A Look at Humanistic Therapy
Developed in the late 1950s, humanism offered a new approach to treating mental health. Rather than focusing on how past experiences, one’s environment, and pathology impacted a client, humanistic therapy concentrated more on a person’s positive traits and behavior. Humanistic therapy was in part a response to shortcomings in the prevailing schools of therapy at the time: behavioral and psychoanalytical approaches. Therapists began to consider the merits of a more holistic approach that could give them more options for treating patients.
Psychotherapists Abraham Maslow (famous for his “hierarchy of needs”) and Carl Rogers created humanistic therapy, using psychology to bring out people’s best selves. This approach recognizes that all people are good and are intrinsically motivated to improve themselves and the world around them and that people grow the most when they are treated with unconditional positivity.
Who Can Benefit?
Because humanistic therapy encourages people to identify and fill their needs and realize their potential, the approach can be successful in treating mental health conditions such as:
Anxiety
Depression
Panic disorders
Addiction
Personality disorders
The treatment also can be beneficial for people who do not feel whole, who feel uncomfortable with themselves, or who have low self-esteem. Anyone who feels lost, who is looking for a purpose or meaning in life, or who struggles with family relationships also could benefit from humanistic therapy.
How Does It Work?
While humanistic therapy can take a variety of forms, they all focus on helping the individual find their strengths and offering support as they work toward their goals. Rather than giving advice or an analysis of a client’s issues, humanistic therapists focus on remaining open-minded, non-judgmental, and positive.
Humanistic therapy sessions generally take a talk therapy approach, where the client is prompted to talk about how they feel at the moment. Therapists do not delve into a client’s past and how it may have impacted the present. They strive to build a relationship where the client feels they are equals. By creating an atmosphere of trust, therapists encourage clients to share their feelings without being afraid of judgement and to take an active role in addressing their mental health issues through self-exploration.
Common Humanistic Therapies
These practices can be used alone or in combination depending on the client’s needs:
Gestalt therapy: This approach, which was developed in the 1940s by Fritz Perls, is built on the idea that the best way to understand people is in the context of their current experiences, including their thoughts, actions, and feelings right now. In therapy sessions, clients talk about and analyze the issues they are currently experiencing so that they can leave behind emotions and feelings that may be holding them back from reaching their full potential. This therapy approach relates to the idea that negative thoughts and behaviors can stand in the way of self-awareness, and as clients learn more about how they operate in the present, they can move away from negativity that may cause unhappiness or stress.
Person-centered therapy, or client-centered counseling: This therapy focuses on how a person perceives themselves rather than how a therapist perceives them. In a non-judgmental setting, therapists help clients learn how to accept themselves. When individuals can self-actualize, they can grow and reach their potential. Person-centered therapy creates an environment where clients can safely reconnect with their values and self-worth, which then allows them to move forward. The therapist serves as a support for the client as they grow in self-understanding. Some areas in which therapists can help clients explore person-centered therapy include opening up to experiences, fostering greater curiosity and creativity, becoming more compassionate, and becoming more sociable. This therapy can help clients in multiple ways, which include developing healthier relationships and alleviating guilt, insecurity, and defensiveness.
Solution-focused therapy: This approach is also called “brief therapy,” and it focuses on building solutions instead of solving problems. While therapists will discuss clients’ issues from the past and personal weaknesses, most of the conversation will center on how the client can discover their own strengths and use them to reach their goals. Solution-focused therapy does not directly address a client’s problems; instead, change and growth are fostered as the client develops manageable goals through discussions with the therapist. Therapy sessions involve talking with the therapist, who will work with the client to build a detailed vision of the future, which could include talking about times in the past when they were happy. This creates a positive atmosphere that will help the therapy progress until the client feels confident moving ahead. Solution-focused therapy works well for people who are goal-oriented and have a vision for their future. By itself, solution-focused therapy is designed to be short-term; however, it is often integrated into longer term therapy strategies.
