Humanistic Approaches

The central goal of existential psychotherapy is to:

• decrease selfawareness.

• increase awareness.

• help clients reject the responsibility of choosing.

• keep the client from experiencing authentic existence.

Philosophically, the existentialists would agree that

• the final decisions and choices rest with the therapist.

• people do not redefine themselves by their choices.

• a person cannot go beyond early conditioning.

• making choices can create anxiety.

According to the existential viewpoint, death:

• makes life absurd.

• makes life meaningless and hopeless.

• gives significance to living.

• should not be explored in therapy.

In regards to techniques, existential practitioners believe:

• free association is essential to the growth and healing of the client.

• no set of techniques is considered essential.

• analysis of dysfunctional family patterns is imperative.

• role playing is the most important technique used.

Existential therapists prefer to be thought of as:

• an observer-technician.

• philosophical companions, not as people who repair psyches.

• a teacher and coach.

• an advocate for social change.

The person-centered approach’s view of human nature:

• views people as basically competitive.

• states that humans are driven by irrational forces.

• emphasizes clients' abilities to engage their own resources to act in their world with others.

• assumes that, while humans have the potential for growth, we tend to remain stagnant.

What is the most important factor related to progress in person-centered therapy?

• Defining concrete and measurable goals

• The therapist’s technical skills

• The relationship between the client and therapist

• The therapist’s ability to think logically and to scientifically solve problems

The person-centered therapist is best described as a:

• facilitator.

• teacher.

• human engineer.

• friend.

In order for a therapist to communicate “accurate empathic understanding” the counselor must:

• feel a deep sense of warmth toward the client.

• connect emotionally to the client’s subjective world.

• clarify details and facts relevant to the client’s experiences.

• have experienced a situation very similar to the client’s current predicament.

Gestalt therapy is a form of:

• Freudian psychoanalytic therapy.

• neo-Freudian analytic therapy.

• behavior therapy.

• existential therapy.