What is humanistic therapy?

The names for different types of therapy can sound like gobbledygook. And even more so when you’re told that actually, they’re referred to as modalities. Psychoanalysis, psychodynamic, psychosynthesis, Jungian (pronounced young-ian), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), Gestalt, dialogical behavioural therapy, humanistic, person-centred, transactional analysis, integrative, internal family systems, existential, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing. These are just some of the main ones.

Humanistic therapy is all about celebrating people’s innate goodness, capacity for growth and creativity, and ability to take the lead role in their pursuit of personal change. As an umbrella term, it includes lots of different approaches to therapy, but all start with this as a foundation. Probably the most common humanistic approach to therapy today is person-centred, developed principally (but not by any means solely) by Carl Rogers throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Other approaches include Gestalt therapy, emotion-focused therapy, existential therapy, and transactional analysis, but there are many, many more.

The humanistic approach was developed as a ‘third force’ in psychology by Abraham Maslow. Different to the third of Third Therapy, it was a response to the two prevailing schools of thought surrounding psychology in the first half of the 20th century: Skinner’s behaviourism (built on the foundations of Pavlov’s dogs) and Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. Among many, one of the intentions was to create a movement in psychotherapy that addressed the inherent power imbalance between a therapist and their client, who at the time (and still today in some more traditional approaches) was referred to as a patient.

Maslow theorised that self-actualisation is a core drive in all people that pushes us forward to achieve our full potential, and this he placed as the final piece on his hierarchy of needs.

This became a key part of Rogers’ theory of person-centred therapy (which he named the “actualising tendency”), something all life possesses, and which can be seen everywhere, even in the way a potato sprout reaches always towards the light and what will help it grow. Along with everybody’s innate drive towards self-actualisation, a great emphasis was also put on valuing the client’s own subjective experience, working in the here-and-now as a starting point rather than past experiences, seeing the client in their wholeness and not just as symptoms or problems, and the client’s agency in the process of doing therapy. Back when it was first being developed, this last point ran counter to the prevailing position of the therapist as a doctor-like figure, the expert who would tell you what was wrong. Humanistic therapy believes that you are always the ultimate expert on yourself.

Some of the Different Approaches

Person-Centred

Rogers’ person-centred approach to therapy was at the heart of the humanistic psychotherapy movement and has had a huge impact on psychotherapy and psychology in general. His theory focused on the therapist (or counsellor, same thing) and the relationship between them and their clients. From all of his clinical work, he noticed that what helped the most when working with clients was not any particular theory on why they are the way they are, but how he, as a therapist met them in the moment, and how that therapeutic relationship felt to both of them. He asserted six “necessary and sufficient conditions” for successful counselling, and these are commonly distilled down to the three core conditions for person-centred counsellors: empathy, congruence (genuineness), and unconditional positive regard. When these conditions are provided by the counsellor and (crucially) felt by the client, then counselling can be successful, and nothing else at all is necessary. Rogers’ believed that a relationship that had these qualities was what was healing. The counsellor’s job is to hold and communicate them, and go with the client wherever their actualising tendency tells them to go.

Existential Therapy

Existential therapy focuses on a person’s lived experience in the context of existential questions about life. It was born from the existentialist philosophy of figures like Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty throughout the 20th Century, which in turn was developed from the work of earlier European philosophers like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Heidegger. This approach shares a lot of practicalities with person-centred therapy, but, as laid out by Irvin Yalom, has as its focus four key existential concerns that we all face: freedom, isolation, meaning, and death. There is no set technique to existential therapy—the work is seen as a collaborative relationship within which these existential questions are faced.

Gestalt

Gestalt therapy focuses on the here-and-now experience of the client, and aims to promote a greater sense of self-awareness and personal responsibility in you. The word gestalt refers to seeing clients as a whole being, more than the sum of their parts. It also draws on elements of existential philosophy, as well as Eastern religion and experimental theatre, among many other influences. The Gestalt approach can include experiential techniques like the empty chair, where an extra chair is brought in to symbolise someone, or some part of yourself, for you to engage with directly.

How can it help?

Humanistic approaches can be particularly helpful if you don’t respond well to the more directive approach of other types of therapy like CBT. If you’re not sure what you need to do, or even how you feel, but feel something just isn’t right, it can give you the space to start to figure that out. I often explain to clients that the first few sessions can feel like unpacking this big suitcase you’ve been carrying around for years and laying everything out on a table. Once it’s all there in front of you, it’s amazing how that slightly different perspective can start things moving. However, if you’re looking for something with more structure or specific guidance, it might not be the best approach for you. Sometimes we need more structure or guidance, and sometimes we just need the space to guide ourselves.

There are lots and lots of other kinds of humanistic therapy, like emotion-focused therapy, solution-focused therapy, psychosynthesis, transpersonal psychology, transactional analysis, and reality therapy. And then there’s integrative therapy, which draws on both humanistic approaches, like person-centred therapy, as well as psychodynamic approaches. It’s also quite common for many therapists, humanistic or not, to draw on all sorts of other techniques and exercises like somatic experiencing, mindfulness, coaching, breathwork, or whatever you might find helpful.

It’s natural to feel overwhelmed by all the different kinds of therapy, but we’re here to help you navigate this process. The most important thing is that you feel the form of therapy you’re doing with your therapist is the right one for you, and your therapist will help you explore this as you develop your relationship together.

Further reading:

Rogers: On Becoming a Person

Sarah Bakewell: At the Existentialist Cafe

Ann Weiser Cornwell: The Power of Focusing

Yalom: The Gift of Therapy

Frankl: Man’s Search for Meaning