Week 7: Humanistic–Existential Therapy

It is the client who knows what hurts, what directions to go, what problems are crucial, what

experiences have been deeply buried.

 

—Carl Rogers, from On Becoming a Person

 

This client-centered perspective is the cornerstone of humanistic-existential therapy, which

requires therapists to “attempt to receive clients with curiosity and openness, endeavor to grasp

their subjective world, and believe that clients are the experts on their own experience”

(Wheeler, 2014, p. 373). As the psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner, it is important to

understand that the effectiveness of this approach is dependent on your relationship with

clients, as well as your beliefs on holism and human nature.

 

This week, you compare humanistic-existential therapy with other approaches and justify its use

with individual patients.

 

Wheeler, K. (Ed.). (2014). Psychotherapy for the advanced practice psychiatric nurse: A how-to

guide for evidence-based practice (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing.

 

Learning Objectives

Students will:

 

Distinguish between humanistic-existential psychotherapy and other types of psychotherapy

Justify the use of humanistic-existential psychotherapy approaches with individual patients

Learning Resources

Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)

 

Required Media (click to expand/reduce)

 

Assignment: Comparing Humanistic-Existential Psychotherapy with Other Approaches

 

Photo Credit: motortion / Adobe Stock

 

Understanding the strengths of each type of therapy and which type of therapy is most

appropriate for each patient is an essential skill of the psychiatric-mental health nurse

practitioner. In this Assignment, you will compare humanistic-existential therapy to another

psychotherapeutic approach. You will identify the strengths and challenges of each approach

and describe expected potential outcomes.

 

To prepare:

 

Review the humanistic-existential psychotherapy videos in this week’s Learning Resources.

Reflect on humanistic-existential psychotherapeutic approaches.

Then, select another psychotherapeutic approach to compare with humanistic-existential

psychotherapy. The approach you choose may be one you previously explored in the course or

one you are familiar with and especially interested in.

The Assignment

In a 2- to 3-page paper, address the following:

 

Briefly describe humanistic-existential psychotherapy and the second approach you selected.

Explain at least three differences between these therapies. Include how these differences might

impact your practice as a PMHNP.

Focusing on one video you viewed, explain why humanistic-existential psychotherapy was

utilized with the patient in the video and why it was the treatment of choice. Describe the

expected potential outcome if the second approach had been used with the patient.

Support your response with specific examples from this week’s media and at least three peer-

reviewed, evidence-based sources. Explain why each of your supporting sources is considered

scholarly. Attach the PDFs of your sources.

 

Note: The School of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction,

summary, and references. The Sample Paper provided at the Walden Writing Center provides an

example of those required elements (available at

http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates ). All papers submitted must use

this formatting.