[danimal]

Eastern traditions have actually become fairly popular in mainstream psychotherapy in the past 10 years or so. The two most popular therapies to adopt them are called "dialectical behavior therapy" and "acceptance and committment therapy." They mainly borrow from budhist mindfullness and acceptance practices -- you know, accepting your suffering, observing your thoughts, etc. Some humanists are pissed off because they believe the mainstream folks ripped off some of their practices without giving them credit. Some of this work has actually garnered quite a bit of empirical support for its effectiveness.

Many believe that psychodynamic theory has scientifically verifiable aspects and some of it holds up well to scientific rigor -- for example transference and countertransference and attachment theory. Also, some psychodynamic treatments have been shown to be as effective as other more mainstream approaches.

As for integrating the unquantifiable, qualitative research has grown in interest and popularity in psychotherapy research. Instead of looking for statistical significance between treatments or disordered populations, it primarily uses interpretation of interviews or written accounts to look for patterns of meaning. These approaches are often used prior to quantitative stuff as it helps to bring to light the factors to which you should be paying attention. Division 24 of the american psychological association -- the society for theoretical and philosophical psychology -- focuses on bridging philosophy and psychology and has a lot of eastern influences. Interestingly, the group has several prominent byu faculty members or graduates.

Most psychologists have little knowledge of philosophy and rarely understand the assumptions and implications of their theories. The discipline is all the worse for it.