NRNP 6645 Assignment Week 7 : Comparing Humanistic-Existential Psychotherapy with Other Approaches
NRNP 6645 Assignment Week 7 : Comparing Humanistic-Existential Psychotherapy with Other Approaches
Humanistic-Existential Psychotherapy vs. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Mental health problems act as a source of a significant disease burden to the affected populations. Mental health problems cause premature disability, mortality, and loss of productivity. Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNP) play an important role in the promotion of health and wellbeing of patients with mental health problems. They utilize their knowledge and skills in psychiatry to develop patient-centered, effective treatment plans that will optimize the care outcomes of their patients. PMHNPs should have an understanding of different modalities utilized in mental health. They should differentiate between the use of psychotherapeutic approaches and humanistic-existential therapies in the management of mental health problems. Therefore, this paper compares human-existential psychotherapy with cognitive behavioral therapy.
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Description of Humanistic-Existential Psychotherapy
Humanistic-existential psychotherapy is a therapy utilized to help patients discover themselves through enhanced awareness of self and their world. The therapy operates on the belief that people have the capacity of choice and self-awareness. It also views human beings as good individuals with the potentials to achieve healthy lives and meaningful relationships with others. Humanistic-existential therapy therefore focuses on helping individuals to free themselves from disabling attitudes and assumptions for them to live fuller lives. The focus of the therapist in the treatment process is not only curing the health problem and its cause but also emphasizing the need for self-actualization and growth of the patient (Hanis1 et al., 2021). The therapist also aims at the conscious processes that influences one’s health and wellbeing rather than the unknown unconscious processes.
Humanistic-existential therapy also focuses on helping clients to understand their philosophies through authentic and responsible thinking. The therapist operates on the assumptions that the problems that clients face are embodied in loneliness, anxiety, and despair. As a result, avenues such as love, creativity, and authenticity can be explored to facilitate the transformation of the feelings and experiences of the clients for them to live meaningful lives. Humanistic-existential therapy also recognizes that people undergo crises in their lives. The crises can affect individual health and wellbeing (Chigangaidze, 2021). As a result, it is important for the therapist to help patients and the affected populations to develop personal identity that fosters positive relationships, accept anxiety and distress as part of human life, and become aware of nonexistence and death.
Description of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy was selected for use in comparison with humanistic-existential therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychological treatment used in the treatment of health problems such as depression, alcohol and drug abuse disorders, eating, anxiety disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Cognitive behavioral therapy aims at changing the way in which a patient thinks and behaves. The therapy operates on the assumption that the mental health problems that patients experience are attributable to their maladaptive thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The therapist therefore helps patients to develop positive approaches to addressing their distressing thoughts and behaviors. The therapists achieve the desired outcomes of treatment by using interventions that help clients to recognize their distortions in thinking as well as undesired behaviors. They also help them in understanding better their behaviors and motivating them to develop effective problem solving skills for use in coping with their stressors (David et al., 2018). Through it, patients develop an enhanced sense of confidence in their abilities to control maladaptive thoughts and behaviors.
Differences and its Impact on my Practice as a PMHNP
Humanistic-existential psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy are different. One of the differences between the two is that cognitive behavioral therapy aims at helping the client transform the way in which they think and feel. The therapy operates on the assumptions that maladaptive thinking and behaviors are products of altered cognitive functions. As a result, patients can be assisted by transforming their negative thoughts and experiences. Humanistic-existential therapy on the other hand does not seek to transform one’s thoughts and behaviors. Instead, it seeks to liberate people from disabling attitudes and assumptions by increasing their level of self-awareness and choice (Hanis1 et al., 2021; Linardon et al., 2017). The focus is on ensuring that patients achieve an enhanced level of self-growth and awareness and not curing or alleviating diseases and disorders.
The second difference between the two is seen from the interpretation of mental health problems. According to humanistic-existential psychotherapy, mental health problems such as depression arise due to feelings of being separated from one’s freedom. Depression is a product of one’s restricted thinking and not due to psychological conflict. On the other hand, cognitive behavioral therapy considers mental health problems such as depression, as products of negative emotional response to environmental triggers. The triggers may be traumatic individual experiences in their environment that cause negative patterns of dysfunctional interpretation of situations (Chigangaidze, 2021; David et al., 2018). As a result, cognitive behavioral therapy considers mental health problems treatable through the transformation of individual experiences.
The last difference between the two lies on the psychotherapy methods used in practice. While humanistic-existential therapy uses methods such as client-centered therapy and gestalt therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy uses approaches such as reframing, guided discovery, journaling, relaxation techniques, role experimentation, and exposure therapy (Linardon et al., 2017). The implications of the differences on my practice are that I will have to select an appropriate treatment method for patients with mental health disorders. In this case, cognitive behavioral therapy is the most preferred for use to human-existential therapy, as it seeks to transform the negative experiences of the patients.
Why Humanistic-Existential Psychotherapy was Used in the Video
PsychotherapyNet (2009) used Humanistic-existential psychotherapy in the video because the focus of the therapy was not on treating a mental health disorder but helping the client expand his self-awareness. The therapists aimed at helping the client become free from his self-imposed restricted thinking. The appropriateness of humanistic-existential psychotherapy was therefore to increase the choices that the client had for him to live his life to the fullest. The focus was not on transformation of maladaptive thoughts and behaviors but expanding the opportunities for self-growth and development for the client (Hanis1 et al., 2021).
Conclusion
Humanistic-existential psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy are utilized in mental healthcare. The two therapies have differences that affect their use. Humanistic-existential psychotherapy seeks to increase the self-awareness of the patient while cognitive behavioral therapy aims at transforming negative thoughts and behaviors. Therefore, PMHNP should understand the appropriateness of use of each of the therapies when working with patients with different mental health needs.
References
Chigangaidze, R. K. (2021). An exposition of humanistic- existential social work in light of ubuntu philosophy: Towards theorizing ubuntu in social work practice. Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 40(2), 146–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/15426432.2020.1859431
David, D., Cristea, I., & Hofmann, S. G. (2018). Why Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Is the Current Gold Standard of Psychotherapy. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00004
Hanis1, G. N., Sadeghi, M., & Gholamrezaei, S. (2021). Comparing the Effectiveness of Existential, Cognitive-Existential, and Humanistic-Existential Group Psychotherapy on Sexual Satisfaction in Women with Type-2 Diabetes. Journal of Counseling Research. https://doi.org/10.18502/qjcr.v20i78.6782
Linardon, J., Wade, T. D., de la Piedad Garcia, X., & Brennan, L. (2017). The efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy for eating disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 85(11), 1080–1094. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000245
PsychotherapyNet. (2009, June 30). James Bugental Live Case Consultation Psychotherapy Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl8tVTjdocI
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Assignment: Comparing Humanistic-Existential Psychotherapy with Other Approaches
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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.