We reach the ‘peak experience’ every time
we feel a sense of fulfilment. Maslow
developed the ‘hierarchy of needs’ this has
seven levels, starting from the bottom are:
physiological needs, safety needs, love and
belongingness, esteem needs, cognitive
needs, aesthetic needs and self-
actualisation. Everyday people go up and
down this ladder reaching different levels.
Self-actualised individuals have an
acceptance of who they are, deep
interpersonal relationships, a good sense of
humour and creativeness. This has
contributed to education training teachers to
motivate students to reach their potential,
applied to management to understand the
needs of employees and motivate them
through praise and for therapy the main
application in helping to understand patients
needs.
Another humanistic psychologist was
Rogers who developed a theory of ‘self-
actualisation’ which was similar to
Maslow’s. they both emphasised internal
drives to achieve ‘self-actualisation’. They
differ as Rogers sees it as an on-going
process which doe not stop, whereas
Maslow believes a person stops when they
reach the peak. Rogers felt the role of the
mother in childhood was a crucial factor in
building the adult personality. He believed
humans developed through personal
growth with the ‘unconditional
positive regard’ from parents, this
frees people from striving to gain social
approval. Conditional love leads to
conflict between the self and ideal self.
Rogers was the founder of counselling
as he developed a therapy called
‘client-centred therapy’, this is where
the client is made responsible to
improve his/her life. He placed a lot of
emphasis on ‘self concept’, this
includes three parts which are the
ideal self, self image and self esteem.
The humanistic approach’s
strengths are that it takes a positive
approach to human behaviour. It also
emphasises the responsibility of
individuals and the belief that they have
power for self healing. Counselling has
become a huge industry due to the
‘client-centred therapy’. Although it
has good pints the weaknesses are that
it ignores the mental processes which
cannot be studied which are below
conscious awareness. The theory
cannot be proven right or wrong as it is
vague and unscientific, therefore it is
difficult to understand its concepts.
Not everyone has potential to ‘self-
actualise’ and clients may distort their
explanations of experiences in therapy.
The humanistic approach is
valid as it is ‘subjective’ because it
considers an individual own
experiences. Each individual tries to
maximise their potential and they
should be responsible for their own
lives i.e. ‘free will’.
MANDEEP .K. POONIA
