Humantistic/Existental

Include an empasis on the uniqueness and wholeness of the individual, a belief in the individual's inherent striving for self-determination and self-actualization, and a focus on current behavior. There is a belief that to understand a person, one must understand his or her subjective experience.

Includes the belief that human beings have an inherent tendecy toward self actualization (i.e achievement of their full potential).  Individuals will naturally grow and self-actualize in a warm, caring authentic, nonjudgement, empathic, and understanding environement.

Gestalt therapy include the belief that human beings are constanly discovering and reconstructing who they are. A person's behavior represents a whole, not differing pieces. An increased awarences of the here-and-now experience allows the individual to chose and to make greater sense of his or her existence. It is based on the theory that personality consists of the self and the self-image.

• Introjection: occurs when a person believes the external perception of whole. The person has difficulty distinguishing between "me" and "not me" and may be overly compliant.
• Projection: refers to disowning aspects of the self by assigning them to other people. For example, if you extremely dislike an individual, a form of projection would be for you to portray the scenario that he or she dislikes you instead. Paranoia is an extreme form projection.
• Retroflection: is described as doing to oneself what one wants to do to others. Retroflection involves redirecting anger one has for another person inward. This can be exhibited in extreme self blame in response to appropriate feedback given to a person. Rather than expressing anger with the person, that anger is expressed inward and becomes self-blame.
• Confluence: Is the absence of a boundary between the self and the environment. This cause intolerance of any differences between onself and others and often underlies feelings of guilt and resentment.

Is to help the client achieve integration of the various aspect of the self in order to become a unified whole. The client's history is seen as relevant only as it impinges on the here-and-now. The therapist-client relationship is referred to as an I-Thou diaglogue relationship reflecting caring, warmth, acceptance, and authenticity.

• Directed awareness: is a techmique whereby the therapist helps the client become aware of his or her immediate experience.
• "No question": is a technique which places the focus on increasing one's own awareness of his or her experience in here-and-now.
• "I language:" is a technique that involves the therapist's use of "I" statements rather than making impersonal interpretations.
• Enactment: is atechnique which involves asking the client to act our feelings or thoughts to increase awareness( eg. empty chair, role playing, psychlodrama, exaggerating a feeling, thought, or motion).
• Guided fantasy visualization: is a technique that involves that involves having the client create a mental image of an experience.
• Loosening/integrating: techniques involves encouraging the client to think in a new way (e.g. asking the client to imagine believing the opposite of what he or she believes about something; having the client locate where in his or her body a specific emotion is located).
• Body Techniques: are techniques used for increasing the clients' awareness their bodies, and helping them to learn new ways of using their bodies to create additional self-awareness and to engage in meaningful contact with others.
• Dreamwork: Is a technique which focuses on recurring dreams.
• Stay with it/ feel it out: is a technique that involves encouraging the client to allow himself or herself to continue to feel the emotion of the moment.  This technique increase the client's capacity to experience his or her feelings fully.

Is often used in group seeting and teaches individuals to trust one another.

Are specific patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

Refers to four possible life positions, with I'm ok, you're ok, considered as the healthy life position.  The other three positions (i.e. I'm ok, your not ok, I'm not ok, you're ok, and I'm not ok you're not ok) are considered unhealthy life positions.

Is the life plan a person creates during childhood, which forms the core of the person's identity and his or her destiny.  This theory is based on beliefs about self and others.

especially parenting, affect all individuals.

Is viewed as an existing innate need of individuals.

Is to be a facilitator of change and growth.

A graph of the relative energy of the different ego states. It was created by John M. Dusay.