, & Vranceanu, 2018).  

Felder, A. J., Aten, H. M., Neudeck, J. A., Shiomi-Chen, J., & Robbins, B. D. (2014). Mindfulness at the heart of existential-phenomenology and humanistic psychology: A century of contemplation and elaboration. The Humanistic Psychologist, 42(1), 6–23. doi:10.1080/08873267.2012.753886

Khusid, M. A., & Vythilingam, M. (2016). The Emerging Role of Mindfulness Meditation as Effective Self-Management Strategy, Part 1: Clinical Implications for Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Anxiety. Military Medicine, 181(9), 961–968. doi:10.7205/milmed-d-14-00677

Schneider, K. J., Pierson, J. F. & Bugental, J. F. (2015). The handbook of humanistic psychology: Theory, research, and practice: Introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781483387864

Zale, E. L., Ring, D., & Vranceanu, A.-M. (2018). The Future of Orthopaedic Care. The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 100(13), e89. doi:10.2106/jbjs.17.01159