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Treating Psychological Disorders
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Humanistic Therapy
Humanistic therapy helps individuals access and
understand their feelings, gain a sense of meaning in life,
and reach self-actualization.
Key Points

Humanistic therapy is a psychological treatment based on the personality theories of

Carl Rogers and other humanistic psychologists. Rogers' focus was to ensure that the
developmental processes led to healthier, if not more creative, personality
functioning.
Humanistic therapy adopts a holistic approach to human existence and pays special
attention to such phenomena as creativity, free will, and human potential. It
encourages viewing ourselves as a "whole person" greater than the sum of our parts
and encourages self exploration rather than the study of behavior in other people.
The aim of humanistic therapy is usually to help the client develop a stronger,
healthier sense of self, also called self-actualization. It is also to help individuals
access and understand their feelings to help to gain a sense of meaning in life.
Humanistic psychology developed in response to psychoanalytic theory and
behaviorism. This approach emphasizes an individual's inherent drive towards selfactualization and creativity.
In humanistic therapy, there are two widely practiced techniques: gestalt therapy
(which focuses on thoughts and feelings "here and now" instead of root causes) and
client-centered therapy (which provides a supportive environment in which clients can
reestablish their true identity).

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Terms

self-actualization
According to humanistic theory, the realizing of one's full potential; can include
creative expression, quest for spiritual enlightenment, pursuit of knowledge, or the
desire to give to society.

empathy
The capacity to understand another person's point of view, or the result of such
understanding.

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Humanistic Therapy
Humanistic therapy is a psychological treatment based on the personality theories of Carl
Rogers and other humanistic psychologists. Rogers' focus was to ensure that the
developmental processes led to healthier, if not more creative, personality functioning. The
term 'actualizing tendency' was also coined by Rogers, and was a concept that eventually led
Abraham Maslow to study self-actualization as one of the needs of humans. Rogers and
Maslow introduced this positive, humanistic psychology in response to what they viewed as
the overly pessimistic view of psychoanalysis. Humanistic therapy typically holds that people
are inherently good. It adopts a holistic approach to human existence and pays special
attention to such phenomena as creativity, free will, and human potential. It encourages
viewing ourselves as a "whole person" greater than the sum of our parts and encourages self
exploration rather than the study of behavior in other people. Humanistic psychology
acknowledges spiritual aspiration as an integral part of the human psyche. It is linked to the
emerging field of transpersonal psychology.

Goals of Humanistic Therapy

The aim of humanistic therapy is usually to help the client develop a stronger, healthier sense
of self, also called self-actualization. It is also to help individuals access and understand their
feelings to help to gain a sense of meaning in life. Humanistic theory sees each individual's
personality as being composed of physical, intellectual, emotional, behavioral, creative, and
spiritual elements. In order to help the client reach self-actualization, humanistic therapists
help clients remove and replace the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs that do not produce a
positive state of being, and integrate the various components of their unique personalities so
that each individual is more self-aware, mature, and authentic.

Foundations and Therapeutic Approach

Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that developed in response to

psychoanalytic theory and behaviorism. This approach emphasizes an individual's inherent
drive towards self-actualization and creativity. Humanistic psychology includes several
approaches to counseling and therapy. Among the earliest approaches are the developmental
theory of Abraham Maslow, emphasizing a hierarchy of needs and motivations, and the
person-centered or client-centered therapy of Carl Rogers, which is centered on the client's
capacity for self-direction and understanding of his or her own development. The therapist
should ensure that all of the client's feelings are being considered, and that the therapist has a
firm grasp on the concerns of the client while ensuring that there is an atmosphere of
acceptance and warmth. Humanistic therapy focuses on the individual's strengths and offers
non-judgmental counseling sessions.
Empathy is one of the most important aspects of humanistic therapy. This idea focuses on the
therapist's ability to see the world through the eyes of the client. Without empathy, the
therapist is no longer understanding the actions and thoughts of the client from the client's
perspective, but is understanding strictly as a therapist, which defeats the purpose of
humanistic therapy. Included in empathizing, unconditional positive regard is one of the key
elements of humanistic psychology. Unconditional positive regard refers to the care that the
therapist needs to have for the client, which is characterized by warmth, acceptance, and nonjudgment. This ensures that the therapist does not become the authority figure in the
relationship, and allows for a more open flow of information, as well as a kinder relationship
between the two. A therapist practicing humanistic therapy needs to show a willingness to
listen and ensure the comfort of the patient where genuine feelings may be shared but are not
forced upon someone.

Types of Humanistic Therapies

In humanistic therapy, there are two widely practiced techniques: gestalt therapy and clientcentered therapy.
Gestalt therapy focuses on the skills and techniques that permit an individual to be more
aware of their feelings. According to this approach, it is much more important to understand
what patients are feeling and how they are feeling rather than to identify what is causing their
feelings. Previous theories are thought to spend an unnecessary amount of time making
assumptions about what causes behavior. Instead, gestalt therapy focuses on the "here and
now."
Client-centered therapy provides a supportive environment in which clients can reestablish
their true identity. The world that we live in is judgmental, and many of us fear that if we
shared with the world our true identity it would judge us relentlessly. Experience with these
judgments results in people establishing a public identity to navigate the judgmental world.
The ability to reestablish their true identity will help the individual understand themselves as
they truly are, which is important as people suppress their feelings about issues because they
are not supported, socially acceptable, or lead to unwanted judgment. The task of
reestablishing one's true identity is not an easy task and the therapist must rely on the
techniques of unconditional positive regard and empathy. These two techniques are central to
client-centered therapy because they build trust between the client and therapist by creating a
nonjudgmental and supportive environment for the client .

Client-centered therapy
In client-centered therapy, a form of humanistic therapy, one of the goals is to establish a
trusting relationship built on empathy and unconditional positive regard.
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Key Term Glossary

attitude
Appears in this related concepts: Attitude, Defining Attitude, and Attitude
authority
Appears in this related concepts: Decentralizing Responsibility, Authority, and
Rational-Legal Authority
behaviorism
Appears in this related concepts: The Symbolic Interactionist Perspective,
Relevance to the Life of a Student, and Pavlov's Research
concept
Appears in this related concepts: Informative Speeches, Definitions, and
Understanding Concepts
creativity
Appears in this related concepts: The Drive of an Entrepreneur, Fostering
Innovation, and Creativity
drive
Appears in this related concepts: Cerebral Hemispheres and Lobes of the Brain,
Defining Motivation, and Drive-Reduction Theory
gestalt
Appears in this related concepts: Behavioral Perspective, Cognitive Perspective,
and Sociocultural Perspective
holistic

Appears in this related concepts: Holistic Marketing, Sensitivity to Human

Relations, and Rogers' Theory
humanistic psychology
Appears in this related concepts: Humanistic Perspective, Maslow's Theory, and
Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective on Personality
mores
Appears in this related concepts: Confidentiality, Folkways and Mores, and Human
Sexuality
motivation
Appears in this related concepts: Motivation, Introduction to Motivation, and
Managerial Perspective on Motivation
personality
Appears in this related concepts: Stimulate Demand, Self-Knowledge and
Evaluating the Personality Perspective, and Accuracy of Personality Measurement
psychoanalysis
Appears in this related concepts: Psychodynamic Perspective, Explaining
Abnormal Behavior, and EMDR, Body-Centered Therapies, and Other Alternative
Therapies
theory
Appears in this related concepts: Leadership Model: University of Michigan,
Models, Theories, and Laws, and Psychology and the Scientific Method
Sources
Boundless curates and validates high quality, openly licensed content from around the
Internet. This particular unit used the following sources:
Helping Pscyhology.
http://helpingpsychology.com/wpcontent/uploads/2010/04/iStock_000005191879XSmall.jpg CC BY-SA.
"Humanistic therapy."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanistic_therapy Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
"marriagecounselingsanmateo - What Is Humanistic Psychotherapy and Why
You Should Care."
http://marriagecounselingsanmateo.wikispaces.com/What+Is+Humanistic+Psychother
apy+and+Why+You+Should+Care Wikispaces CC BY-SA.
"Humanistic - Toronto Therapy Network Psychotherapy Definitions."
http://definitions.therapytoronto.ca/humanistic.phtml Therapy Toronto CC BY-SA.
"Chapter Summary."
http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/beginning-psychology/s17-05-chaptersummary.html Lardbucket CC BY-SA.
"PsychologyOn - Reading Assignment 30."
http://psychologyon.wikispaces.com/Reading+Assignment+30 Wikispaces CC BYSA.
"empathy."
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/empathy Wiktionary CC BY-SA 3.0.
"self-actualization."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/self-actualization Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0.
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