Humanistic Theory

MARK DOMBECK, PH.D.

The Humanistic approach developed in the 1960's as a critical reaction to the technical
emphases of both psychodynamic and behaviorist learning approaches to psychology.
Drawing deeply from work done in the fields of existential and religious philosophy, the
humanist psychologists staked a claim to the idea of a "client centered psychotherapy"
(rather than a technique-oriented therapy). According to major humanists like Carl Rogers
and Fredrick Perls, people were born knowing how to be healthy and were naturally drawn
towards making healthy choices. These healthy natural impulses were thwarted by parents,
teachers, religious leaders and other authorities acting on a variety of unhealthy
(dysfunctional) culturally endorsed convictions, or (more sadly) from abusive motives. The
job of the therapist was to help their clients to overcome the negative influences of authority
and society or abusers and get back to making their own healthy choices which would
support their growth. With loving care and support, people would be able to "fix themselves".

The humanist vision of what healthy growth might look like is a tolerant and essentially
liberal one. The direction of growth should be driven from the inside (rather than according to
society's needs) so that every human being is able (if they are lucky and do the necessary
work) to become all they were born to be; to fully explore their inborn interests, and to make
a unique contribution to society. This theoretical pinnacle of self-expression is referred to as
a "self-actualized" state.

There are a whole range of conditions that must be met before any person can work on
becoming self-actualized. According to the "needs hierarchy" described by Abraham
Maslow, people must first secure their basic "organismic" needs (including adequate food,
clothing and shelter necessary to keep themselves alive). Having achieved the basics, they
next worry about and work to achieve: a feeling of adequate safety, a sense of belonging (to
one or more social groups and relationship), and a sense of self-respect and social respect.
Self-actualization, the drive to do all that you desire to do with your life, is something that
only emerges as a motivator of behavior after all the earlier needs are adequately satisfied.
In addition to being as genuine as they could manage to be with their clients, humanist
psychotherapists developed a number of techniques designed to help their clients move past
fears or social commitments and responsibilities that kept them too frightened or too dutiful
to think about pursuing their own inborn agendas. Realizing that many such road blocks took
the form of an internalized sense of duty or of fear, humanist therapists developed many
techniques that were designed to help people reconnect with their hidden, or suppressed
wishes and dreams. Frequently, these techniques (including Perl's "empty chair" technique
described below) worked at an emotional level rather than a rational one.

Humanistic psychology made a lot of sense in the 1970s during the height of the liberal "me"
generation; it might look rather monstrous in the light of 21st century America which has
become a far more conservative and conforming place. It is important to keep firmly in mind
that the humanists were absolutely not suggesting that everyone should pursue any course
of action that pleased them (such as child molestation, or murder). Rather, they were
concerned that there were many people out there who failed to become artists because their
parents urged them to become accountants instead; that there were many homosexually
oriented people out there who were afraid to come "out of the closet" for fear of being
rejected by family and society. Their philosophy was aimed at helping people to develop the
benign and healthy parts of themselves that would otherwise get squashed by society so as
to help people to become more essentially happy; it was not to encourage the development
of monsters or sociopaths. The humanistic philosophy does encourage a sort of selfishness,
but it is not the monstrous sort of selfishness of the narcissist, but instead the healthy mature
sort characteristic of the happy fulfilled person who knows how to set limits and to be
responsible in addition to being able to follow their bliss spontaneously without worrying too
much what other people think.

The key insights to take home from humanistic theory are that: 1) achieving happiness is
often a matter of developing the freedom for yourself to pursue your deepest interests, and
that 2) there are many ways that your deepest interests can get sabotaged or buried. You
will need to overcome any road blocks (which frequently take the form of either fear or duty)
before you become free. Techniques that tend to be helpful in getting you back on track tend
to play towards your emotions (helping you reconnect with your buried desires and feel their
motivating force).