PSYB32H3 Chapter 2.5: PSYB32H3 Chapter 2.: 2.5
15 Feb 2019
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2.5 The Humanistic Paradigm
• Humanistic therapies - insight psychotherapy (like w/ psychoanalytic therapy) which emphasizes
the indiv's subjective experiences, free will, and ever-present ability to decide on a new life course
o Places lots of emphasis on the person's freedom of choice
o Therapies:
• Client-centred therapies
• Existential therapies
Carl Rogers' Client-Centred Therapy
• Client-centred therapy (person-centred therapy) - a humanistic-existential insight therapy, dvpd
by Rogers, which emphasizes the importance of the therapist's understanding of the client's
subjective experiences… and assisting the client to gain more awareness of current motivations for
behav
o The goals aren’t just to lessen anx's, but also to foster actualization of the clients' potential
o The client-centred therapy is based on many assumptions about human nature:
• Ppl can be understood from their phenomenological world. We must look at the way
ppl experience events b/c that contributes mostly to behav
• Healthy ppl r aware of their behav. In this sense, Rogers' syst is similar to
psychoanalysis and ego analysis, for it emphasizes the desirability of being aware of
motives. Ppl w/ a high level of self-awareness and a sense of personal agency r said to
be thoughtful, and this is the main goal of counselling
• Healthy ppl r innately good and effective. They become ineffective + disturbed only
when faulty learning intervenes
• Healthy ppl r purposive and goal-directed. They DN respond passively to the infl of
their env or to their inner drives. They r self-directed.
• Therapists should not manipulate events for the indiv. Rather, they should create
condit's which help to facilitate indep decision-making by the client. When ppl r not
concerned w/ the evaluations, demands, and preferences of others, their lives r
guided by an innate tendency toward self-actualization
• Self-actualization - the fulfilment of one's potential as an always-growing human being… believed
by client-centred therapists
o Positive psych promotes the focus on attributes and personal characteristics (e.g., resilience,
optimism, hope) which emphasize "wellness" and being able to func'n, as opposed to
psych's seeming outlook w/ negative outcomes and dysfunction
• Positive psych focuses on protective factors as to vulnerability factors
Rogers' Therapeutic Intervention
• Unconditional positive regard - acc'ng to Rogers, unconditional positive regard is a crucial attitude
for the client-centred therapist to adopt tow the client, who needs to feel compl acceptance as a
person, to so they can evaluate the extent to which current behav contributes to self-actualization
• Acc'ng to Rogers and humanistic/existential therapists, ppl must take responsibility for
themselves, even when they r troubled
o Rogerians believe that a person's innate capacity for growth and self-direction will assert
itself if the therapeutic atmosphere is warm, attentive and receptive and especially if the
therapist accepts the person for he/she is --> unconditional positive regard
• One imp strategy to the client-centred therapy is empathy
o There r 2 types of empathy:
Document Summary
We must look at the way ppl experience events b/c that contributes mostly to behav: healthy ppl r aware of their behav. In this sense, rogers" syst is similar to psychoanalysis and ego analysis, for it emphasizes the desirability of being aware of motives. Ppl w/ a high level of self-awareness and a sense of personal agency r said to be thoughtful, and this is the main goal of counselling: healthy ppl r innately good and effective. They become ineffective + disturbed only when faulty learning intervenes: healthy ppl r purposive and goal-directed. They dn respond passively to the infl of their env or to their inner drives. They r self-directed: therapists should not manipulate events for the indiv. Rather, they should create condit"s which help to facilitate indep decision-making by the client. When ppl r not concerned w/ the evaluations, demands, and preferences of others, their lives r guided by an innate tendency toward self-actualization.
