Humanistic and Constructivistic Psychotherapies

Question 1

What are the five shared characteristics of the Humanistic psychotherapies?

Answer 1

1) A Phenomenological approach (in order to understand a person, you must understand his subjective experience)
2) A focus on current bx
3) Individuals have an inherent potential for self-actualization
4) Therapy involves authentic, collaborative, and egalitarian relationship with the therapist
5) a rejection of traditional assessment techniques and diagnostic labels

Question 2

Humanistic psychotherapists view a client’s perceived reality as being the result of what two factors?

Answer 2

individual and societal constructs

Question 3

Humanists view maladaptive bx as the result of what?

Answer 3

disorganization, incongruence between self and experience, and conditions of worth

Question 4

What are the three facilitative conditions required in Rogerian therapy?

Answer 4

Unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and accurate empathy

Question 5

Gestalt therapy was developed by whom?

Answer 5

Fritz Perls

Question 6

Gestalt therapy is based on what premise

Answer 6

Each person is capable of assuming personal responsibility for his/her own thoughts, feelings, and actions and living as an integrated “whole.”

Question 7

Gestalt psychology focuses on what five concepts?

Answer 7

1) people tend to seek closure, 2) a person’s gestalt reflects his current needs, 3) a person’s bx represents a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, 4) bx can be fully understood only in its context, and 5) a person experiences the world in accord with the principle of figure/ground.

Question 8

Gestalt therapy identified what two parts of personality?

Answer 8

The self and the Self-Image

Question 9

Gestaltian Self is what?

Answer 9

The creative aspect of the personality that promotes the individual’s inherent tendency for self-actualization

Question 10

Gestaltian Self-Image is what?

Answer 10

the “darker side” of the personality that hinder’s growth and self-actualization by imposing external standards.

Question 11

Gestalt psychologists view maladaptive bx as____________

Answer 11

the abandonment of the self for the self-image resulting in a lack of integration.

Question 12

Gestalt psychologists view neurotic bx as often stemming from what?

Answer 12

disturbance in the boundary between the self and the external environment which makes it difficult for that person to satisfy their needs and maintain homeostasis.

Question 13

What are the four major Gestaltian boundary disturbances?

Answer 13

Introjection, Projection, Retroflection, and Confluence

Question 14

Gestalt views Introspection as _____

Answer 14

When a person accepts concepts, facts, and standards from the environment without actually understanding or fully assimilating them

Question 15

Gestalt views Projection as _______

Answer 15

Disowning aspects of the self by assigning them to other people

Question 16

Gestalt views Retroflection as _______

Answer 16

Doing to oneself what one wants to do to others

Question 17

Gestalt views Confluence as _______

Answer 17

The absence of a boundary between the self and the environment

Question 18

Gestalt views transference as being _____

Answer 18

counterproductive

Question 19

Gestaltians identify the primary curative factor of therapy to be what?

Answer 19

Awareness, which is defined as a full understanding of one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions in the here-and-now

Question 20

LIst three “ready made” exercises or spontaneous experiments used by Gestaltians

Answer 20

Empty chair, Guided fantasy, and Dream work

Question 21

Existential therapies share what two primary characteristics

Answer 21

An emphasis on personal choice and responsibility for developing a meaningful life and the belief that people are not static, rather, are in a constant state of evolution and becoming.

Question 22

Existential therapists view maladaptive bx as being the result of what?

Answer 22

The inability to cope authentically with the ultimate concerns of existence (i.e., death, freedom, existential isolation, and meaninglessness).

Question 23

The goal of existential therapy is to what?

Answer 23

Help clients live in more committed, self-aware, authentic, and meaningful ways.

Question 24

What does an existential therapist view to be the most important therapeutic tool?

Answer 24

Therapist-client relationship

Question 25

Reality therapy is based on what theory?

Answer 25

Choice Theory

Question 26

What is the assumption of Choice Theory (the basis for Reality Therapy)?

Answer 26

People are responsible for the choices they make and a focus on how choices people make affect the course of their life

Question 27

What are the five basic innate needs that serve as the primary source of motivation as identified by Reality Therapists?

Answer 27

Survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun

Question 28

Define Reality Theory's perspective on the Success Identity

Answer 28

When a person fulfills his needs in a responsible way -- that is, in conscious and realistic manner that does no infringe on the rights of others to fulfill their needs

Question 29

Define Reality Theory's perspective on the Failure Identity

Answer 29

When a person is unable to satisfy his needs or does so in irresponsible ways.

Question 30

What underlies most forms of mental and emotional disturbances, according to Reality Theory?

Answer 30

The Failure Identity

Question 31

Reality theorists view maladaptive bx as being the result of what?

Answer 31

The result of an individual's choices

Question 32

What are the five major differences between Reality Therapy when compared to more traditional therapies?

Answer 32

1) RT rejects the medical model conceptualization of mental illness, 2) focuses on current bx and beliefs, 3) views transference as detrimental to therapy, 4) stresses conscious precesses, and 5) emphasizes value judgments (especially what is right and wrong in the client's current life).