Humanistic Therapies

Humanistic Counselling became known over 50 years ago and has become an extremely effective approach to counselling. Although behavioural therapy and psychoanalytic methods were available, a Humanistic approach offered sufferers another alternative. This type of counselling focuses on recognising human capabilities in areas such as creativity, personal growth and choice.

When an individual is choosing a counsellor, it is extremely important that the client is aware of the approach the counsellor uses before arranging an appointment. This is because each method is different and depends on the person's needs as to which approach should be taken. The main objectives of humanistic psychology are to find out how individuals perceive themselves here and now and to recognise growth, self-direction and responsibilities. This method is optimistic and attempts to help individuals recognise their strengths by offering a non-judgemental, understanding experience.

Person-Centred Counselling

This approach to counselling sees human beings (along with all other living organisms) as having an innate tendency to develop towards their full potential. But this is inevitably blocked or distorted by our life experiences, in particular those that tell us we are only loved or valued if we behave in certain ways and not others, or have certain feelings and not others. As a result, because we have a deep need to feel valued, we tend to distort or deny to our awareness those of our inner experiences that we believe will not be acceptable.

The counsellor in this approach aims to provide an environment in which the client does not feel under threat or judgement. This enables the client to experience and accept more of who they are as a person, and reconnect with their own values and sense of self-worth. This reconnection with their inner resources enables them to find their own way to move forward.

The counsellor works to understand the client’s experience from the client’s point of view, and to positively value the client as a person in all aspects of their humanity, while aiming to be open and genuine as another human being. These attitudes of the counsellor towards the client will only be helpful if the client experiences them as real within the relationship, and so the nature of the relationship that the counsellor and client create between themselves is crucial for the success of therapy.

Gestalt Counselling

Unlike Person-Centred Counselling, this method is directive and concentrates on the client's thought process and feelings. The main objective of this approach is for the individual's to become more aware of themselves taking into account their mind, body and spirit. The purpose of this is to improve the person's personal experiences and therefore creating a better quality of life.

A gestalt professional constantly promotes the clients's awareness of themselves and uses experiments that are often invented by the counsellor and client. These experiments can be anything from creating patterns with objects and writing to role-playing. Promoting awareness is the main objective of Gestalt Counselling but other areas such as improving the ability to support ones emotional feelings are also important.

Transactional Analysis Counselling

Transactional Analysis is a theory that involves an individual's growth and development. It is also a theory related to communication and child development explaining the connections to our past and how this influences decisions we make. The TA theory was developed by Eric Berne who was a psychiatrist and he recognised three key ego-states that are present in everyone; Parent, Adult and Child.

This method of counselling encourages individuals to analyse previous decisions they have made and understand the direction and patterns of their life for themselves. It also helps clients to trust their decisions and think/act as an individual improving the way they feel about themselves. TA is a humanistic approach and like Person-Centred Counselling focuses on the here and now concept.

Transpersonal Psychology and Psychosynthesis

Transpersonal psychology began within humanistic psychology, however today it is gaining recognition by many psychologists and a number of professional organisations, and is now often seen as its own separate psychological theory (along with the other three main categories: behavioural, psychoanalytical and psychodynamic and humanistic).

Transpersonal psychology literally means “beyond the personal” and involves encouraging the individual to discover the deep core of who they really are (the real person that transcends an individual’s body, age, gender, physical space, culture, appearance etc.) It involves building and expanding on an individual’s qualities, their spirituality and self development.

Psychosynthesis was developed by psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli and involves an integration of the psychological and transpersonal elements. Psychosynthesis accepts the idea of a higher, spiritual level of consciousness, sometimes referred to as the “higher self”. Techniques such as meditation and visualisation are often used for self-exploration and personal growth.