Humanistic, Existential, and Other Psychotherapies Terms

What similarities do humanistic and existential therapies share?

They focus on the here-and-now, prioritize the client’s subjective experience over objective reality, reject the medical model, and emphasize internal qualities.

What does a phenomenological orientation emphasize?

It emphasizes the client’s subjective experience over objective reality.

What do humanistic therapies emphasize?

Acceptance and growth, helping clients become fully-functioning and self-actualizing.

What do existential therapies emphasize?

Freedom and responsibility, helping clients confront existential anxieties and engage authentically with their world.

What is another name for Rogers's person-centered therapy?

Client-centered therapy.

What assumption is person-centered therapy based on?

All people have an innate drive toward self-actualization.

What can thwart the drive toward self-actualization?

Incongruence between a person’s self-concept and experience.

What are conditions of worth, according to Rogers?

When a child receives love only when behaving in certain ways.

How do people typically react to incongruence?

They react defensively by distorting or denying their experiences.

What is the primary goal of person-centered therapy?

Help clients become ‘fully functioning persons’ who are not defensive and are engaged in self-actualization.

What are the three core conditions provided by person-centered therapists?

Empathy, unconditional positive regard, congruence.

What is empathy in person-centered therapy?

Understanding the client’s perspective and communicating that understanding.

What is unconditional positive regard in person-centered therapy?

Valuing and accepting the client as a person, regardless of behavior.

What is congruence in person-centered therapy?

Being genuine, authentic, and honest with the client.

What are two main assumptions of Gestalt therapy?

Maintain and restore homeostasis.

What is neurosis in Gestalt therapy?

A disturbance interfering with the person’s ability to fulfill needs.

What is introjection in Gestalt therapy?

Adopting beliefs and standards of others without evaluation.

What is projection in Gestalt therapy?

Attributing undesirable aspects of oneself to others.

What is retroflection in Gestalt therapy?

Doing to oneself what one would like to do to others.

What is deflection in Gestalt therapy?

Avoiding contact with the environment.

What is confluence in Gestalt therapy?

Blurring the distinction between oneself and others.

What do Gestalt therapists consider the curative factor in therapy?

Gaining awareness of one’s current thoughts, feelings, and actions.

What are two strategies used in Gestalt therapy to increase awareness?

Dream work and empty-chair technique.

What is dream work in Gestalt therapy?

Role-playing parts of their dream representing disowned aspects.

What is the empty-chair technique in Gestalt therapy?

Interacting with opposing aspects of their personality.

How do Gestalt therapists differ from psychodynamic therapists regarding transference?

They do not foster or interpret transference but help distinguish fantasy from reality.

Who are three key figures associated with existential therapies?

Irvin Yalom, Rollo May, Viktor Frankl.

What are the core principles of existential therapies?

Emphasis on personal responsibility and the belief that each must define their own existence.

What do existential therapists view as the source of psychological disturbances?

Four ultimate concerns of existence.

What are the four ultimate concerns of existence?

Death, freedom, isolation, meaninglessness.

What is normal anxiety in existential context?

Proportionate to an objective threat and can motivate positive change.

What is neurotic anxiety?

Disproportionate to an objective threat, involving repression.

What is the primary goal of existential therapy?

To help clients lead more authentic lives by taking charge and choosing values.

What is considered the most important therapeutic tool in existential therapy?

An authentic therapist-client relationship.

What techniques might existential therapists use aside from the therapeutic relationship?

Questioning, interpretation, reframing.

What is Reality Therapy based on?

Glasser's Choice Theory, proposing five basic innate needs.

What are the five basic needs in Reality Therapy?

Love, power, fun, freedom, survival.

What is the primary goal of Reality Therapy?

To help the client replace a failure identity with a success identity.

What is Wubbolding’s WDEP system in Reality Therapy?

Explore wants, discuss doing, encourage self-evaluation, create a plan.

What does Positive Psychology focus on?

Valued subjective experiences like well-being, hope, and happiness.

What is 'flow' in Positive Psychology?

Complete involvement in an activity that is enjoyable for its own sake.

When are people most likely to experience flow?

When there’s a balance between challenge and skill levels.

What distinguishes Positive Psychology from other approaches?

Its emphasis on using the scientific method.

What are two benefits supported by empirical research regarding positive emotions?

Increased longevity and improved physical health.

What is the focus of Kelly’s Personal Construct Therapy?

Helping people change how they construe events to alleviate undesirable behaviors.

What are personal constructs?

Bipolar dimensions of meaning from a person’s experiences.

What is the role of the therapist and client in Personal Construct Therapy?

They are partners identifying and replacing maladaptive personal constructs.

What is Kelly’s fixed-role therapy?

Role-plays a fictional character to construe events differently.