NURS 6640: Psychotherapy With Individuals | Week 8

“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 existential-humanistic 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, as you explore existential-humanistic therapy, you assess clients and consider the appropriateness of various therapeutic approaches. You also develop diagnoses for clients receiving psychotherapy and consider legal and ethical implications of counseling these clients.

Discussion: Clinical Supervision

Clinical Supervision is an essential component of your development as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. It provides an opportunity for professional collaboration as you share experiences with and gain insights from colleagues. For this Clinical Supervision, consider a client whom you do not think is adequately progressing according to expected clinical outcomes.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Assess clients presenting for psychotherapy
• Evaluate effectiveness of therapeutic approaches for clients receiving psychotherapy
• Apply existential-humanistic therapy to clients with psychiatric disorders

To prepare:

• Review this week’s media and consider the insights provided.
• Reflect on the clients you are currently counseling at your practicum site.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link and then select “Create Thread” to complete your initial post. Remember, once you click Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts, and cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking Submit!

By Day 3

Post a 3- to 5-minute Kaltura video that addresses the following:

• Describe a client you are counseling whom you do not think is adequately progressing according to expected clinical outcomes.

Note: Do not use the client’s actual name.

• Explain your therapeutic approach with the client, including the perceived effectiveness of your approach.
• Identify any additional information about this client that may potentially impact expected outcomes.

Note: Nurse practitioners must have strong oral communication skills. This Discussion is designed to help you hone these skills. When filming your Kaltura video, be sure to dress and speak in a professional manner.

View a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues by providing feedback based on an existential-humanistic therapeutic perspective. Support your feedback with evidence-based literature and/or your own experiences with clients.

Note about uploading media: Refer to the Kaltura Media Uploader instructions document, which provides guidance on how to upload media for the Clinical Supervision Discussions. NURS 6640 Week 8: Existential-Humanistic Therapy Assignment

 

 

ADDITIONAL INFO 

Existential-Humanistic Therapy

Introduction

I have been a client of existential-humanistic therapy for several years. The philosophies of this type of therapy are extremely helpful to my life. The process began when I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and started seeing a therapist who focused on helping me gain self-awareness by exploring my personal history and researching the origins of my mental health issues. During our sessions together, we discovered that there were many things about myself that I wished would change—and we worked together to make them happen!

Key concepts of Existential-Humanistic Therapy include:

• What is existential-humanistic therapy?

• What is the role of a therapist in the therapeutic process? The role of a therapist is to be empathetic and supportive, offer guidance, and assist clients in their self-discovery. The important part of this process is that it’s unique to each person – as long as you are willing to work together with your client on finding what works best for them!

• How can one find meaning in life? It all comes down to self-determination: being able to decide what drives us forward and how we want our lives lived. This can take time but there are many ways that this can happen whether it’s through therapy or not (e.g., meditation).

Free will, self-determination, and the search for meaning are necessary for personal growth and healthy relationships.

Free will, self-determination and the search for meaning are all important concepts to understand when it comes to human development.

You can think of free will as an ability to make choices that are not predetermined by your circumstances or genetics. Free will is also known as volitional capacity. Self-determination is a person’s ability to choose who they want to be in terms of their personality traits, values and goals. This includes being able to determine whether or not you want certain things like love or career success before actually getting them (i.e., having agency over your life). The third concept is meaning: the reason why we do what we do; what drives our actions; why we exist at all! Meaning comes from things like family structures, religion/spiritual practices etc…

People err when they believe that their problems or suffering are caused by outside forces.

In existential-humanistic therapy, therapists do not try to fix people’s problems or make them feel good. Rather, they encourage clients to take responsibility for their own lives and experience. This is important because it teaches us that we are responsible for our own suffering and does not require an outside force such as a therapist or God to solve our problems for us; instead, we can learn how to deal with them ourselves through introspection and self-reflection.

In this way, existential-humanistic therapy encourages clients’ growth by encouraging them to explore their inner worlds through writing exercises and journaling sessions so they can gain insight into what makes them happy or sad at any given time in their lives

Therapists should strive to empathize with their clients, and show unconditional positive regard for them.

Therapists should strive to empathize with their clients, and show unconditional positive regard for them. Therapists should be non-judgmental and supportive at all times, even when they disagree with a client’s perspective. They should also be honest and open about their own personal life experiences with the client in order to help foster an empathetic relationship based on mutual respect rather than judgmentalism or defensiveness.

The philosophies of Existential-Humanistic Therapy are extremely helpful to my life.

The philosophy of Existential-Humanistic Therapy is extremely helpful to my life. It’s beneficial to me and beneficial to my clients, who are often people who struggle with anxiety or depression.

The philosophy of Existential-Humanistic Therapy helps me understand how we can live meaningful lives despite the challenges that life may bring us.

Conclusion

I know that I have a long way to go with therapy, but I am optimistic about my future. I feel that Existential-Humanistic Therapy has helped me in my journey towards understanding myself better and finding ways to improve.