What Is Humanistic Therapy and Why Is It Helpful?

What Is Humanistic Therapy?

Humanistic therapy has emerged in the psychological discipline through the flow of humanistic psychology. Scholars suggest that humanistic therapy is psychology’s third force (Malchiodi, 2003). It appeared as an alternative to the psychoanalytic and behavioral approaches that held the 50s at a grip. 

Humanistic therapy is a psychotherapy approach that focuses on supporting individuals in therapy sessions with various skills and techniques that help discover self-actualization. At its core, humanistic therapy relates to humanistic psychology in the ideology that people are inherently good. To do this, humanistic therapy focuses on the individual's unique qualities and inherent ability to acquire personal growth. 

Humanistic therapy is a holistic approach that considers individuals and their environment. It works to acknowledge the importance of the experiences that the individual has and what their interpretation of them might be. Humanistic therapy looks at the whole individual and focuses on their unique strengths and skills. This helps to encourage people to find personal fulfillment in their lives (Cherry, n.d.) The overall goal of humanistic therapy is to facilitate personal growth.

As a person-centered therapy, the humanistic therapy approach helps people identify areas where they may need to take personal responsibility. At the foundational level of this therapy, humanistic therapy supports individuals in comprehending that they have their own choices and taking responsibility for their actions. This creates an active role that the client partakes in within the therapy sessions.

This type of therapy might not suit an individual because the sessions have low-structured elements. Taking personal responsibility is an enormous task—but with the support from a humanistic therapist, individuals can look forward to these challenges. 

How is Humanistic Therapy helpful?

Humanistic therapy can help individuals who are living with psychopathology in a variety of ways. 

Benefits of Humanistic Therapy

There are a range of benefits for individuals who undertake humanistic therapy. Freire et al. (2013) suggest that humanistic treatment can be beneficial for individuals who are experiencing disorders such as depression, psychosis, relationship problems, and trauma.

Humanistic therapy can be a great source of empathy and support. This is likely due to the therapeutic relationship within this therapy style. Individuals are supported through unconditional positive regard. Through this aspect, clients may be more inclined to share their experiences. 

A significant reason why humanistic therapy is a helpful tool for those in a low space in their life is that it is empowering. Humanism focuses on the unique strengths and qualities that people encompass. This can also act as a distraction factor for some people. When they focus on their positive attributes, they may be more inclined to focus on that than other negative life factors. This can also help develop positive coping skills. 

A study conducted by Pearce et al. (2016) found that humanistic therapy approaches were beneficial for younger people in therapy who were experiencing psychological distress. After completing some humanistic counseling, young people were better off (Pearce et al., 2016). 

It can also aid individuals in life skills that will benefit them. These might include:

Enhanced Self-Awareness

Like other therapies, humanistic therapy supports individuals to reach their potential. Through therapy sessions, the therapist will aid the client in understanding and identifying specific thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Consequently, this can help individuals notice these aspects in their everyday lives. They may remove themselves from situations where they see these aspects growing negatively or even spend time fostering elements that positively impact them. 

Communication Skills

Through humanistic therapy, individuals may feel their communication skills growing. This may be due to the therapeutic relationship developed through a holistic approach. Individuals can use these new communication skills to impact their relationships with others positively.

Humanistic Therapy Techniques and Exercises

Various therapy techniques are used within Humanistic Therapy:

Client-Centered Therapy

Humanistic therapy focuses on a patient-led dynamic. This involves the therapist taking a non-directive approach during client sessions. Humanistic treatment also differs from other psychotherapies in the dynamic of the therapeutic relationship.

During therapy sessions, the therapist will act as the client's equal. They will provide unconditional positive regard. 

Existential Therapy 

Existential therapy is a philosophical approach that helps individuals find their place within the universe. It focuses on assisting clients to understand how their actions impact their meaning and understanding of life.

During the sessions of existential therapy, individuals will take some time to explore that ‘meaning’ and discover why they believe this. 

Gestalt Therapy 

This humanistic therapy technique focuses on looking at the client's current life situation. Unlike other psychotherapies, which focus on past experiences and how they have impacted the individual's perspective, Gestalt therapy focuses on the present.

Individuals are encouraged to look at present experiences and delve into their perceptions of those experiences. Gestalt therapy techniques might include the empty chair—where clients use an empty chair to symbolize someone or something. 

Narrative Therapy

Narrative Therapy focuses on helping people identify their values. Individuals undertaking narrative therapy are encouraged to focus on their experiences as a story. This allows clients to separate themselves from the issue at hand. This can also help individuals find it easier to combat their psychological problems as the issues are held away from the individual as a separate being or object. 

Congruence 

Congruence is an essential technique used not only within general psychological discipline but also in humanistic therapy techniques. Congruence has many benefits and is widely accepted as a great way to build therapeutic relationships and connect with individuals in therapy sessions. 

Therapists practicing congruence are usually developed in their ability to be genuine, authentic, and transparent in their sessions with clients. These skills work towards the therapeutic relationship in many ways.

Congruence helps foster a relationship between the therapist and the client involving trust. Therapists who display authentic traits often have an easier time talking with their clients and creating an open space for the client to share their thoughts and feelings. 

Another reason why unity is so crucial within humanistic therapy is that it supports the decrease of the power imbalance associated with mental health professionals and clients.

Within humanistic therapy, we want to support the client in whatever suits them the best. Breaking down the power imbalance breaks down the notion of an authoritative figure (the therapist) being in the room. This can help clients feel more relaxed and in control during their sessions. 

Empathetic Understanding

Empathetic understanding is more than just understanding what the client is expressing. It works by therapists understanding what the client is talking about and defining and communicating their knowledge.

Therapists might use many skills that overlap with reflective listening. Active listening is a skill utilized by both empathetic understanding and reflective listening. This may involve summarizing what the client has said with emphasis on possible thoughts and emotions they may be feeling, as well as posing questions to further their thought process. 

Unconditional Positive Regard

Unconditional positive regard is where the therapist always accepts the individual with positive respect. Therapists usually accept the care of their clients no matter what is going on for them. Still, other therapies focus on more authoritative regard and ‘judgemental’ types of therapeutic relationships for a ‘push’ to reconsider thinking patterns.

Humanistic therapy has an overall holistic view and aims to help the client however they see fit. Humanistic therapy can have a significant impact by giving the client space to be open and feel empowered. 

When is it best to take Humanistic Therapy?

There are many reasons to undertake Humanistic Therapy. It can be beneficial for individuals ready for this kind of therapy style. Here are some ideas of when it is best to try humanistic therapy:

When you are ready

The humanistic therapy style takes more of an active role on the client’s part. It is important to remember that some people may prefer structure within their sessions and that humanistic therapy options may not be a good fit for their goals and needs during this time. Along with preferences of structure, the therapeutic relationship is also something that should be considered.

Individuals who prefer having a structured therapy session may need to consider other psychotherapy options. 

Seeking a holistic approach

Humanistic therapy takes an active role in a holistic approach. It focuses on the whole person and everything surrounding them that influences the individual. This therapy approach is suitable for people who believe that external factors like emotions, thoughts, and aspects of your life should be integrated into therapy. 

During life transitions

Humanistic therapy can be precious during significant changes in an individual's life. During these experiences, which may be:

• Relationship difficulties/break up 
• Career changes
• Major life decisions

Humanistic therapy can act as a great support and guidance for the individual. 

Psychopathology being present

Humanistic therapy can help individuals who are suffering from a range of psychological disorders and distress. These might include:

• Depression
• Low Self-Esteem
• Anxiety
• Panic Disorders 
• Personality Disorders
• PTSD 
• Substance Abuse

How can Carepatron help with Humanistic Therapy-related work?

Carepatron is the best place to do all your Humanistic Therapy-related work for several reasons. As a specialized humanistic therapy app, Carepatron has many versatile tools that can help you as a mental health practitioner to support your clients through their time with you. 

Humanistic Therapy software 

You can depend on Carepatron to act as your Humanistic Therapy Software. We are a powerhouse for various humanistic therapy resources you can reference and use in your practice. 

Therapy practice management software

Carepatron can easily take those pesky administrative tasks off your hands and help you return to caring for your clients. When you sign up for Carepatron, you can look forward to comprehensive practice management software that acts as a medical billing system, patient appointment reminder software, and therapy scheduling software. 

Therapy EHR

We know how important it is for you to keep all your essential clinical notes in a secure place. That’s why Carepatron is the perfect therapy EHR for mental health professionals. 

There are even more benefits for you waiting upon your sign-up! Join our healthcare-orientated team and feel the worries ease from your mind with our comprehensive OS system.

References

Cherry, K. (n.d.). What Is Humanistic Therapy? Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/humanistic-therapy-definition-types-techniques-and-efficacy-5203657#citation-7

Freire, E., Elliott, R., & Westwell, G. (2013). Person-centered and Experiential Psychotherapy Scale: Development and reliability of an adherence/competence measure for person-centered and experiential psychotherapies. Counseling and Psychotherapy Research, 14(3), 220–226. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733145.2013.808682

Humanistic Therapy | Therapy Types | Zencare. (n.d.). Humanistic Therapy | Therapy Types | Zencare. https://zencare.co/therapy-type/humanistic-therapy

Malchiodi, C. A. (2003). Humanistic Approaches. In Handbook of art therapy (pp. 58–71.).

Pearce, P., Sewell, R., Cooper, M., Osman, S., Fugard, A. J. B., & Pybis, J. (2016). Effectiveness of school-based humanistic counseling for psychological distress in young people: Pilot randomized controlled trial with follow-up in an ethnically diverse sample. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 90(2), 138–155. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12102