Manifestations of Humanistic Psychology Humanistic

¶ … Manifestations of Humanistic Psychology

Humanistic Psychology as practiced today can be divided roughly into three large categories of activities. A large mainstream group of humanistic psychotherapists, who subscribe to existential theories and use a variety of methods, work to help people who are in pain. Another group that specializes in self-actualization is concerned with helping individuals discover who they really are and what they can become. A third group is part of the New Age movement and working in a variety of ways to bring a new uplifted consciousness into the world. These three categories are not distinct from each other by any means; indeed, the division is merely a rhetorical construction which will allow us to look at what's happening today in a systematic manner. This essay will focus on theories, methods, and philosophy in the practice of humanistic psychotherapy; industrial and educational applications, and some of the ways humanistic psychologists are taking part in the New Age movement.

Because the main activity of humanistic psychologists is to deliver psychotherapy to clients, it makes sense to begin with a discussion about what kind of therapy is most effective. "What is good psychotherapy?" is perhaps a misleading question to ask. Often this question is interpreted to mean, "What is empirically validated treatment?" A question asked in the physical science paradigm which demands objective researchers, quantitative results, and universal applications. Only certain kinds of questions can be asked, questions which produce a kind of knowledge that is often irrelevant to the practicing therapist and the psychotherapy client. Psychotherapeutic practice is not the experimental testing of a hypothesis. So the question "What is good psychotherapy?" cannot be answered by running experiments and quantifying results. The skill of the therapist does not flow from this kind of knowledge.

For humanistic psychologists, good therapy must be viewed as an interpersonal and moral phenomenon that involves meaningful moments, insights, and significant events. Such moments have their meaning within the situation and context. Walsh (2004) points out that a "good moment" from the therapist's point-of-view involves genuineness and authenticity, a client-summary of critical points, more than a behavioral analysis, a mutual understanding between client and therapist, and a transformed self-understanding. From the client's perspective, a good moment involves important issues, indirect confrontation by the therapist, challenges to unrealistic thinking, new learning for the client, and self-understanding. So good therapy lies in the interplay between therapist and client. Walsh describes therapy as a dance "that, although shaped by theoretical understandings of what comprises effective psychotherapy, unfolds in a unique dynamic between each individual client and therapist" (p. 464).

Having said this, it is never-the-less important to say that the underlying philosophies and theories which shape the "dance" of these humanistic practitioners and their clients have existential underpinnings. The theme of meaning is central to therapy. Viktor Frankl shows the sense of meaning to be actually necessary for human survival. He describes in Man's Search for Meaning how the prisoners in Nazi death camps only survived if their lives had a sense of meaning. Once a prisoner felt that life had lost meaning, he/she died almost immediately. Furthermore, Kizer (2004) discusses transcendence, a goal of therapy, as the immediate result of finding meaning in suffering. Some of the primary themes of existentialism are "death anxiety and its compensatory dynamics; the centrality of freedom, responsibility, and willing in personality functioning; the experience of isolation; and the vital necessity of meaning in human existence" (p. 447).

The fact that we can discuss what "good" psychotherapy is reveals a non-empirical stance, for as Kendler (2005) points out, "Goodness is beyond the capacity of any empirical evidence to reveal its basic sense" (p. 321). Humanistic psychotherapy rests on an underlying philosophy which seeks to make sense of being and to reveal life's meaning. Because meaning resides in consciousness, and humanists seek to understand consciousness (not observable in the empirical sense), qualitative research is favored, which allows for values to be taken into account. Viktor Frankl's logtherapy, for example, addresses what he saw as the primary human motivation to find meaning in life and aims to accompany the client on a journey toward greater meaning (Viktor Frankl Institute web site).

Gestalt therapy is another example of meaning-based therapy. The phenomenological method of awareness is used by therapist and client. Perceiving, feeling, and acting are separated from interpreting and reshuffling pre-existing attitudes. What is directly perceived and felt is given more credence than explanation and interpretation. The techniques of phenomenology allow a person to see the difference between what is actually perceived and what is left over from past experiences (Yontef & Simkin, 1989). The goal is insight where patterns of behavior are perceived and understanding of a whole situation is deduced by systematic exploration. Rather than analysis of individual parts (broken down), gestalt seeks to understand the inter-relationships of the parts to each other (and the whole field). Gestalt is holistic rather than analytical and focuses on people's existence, relations to each other, joys and suffering -- as directly experienced. Gestalt emphasizes caring, warmth, acceptance and self-responsibility in the therapeutic relationship. The role of the Gestalt therapist includes (1) inclusion, that is, putting self as fully as possible into the experience of the other; (2) presence in observations, preferences, feelings, personal experiences, and thoughts to the client; (3) commitment to dialogue, that is, connections and interactions not manipulated or made to happen but allowed to happen; and (4) dialogue lived or done (not talked about), which can take a variety of modes such as dance, song, words, role play, or any modality that causes energy to flow between participants.

As the discussion so far suggests, the "person-centered approach" of Carl Rogers is very much alive and well today. Kirschenbaum (2005) reports that although by no means the leading topic of scholarship in psychotherapy, the person-centered approach is still important to theory, research, and practice, and Rogers' core principles of empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence are as important as ever for effective therapeutic relationships. Rogers himself said that these core principles were more crucial to the outcome of therapy than the method used. About 200 centers for client-centered/person-centered psychotherapy exist today with most research activity, training and practice taking place in Europe (Kirschenbaum, 2005).

Two contemporary offshoots of the client-centered approach are "focusing" and "process-experiential" psychotherapies. Focusing develops the client's ability to identify and describe his/her bodily-felt experiences and rests on the notion that human beings have bodies "that live in situations, not just in physical space" (Focusing Oriented/Experiential Psychology web site). By paying attention to what the body is experiencing, the complexities of living with others is revealed. In process-experiential psychotherapy, the essential goal is an "explication of the client's internal frame of reference in regard to his relevant problems" (p. 295). This is a linguistically oriented therapy in which "personal relevant meaning structures" or schemata are examined and explained. The client goes through an eight-level structure in the process of explication at the end of which change occurs. The therapist actively intervenes in the process by raising questions and thus directing the awareness of the client.

Both focusing psychotherapy and process-experiential involve what Friedman (2005) describes as experiential listening. The therapist says back to the client in "an empathic, supportive, non-interfering way," what he perceives as the essence of the client's message (Friedman, 2005, p. 218) and checks to see if it is correct. This kind of listening expresses the egalitarian nature of humanistic psychotherapy. The relationship between therapist and client strives for equality in which the therapist is more of a mentor than an authority figure. The relationship is based on the recognition that psychotherapy is primarily an encounter between two human beings, each of whom brings his/her own vision of what makes life worth living.

Strenger (2004) argues that mentoring the client's growth is extremely important to the therapeutic process. He sees "growth" as a kind of "self-creation" and people who seek therapy as those who are stuck (usually painfully) in their "search for authorship." The sense of authorship needs to be restored. The therapist's subjectivity, Strenger points out, runs along a continuum. On one end, counter-transference is interpreted in terms of what the client projects onto the therapist and the therapist's subjective processes are essentially influenced by the patient. On the other end of the relational continuum, the therapist's actual subjectivity is of great importance. When the therapist becomes enmeshed in the client's hopes and fears, therapeutic success is more likely. Therapist-neutrality is an illusion. Fisher (2005) argues that transference is an opportunity for the therapist to get a "felt sense" of how the client relates to significant others. It also signals that the client is engaged with the therapist enough to confuse him/her with important individuals from the past.

Existentialist psychotherapists such as Binswanger, May, Rogers, Yalom, and Bugental have always argued that the therapeutic relationship "involves the totality of the therapist's being, in including his or her deepest values and beliefs" (Strenger, 2004, p. 380). Knowing this, Strenger points out that therapists need to consider "who can work with whom," because the therapeutic outcome may be greatly affected by the "chemistry" between therapist and client. The egalitarian principle in the therapeutic relationship gets played out further in qualitative studies (such as Gallegos, 2005 and Cohen, 2005) in which client experiences in the mental health system and subjective accounts of symptom relief from psychotherapy are treated as credible data, from which therapists can learn.

Humanistic psychology developed in protest against the reductionism of psychoanalysis and behaviorism which saw the human being as a bunch of unconscious impulses or reactors to stimuli. The new paradigm sought to treat the "whole person" and found phenomenological / qualitative approaches better suited to this richer purpose. Maslow, for example, wanted to gain information based on personal, subjective experiences and not on abstract systems. But as Giorgi (2005) points out, the natural science/quantitative influence is still here. He admits that humanistic psychology has been granted a presence in psychology, but shows it is still in the minority. Of the 150,000 APA members, only 610 are members of Division 32, or less than 1/2 of 1%. The bulk of the field of psychology still honors the scientific approach more than the humanistic approach. Humanism is not as strong as psychoanalysis or behaviorism in universities and not as well represented as cognitive psychology. He states "We must discover or invent new ways of being scientific" (p. 214).

While humanistic psychology has done a lot to restore the idea of a whole human person, it has been less successful articulating "how to study personhood psychologically in rigorous ways" (p. 214). To do this, he points out the need to develop non-reductionist philosophies of science and new and original methods.

Parallel to individual treatment, humanistic psychology has played a significant role in the development of therapeutic communities (TCs) for addicts with substance abuse problems (Soyez, 2005). Connected to Synanon, these communities traditionally used client-centered therapies and were strongly influenced by Maslow's ideas. For example, Synanon's first goal in the treatment of addicts was to change the client from a "dope fiend" to a "self-developing person" aware of his or her own potential (p. 306). TCs accomplish this through the use of a peer community and regular encounter groups. Recently, the family therapy approach has been incorporated based on existential theories of Buber. Previously, the family of origin was not considered important to the treatment of addicts; in fact, the family was blamed for the problem. Unconditional love of substance-abusing children was thought to encourage them and keep them from changing their behavior. Thus, the first therapeutic communities tended to separate addicts from their families. The "new TC" has introduced family systems therapy with renewed attention to the humanistic roots of the TC and a focus on support, unification, and respect.

Family therapy broke away from psychiatry in the 1950s. Now, marriage and family therapists build on client strengths rather than assume clients are "sick." One of the assumptions now is that patterns of behavior are passed from one generation to another and when one member of the family suffers, everyone in the family is affected. Some contemporary approaches to family therapy include Narrative Therapy in which stories of life events are examined for the belief systems they reflect, Brief Solution Therapy which exposes maladaptive solutions that actually prolong problems, and Post Milan Systemic Therapy which examines transactional patterns in a family system (More About Family Therapy web site).

Unlike traditional family therapy, feminist family therapy does not assume equality between marriage partners but recognizes that socialization has been different. While men are socialized to be task-oriented, women are socialized to be care-givers.

Masculinity is defined through separation and independence while femininity is defined through attachment and connection. In feminist therapy, sometimes preferred by gay and lesbian couples, the "gender lens" is frequently applied (Colucci-Coritt, 1999).

Humanist psychologists are part of the addiction recovery movement, a national network which seeks to reduce the negative impact of alcohol and drug addiction on families and the community. White (2000) describes the New Recovery Movement: "The central message of this new movement is not that 'alcoholism is a disease' or that 'treatment works' but rather that permanent recovery from alcohol and other drug-related problems is not only possible but a reality in the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals and families" (p. 7).

HopeNetworks, for example, one participator in the movement, shares research findings and information, works to educate the public, and aims to achieve Substance Abuse Parity with insurance companies.

The Human Potential Movement, centered at The Esalen Institute, is an application aimed at corporations, government, small businesses, and the educational establishment. It lies somewhere between humanistic psychology and transpersonal psychology with a strong focus on individual growth and development (Wikipedia). In motivational seminars employees learn they have unlimited or infinite potential. They learn to control negative thoughts and to reprogram the subconscious through the use of daily affirmations, positive thinking, and self-talk. Consciousness altering techniques are taught such as meditation, visualization, guided imagery, and autosuggestion. Each person creates his or her own reality (Human Potential Movement web site). Under the broader umbrella of the New Age movement, an underlying belief is that by unleashing human potential, humans beings will be happier, more creative, and less aggressive, more likely to help and support each other -- a new consciousness will develop that will eventually change society and the world into a more peaceful place.

The Human Potential movement is also present in education. For example, empathic listening is taught in communication classes, and many teachers have adopted experiential learning techniques for their classrooms. Freshman communication classes at colleges and universities, for example, often make extensive use of experiential methods. Activities are designed for student interactions which promote active learning through participation and discussion. The underlying philosophy is that for learning to be meaningful, it has to be self-initiated. Students need to reach out and actively pursue learning through experiences -- as opposed to the old idea of "the student as an empty vessel" who passively listened to a lecture and "filled up" with knowledge (Holland, 2004). Experiential learning facilitates personal growth, allows for differences in learning ability, and begins where the learner actually is (Nunan, 1999). The student moves naturally from the old to the new by making sense of a new experience. Learning takes place during the sense-making phase.

Humanist psychologists are also active in industry and management in the field of Organizational Development. OD helps people and organizations develop practices that lead to outcomes satisfactory to both the organization and to individual workers. The focus is on organizational goals, making the organization a good place to work (applying values), and finding the direction in which the world is going. An internet ad for OD ends by saying, "OD leads you into the future, enables you to keep up or surpass your competitors, spots and evaluates the trends for you, and makes you a twenty-first century organization" (Organizational Development web site). Organizational Transformation specialists work with organizations and use methods of psychosynthesis to achieve more organizational effectiveness through an "evolution of consciousness." It is believed that in each person there is "a source of genius or inner wisdom which can be discovered, tapped, and utilized to achieve both personal and organizational transformations" (Brown, 1986).

A recent national movement in which humanist psychologists were involved is the self-esteem movement. One of the leaders is California senator John Vasconcellos, chairman of the Senate Education Committee and champion of "person-centered politics." He states that "society's primary commitment must be to encourage the development of healthy, self-realizing, responsible human beings...and that self-esteem is at the heart of our capacity to lead lives of community, responsibility, productivity and satisfaction" (Exploration of Learning and Self-Esteem web site).