Existential-Humanistic therapy is relational and experiential. Care is a critical therapy component: letting our clients matter to and influence us.
In many cases, caring is pretty straightforward. We love our clients. Unconditional positive regard is easy. The only risk is maybe what we do with that affection. Alternatively, we might genuinely dislike our clients. That’s hard. Can we show care by simply…
Existential-Humanistic therapy is experiential and relational. Transparency stands as a central issue for both.
For the client, openness and honesty are the ground for healing and growth. Closedness and self-deception ensure the status quo. However, when basked in presence, transparency leads to revelation. The process of transparency is therefore worth reinforcing and encouraging with sensitivity.
Existential-Humanistic therapy (E-H) is relational and experiential. Safety, transparency, and collaboration work in concert, defining the therapeutic relationship. Safety includes several different components. It also means different things to different clients, though basics arguably apply universally.
Concerning safety, an emphasis on acceptance arguably differentiates E-H from other therapeutic modalities. Acceptance means first openness and suspension of judgment.
Existential-Humanistic Therapy is experiential and relational. Working in the “here and now” is central to experiential work and a powerful ally in therapy. As Irv Yalom (2002) aptly summarizes, “The here-and-now is the major source of therapeutic power, the pay dirt of therapy, the therapist’s (and hence the patient’s) best friend.” (p. 46)
His words were stoic and straightforward: “I’ve been in well over a hundred firefights. When I picked up pieces of my buddy and put them in a body bag…that’s hard even to say.” Sadly, that was just a small slice of the brutality. Then there’s the father, talking about his young daughter, sobbing, “she went to bed…and she just never
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