Humanistic Psychology

Humanistic psychology is an approach that emphasizes looking at the whole individual and stresses concepts such as free will, self-efficacy, and self-actualization. Rather than concentrating on dysfunction, humanistic psychology strives to help people fulfill their potential and maximize their well-being.

Humanistic psychology, also often referred to as humanism emerged during the 1950s as a reaction to the psychoanalysis and behaviorism that dominated psychology at the time. Psychoanalysis was focused on understanding the unconscious motivations that drive behavior while behaviorism studied the conditioning processes that produce behavior.

Humanist thinkers felt that both psychoanalysis and behaviorism were too pessimistic, either focusing on the most tragic of emotions or failing to take into account the role of personal choice.

As it developed, humanistic psychology focused on each individual's potential and stressed the importance of growth and self-actualization. The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology is that people are innately good and that mental and social problems result from deviations from this natural tendency.

Humanism also suggests that people possess personal agency and that they are motivated to use this free will to pursue things that will help them achieve their full potential as human beings. This need for fulfillment and personal growth is a key motivator of all behavior. People are continually looking for new ways to grow, to become better, to learn new things, and to experience psychological growth and self-actualization.

Abraham Maslow

Abraham Harold Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow's hierarchy of needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization. He stressed the importance of focusing on the positive qualities in people, as opposed to treating them as a "bag of symptoms."

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is used to study how humans intrinsically partake in behavioral motivation. Maslow used the terms "physiological", "safety", "belonging and love", "social needs" or "esteem", and "self-actualization" to describe the pattern through which human motivations generally move. This means that in order for motivation to arise at the next stage, each stage must be satisfied within the individual themselves. Additionally, this theory is a main base in knowing how effort and motivation are correlated when discussing human behavior. Each of these individual levels contains a certain amount of internal sensation that must be met in order for an individual to complete their hierarchy. The goal in Maslow's theory is to attain the fifth level or stage: self-actualization.

Physiological Needs

Physiological need is a concept that was derived to explain and cultivate the foundation for motivation. This concept is the main physical requirement for human survival. This means that Physiological needs are universal human needs. Physiological needs are considered in internal motivation according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. This theory states that humans are compelled to fulfill these physiological needs first in order to pursue intrinsic satisfaction on a higher level. If these needs are not achieved, it leads to an increase in displeasure within an individual. In return, when individuals feel this increase in displeasure, the motivation to decrease these discrepancies increases. In order to pursue intrinsic motivation higher up Maslow's hierarchy, Physiological needs must be met first. This means that if a human is struggling to meet their physiological needs, then they are unlikely to intrinsically pursue safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization.

Physiological needs include:

• Homeostasis

• Health

• Food

• Water

• Sleep

• Clothes

• Shelter

Safety Needs

Once a person's physiological needs are relatively satisfied, their safety needs take precedence and dominate behavior. In the absence of physical safety – due to war, natural disaster, family violence, childhood abuse, institutional racism etc. – people may (re-)experience post-traumatic stress disorder or transgenerational trauma. This level is more likely to predominate in children as they generally have a greater need to feel safe. Safety and security needs are about keeping us safe from harm. These include shelter, job security, health, and safe environments. If a person does not feel safe in an environment, they will seek to find safety before they attempt to meet any higher level of survival, but the need for safety is not as important as basic physiological needs.

Safety and Security needs include:

• Personal security

• Emotional security

• Financial security

• Health and well-being

• Safety needs against accidents/illness and their adverse impacts

Love and (Social) Belonging

After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third level of human needs are seen to be interpersonal and involves feelings of belongingness. This need is especially strong in childhood and it can override the need for safety as witnessed in children who cling to abusive parents. Deficiencies within this level of Maslow's hierarchy – due to hospitalism, neglect, shunning, ostracism, etc. – can adversely affect the individual's ability to form and maintain emotionally significant relationships in general.

Social Belonging needs include:

• Friendships

• Intimacy

• Family

According to Maslow, humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance among social groups, regardless of whether these groups are large or small. For example, some large social groups may include clubs, co-workers, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs, and online communities. Some examples of small social connections include family members, intimate partners, mentors, colleagues, and confidants. Humans need to love and be loved – both sexually and non-sexually – by others. Many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and clinical depression in the absence of this love or belonging element. This need for belonging may overcome the physiological and security needs, depending on the strength of the peer pressure.

(Self) Esteem

Esteem needs are ego needs or status needs. People develop a concern with getting recognition, status, importance, and respect from others. Most humans have a need to feel respected; this includes the need to have self-esteem and self-respect. Esteem presents the typical human desire to be accepted and valued by others. People often engage in a profession or hobby to gain recognition. These activities give the person a sense of contribution or value. Low self-esteem or an inferiority complex may result from imbalances during this level in the hierarchy. People with low self-esteem often need respect from others; they may feel the need to seek fame or glory. However, fame or glory will not help the person to build their self-esteem until they accept who they are internally. Psychological imbalances such as depression can distract the person from obtaining a higher level of self-esteem.

Most people have a need for stable self-respect and self-esteem. Maslow noted two versions of esteem needs: a "lower" version and a "higher" version. The "lower" version of esteem is the need for respect from others. This may include a need for status, recognition, fame, prestige, and attention. The "higher" version manifests itself as the need for self-respect. For example, the person may have a need for strength, competence, mastery, self-confidence, independence, and freedom. This "higher" version takes guidelines, the "hierarchies are interrelated rather than sharply separated". This means that esteem and the subsequent levels are not strictly separated; instead, the levels are closely related.

Self-Actualization

"What a man can be, he must be." This quotation forms the basis of the perceived need for self-actualization. This level of need refers to the realization of one's full potential. Maslow describes this as the desire to accomplish everything that one can, to become the most that one can be. Individuals perceive or focus on this need very specifically. People may have a strong, particular desire to become an ideal parent, succeed athletically, or create paintings, pictures, or inventions. Maslow believed that to understand this level of need, the person must not only succeed in the previous needs but master them. Self-actualization can be described as a value-based system when discussing its role in motivation; self-actualization is understood as the goal-or explicit motive, and the previous stages in Maslow's Hierarchy fall in line to become the step-by-step process by which self-actualization is achievable; an explicit motive is the objective of a reward-based system that is used to intrinsically drive completion of certain values or goals. Individuals who are motivated to pursue this goal seek and understand how their needs, relationships, and sense of self are expressed through their behavior. Self-actualization can include:

• Partner Acquisition

• Parenting

• Utilizing & Developing Abilities

• Utilizing & Developing Talents

• Pursuing goals

Mason Durie

Sir Mason Harold Durie KNZM (born 4 December 1938) is a New Zealand professor of Māori Studies and research academic at Massey University. He is known for his contributions to Māori health.

For over 40 years, he has been at the forefront of a transformational approach to Māori health and has played major roles in building the Māori health workforce. His efforts have been recognised by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, the Public Health Association of New Zealand, the Māori Medical Practitioners Association, the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, and the Polynesian Society.

In addition to a lifelong commitment to Māori health, Durie also championed higher education for Māori. As Deputy Chair of Te Wānanga o Raukawa, Professor of Māori Research and Development, and more recently Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Massey University, he continues to provide national academic leadership for Māori and indigenous development and regularly assists Iwi and Māori communities to realise their own aspirations for socio-economic advancement.

He developed the Māori health model of Te whare tapa whā which has been used to describe Māori mental wellbeing.

Te Whare Tapa Whā

The Māori philosophy toward health is based on a holistic health and wellness model called Te Whare Tapa Whā. Developed by Dr Mason Durie in 1982, it can be applied to any health issue, whether it involves physical or psychological well-being.

Māori health is underpinned by four dimensions representing the basic beliefs of life – te taha hinengaro (psychological health); te taha wairua (spiritual health); te taha tinana (physical health); and te taha whānau (family health). These four dimensions are represented by the four walls of a house. Each wall is necessary to the strength and symmetry of the building.

Te taha hinengaro

This refers to psychological health, with a focus on emotions. It is understood that the mind and body are inseparable, and that communication through emotions is important and more meaningful than the exchange of words. For example, someone who is unhappy in their daily life may manifest this in physical illness.

Te taha wairua

This refers to spiritual awareness. It is recognised as the essential requirement for health and well-being. It is believed that without spiritual awareness an individual can be lacking in well-being and therefore more prone to ill health. Wairua explores relationships with the environment, people and heritage. Spiritual awareness is key to making effective life decisions.

Te taha tinana

This refers to physical health and growth and development as it relates to the body. This focuses on physical well-being and bodily care. Tinana suffers when a person is under emotional stress, or is unwell. Pain in different parts of your body is tinana communicating what is going on consciously or unconsciously. For example, someone who is stressed or unhappy in their daily life may be more likely to become physically ill.

Te taha whānau

This is the most fundamental unit of Māori society. Whānau are clusters of individuals descended from a fairly recent ancestor. Whānau may include up to three or four generations, and its importance will vary from one individual to the next. The beliefs, expectations or opinions of the whānau can have a major impact on the choices that an individual makes.

Humanistic Psychology and Addiction

Using the ideas of Maslow and Durie, the links between looking at the 'whole' individual and addiction become clearer. At the physiological level, when the most basic human survival requirements are not being consistently met, people may turn to drugs or alcohol because it is literally the only avenue of escape to which they have access. The connection between homelessness, for example, and substance abuse is well-known, and while the cause-and-effect relationship in these cases is not always clear (what came first, the ‘chicken’ of substance abuse or the ‘egg’ of extreme poverty?), drugs and alcohol may help those who have nothing left hide from the true deprivation of their existence. Second-level safety deficiencies may also lead those who feel insecure to seek a chemically-induced liberation from their persistent sense of dread and anxiety, which could explain why those suffering from PTSD so often turn to drugs and alcohol to help them cope with the constant emotional strain. Going further up the chart, at the third and fourth levels it is not hard to imagine that those who are lonely or who have poor self-esteem may be tempted to use and abuse drugs and alcohol to anaesthetize their emotional pain and help them forget for awhile just how uncomfortable they feel in their own skin. Finally, when a person seems to have had all of his needs satisfied, but is still left with the feeling that there is something missing and that there must be more to life, as Maslow speculates such a tortured soul may indeed be especially vulnerable to the seductive lure of mind-altering substances. The depression and uncertainty that plagues those who have failed to self-actualize and develop their full potential as human beings may send them racing into the welcoming arms of drugs and alcohol, as they desperately seek an effective means to quiet their inner voices of profound doubt and confusion.