Existential And Humanistic Psychology Paper

This essay is about comparing and contrasting two out of the eight personality theories commonly used to decipher one’s personality. Those two are the psychoanalytic perspective and the existential/humanistic perspective. Both perspectives are equally important as they play a major role in understanding personality in different ways and explaining them as well. Freud’s psychoanalysis helps us to understand the individual’s personality from its early years right up to adulthood while existential and humanistic theorists postulate the interpretation that personality changes throughout the lifetime. The contents of this essay include the comparing and contrasting between the structure, concepts, methods, theorists, and strengths

My top five theories are Gestalt, Reality, Person Centered, Existential and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Within these five theories my top five aspects that I would like to incorporate into my own personal model of counseling is as follows: 1.) From Gestalt therapy I would incorporate staying with the feeling and use experiments along with internal dialogue exercises (Corey, 2013). The aspect of getting to the root of unfinished business in regards to impasse is appealing in regards to this theory as well as the idea that it moves the client to a place where they are more confident asking for help (Corey, 2013) 2.) From the Reality Therapy approach I would incorporate the WDEP technique (Corey, 2013). I feel that it is of the most importance to recognize what one wants from his or her life and to be able to verbalize and have an action based, planned path that moves one towards the goal (Corey, 2013). 3.) From the Person Centered Approach I would incorporate genuineness, unconditional positive regard and accurate empathic understanding (Corey, 2013). In regards to the therapeutic process when working with people in crisis I believe this model is most effective (Corey, 2013). 4.) From an Existential Therapy approach I would incorporate the aspect of guiding the client to a place of awareness. I believe being aware of why one is not living their life fully is very important to moving a person toward making choices that will get them to a life that is more authentic to who

Psychotherapy and counselling are inseparable. The effectiveness of a counselling program is not just based on the connectedness and interaction between a therapist and a client, but also the framework of the counselling approach in helping the client improving his mental health or overcoming personal problems. There are an extensive number of psychotherapies developed by past researchers, with each therapeutic concept offering unique contributions in understanding human behaviour and useful implications for counselling practice (Bedi et al., 2011).

Existentialism is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre, was published in 1945 at the height of Existentialism's cultural resurgence. As Sartre states in his opening line, his purpose is to “offer a defence of existentialism against some charges that have been brought against it.” (Sartre, 1945) At a time where Existentialism was heavily associated with wearing black and smoking (Fahlenbrach, 2012) Sartre felt the need to draw attention to its philosophical and more meaningful aspects, beyond it simply being a passing trend. Sartre outlines, “Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself. That is the first principle of existentialism” (Sartre, 1945) This is rooted in what Sartre believes to be the basis of all Existential

1. According to Maslow, what are the characteristics of self-actualizing people? Why are these characteristics important?

shifting allegiance depends on whatever is in the best interest of his family. He initially

Nihilism originated somewhere around the mid-1800s, it was a shift from the social philosophy around that time which viewed life with purpose and meaning which was found usually though God, or some religious doctrine, however Nihilism is the philosophy that dictates the meaninglessness in life; it leaves an empty and void existence. Nihilism is usually associated with German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is often although not a Nihilist himself Nietzsche wrote a considerable amount concerning Nihilism and its implications as a philosophy. Nietzsche saw Nihilism as a growing problem, he believed that as the world grew conscious of Nihilism it would destroy all morality and meaning man has created, this is because he would realize the

Theorists have invested years of research into learning the dynamics of one’s personality. Humanistic and Existential Personality Theories offered perspectives that have proved to be valuable to those researching and exploring how one’s personality develops and expands throughout life. From Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to Carl Rogers’s development of the formative tendency and the actualizing tendency, the range of perspectives is diverse. In this paper, we will analyze how humanistic and existential theories affect individual personalities and give explanation to how these

The focus of this paper is the person-centered approach, which is the understanding of personality and human relationships in psychotherapy and counseling in the areas of client-centered therapy, education of student-centered learning, organizations, and other group settings. Even though psychoanalysis and behaviorism have made major contributions to psychology, it has influenced the understanding and practices of the humanistic movement, specifically with the therapies for the different mental disorders. Psychoanalysis understands the unconscious behavior, behaviorism focuses on the conditioning process that produces behavior. Humanistic psychology focuses on the person's potential to act as a whole person in a nurturing environment by

The humanistic-existential perspective is both a reaction to and an outgrowth of the psychodynamic perspective. These thinkers refer to psychodynamic theory as inadequate, many were repulsed with its tendency to break down the "whole" person into discrete components, and, the idea of adapting to one's society, however questionable its values. Most importantly, they disagree that human action is beyond the individuals control, in fact they believe that if we could develop with out constraints, we would be rational and socialized. Humanists and existentialists also think psychology should be converted into a human science, different from psychological theories with more focus on natural science.

How to live authentically is a question that arises when speaking of existentialism and humanism. Authenticity describes the mode of being true to one self, living an honest and free life. Both Nietzsche and Sartre propose ideas and perspectives on the nature of human life and their existence. As human beings, Sartre and Nietzsche identify how we, possibly unknowingly, alienate ourselves from the modes of living authentically instead of accepting into authentic practices. In Sartre’s “Being and Nothingness” and “Existentialism is Humanism”, the philosopher discusses the importance of achieving freedom and characterizing one’s identity. In Nietzsche’s “Gay Science Excerpts” and “History Essay”, he discusses the emergence of individuality

Existentialism developed in the more extensive feeling to twentieth century rationality that is focused upon the investigation about presence and of the best approach people discover themselves existing or their existence as a whole. Existentialism takes its name from those philosophical topic of 'existence ', this doesn 't involve that there will be homogeneity in the way presence will be on be comprehended. On simpler terms, existentialism will be an logic worried for finding self and the intending from claiming an aggregation through spare will, choice and also personage obligation. Existentialism turned into prominent following those Second World War. In spite of seeing its philosophical viewpoint is little spot complex,

Existential theory is only one of many different theories in psychology. This paper will work to help give the reader a better understanding of what Existential theory is, what the common factor accountability is and how the common factor accountability works within the existential theory to help a client and/or therapist gain a better understanding of the choices, thoughts, or behaviors that helped get a client into the position they are in and how holding themselves accountable to their actions, behaviors or thoughts can help them reach healthy attainable goals in their life. In this paper the reader will gain a better understanding about how existential theory looks at the whole person and how they reached the point where they needed to seek assistance in understanding themselves and how they can hold them self and how others can hold them accountable for their actions, thought, and behaviors.

The world we live in is an odd one; some cope with its absurdities through intensive faith, others through utter disregard of all its meaning. Existentialism, however, leads us down a peculiar path that blurs these concepts into one unique belief system. While we might be faced with situations beyond our complete control, we do have the power to control how we handle said situations and whether or not we choose to cultivate significance from them. The search for significance is very primitive and so are the answers that have accompanied it throughout human history. Obviously, life doesn’t have a clearly stated purpose to it; it is up to each individual to create their own relative purpose and find their own happiness in a life of suffering. This is exactly what Existentialism proposes, that it is not possible to know the truth, so it is up to the individual to create his or her own, and then create their own purpose. Merriam-Webster defines the philosophy theory of Existentialism as a “…philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad.” But Existentialism is not a concept that can simply be defined in one fell swoop. Throughout our studies of philosophy, I found there to be two main concepts that act as the foundation for the basic

Human Nature According to Psychoanalysis and the Humanistic Psychology As Carl Jung stated “ As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of