What is humanistic therapy?
Humanistic therapy is a person centred form of therapy where it is assumed human being are fundamentally good. Therapy is focused on what are the blockages in our life so we can reach our full potential. It also focused on the patient finding themselves to be able to help themselves.
Watch this video for wider explanation.
What’s makes is different from behavioural therapy?
Behaviorists treat only the behavior of their clients, applying positive consequences for desirable behavior and removing positive consequences for undesirable behavior. Humanists target people’s intentions, focusing on discovering a client’s personal perceptions, motives, and self-concept.
What are the disadvantages of humanistic therapy?
A disadvantage to the humanistic approach to therapy is that it is a form of talk therapy that relies on the client to take responsibility to verbally convey their thoughts, so it may not be most beneficial for those with communication issues or who are uncomfortable with this approach.
Job responsibilities
As a psychotherapist, you’ll need to:
- conduct a series of sessions with a client to assess need, build trust and explore issues
- encourage the client to talk about and explore their feelings, attitudes and behaviours
- run group sessions with people undergoing therapy in a clinical setting
- help clients to develop strategies for coping with issues and for making positive changes to the way they think and behave
- evaluate therapy sessions and outcomes and write reports
- conduct group sessions in a training capacity for other professionals, such as social workers, nurses and teachers, who are interested in learning more about how groups work and how they function within them
- undergo supervision with a qualified supervisor in order to reflect on sessions, and to raise personal issues and professional concerns arising from work
- keep abreast of developments in theory and research
- network within the health professional community and other potential business areas to maintain continuity of work and client base
- work to targets (in some cases, e.g. if working for the NHS)
- supervise other psychotherapists (with appropriate training).