SELf-UNDERSTANDING AND SELF-ACCEPTANCE.

People see the world in different ways. This can impact our choices, thoughts and actions. Humanistic therapy is all about understanding yourself better. It helps you explore your feelings, recognise your strengths, and make positive changes in your life.

Counsellors can help you understand yourself better, and to find self-acceptance. If you don’t have respect for yourself, it can be more difficult to grow as a person. For example, if you think that you are worthless, and that you have to hide this from people, you may often feel like you aren’t ‘good enough.’

This type of therapy can support anyone, but it can be particularly helpful for people who are feeling lost, or who are struggling with low self-esteem, anxiety, panic or depression. It can be useful for people who feel like they don’t have a purpose.

Types of humanistic therapies

There are several different types of humanistic therapy. Some of these include:

Existential Therapy
This type of counselling helps you understand how the way you see yourself changes the way you see the whole world. Existential therapy helps explore the meaning you give to things that happen in your life, and how this impacts your goals. It can help you feel that you have the freedom to make positive decisions and changes.

Person-Centred Therapy
Person-centred therapists work to understand your experience from your point of view, and help you make sense of your thoughts. You are the expert on your life and feelings, and you decide what to discuss in sessions. The therapist will listen and help direct you.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
This therapy focuses on the future and what you would like to achieve, rather than exploring past events.

Systemic Counselling
This type of counselling helps you to understand yourself as an individual, and also the ‘systems’ that you are part of – like a couple, a family, a friend group, or a work or sports team. Systemic counsellors help to explore how people communicate and behave within these systems, and the roles of each member of these groups.

Transactional Analysis
This type of therapy is based on the idea that our brain has three ‘modes’ – parent, adult and child – and that these ‘modes’ affect how we interact with other people. It also explores your beliefs and your understanding of the world around you, and the way these things affect your behaviours. From there, you can find ways to create positive change in your life.

Humanistic counsellors can help you recognise and overcome things that hold you back. This can be a good starting point for new personal growth.