As you look around my website, you may notice a few things. First, that each section has a theme and a specific purpose, either to inform you of my background or explain how to set up an appointment and so on. The most notable topic of my website that I hope you find is my own nods and references to existential and humanistic theory. This is the theory that is at the basis of my approach when working with clients. For this reason I feel it’s important to explore and talk about this theory so that the words that I boldly present on the home page, “Self-Awareness. Growth. Responsibility. Choice. Meaning. Authenticity.” have more context which will help create understanding as to why they are there, and what makes them important in my therapeutic approach.
Existential humanism is the combination of two theories; existentialism and humanism. Existentialism stems from the Latin word ex-sistere, which means to “become” and humanism stems from the Greek tradition of “knowing thyself” (Schneider & Krug, 2010, pg. 5). We put those together and in essence existenstial-humanistic theory can be understood as “the process of becoming and knowing oneself” (Schneider & Krug, 2010, pg. 5).
In additional, the therapeutic approach tends to focus on three main values that can often lead to a great understanding of knowing oneself; freedom and choice, experiential reflection, and responsibility and ownership of one’s self (Schneider & Krug, 2010, pg. 6).
The idea of getting to know yourself can truly be all-encompassing when it comes to working on most topics that may come up in therapy. Whether a person is feeling anxious, dealing with interpersonal relationships, or taking action to achieve life goals, these are all topics that directly reflect the client's being. I also mention on my approach page that my work tends to be client-centered, again, reiterating this point that throughout most if not all of the obstacles that we may work through in life, our focus and effort tends to be unique to who we are and the experiences that we have had. In that sense, while my therapeutic beliefs are based on personal growth and living authentically, these will be applied differently to every person that I work with in therapy. This is where the client-centered approach also comes into play, as we are all individual and unique and that is what makes us look at things so differently than one another. It's those differences that make a difference, both in therapy, and in life.
With all of these theories and talk of approaches in therapy, it brings me back to an anecdotal story my professor told to us in graduate school. My professor told this story of a man in a mental health clinic who one day was laying in his bed, both yelling and screaming in his room. A person entered the room and asked the man, "What's wrong?" The man in bed replied, "I need help. There is a rope around me and I can't untie it!" The person who entered the room looked at the man laying in his bed, seeing that there was no visible rope around him and asked, "What are you talking about? There is no rope around you, it's an imagination" and then the person left the man in the room.
The man in the room continued to yell and scream that he needed help, help to get out of this rope that he was reporting to have around him. A counselor walked in the room and asked the man, "What's wrong?" and the man laying in bed tried to explain as he had before, "I need help. There is a rope around me and I can't untie it!" Unlike the person before, the counselor walked over to the man in bed and proceeded to help him until his invisible rope.
Existential and humanistic theory. Integrating client-centered and cognitive-behavioral approaches. These are all theories with tools and styles that I use to help clients untie their invisible ropes so that they can learn to own who they are and work towards becoming and knowing themselves better. In the end, that's one of the biggest goal we can all have in our lifetime.
Reference:
Schneider, K.J. & Krug, O.T. (2010). Existential-Humanistic Therapy. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association.