about humanistic psychotherapy

Humanistic  psychology emerged in the 1950s through a recognition by therapists that clients rightly deserved to be seen as whole, acceptable beings rather than people who are defined by their less developed aspects. Modelling a positive, ordinary relationship between therapist and client involved the heart (of both parties) in what had previously been mainly an exploration of the mind, by the mind. This makes for a more open and mutual exchange than was previously the case, when the therapist was seen as the rational observer and the patient was seen as needing to be ‘fixed.’ Humanistic therapy grew to instill and reflect the values that emerged into the world theatre in the late 1960s. The rational preoccupations of the period between the eighteenth century  and the 1960s gave way to the postmodern pluralism of the emerging liberal age, with its great unfolding of exploration and compassion. The kind of hierarchies imposed by the previous rational approach melted away in humanistic psychology and a more experiential exploration of human consciousness emerged. Humanistic psychology assumes that human beings are inherently healthy and need support, validation and encouragement to become who they are already disposed to be.  In deepening the relationship between the client and their environment (including the therapist), the emphasis is placed on the relationship between between people as much as within people, so a more subtle level of consciousness is included in the enquiry than the previous objective exploration alone. This allows for approaches such as Gestalt to bring all aspects of a client into a dialogue where the client can regard them with concern and empathy but with enough distance to build perspective.  These aspects might include emotions, dreams, behaviours, attitudes,  sub-personalities and any other aspect of a client that has been split off from their primary sense of self.