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John Rowan (psychologist)

{{Short description|British psychologist and psychotherapist}}

{{Use British English|date=November 2021}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}

{{Infobox person

| post-nominals = FBACP, FBPS

| name = John Rowan

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| occupation = Psychologist, psychotherapist, author

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1925|03|31|df=y}}

| birth_place = Ford, Wiltshire, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|05|26|1925|03|31|df=y}}

| death_place = London, England

| alma_mater = Middlesex University

| known_for = Subpersonality

| signature =

| signature_alt =

| footnotes =

| spouse =

| website = {{url|https://web.archive.org/web/20171004134042/http://www.johnrowan.org.uk:80/ | www.johnrowan.org.uk}}

}}

John Rowan (31 March 1925 – 26 May 2018) was an English author, counsellor, psychotherapist and clinical supervisor, known for being one of the pioneers of humanistic psychology and integrative psychotherapy.{{cite journal |title=Dr John Rowan in conversation with Shirley Ward |last=Ward |first=Shirley |journal=Inside Out |year=2013 |issue=70 |url=http://iahip.org/inside-out/issue-70-summer-2013/dr-john-rowan-in-conversation-with-shirley-ward |access-date=27 May 2018}} He worked in exploring transpersonal psychology, and wrote about the concept of subpersonality.{{cite book|last=Hermans|first=HJM|title=The dialogical self: Meaning as movement|year=1993|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0123423207}}{{cite book|last=Wilber|first=K|title=The eye of spirit|year=1998|publisher=Shambhala Publications|isbn=978-0834822221}}{{cite web|title=Who we are: subpersonalities|url=http://mindmodels.wix.com/mimo#!who_we_are/c1enr|website=Mind Models|access-date=24 May 2018}}

Rowan was a qualified individual and group psychotherapist (UKAHPP and UKCP), a Chartered counseling psychologist (BPS) and was an accredited counsellor (BACP). He worked in private practice in London.{{cite web |url=https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/therapist/john-rowan/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527085108/https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/therapist/john-rowan/ |title=UKCP Find a Therapist: John Rowan |website=Internet archive |archive-date=27 May 2018 |access-date=27 May 2018}}

He described his therapeutic approach as humanistic, existential, authentic, relational and transpersonal.{{cite web |title=Live Counselling 3 – John Rowan Counsels Mike Trier |last1=Rowan |first=John |last2=Trier |first2=Mike |last3=Wilson |first3=John |year=2016 |url=https://www.onlinevents.co.uk/live-counselling-3-john-rowan-counsels-mike-trier-blog/ |website=onlinevents |access-date=26 May 2018}} He was an exponent of the idea of the dialogical self, a later development of subpersonalities theory.

Early life

Rowan was born in Wiltshire on 31 March 1925.{{cite web |title=John Rowan: Obituary and Appreciation |last2=House |first2=Richard |last1=Silvester |first1=Keith |year=2018 |url=http://ahpb.org/index.php/john-rowan-obituary-and-appreciation/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180609074350/http://ahpb.org/index.php/john-rowan-obituary-and-appreciation/ |website=Association for Humanistic Psychology in Britain |archive-date=9 June 2018 |access-date=9 June 2018 }} He started his life at the Old Sarum Airfield, Salisbury where his father was a squadron leader in the British Royal Air Force.{{cite book |last1=Dryden |first1=Windy |last2=Spurling |first2=Laurence |title=On Becoming a Psychotherapist |year=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317752028}} Consequently, his childhood was spent in a number of different air force stations. Whilst the family was in Cairo, his brother was born in a taxi.

Career

When he reached the age of eighteen in 1943, Rowan was called up to serve in the British Army. Part of his service during the Second World War was in India, where he gained formative experiences.{{cite web |title=John Rowan. The Centaur, Subtle, Causal and Non-Dual |last2=Rowan |first2=John |last1=McNay |first1=Iain |year=2013 |url=http://conscious.tv/text/111.htm |website=conscious |access-date=27 May 2018}}

Rowan spent several years working in various occupations including encyclopedia sales, teaching, telecommunications, accountancy, research, and other office-based jobs.

In 1950, he became involved in the work of the Walsby Association on systematic ideology. He lived and worked with Harold Walsby in 1950, and in 1951 joined the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB) in order to learn the rudiments of Marxism. He became the editor of the SPGB's internal journal, Forum{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/spgbforumjournal |title=The Socialist Party of Great Britain Forum Journal (1952–1960) low-res full archive |website=Internet archive |access-date=26 May 2018}} but left the Party over the Turner Controversy.{{cite web |url=http://gwiep.net/site/bio.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060706070613/http://gwiep.net/site/bio.htm |title=The George Walford International Essay Prize |website=Internet archive |archive-date=6 July 2006 |access-date=26 May 2018}}

After gaining a degree, Rowan built a career in market research. He held the position of Managing Director at the Bureau of Commercial Research.

In 1969, he began his group work by co-leading workshops in a pioneering group called B Now which ran from his home in Finchley, north London.{{cite journal |title=John Rowan: A Personal Tribute |last=Chaplin |first=Jocelyn |journal=Self & Society |pages=23–24 |volume=42 |issue=3–4 |date=2014 |doi=10.1080/03060497.2014.11102937 }} In the same year Rowan joined the Association for Humanistic Psychology (AHP), which he would eventually chair.{{cite news |title=John Rowan obituary |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jun/14/john-rowan-obituary |access-date=16 June 2018|date=2018-06-14 |last1=Silvester |first1=Keith }} During 1971, he co-led groups at Centre 42{{cite web |title=History of the Roundhouse: 1960–1970: An Arts Centre Emerges |website=Roundhouse Trust |url=http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/about-us/history-of-the-roundhouse/1960-1970-an-arts-centre-emerges/ |access-date=26 May 2018}} in Kensington, and then later in 1972 at the Kaleidoscope Centre in Swiss Cottage.

In 1975, he studied co-counselling, and practiced this method for five years. He later became a teacher of the Barefoot Psychoanalyst{{cite book |last1=Southgate |first1=John |last2=Randall |first2=Rosemary |title=The Barefoot Psychoanalyst |year=1989 |edition=3rd |publisher=Gale Centre Publications |place=Loughton |isbn=978-1-870258-06-7}} model.

In 1976, he published Ordinary Ecstasy.{{cite web |title=John Rowan's web site: Ordinary Ecstasy (3rd Ed.) |url=http://www.johnrowan.org.uk/ordinary-ecstasy/ |website=Internet archive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004134042/http://www.johnrowan.org.uk/ordinary-ecstasy/ |archive-date=4 October 2017 |access-date=26 May 2018}} This work is a summary and guide to all the branches of Humanistic psychology. He also helped to produce the radical men's magazine Achilles Heel.{{cite book |last=Seidler |first=Victor |date=1991 |isbn=978-1136921902 |title=The Achilles Heel Reader: Men, Sexual Politics and Socialism |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1136921907 |access-date=26 May 2018}}

In 1978, he helped to found, with Giora Doron, the Hampstead-based Institute of Psychotherapy and Social Studies.{{cite web |title=Institute of Psychotherapy and Social Studies |url=http://www.johnrowan.org.uk:80/historyastherapist/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004141511/http://www.johnrowan.org.uk/historyastherapist/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 October 2017 |access-date=26 May 2018 }}

During 1978, Rowan became interested in Primal Integration, training with this movement's founder Bill Swartley.{{cite web |title=John Rowan website |url=http://www.johnrowan.org.uk/ |website=Internet archive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171004134042/http://www.johnrowan.org.uk/ |archive-date=4 October 2017 |access-date=26 May 2018 |url-status=live }} Rowan then offered this therapy as part of his practice.

In 1980, Rowan helped to found the Association for Humanistic Psychology Practitioners, later to be known as the UK Association of Humanistic Psychology Practitioners.{{cite web |title=UK Association of Humanistic Psychology Practitioners |url=https://ahpp.org.uk/ |access-date=26 May 2018}}

In 1989, Rowan co-founded the Serpent Institute with Jocelyn Chaplin.{{cite web |title=The Serpent Institute |url=http://www.serpentinstitute.com/ |access-date=26 May 2018}} Both taught humanistic and psychodynamic theories and practices.

On the closure of this institute four years later, he joined the Minster Centre,{{cite web |title=The Minster Centre |url=http://www.minstercentre.org.uk/ |access-date=26 May 2018}} where he worked for ten years. Whilst there he trained psychotherapists, lead seminars, experiential training groups and supervision groups. He left the Centre in 2004, and worked in private practice, as well as provided master classes and workshops.

Education

During childhood, Rowan went to a number of different schools as a consequence of his father's career in the British Royal Air Force. One such was King's School, Chester, where he was in the class of 1939.{{cite web |title=John Rowan's Facebook page |url=https://www.facebook.com/john.rowan.3572 |website=Facebook |access-date=27 May 2018}}

In the 1950s, Rowan gained a London University diploma in sociology, and was awarded a joint honours degree in philosophy and psychology from Birkbeck College.

From 1970–79, Rowan studied with a variety of practitioners including John Adams, James Elliott, Bernard Gunther, Paul Lowe, Elizabeth Mintz, Al and Diane Pesso, John Pierrakos, Will Schutz, Julian Silverman, Jay Stattman, and Denny Yuson.

In 2006, he was awarded a Ph.D in transpersonal psychology from Middlesex University.{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Rowan |first=John |year=2006 |title=Dialogue and the transpersonal in therapy |publisher=Middlesex University |website=Middlesex University Research Repository |url=http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13427/ |access-date=26 May 2018}}

Honours

John Rowan was a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (member of the Psychotherapy Section, the Counselling Psychology Division, the Transpersonal Psychology Section, and the Consciousness and Experience Section). He was also a Fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). As a founding member of the UK Association of Humanistic Psychology Practitioners, he was named an Honorary Life Member.{{cite web |title=John Rowan |url=https://ahpp.org.uk/profiles/john-rowan/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529215547/https://ahpp.org.uk/profiles/john-rowan/ |website=UKAHPP |archive-date=29 May 2018 |access-date=28 May 2018}} He was an Honorary Fellow of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy and was a past member of its governing board, representing the Humanistic and Integrative Section.

Personal life

Rowan and his wife Sue lived in North Chingford, London. He had four children and four grandchildren from a previous marriage that ended in divorce in 1978.

Publications

=Author=

  • The Science of You (Psychological Aspects of Society Book 1) (Davis-Poynter 1973){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1973 |series=Psychological Aspects of Society |volume=1 |isbn=978-0706700268 |title=The science of you |publisher= Davis-Poynter |place=London }}
  • The Social Individual (Psychological Aspects of Society Book 2) (Davis-Poynter 1973){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1978 |series=Psychological Aspects of Society |volume=2 |isbn=978-0706701258 |title=The social individual |publisher=Davis-Poynter |place=London |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/socialindividual0000rowa }}
  • The Power of the Group (Psychological Aspects of Society Book 3) (Davis-Poynter 1976){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1976 |volume=3 |series=Psychological Aspects of Society |isbn=978-0706701494 |title=The power of the group |publisher= Davis-Poynter |place=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_5XZAAAAMAAJ |access-date=26 May 2018}}
  • Ordinary Ecstasy: Humanistic Psychology in Action (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1976){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1976 |isbn=978-0710083449 |title=Ordinary ecstasy: humanistic psychology in action |publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul |place=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUQ9AAAAIAAJ&q=0710083440 |access-date=26 May 2018}}
  • The Reality Game:A Guide to Humanistic Counseling and Psychotherapy (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1976){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1983 |isbn=978-0710098146 |title=The reality game: a guide to humanistic counselling and therapy |publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul |place=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LMA9AAAAIAAJ |access-date=26 May 2018}}
  • The Structured Crowd (Psychological Aspects of Society Book 4) (Davis-Poynter 1978){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1978 |series=Psychological Aspects of Society |volume=4 |isbn=9780706701647 |title=The structured crowd |publisher= Davis-Poynter |place=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3_8hAAAAMAAJ |access-date=26 May 2018}}
  • A Guide To Humanistic Psychology (Association for Humanistic Psychology in Britain 1987){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1987 |isbn=978-1870351003 |title=A guide to humanistic psychology |publisher=Association for Humanistic Psychology in Britain |place=London }}
  • The Horned God (Routledge & Kegan Paul 1987){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1987 |isbn=978-0710206749 |title=The horned god: feminism and men as wounding and healing |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |place=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SgCv1CnkRUEC |access-date=26 May 2018}}
  • Subpersonalities: The people Inside Us (Routledge 1990){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1990 |isbn=978-0415043298 |title=Subpersonalities: the people inside us |publisher=Routledge |place=London }}
  • Breakthroughs and Integration in Psychotherapy (Whurr 1992){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1992 |isbn=978-1870332187 |title=Breakthroughs and integration in psychotherapy |publisher=Whurr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0LaSQAAACAAJ |access-date=26 May 2018}}
  • Discover Your Subpersonalities: Our Inner World and the People In It (Routledge 1993){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1993 |isbn=978-0415073660 |title=Discover your subpersonalities: our inner world and the people in it |publisher=Routledge |place=London }}
  • The Transpersonal: Spirituality in Psychotherapy and Counselling (Routledge 1993){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1993 |isbn=978-0415053617 |title=The transpersonal: psychotherapy and counselling |publisher=Routledge |place=London }}
  • Healing the Male Psyche: Therapy as Initiation (Routledge 1997){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=1997 |isbn=978-0415100489 |title=Healing the male psyche: therapy as initiation |publisher=Routledge |place=London }}
  • The Therapist's Use of Self with Michael Jacobs (Open University Press 2002){{cite book |last1=Rowan |first1=John |last2=Jacobs |first2=Michael |date=2002 |isbn=978-0335207763 |title=The therapist's use of self |publisher=Open University Press |place=Buckingham }}
  • The Future of Training in Psychotherapy and Counselling: Instrumental, Relational and Transpersonal Perspectives (Routledge 2005){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=2005 |isbn=978-1583912362 |title=The future of training in psychotherapy and counselling: instrumental, relational and transpersonal perspectives |publisher=Routledge |place=London }}
  • Personification: Using the Dialogical Self in Psychotherapy and Counselling (Routledge 2010){{cite book |last=Rowan |first=John |date=2009 |isbn=978-0415433464 |title=Personification: Using the dialogical self in psychotherapy and counselling |publisher=Routledge |place=London }}

=Editor=

  • Human Inquiry: A Sourcebook of New Paradigm Research with Peter Reason (Wiley 1976){{cite book |editor-last1=Reason |editor-first1=Peter |editor-last2=Rowan |editor-first2=John |date=1981 |isbn=978-0471279365 |title=Human inquiry: A sourcebook of new paradigm research |publisher=Wiley |place=Chichester |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BhlHAAAAMAAJ |access-date=26 May 2018}}
  • Innovative Therapy in Britain with Windy Dryden (Wiley 1988){{cite book |editor-last2=Dryden |editor-first2=Windy |editor-last1=Rowan |editor-first1=John |date=1988 |isbn=978-0335098378 |title=Innovative therapy in Britain |publisher=Open University Press |place=Buckingham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ChsAAAAMAAJ |access-date=26 May 2018}}
  • The Plural Self: Multiplicity in Everyday Life with Mick Cooper (SAGE 1998){{cite book |editor-last1=Rowan |editor-first1=John |editor-last2=Mick |editor-first2=Cooper |date=1998 |isbn=978-1446238332 |title=The plural self: multiplicity in everyday life |publisher=SAGE |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5by1qy1H-2EC |access-date=26 May 2018}}

He was on the Editorial Board of the following periodicals.

  • Self & Society: An International Journal for Humanistic Psychology; [https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rsel20/current link to journal]
  • The Transpersonal Psychology Review; [https://www1.bps.org.uk/publications/member-network-publications/member-publications/transpersonal-psychology-review link to journal]
  • Counseling Psychology Review; [https://www1.bps.org.uk/publications/member-network-publications/member-publications/counselling-psychology-review link to journal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511012759/https://www1.bps.org.uk/publications/member-network-publications/member-publications/counselling-psychology-review |date=11 May 2018 }}
  • Journal of Humanistic Psychology; [http://journals.sagepub.com/home/jhp link to journal]

=Papers=

  • List of papers: {{cite web |title=John Rowan: Ph.D: Independent Researcher |author=John Rowan |work=ResearchGate |access-date=9 June 2018 |archive-date=9 June 2018 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Rowan2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180609072425/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Rowan2 }}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20060706070613/http://gwiep.net/site/bio.htm Biography] – George Walford International Essay Prize, archived in 2006
  • {{cite journal | last = DAP | title = Getting Splinters | journal = Socialist Standard | volume = 100 | issue = 1198 | pages = 38–41 | date=June 2004 | issn = 0037-8259 }}

{{Psychology}}

{{Psychotherapy}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowan, John}}

Category:1925 births

Category:2018 deaths

Category:Alumni of Middlesex University

Category:Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London

Category:British psychologists

Category:English psychotherapists

Category:Humanistic psychologists

Category:Socialist Party of Great Britain members

Category:Transpersonal psychologists

Category:People from Wiltshire