From Paul Tillich’s <span class='italic'>The Courage to Be</span> to Radical Acceptance and Radical Openness

doi:10.1017/9781009445955.016

15 - From Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be to Radical Acceptance and Radical Openness

Or Spiritually Based Dialectical Approaches to Neurotic Character

from Part III - Novel Conceptual Approaches to Personality Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 June 2025

Konrad Banicki

Edited by

Konrad Banicki and

Peter Zachar

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Konrad Banicki: Affiliation:
Jagiellonian University, Krakow
Peter Zachar: Affiliation:
Auburn University, Montgomery

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Summary

The courage to be by Paul Tillich is explored with a special emphasis on its dialectical ontology and the account of neurotic character and existential courage informed by it. Then, in turn, two more contemporary and more specifically clinical and secular approaches: dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) of Linehan and radically open dialectical behavior therapy (RO-DBT) of Lynch are analyzed in terms of the dialectical framework they employ to explain both the issues pertinent to personality psychopathology and the remedies required to alleviate them. As soon as the dialectical character of these approaches is elucidated, the ideas of radical acceptance (Linehan) and radical openness (Lynch) are brought to the fore and compared in light of different spiritual perspectives lying behind them: Zen Buddhism and contemplative Christianity for the former and Malâmati Sufism for the latter. Finally, some concluding remarks are made to emphasize the parallel conceptual structures existing in Tillich, Linehan, and Lynch and to make clinical, including nosological, sense of non-trivial differences between DBT and RO-DBT.

Keywords

Tillich Linehan Lynch dialectical behavior therapy radically open dialectical behavior therapy DBT RO-DBT dialectics radical acceptance radical openness Zen Buddhism

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Conceptualizing Personality Disorder
Perspectives from Philosophy, Psychological Science, and Psychiatry
, pp. 261 - 276

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009445955.016 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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