Intrapsychic humanism is a comprehensive general psychology and philosophy of mind that provides a new understanding of what it is to be human. Intrapsychic humanism is a nonderivative depth psychology that provides a unified and comprehensive theory of child development, psychopathology, and psychological treatment. The theory is based on discoveries about the centrality of the caregiving relationship in both child development and psychological treatment. It provides an approach to psychotherapy called inner humanism which helps individuals with emotional pain achieve unconflicted pleasurable inner well-being. The theory of intrapsychic humanism also engenders an approach to parenting called "smart love" that offers the potential to raise children who can have a conflict free, pleasurable, self-regulated experience of inner well-being, even in a world of inescapable loss.
Authors Intrapsychic humanism was developed by two psychotherapists and child development experts in Chicago, Martha Heineman Pieper and William J. Pieper. Martha earned her doctorate in social work at the School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago. She has been a consultant to foster care and adoption agencies and has written and lectured extensively on clinical issues and the philosophy of science and research. She has served on the editorial boards of Social Work, Illinois Child Welfare, and Smith College Studies in Social Work. Heineman Pieper maintains a private practice doing psychotherapy, counseling parents, and supervising mental health professionals. She is the primary consultant to the Natalie G. Heineman Smart Love Preschool and Smart Love Family Services Mental Health Clinic. William J. Pieper, who died in 2014, was a child and adult psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who served on the staff of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He completed psychiatry residencies at the University of Illinois Neuropsychiatric Institute in Chicago and the Institute for Juvenile Research in Chicago. Pieper was awarded certificates in both child and adult psychoanalysis from the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. He consulted with children's agencies and hospital clinics and taught at various professional schools Pieper spent many years in private practice seeing individuals, counseling parents, and supervising mental health professionals.
Publications The Piepers’ theory was first published in a book, Intrapsychic Humanism: An Introduction to a Comprehensive Psychology and Philosophy of Mind (Falcon II Press, 1990). Subsequently, the Piepers introduced an approach to parenting called Smart Love which was first published in 1999 by The Harvard Common Press and which was reissued by Smart Love Press in 2011 as Smart Love: The Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Regulating, and Enjoying Your Child 2. . In addition to their books, the Piepers have authored numerous scholarly publications. The Piepers authored the column “Smart Love” for ten years in Chicago Parent. Those columns are collected in two volumes published by Smart Love Family Services: Smart Love Solutions in Early Childhood and Smart Love Solutions for School-Age Children and Teens.
Development of the Theory The Piepers concluded that prevailing theories of child development did not offer adequate answers to the perennial questions posed by parents and mental health professionals. In their research, they addressed these questions, such as: What is a baby's basic nature at birth? How much happiness can humans rightfully expect? How and why does happiness transform itself into unhappiness? In the Piepers’ words: “… [W]e set out on our own to find answers that would allow us to be better parents and more effective professionals. We learned from the insights and dilemmas of the many parents we counseled, from our own clients, and from supervising the caseloads of other mental health professionals. We evaluated the results of the counsel we gave to parents and to foster care and adoption agencies. As another way of testing our ideas, we created and ran a successful treatment program for adolescent wards of the state who had been designated ‘untreatable’. Our research* and experience taught us that the emotional problems of children and adolescents couldn't be treated piecemeal or solely as individual behaviors that need to be modified. We found that troubled children are difficult to help because they have learned to need unhappiness. We saw that the real goal is to help troubled children turn away from needs for unhappiness as they rediscover the desires for positive relationship pleasure with which they were born,". Intrapsychic Humanism was the result of this process.
Basic Principles of Intrapsychic Humanism
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