Ontology, culture, person-centered and pluralistic practice: reply to Ong, Murphy and Joseph

ABSTRACT Ong, Murphy and Joseph argued that exposition of pluralistic practice embraces specific ontological ‘positions’ for different schools of psychotherapy which equates to an ‘ontological eclecticism’ that is antithetical to person-centered and experiential psychotherapies. I will however argue that the ontology underlying all schools of psychotherapy is universal and invariant; and that it is intertwined with the ontic (contingent and changeable) mode of psychotherapy. Regarding the latter, I suggest ways in which therapists may respond to, and co-experience, the client’s personal experience of his or her particular racial/ethnic cultural milieu. I will conclude by discussing the ontologically relational stance that is inherent in both person-centered and pluralistic practice.