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Client centered therapy and human nature
Humanistic psychology and human nature
Humanistic psychology and human nature
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Humanistic Therapy first originated from Carl Rogers in the 1950s. This type of therapy is most associated with client-centered therapy, meaning the client controls the majority of the therapy. Carl Rogers (1965), believes transparency is crucial in the relationship between the client and therapist (Rogers, 1965). He wants the client to be able to read the therapist and see through them to know the therapist is real and wants to help (Rogers, 1965). According to McLeod (2008), the core conditions for humanistic therapy include; congruence between the therapist and client, the client receiving unconditional positive regard from the therapist, and the therapist being empathetic to the client (McLeod, 2008, p. 3). It is important that the client feels as though they aren’t being judged by the therapist, but also according to Chu (1998) “safety is created as the therapist demonstrates patience, caring, and the willingness to engage interpersonally (Venart & Webber, 2012 p. 2) . If empathy and unconditional positive regard are not used in therapy, the client will not be able to trust the therapist, therefore not sharing how they feel, ultimately not getting any help. …show more content…
1). Alan Turner (2012), a PTSD therapist for 13 years, states that the therapist has a responsibility to be as helpful as they can throughout the process (Turner, 2012). He also states that it is important to be as understanding as possible to the client in order for them to feel that the therapist is being empathetic to the client’s situation (Turner,
Our text book, Systems of Psychotherapy, describes psychotherapy as “…the informed and intentional application of clinical methods and interpersonal stances derived from established psychological principles for the purpose of assisting people to modify their behaviors, cognitions, emotions, and/or other personal characteristics in directions that the participants deem desirable.”
These seven powerful principles give the therapist the ability to connect with the client and empathetically personalize treatment per their clinical experiences to the client’s needs. By applying these seven powerful principles the therapist; values each client as one of a kind, purposefully listens to recognize the client’s feelings, displays controlled and objective emotional immersion, shows genuine acceptance, displays a non-judgmental front, projects autonomy, and values privacy. These principles are the building blocks to successfully creating a powerful yet empathetic therapeutic alliance (Kilpatrick, et al., 2009).
This approach emphasizes the importance of the potential of humans and sought to make up for the missing component of conscious in the psychodynamic approach. The humanistic approach oriented psychologist has the belief that human behavior is guided by intent and the individual’s set of values (Association, 2014). Those who subscribe to this orientation believe there are both an unconscious and a conscious element to determining behavior. The unconscious element is considered to be the individual’s application of learned norms and experience, while the conscious element is applied by making deliberate choices and decisions. A humanistic oriented practitioner will use differing types of therapy such as client-centered therapy, Gestalt therapy, or existential therapy (American Psychological, 2015). Client-centered therapy or person-centered therapy was developed by Carl Rogers and places the client as the leader of the therapy. This approach allows for the growth and better understanding of self within the individual, as they solve their own problems, while the therapist is there to provide empathetic support (Australian, 2010). Gestalt therapy focuses on the responsibility of the individual for their current situation and considers relationships, environment, and social experiences occurring, and influencing behavior (Polster & Polster, 2010). This process consists of the practitioner acting as a guide and offer advise in helping the client to deal with their current issue. Existential therapy consists of allowing an individual the ability to live with their issues within their own existence (Price, 2011). This means a therapist uses this type of therapy to assist clients with understanding what the present problem is and learning to deal with the consequences of that issue in their every day life. With
Let’s call this person Jake, a young man in his late 20’s, still in search for life’s plan. Jake lives in a quiet one bedroom apartment with no view. He has no girlfriend, but repeatedly tells everyone how much woman love and want him. He constantly belies he needs to help and guide people. One minute Jake is happy-go-lucky, and the next he is a belligerent, crazy maniac. Jake has resorted to drugs, alcohol and being alone, playing video games. Jakes problems do not end there, and because of his unorthodox behavior, has set himself back in life, because of a terrible accident five years ago. Jake was with his friends one night, drinking and doing drugs, a routine in Jakes life. Later that night, Jake went to the basement, but to get into the basement you would have to go
Psychodynamic therapy, focuses on unconscious mind and how past experiences, inner thoughts, fears, and emotions The main goal of psychodynamic therapy is for clients to be self-aware of the past and how it effects who they are in the present. This type of therapy focuses on the underlying problems and emotions that influenced the client’s behavior. (Psych Central, 2016)
In consequence, humanists and existentialists argue that people who mostly receive judgment and criticism for their behaviors are more vulnerable to developing a psychological disorder because they fail to recognize their worth (Comer, 2016, pg. 110). Overall, the humanistic-existential treatment model objective is to change clients’ harsh self-standards as they gain self-awareness and self-acceptance by valuing and giving meaning to their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (Comer, 2016, pg. 110). The main types of therapy for this model are client-centered therapy, gestalt therapy, and existential therapy. In these type of treatments, practitioners avoid giving personal remarks and their opinions, because they allow the client to control the session by creating a supportive and warm atmosphere in which clients are able to accept their weaknesses as well as their strengths while critiquing themselves honestly in an attempt to find their own solutions (Comer, 2016,
To explain, the client should not be inferior to the counselor; the environment should be two people discussing an issue and ways to make a difference. A therapist should occasionally share similar experiences; therefore, sessions should make clients feel comfortable. To add, the client should feel safe due to the positive atmosphere the therapist brings to the session. The goal is to finally give the client a chance to be heard, regularly people are muted and feel like they are insignificant to society. Similarly, to Person-centered therapy where communication with the client is unconditionally positive. The therapist needs to genuinely care about the client needs for them to fully express themselves successfully. Furthermore, clients should be encouraging to make their own choices which model how to identify and use power responsibly. Hence, this will help the client feel more confident in everyday life when making a meaningful
Being a therapist is not only sitting in a chair listening to your clients’ problems all day. It is also not “reading-minds” as many people think and it is not giving advice or solving each clients’ issue. Therapists have many qualities that define the effectiveness of their treatment and their competence in the field. The important qualities that a therapist should have are empathic and great listening skills. In addition to, the therapist must be knowledge in their skills and in the different mental disorders in order to prevent a misdiagnosis. Furthermore, the therapist should have other qualities such as interpersonal skills and the ability to build rapport with the clients so they can feel secure and continue to come to therapy.
Humanistic psychology relies on client centred therapy and the idea that each individual has the potential to achieve a position in their psyche named self actualisation. Humanistic psychology differs from psychodynamic theory in that it is optimistic about the human psyche and does not view conflict as inevitable. Humanistic psychology assumes people attach meaning to their unique perspectives on the world and that behaviour is strongly influenced by this. Carl Rogers defined the healthy personality as being one that had congruence between the perceived self and the experienced self and that the individual in question experienced unconditional positive regard from their parent or guardian. He defined an unhealthy personality as being one which lacked these components. Abraham Maslow alternatively suggested a hierarchy for which a person’s healthy personality could be measured by stages of psychological and physical needs (see diagram 2). He suggested that, for a person to achieve self actualisation and become a fully functioning person, they must first satisfy all the needs of each level in the pyramid before moving onto the next
Existential-Humanistic paradigm influenced the intellectual history of western psychology in an essential way through exposure of attention to many important issues ignored by psychology during the first half of the last century. Existential-Humanistic paradigm has two components, first, the need to define and redefine the underlying paradigm that combines the field. Second, the need to choose and refine the appropriate research methodologies. Existential-Humanistic paradigm centralised around a paradigm claiming being concerned with openness to human experience (Hiles, 2000). Theorists representing the Existential-Humanistic paradigm is George Kelly, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow and Rollo May (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2003, p. 14).
Features of the Psychoanalytic and Humanistic Perspectives Outline the key features of the psychoanalytic and humanistic perspectives, and briefly compare and contrast their views on conscious experience, a person as an integrated whole, and the role of therapists in arriving at changes. Answer In explaining and predicting animal behaviour, different schools of psychology are of different perspectives; e.g. cognitive approach focuses on the mental processes, behaviourism is based on external stimuli and reinforcement, biological approach is concerned with the relationship between the mind and body and the influence of heredity. However, they are only cope with a specific part of people, but neglect human as a whole.
Three interrelated attitude of the therapist are central to the success of person-centered therapy, this include: congruence; unconditional positive regard; and empathy (Corey, 2010). Congruence represents the openness and geniuses of the therapists. Therapists who function this way does not hind behind a professional façade, and are willing to share significant emotional reactions with their clients. Unconditional positive regards refers to the therapist accepting the client totally as she or he is without disapproving particular behaviors, believes, feelings or characteristics. Therapists convey this message by their wiliness to listen without being judging, or directive. The therapist who creates a nonthreatening context allows the clients to explore and share their true feelings without fear of being judged. Empathy is the third necessary component of a therapist’s attitude. The therapist should try to see through client’s point to view, and show understanding and sensitivity to client’s feeling throughout the therapy session. When these three attitudes are conveyed by a therapist, according the Rogers, the client can freely express themselves without afraid of being
Mental disorders are dismissed by people today because they are internal. When a person has a cold they cough, when a person has sunburn they turn red or peel, but when a person has a mental disorder they… and that’s where the debate begins. Do mental disorders truly exist? What are the causes? As a result of mental disorders some people exhibit a change in behavior or do things outside of what is status quo. That leads me to my topic - the psychoanalytic approach vs. the humanistic approach. One supports and provides reasoning for mental disorders and specific behavior, while the other states that behavior is based off of personal decisions. Although both the psychoanalytic and the humanistic approaches are well developed theories it is conclusive that the psychoanalytic approach is more useful and instrumental in treating mental disorders.
He condensed the psychological conditions needed down to six conditions and proceeds to explain each of them in more detail. Along with the detailed description, Roger also includes clinical examples for emphasis. The conditions the Rogers describe align with the humanistic approach in that Rogers determines that empathy and positive regard by the therapist towards the clients is necessary for the psychotherapy to be effective. The therapy described by Rogers is relevant today, nine years after the article was written. Clients more than ever today want to know that their therapist understands and has compassion for them and their condition.
Shelder (2010) describes seven distinguished features of Psychodynamic approach compared to other available therapy forms in his review: focus of effect in relation to client’s express of emotions; understanding resistance in terms of avoidance of important topics and/ or distracting behaviors in therapy sessions; exploring client’s patterns in terms of behaviors, reasoning, emotions, experiences, and connections to others; bringing in the client’s past; examining relational factors and dealings; highlighting the importance of therapy, and bringing in dreams, wishes, or fantasies for exploration.