Humanistic Approach Essay

The humanistic approach has been used in the area of therapeutic counselling for over five decades. Even with the existence of various other forms of counselling, the humanistic methodology has proved to be exceedingly successful.

Humanistic counselling came about when psychologists and therapists desired a different insight into psychology and therapy than the ways of behavioural or psychoanalytic psychology and thus it became known as the ‘third force’ in psychology. The foundations of the humanistic approach places emphasis on human potential for creativity, love, growth and psychological health and looks at the client holistically It encourages self-awareness and self-realization. Humanistic counsellors desire to work with a person’s

He thought that there had to be more to humans than simply rewards, punishments, and subconscious urges according to behaviorists and psychoanalysts. Maslow introduced humanistic psychology as an area to focus on the potential of people to become all that they can be. Other psychologists helped develop different elements of humanistic psychology, but Maslow is largely considered to be the father of the humanist movement in psychology. He steadfastly believed that people are motivated to reach certain needs. When one need is accomplished, a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. At the top of this hierarchy Maslow believed was the possibility of self-actualization; every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization. This was, however, seen as a rare achievement only reached by very few people since according to his theory; all lower-level needs had to be met before self-actualization could take place. Unfortunately, advancement is often disrupted by failure to meet the lower level needs. Life experiences may cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy. According to Maslow, only one in a hundred people achieve full self-actualization due to our society rewarding

Focusing on the person and each of their needs rather than just a singular factor and the importance of unison among the mind, body and spirit shows the connection between multiculturalism and humanism. Also, when multicultural counsellors identify the significance of context in relation to their client, they pay attention to the client’s outlook and their view rather than their own interpretation. Multicultural liberation processes includes an approach to promote the clients understanding of their oppression, its causes and how to change their condition. Because oppression causes a break in a person’s sense of identity and sense of self, reconnecting with elements that, in the view of multiculturalism, would define them, such as, genealogical and ethnical heritage and tradition brings about an awareness and assurance of self. This is, inherently,