Lecture 5: Humanistic Perspectives

Question 1

Origins

Answer 1

• Draws on philosophical traditions of phenomenology (honour people & feelings) & existentialism
• Influenced by counter-culture ideology of 1950s + 60s = captures ethos of the time
• Disillusioned a ‘medicalised approach’ to psychological problems, with the negativity & determinism of psychoanalysis and reductionism & dehumanisation of behaviourism
• Developed the ‘third force’

Question 2

Key features of humanistic approaches

Answer 2

• Potential for positive human development
• Valuing uniqueness of individuals
• Freedom and responsibility to make choices = comes from existentialism
• Focus on human experiences e.g. love
• Being aware of and accepting experience is fundamental to development
• human relationships are central to development

Question 3

Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

Answer 3

• Writing in this area from 1940-87
• Trained in a psychoanalytic env. = similar ideas
• Began to recognise value of ‘listening’ and being ‘human’ rather than diagnosing
• Shift from ‘patient’ to ‘client’
• His ideas have helped to define counselling movement
• Extended ideas into human relations more generally - ‘person-centred’

Question 4

Innate potential for self-actualisation

Answer 4

• Every person has ‘vast resources for self understanding for altering their self-concept, attitudes, behaviour - and that these resources can be tapped only if a definable climate of facilitative psychological attitudes can be provided’ (Rogers, 1986)

Question 5

Key features of Rogers’ explanation of psychological development

Answer 5

• The single innate motivating drive is self-actualisation - tendency of organism to ‘maintain, enhance and reproduce itself’
  = All psychological problems are product of a block in this drive
• We all have an innate actualising tendency to grow from (maturity):
  = simple to complex
  = from dependence to interdependence
  = from rigidity to freedom
• People use their organismic experience to enhance self-actualisation
• Non-conscious organismic experience creates a ‘self’ 0 the true self

Question 6

Unconditional positive regard

Answer 6

• Children rely on UPR to validate their experiences of world
  = But sometimes parents and others impose conditions of worth
• Our need for positive regard means that we are vulnerable to internalising these ‘conditions of worth’
• Our self concept comes to be based on ‘conditions of worth’ rather than organismic experience
• What is felt to be ‘self’ is really needs of others
• We begin to engage in attempts to meet ‘false’ self-actualising needs

Question 7

Client-centred therapy

Answer 7

• Creates a facilitating env in which a person can discover who they really are
• Roger’s necessary & sufficient conditions for therapeutic change:
  1) 2 people need to be in psychological contact
  2) Client is in a state of psychological incongruence and is vulnerable/anxious
  3) Therapist is congruent in relationship
  4) Therapist experiences unconditional positive regard
  5) Therapist shows an empathic understanding of client’s internal frame of reference = their experience
  6) Therapist can communicate UPR and empathy for patient

Question 8

Client-centred therapy

Answer 8

• Creates a facilitating env in which a person can discover who they really are
• Roger’s necessary & sufficient conditions for therapeutic change:
  1) 2 people need to be in psychological contact
  2) Client is in a state of psychological incongruence and is vulnerable/anxious
  3) Therapist is congruent in relationship
  4) Therapist experiences unconditional positive regard
  5) Therapist shows an empathic understanding of client’s internal frame of reference = their experience
  6) Therapist can communicate UPR and empathy for patient

Question 9

Key qualities needed by therapist

Answer 9

• Empathy
• Genuiness/congruence
• UPR = to ‘prize’ uniqueness & humanity of your client

Question 10

Dimensions of empathy

Answer 10

• Observing & listening = seeing all of them
• Resonating = feel their feelings, register them
• Communicating (reflecting)
• Checking (summarising)

Question 11

Current usage

Answer 11

1) Person-centred therapy
2) Emotion-focused therapy
3) Experiential therapy
4) Motivational interviewing

Question 12

Motivation interviewing

Answer 12

• Express empathy through reflective listening
• Explore discrepancy between clients’ goals and their current behaviour
• Avoid argument and direct confrontation
• Adjust to client resistance rather than opposing it directly
• Support self-efficacy and optimism
• Look at what they want

Question 13

‘Common Factors’ in psychotherapy

Answer 13

• Current research suggests that ‘common factors’ (largely drawn from humanistic models) are responsible for change in psychotherapy
• Elements common to procedures used by all therapists
  = Dev of a relationship in context of which client can disclose their difficulties
  = Maintains expectations of being helped
  = Provides new learning experiences
  = Arouses client’s emotions
  = Enhances client’s sense of efficacy
  = Provides opportunity for practice
• Change in therapy due to therapeutic relationship

Question 14

Common factors still determine therapy outcomes

Answer 14

• Therapeutic alliance/relationship
• Empathy, positive regard and genuiness
• Adaptation to client’s belief systems
• Therapists capacity to form facilitative interpersonal relationships

Question 15

Strengths of client-centred model

Answer 15

• Positive view of person
• Reminds us of importance of our humaness
• Represent the ‘core skills’ of any psychotherapy model
• Strongly influenced other psychotherapy approaches
• Rogers of first to use research to explore efficacy of his methods
• As effective as other approaches to therapy

Question 16

Critique

Answer 16

• Less research than CBT - but growing
• Initial research preferred qualitative methods - closer to experience (but increase move to RCTs)
• Allowing unfolding of process rather than targeted change
• Less able to define and measure concepts
• Too idealistic?