Humanism

[Dr. Linton Hutchinson]

■ Humanism
o Philosophical movement that emphasizes worth of the individual and the centrality of human values
o Attends to matters of ethics and personal worth
o Gives credit to the human spirit
o Emphasis on creative, spontaneous, and active nature of humans
o Optimistic
o Human capacity to overcome hardship and despair


■ Non-Deterministic
o Beliefs that it is oversimplification to view people as controlled by fixed physical laws.
o Encouragement of therapy that considers individual initiative, creativity, and self fulfillment


■ Self Actualization
o Innate process by which a person tends to grow spiritually and realize potential


■ The Experiencing Person
o Important issues must be defined by the client
o Special concerns are discrepancies between what a person thinks of himself and the total range of things he experiences


■ Three Requirements for Therapy

o Genuineness
■ Accurate empathic understanding
■ Genuineness or realness in relations between therapist and client
■ Being oneself in the therapeutic relationship with the client

o Unconditional positive regard
■ Acceptance and caring
■ NOT approval of all behavior

o Congruence
■ Understanding of client’s frame of references
■ Ability to deeply grasp the client’s subjective world and communicate this to the client