The Existence of Humanity and Personalities

In the article, “The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Therapeutic Personality Change” by Rogers, talks about the conditions that are key factors when a therapist talks to client in order to have a healthy personality change. The article begins by including the six factors between the relationships of the therapist and the client. First of the six conditions is that, “two of the people are in psychological contact” (Rogers, 1992) which means that the therapist and the clients are involved and speaking in a mental and emotional state by meeting, communicating and are in a professional relationship.

The second of the six conditions is, “the client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious” (Rogers, 1992) and in this sense, it refers to when the client is being in a state of wanting to have that support or care from the therapist. The third of the six conditions is, “the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship”, for this the therapist’s position in the relationship with his or her client must be available to listen, ask questions, be in agreement to reasonable conditions and be in harmony (Rogers, 1992). The fourth of the six conditions is stated as, “The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client” (Rogers, 1992), where the therapist hold basic acceptance and supports the client no matter what they say or do during a session. The fifth of the six conditions listed claims that, “The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the client’s internal frame of reference and endeavors to communicate this experience to the client”, by this Carl Roger means that the therapist must be able to express and have empathy towards the clients hard work and effort for trying their best or when they achieve one of their goals in life whether that’s a small goal or a big one.

Finally, the sixth condition is stated as, “The communication to the client of the therapist’s empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a minimal degree achieved” (Rogers, 1992) and by this, the therapist has a great communication with the client in a way that is understanding and accepting to at least the bare minimum (enough to for a good professional relationship with the client). With these requirements, a person may change his or her behavior for the better in both the surface and deeper levels in psychotherapeutic change. This article was written by Carl Rogers and he is a humanistic psychologist who focused, in this case, on a person’s opportunity to be able to grow and he explained that the environment with relationship is a huge key for the person to be around such as genuineness and being accepted.

In the next article, “Logotherapy and Existentialism” by Viktor E. Frankl, talks about logotherapy in which a person who is determined to find his or her purpose in their life is human nature and it is basically when a person is striving towards finding the meaning for an individual’s life. However, the differences between ontoanalysis (which was mentioned in the article) is when it gets involved with certain mental health problems such as those who have trouble with reality but instead mild mental illness, stated as “logotherapy does not aim at a better understanding of psychosis but rather a shorter treatment of neurosis” (Frankl, 1967). The article also brings up Freud, who is a psychoanalyst, and he believed that “where id is, ego should be” (Frankl, 1967), and this basically means that self-understanding is arrived at through an encounter.

A huge issue dealing with mental illness is that many have trouble believing that they have a purpose in the world and its difficult to just give them a purpose in life as it “cannot be prescribed like a drug” (Frankl, 1967). As claimed by the teachings of logotherapeutic teachings is that there’s always an opportunity to search for meaning in a person’s life. People in life deal with difficult life aspects and stressors such as feeling suffering, guilt and death, but in this case, the teachings states that it “can still be turned into something positive, provided that they are faced with the right attitude” (Frankl, 1967) meaning that there is always hope to a person’s existence as long as they don’t give up.

The final article, “Psychological Data and Human Value” by Abraham Maslow, talks about his theory that a person’s necessities can determine the way he or she is motivated. Through reviewing and going through the other theories, Maslow develops his own to make it more “accurate” in a sense to human psychology and their existence. A human’s motivation can change when a person lacks a part of a “basic needs” in the requirements that Maslow created. If these needs aren’t met, then there could be difficulties in that person’s life. There is a question that has been asked many times of what is actually good and what is a good life. Maslow believed that in order to improve human nature it is to “help people to become more strong, virtuous, creative, kind, loving, altruistic, serene”. The basic needs begin with the physiological needs such as food, water, temperature regulation and rest. The physiological needs start off as the most important need because without it, a human being will not be able to complete the other needs.

The next need is safety and by this Maslow means the sense of feeling secure and it is “more prepotent, or stronger, more pressing, more vital need than love”. The third need would therefore be love, meaning that a person must feel belongingness in the environment that they are surrounded in. Once a being has felt like they belong, they can focus on their personal esteem needs such as accomplishments. All of these needs lead up what Maslow calls, Self-actualization which is like a self-fulfillment need when a person is achieving with their full potential and also include other activities. The article states that all of “these needs or values are related to each other in a hierarchical and developmental way, in an order of strength and of priority”.

In conclusion, all of these research articles can be applied today for not only the work of professionals in the health care field, specifically mental care, but it can also open the eyes of people in general to understand their existence and humanistic. By understanding the steps that are necessary, communication is a vital key when supporting others and boosting one’s self. Without the knowledge of Maslow’s basic needs, one won’t be able to survive or in this case “exist”.

In Frankl’s article, one must be able to have an awareness to themselves and knowing to continue to strive in order to find their purpose in life. There are many deaths everyday and one of the causes of death is suicide, if people support each other and help others find their life purpose and the chances of suicide may decrease. Finally, in Rogers article, knowing the important six conditions when talking to someone (especially if a person is a professional in mental health care) it is important to feel empathy, make them feel accepted and to listen to what they have to say, so that they can change and develop for the better. Those dealing with mental health issues, going to talk to a therapist can help them change.

References

Frankl, V. E. (1967). Logotherapy and existentialism. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 4(3), 138–142. https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/h0087982

Maslow, A. H. (1962). Psychological data and human values. In Toward a psychology of being. (pp. 141–156). Princeton, NJ: D Van Nostrand. https://doi- org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/10793-011

Rogers, C. R. (1992). The Necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60(6), 827–32. Retrieved from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true& db=eric&AN=EJ456947&site=eds-live&scope=site