How Do Humanistic Psychologists Help Their Clients?

Humanistic psychologists usually approach clients differently than other types of psychologists. Like other psychologists, they typically study psychology and earn a doctoral degree. However, they also normally specialize in humanistic theory during their studies, internships, and practice. They usually embrace the idea that human beings and their experiences are unique and focus on the positive potential of their clients. You can connect with a humanistic psychologist by seeking out professionals in your local area or matching with one through an online therapy platform.

Critical concepts in humanistic psychology

The theoretical framework behind humanistic psychology is generally part of the human potential movement that started in the 1960s. The following concepts often guide humanistic psychologists in treating mental health concerns.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Abraham Maslow, a humanistic psychologist, created a chart describing human needs, from survival to self-actualization. Self-actualization can be defined as reaching your highest human potential and is often the ultimate goal of humanistic therapy. However, in most cases, self-actualization only happens after a person fulfills their lower needs. Therefore, humanistic therapists often spend time helping clients achieve basic survival, safety, social belonging, and esteem needs.

Carl Rogers’s three core conditions

American psychologist Carl Rogers can be considered another central figure in the history of humanistic psychology. His person-centered therapeutic approach typically contains three core conditions for humanistic psychologists to follow as they treat people with various mental health conditions. The three core conditions normally include empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard. 

Empathy generally means the therapist looks at the client’s challenges as if they were their own situation. Congruence usually refers to a sense of genuineness and transparency in which the therapist’s responses match their inner feelings as they communicate with their clients. 

Finally, unconditional positive regard can mean the therapist accepts their client and their client’s life experiences unconditionally, without making interpretations or assumptions. 

Humanistic view of the self

Humanistic psychologists can have a unique view of the self as a distinct whole based on a person’s experiences, thoughts, and feelings about the people closest to them. They may see the self as an entity present at birth that strives for growth, maturity, and self-actualization. Your ideal self can be viewed as the person you'd like to become. On the way, however, you may get side-tracked by forming a false self to survive and be accepted. A humanistic psychologist can help you uncover and reach for your ideal self.

The four givens in humanistic psychology

Although the four givens may be a concept of existential psychology, humanist psychologists often incorporate them into therapy. The four givens usually include the following:

• Death is inevitable.
• You're free to make your own choices.
• Each person is essentially alone on their path.
• Life has no inherent meaning.

Understanding and accepting the four givens can be a monumental task. However, your therapist can help you explore these concepts and support you through the process.

Attitudes toward their clients

For the humanistic psychologist, the client is generally the expert on their being and experiences. These therapists may see themselves as equal partners with their clients, frequently working together to help them achieve their highest potential. They may view the clients as autonomous and free to make their own choices.

How do humanistic psychologists compare to other psychologists?

Humanistic psychologists often have a different attitude than many other types of psychologists. For example, they're often less interested in scientific research. To them, boiling down humanity into the raw elements of behavior may not be sufficient to truly understand complex, unique individuals. This attitude can distinguish them from behaviorists, who typically focus on techniques that affect behavior more directly and systematically.

This type of psychologist may also be different from the psychoanalysts who see current mental health disorders as the result of childhood traumas and imbalances of brain chemicals. Instead, they usually focus on the human potential for change and growth, despite what may have happened in the past.

How humanistic therapy works

As you might expect, given its concepts and attitudes, humanistic therapy can differ from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and other forms of therapy that approach problems more pragmatically. Instead, humanistic psychologists typically use Gestalt therapy and transactional analysis.

Gestalt therapy

Gestalt therapy usually has two primary purposes. First, the counselor may encourage, support, and guide the client through unfinished business in their life. Second, they help the client meld the individual facets of their being to create a cohesive, whole self. Gestalt therapy normally assumes humans are essentially good and have the potential to achieve true happiness and joy.

Transactional analysis

Transactional analysis (TA) is generally believed to have grown out of psychoanalytical theory. This therapy usually distinguishes between the parent and child parts of the ego. It may recognize a parent state of the ego in which you relate to others in the way your early caregivers related to you as a child. However, it may also assume a child state of the ego in which you respond to your current circumstances in the same way as you did when you were a child.

The goal of TA is normally to create or build up a third position, called the adult. The adult part of the ego can be neutral, rational, and authentic. As you learn how to interact on the most appropriate level for any situation, you may learn to adopt the right ego state.

In TA sessions, therapists may encourage you to talk about distressing interactions with others. They may then draw a diagram to help you see which ego state each of you adopted during the exchange. Once you can objectively understand how you and those you interact with are approaching the conversation, you can choose an adult stance more often.

Benefits of humanistic counseling

Humanistic counseling can have many benefits arising from its hopeful framework. Because it generally assumes humans are good, it can encourage you to feel positively about yourself and what you can accomplish.

One positive aspect of this type of therapy can be that it reduces the stigma of getting help for mental health disorders. Because it typically focuses on the positive and self-actualization, you and others who know about humanistic counseling may be more likely to see it as an opportunity for personal growth, rather than an indication that you're mentally ill and need to be "fixed.” Rather than focusing on what's wrong with you, this form of therapy can encourage you to see the good in yourself and reach toward your best self.

Where to find a humanistic psychologist

Whether you're looking for an in-person or online humanistic psychologist or a counselor who uses these methods, you can find them in clinics, hospitals, practices, and online platforms.

Benefits of online therapy

Research has found that a crucial factor for the success of any treatment can be a feeling of rapport between the client and therapist. An online therapy platform may enable you to easily switch therapists if you discover the person you are currently working with is not a good match for you. If you seek out a humanistic psychologist through an online platform and decide this approach is not the best one for you, switching to another therapist and a different form of treatment can be a fast and straightforward process. 

Effectiveness of online therapy

At this time, more research may be needed regarding the efficacy of online humanistic therapy. However, in general, a growing body of evidence generally supports the idea that online therapy is as effective as traditional in-person therapy for treating a wide range of mental health disorders and concerns.

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