HUMANISTIC APPROACHES AND TECHNIQUES
They view as important what people have observed, encountered, and experienced.
These approaches are phenomenological because of the importance they ascribe to how people
view themselves and their world.
Theories that focus on emotions rather than background or cognitions, including client-centered,
existential, Gestalt, and emotion-focused therapy, are considered to be humanistic.
They share the following common beliefs:
i. The person should be viewed holistically, each person has an innate self-actualization
tendency.
ii. Humans have free will and are able to make choices.
iii. Because humans have free will and choice, they also have responsibility for those
choices.
Humanistic theories emphasize the positive nature of human beings, which overshadows any
emphasis on dysfunction or psychopathology. Since Rogers's time, research on the impact of
stress and emotions on health, the development of positive psychology has focused on optimal
functioning. Compared to Freud's complicated theory of drives and the unconscious, humanistic
theories seem rather simple. Humanists generally assume only one drive: the innate need to self
actualize.
When Carl Rogers published his first major work known as Counseling and Psychotherapy in
1942, the field was dominated by two systems of treatment: psychoanalytic/psychodynamic
approaches and behavioral approaches.
Rogers criticized both for their lack of scientific method and for their assumption that clinicians
know best and should tell clients how they should change.
Instead, he proposed what he called nondirective counseling in which the primary role of the
clinician is to help people express clarity and gain insight into their emotions.
According to Rogers, acceptance, reflection, and genuineness are a clinician's primary tools;
he avoided elaborate interventions and diagnostic procedures because of their lack of proven
validity and the power they gave clinicians over clients
1
, In his second stage of development, Rogers’s renamed his approach, client centered therapy,
reflecting his realization that treatment cannot, and probably should not, be completely
nondirective.
Rogers now saw the clinician's role as more active and important and believed that by
communicating accurate empathy, congruence, and acceptance, clinicians create an environment
that is conducive to helping people make positive changes.
These three core facilitative conditions: empathy, congruence and acceptance (also known as
unconditional positive regard) became special features of Rogers's work.
Carl Rogers introduced the concept of healthy and fully functioning people: those who are open
to experience, appreciate and trust themselves, and are guided by an inner locus of control rather
than by an effort to please or impress others.
Such people view their lives as a process and value lifelong growth.
Rogers's interest in promoting people's healthy development led him to extend his reach beyond
the clinical setting.
For example, he promoted the idea of student-centered teaching.
Throughout his career, Rogers sought to help people feel powerful and in control of their lives
while encouraging them to respect the right of others to have their own feelings of power and
competence.
His person-centered theory evolved out of the belief that people have within themselves vast
resources for self-understanding which are instrumental for developing their self-concepts and
their self-direction, but the resources can be tapped only if a favorable climate of facilitative
psychological attitudes is provided.
IMPORTANT THEORETICAL CONCEPTS
Carl Rogers's theories are informed by his years of experience working with clients. His theory is
comprehensive and based on the assumption that people are basically good and have a natural
tendency toward growth.
For Rogers, understanding, appreciating, and relating to others in positive ways are the ultimate
goals.
2
They view as important what people have observed, encountered, and experienced.
These approaches are phenomenological because of the importance they ascribe to how people
view themselves and their world.
Theories that focus on emotions rather than background or cognitions, including client-centered,
existential, Gestalt, and emotion-focused therapy, are considered to be humanistic.
They share the following common beliefs:
i. The person should be viewed holistically, each person has an innate self-actualization
tendency.
ii. Humans have free will and are able to make choices.
iii. Because humans have free will and choice, they also have responsibility for those
choices.
Humanistic theories emphasize the positive nature of human beings, which overshadows any
emphasis on dysfunction or psychopathology. Since Rogers's time, research on the impact of
stress and emotions on health, the development of positive psychology has focused on optimal
functioning. Compared to Freud's complicated theory of drives and the unconscious, humanistic
theories seem rather simple. Humanists generally assume only one drive: the innate need to self
actualize.
When Carl Rogers published his first major work known as Counseling and Psychotherapy in
1942, the field was dominated by two systems of treatment: psychoanalytic/psychodynamic
approaches and behavioral approaches.
Rogers criticized both for their lack of scientific method and for their assumption that clinicians
know best and should tell clients how they should change.
Instead, he proposed what he called nondirective counseling in which the primary role of the
clinician is to help people express clarity and gain insight into their emotions.
According to Rogers, acceptance, reflection, and genuineness are a clinician's primary tools;
he avoided elaborate interventions and diagnostic procedures because of their lack of proven
validity and the power they gave clinicians over clients
1
, In his second stage of development, Rogers’s renamed his approach, client centered therapy,
reflecting his realization that treatment cannot, and probably should not, be completely
nondirective.
Rogers now saw the clinician's role as more active and important and believed that by
communicating accurate empathy, congruence, and acceptance, clinicians create an environment
that is conducive to helping people make positive changes.
These three core facilitative conditions: empathy, congruence and acceptance (also known as
unconditional positive regard) became special features of Rogers's work.
Carl Rogers introduced the concept of healthy and fully functioning people: those who are open
to experience, appreciate and trust themselves, and are guided by an inner locus of control rather
than by an effort to please or impress others.
Such people view their lives as a process and value lifelong growth.
Rogers's interest in promoting people's healthy development led him to extend his reach beyond
the clinical setting.
For example, he promoted the idea of student-centered teaching.
Throughout his career, Rogers sought to help people feel powerful and in control of their lives
while encouraging them to respect the right of others to have their own feelings of power and
competence.
His person-centered theory evolved out of the belief that people have within themselves vast
resources for self-understanding which are instrumental for developing their self-concepts and
their self-direction, but the resources can be tapped only if a favorable climate of facilitative
psychological attitudes is provided.
IMPORTANT THEORETICAL CONCEPTS
Carl Rogers's theories are informed by his years of experience working with clients. His theory is
comprehensive and based on the assumption that people are basically good and have a natural
tendency toward growth.
For Rogers, understanding, appreciating, and relating to others in positive ways are the ultimate
goals.
2
