Humanistic Psychology

unconditional positive regard

- accepting or "prizing" the client "no matter what" and without judgment

empty chair technique

-carryout conversations with person not present

empathy

-the therapist is able to sense the clients emotions just as the clients would - a deep, judgement, compassionate understanding of the clients experience

general principles for MI

-expressing empathy - developing the discrepancy - avoiding argumentation - rolling with resistence - identifying sustain talk and change talk - supporting self efficacy

other contemporary alternatives

-how clients make therapy work- the process of active self healing (author bohart and Karen tollman) -therapists self healing -therapist role is collaborator -goes against symptom-focuses, manualized approaches to therapy

incongruence

-mismatch between real and ideal selves -the root of psychopathology (not severe disorders)

top-dog under dog technique

-underlines bipolarity in personality -top dog is ightous authoritarian and bullying "you should .." - underdog manipulated (defensive, apologetic) to gain power "i'll try my best"

alternative to humanism- historical alternatives

excistential psychotherapy and gestalt therapy

person-centered

more structures and more paraphrasing

gestalt therapy

- conceptualizes person as an organized whole - people engage in self- defeating behaviors which deflect them from expressing their truw selves - the now- anxiety, depression, etc results from being deserted from the now - focus upon increasing awareness of thr now (being mindful of current reality) - Focus upon non-verbal behavior - focus upon accepting responsibility -focus upon confrontation -insight- awareness of ones experience such that things appear in a meaningful pattern

genuiness

- honesty toward client, rather than playing

humanistic concepts: clinical implication

- people have an in born tendency toward self actualization -people also have a need for positive regard warms, acceptance and prizing - sometimes people are forced to sacrifice self actualization in order to obtain positive regard from important others (eg parents)

MI: people with substance abuse problems

- pull out reasons against the change -clarify why she should change - not confrontational -encouraging humanistic view -got her to think of things to help change

necessary and sufficient

- rogers bodly argue that empathy, unconditioned positive regard and genuiness were necessary and sufficient ( not other technique needed for anyone) - a controversial claim - research in inconsistent: generally support necessary but not sufficient

existential psychotherapy (historical alternatives)

- rollo may, victor frankl, Irvin Yalom -Addresses anxiety of inescapable solitude of lif e

congruence

- the root of psychological wellness -clients real selves can match their ideal level selves

humanism

-Carl Rogers was leading figure - Abraham maslow was an other - Humanism was a reaction against freuds approach - assumed that human nature wasn't so bad (id driven) -overlapping terms for humanism include non directive, client centered and person centered

does humanism work

-carol rogers was a pioneer of psychotherapy outcome research, despite inherent problems in defining and measuring humanistic concepts but it has been declining - meta analysis suggest it is beneficial, at about the same rat eas most other major therapies -extent to which empathy, positive regard and gunnies are present correlates significantly with success of therapeutic relationship and ultimately the therapy

motivational learning

-contrmporary variation of humanism (William Miller_ -Address clients ambivalence or uncertainty about making major changes - helps clients see the discrepancy between their behavior and their own values - elicit motivation to change from clients "don't impose it on client" - much empirical data supporting its efficacy with many problems - consistent with positive psychology movement -good for people with substance abuse problems

positive psychology

-emerged in the 90s - Martin Seligman - emphases human strength - bolster strengths to prevent aand treat psychological problems - therapies positive interventions, strength based conceling

gestalt therapy (historical alternative)

-fritz perls -holistic approach to enhancing current experience (the now) of ten uses role play

goal of humanistic psychology

-primary goal of humanistic psychotherapy is to foster self actualization -problems stem from stifled self actualization of growth -therapist task is to create a climate in which the client on resume their natural growth toward psychological illness

reflection: an important therapist response

-reflection of feeling is one therapist response that humanists do emphasize - reflection takes place when a therapist responds to a client by rephrasing or restating the clients statement in away that highlights the clients feelings or emotions - communication all three key ingredients -should not be done with humility and not mechanically

therapists attitudes, not behaviors

-roger emphasized that empathy, unconditional positive regard, not genuiness are attitudes, not specific behaviors - therapy should not be mechanical or formulaic -therapist should not specific techniques or skills, should be emphasized