HUMANISTIC APPROACH

Self and Strategies/Approaches of Occupational Therapy

(1802330)
Presented by: Hanan I. Madi, MSc., OTR
 Maslow’s Self-
Actualizing Person

Roger’s Person-
Centered Perspective
THE
HUMANISTIC
PERSPECTIVE Pioneer Theorists:

• Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

• Abraham Maslow (1908-
1970)
 Based on Existential
philosophy
• Existential philosophy: address the
meaning of our existence, the role of
free will and the uniqueness of each
human being.

PHILOSOPHICAL Concerned about meaning of

existence
UNDERPINNING
Focus on the free will

And uniqueness of human

being
 No agreed upon definition

People are assumed to be largely

DESCRIPTION OF responsible for their actions.

HUMANISTIC Regardless of the drive or stimuli, We

have the power to determine our destiny.
APPROACH
“Healthy” rather than “Sick”; individual
as greater than the sum of test scores
 Personal responsibility (Personal choice)

ELEMENTS OF “Here and Now” (life as it happens)

HUMANISTIC Phenomenology of individual (no one knows
PSYCHOLOGY you better than you)

Personal growth (there is more life than simply

having all of your immediate needs met)
PERSON
CENTERED
THEORY
CARL ROGER
 People are basically good with
actualizing tendencies.
ROGER’S
PERSON- Given the right environmental
conditions, we will develop to our
CENTERED full potentials
PERSPECTIVE
Authenticity, Acceptance,
Empathy
 The first to
popularize Concerned about
“Person- fulfillment and
centered” happiness
treatment

CARL ROGERS
Describe a state
of “Fully Apply Humanistic
functioning approach to
individual” social issues like
(optimal sense of education and
satisfaction with peace
our lives)
 Fully functioning individual (FFI): are those who:
 has optimal sense of satisfaction with their lives
 are open to their experience.
 learn to trust their own feelings.
 Sensitive to the needs of others
FULLY  are less prone than others to conform to the roles dictated by
societal expectations, they are more likely to follow their own

FUNCTIONING interest, values and needs when making important life decisions.
 experience their feelings (+ve or –ve) more deeply and more

PERSON (FFP) intensely than others

FF state achieved when we progress toward a state of

optimal sense of satisfaction with our lives
 ASSUMPTION

Carl Rogers proposes that

Anxiety result from coming people receive information
Any information (+ve or –ve) inconsistent with their self-
into contact with information that contradict self concept concept at a level somewhere
that is inconsistent with the results in anxiety. below consciousness, called
way we think of ourselves.
subception rather than
perception.
ASSUMPTIONS

Defense mechanisms (DM) used to decrease anxiety include

• Distortion: blaming others for inconsistent information
• Denial: convince yourself that information meant to someone else not me
Excessive use of DM leads to fantasy

Failed defense results in disorganization

Condition of worth and unconditional positive regard

MOTIVATIONAL
THEORY
ABRAHAM
MASLOW
 Focus on healthy side of personality
Acknowledge unconscious motives
Focused on conscious aspect of personality

MOTIVATIONAL Studied healthy, creative people

THEORY Self-Aware & Self-Accepting

Open & Spontaneous
Loving & Caring
Problem-Centered not Self-Centered
 Maslow identified two types of
motives
• Deficiency motive : results from lack of
needed objects
• Growth need: include unselfish giving of love
and the development of one’s potentials

MOTIVATIONAL Maslow identify five basic

categories of need
THEORY • Physiological
• Safety
• Belongings and love
• D-love
• B-love
• Esteem
• Self actualization
PSYCHOLOGICALLY HEALTHY PERSONALITY
(ORDER)
Accept themselves for what they are

Less restricted by cultural norms

Less inhibited & more spontaneous

Less conform to society mandates

PSYCHOLOGICALLY HEALTHY PERSONALITY
(ORDER)
Retain or rediscover the fresh and naïve way of looking at life they knew as children
Have relatively few friends
Peak experience: is one in which time and place are transcended , in which people
lose their anxieties and experiences unity of self with the universe and momentary
feeling of power and wonder (Burger 2004)
 Peak experience is a growth experience,
for afterward people report feeling more
spontaneous, more appreciative of life, &
less concerned with whatever problems
PSYCHOLOGY OF they may have had.
OPTIMAL  None-peaking self-actualizers: Social world
improvers, politicians, the workers of society, the
EXPERIENCE reformers, etc.
 Peakers : are more likely to write the poetry, the
music, the philosophies and religion.
 Humanistic psychologist concerned about
what makes people happy
Reaching goals provide a sense of
PSYCHOLOGY OF mastery, but the real pleasure comes from
OPTIMAL the process and name it the flow.
Therefore, optimal experience is something
EXPERIENCE that we make happen
Pleasurable vs. enjoyable (Happiness)
 Pleasure is an immediate satisfaction, It is a delight to
take it, give it, seek it, request it or afford/buy it.
Pleasure is gratification or satisfaction.
PSYCHOLOGY OF Happiness is a state of well being and contentment
brought about by good fortune, prosperity, luck or
OPTIMAL chance, it can just occur. Happiness is a pleasurable
satisfaction
EXPERIENCE Joy is an experience of great "pleasure" or delight.
Joy is the state of being happy.
 Difference between joy and pleasure
1. Joy (happiness) is pure and makes you feel good
about yourself
 Flesh pleasure is momentary and then you don't feel good about
yourself when it is done, but you either feel a let down and want
more, or shameful, depending on how far you went to get the

PSYCHOLOGY OF pleasure.

2. Joy (happiness) starts slow and builds up.

OPTIMAL  Pleasure starts big, and then fades quickly leaving you feeling
empty
EXPERIENCE 3. Joy happiness) brings much greater satisfaction,
lasting satisfaction, while Pleasure leaves you weaker
to battle the attacks of the enemy
4. Things that bring joy bring an increase in personal
value and character attributes.
COMPONENTS OF OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE
The task is sufficiently
challenging to demand
The Activity Is Challenging full attention, but not so
and Requires Skill. difficult that it
denies a sense of
accomplishment.

People stop being aware

of themselves as
One’s Attention Is Completely separate from their
Absorbed by the Activity. actions, which seem
spontaneous and
automatic.
COMPONENTS OF OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE

The Activity Has Clear Goals. There Is Clear Feedback.

There is a direction, a logical point to We need to know if we have succeeded at
work toward. reaching our goal, even if this is only self-
confirmation.
COMPONENTS OF OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE

One Can Concentrate Only on the One Achieves a Sense of Personal

Task at Hand. Control.
During flow we pay no attention to the People in flow enjoy the experience of
unpleasant parts of life. exercising control over their environments.
COMPONENTS OF OPTIMAL EXPERIENCE

One Loses Self-Consciousness. One Loses a Sense of Time.

With attention focused on the activity and Usually hours pass by in what seems like
the goals, there is little opportunity to think minutes, but the opposite can also occur.
about one’s self.
 What is the best way to evaluate self
awareness, self understanding, or any of
the levels of Maslow’s pyramid?
ASSESSMENT IN Interview is the most common way
THE Self report may be used to assist
HUMANISTIC What are interview (counseling) skills we
APPROACH can use to determine the client’s level of
self understanding, self esteem, etc?
What is the best way to gain client trust?
 Therapy emphasize the freedom to
choose and develop a lifestyle that
reduces feelings of emptiness,
anxiety and boredom (client center
approach)
The goal for clients is to accept that
INTERVENTION they have the power to do or to be
whatever they desire (taking control
of their life)
People do not have to be shy and
unassertive because they have always
been that way (live here and now)
 People do not have to remain in unhappy
relation because they do not know what else
to do (live here and now)
Therapist try to understand where the clients
are coming from and provide what the clients
need to help themselves (peak experience
and flow experience)
INTERVENTION Therapist must be open and genuine
Use unconditional positive regard
Provide safe atmosphere facilitate and
encourage disclosure
Therapist therapeutically self disclose and
being natural
 Provide accepting relationship with
the client
Use reflection technique
 Reflecting is the process of paraphrasing
and restating both the feelings and words
of the speaker. The purposes of
INTERVENTION reflecting are:
• To allow the speaker to 'hear' their own thoughts and to
focus on what they say and feel.
• To show the speaker that you are trying to perceive the
world as they see it and that you are doing your best to
understand their messages.
• To encourage them to continue talking.
 As for any theoretical approach
there are always strengths and
weakness (criticism), humanistic
approach is not far from that.
Strengths:
EVALUATING THE  Draw attention to healthy part of
APPROACH personality (Positive psychology)
 Introduce client center approach
 Sparks the growth of group encounter
therapy (group therapy)
 Humanistic approach spread to other
disciplines
 Criticism of Humanistic approach:
 Key concepts are poorly defined
 Depends on personal observation,
personal values, and intuition
 Free well is not measurable and doesn't
EVALUATING THE conform to scientific inquiry
APPROACH  Free well cannot be predictable
 Limited applicability of humanistic
psychotherapy techniques
Thank You