Humanistic therapy: what is it and on what principles is it based?

A type of psychological therapy that is gaining ground, what are its principles of action?

It seems that Humanistic Therapy is in fashion.. There are courses, conferences, web pages, articles... and obviously there are advocates and opponents.

I am not going to take a position, but I do think it is interesting to know what we are really talking about, just as I think it is important that we learn to differentiate humanistic therapy or approach from other unreliable disciplines. When something becomes fashionable, we lack time to invent "alternatives" of dubious credibility.

The origins of Humanistic Therapy

The precursor of the humanistic approach is considered to be Carl Rogers (1959). He was an American psychologist who, before becoming a relevant clinical psychologist, studied agriculture at university and later became interested in theology, which brought him into contact with philosophy.

Carl Rogers appeared in a specific socio-economic context, he did not come out of nowhere. In the 1960s everything was being questioned; it was the time of the student movements, the hippies, feminism, environmentalists... there was a desire for change. And it was in this breeding ground that Humanistic Psychology appeared..

Humanistic Psychology appeared

We could simplify the identity of this current of psychology by saying that the "humanists" not only investigate suffering, but also delve into the growth and self-knowledge of the person. They are more concerned with proposing alternatives to this suffering than with studying behavior.. They bring a positive vision and their basis is the will and hope of the person himself. They start from goodness and health, and understand that mental disorders or everyday problems are distortions of this natural tendency. They focus on healthy people, and consider that the personality is innate and "good" in itself.

Humanistic models do not appeal to the past or to personal history, but rather it is the capabilities and tools available to the person at the present time that influence the problem and/or solution. We could say that it analyzes the present, the here and now. The moment that one is not able to enjoy and take advantage of this present is when problems appear. Humanists understand that the "healthy" person is the one who is enriched by his experience. Its purpose is to be able to know oneself and learn gradually.

Humanists defend that each person innately has a potential that allows him/her to grow, evolve and self-actualize, and that pathology appears when these capacities are blocked. They consider that the individual must learn to be, to know and to do, and that it is the person himself who must find the solutions by himself, leaving him total freedom to decide. Pathological disorders are renunciations or losses of this freedom that do not allow the individual to continue his or her process of vital growth.

Contributions of the humanistic perspective

Some of the most important contributions associated with the emergence of Humanistic Therapy are the following:

• Optimistic visionOptimistic vision: the person's potential is the tool to solve his or her own problems.

• Emphasis on social factorsSelf-knowledge must be linked to social responsibility.

• Therapy as an interventionThe objective and final goal is to help the person.

We should also bear in mind that these models postulate that the individual does not react to reality, but to his or her perception of it, which is totally subjective.

Criticisms of this approach

Another noteworthy point is the one that has brought the most criticism to this approach: its theoretical weakness.. Humanistic psychology avoids classifications and does not consider the scientific method as a "natural" method to understand "abnormal" behavior. This means that this current is not accompanied by a solid empirical basis and suffers from theoretical weakness, which has given rise to many "self-help" movements of dubious credibility.

Another criticism that this movement has received is its consideration of the human being as "good by nature". This is an optimistic approach and certainly very opportune for the times, but forgets that the human being is a set of negative and positive factors and characteristics, and therefore we must consider both.and therefore we must consider both.

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself as I am, then I can change." -Carl Rogers