Humanistic/Existential Perspective of Personality - 927 Words

Humanistic/Existential perspective of personality Christine Bernardo Psych 405 December 3, 2012 Thom Mote Humanistic/Existential perspective of personality I would like to summarize the strengths of both the humanistic and existential perspectives of personality. This will focus on strengths and examples of personalities using these theories. Both of these perspectives are part of a progressive and positive attempt to resolve upset and inhibiting behaviors to uncover the better person hiding within. To analyze the strengths of any perspective you have to break down the theory into its strengths and weaknesses. Abraham Maslow has a humanistic theory that is based around self-actualization. This self – actualization is the main†¦show more content†¦Existential therapy focuses primary on starting with the exact issues the client has or things they need to address. The main issue is what this therapy is adaptive to, and works on an individual basis for each client. It is not a strict structure but more free in the process of it (Andrew, 1989). In discussing a personality using this theory would be an example of someone going to therapy to address certain issues or one issue and learn and understand why it exists. This theory would not apply to someone in need of quicker help (like with depression or anxiety) and medication is sometimes necessary for a person to even be able to start dealing with an issue or problem that is occurring. This is part of the opposition to the existential theory because some professionals don’t see being able to solve problems in this way but rather in a very planned method that is used for everyone. Discussing the humanistic approach as well in regards to a therapeutic practice can be discarded by others because personality is too vast to work in any single manner (Mayer, 2003). However the foundation of therapy is humanistic in nature because it is problem solving and progressing into a better person and resolving problems that exist which is all positive in nature. In theory both of these perspectives can work and has worked for manyShow MoreRelatedPersonality Theory : Existential Personality Theories And Humanistic Theories Have Changed Focus On Psychological Perspectives Essay1275 Words   |  6 PagesPersonality Analysis Theories on existential personality theories and Humanistic theories have changed focus on psychological viewpoints because of the behavior of individuals. Now Carl Rogers’s person-center theory and Rollo May’s existential psychology focuses more on what many would call present and future experiences of the individual rather than the past because people mental states can change from one month to the next. 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