Maslow's Motivation Theory - Case Study Example

Psychologist Abraham H. Maslow developed his own theory pertinent to the theory of motivation and personality. His theory the hierarchy of needs provides an explanation of human behavior in the context of the fundamental requirements for an individual’s growth and survival. These needs or preconditions, are arranged in accordance to their significance for survival and their command in the motivation of an individual. The most fundamental physical needs, such as water, oxygen, of food comprise the lowest level of the hierarchy of needs. These needs should be fulfilled prior to the satisfaction of the higher needs which would turn significant to individuals. Needs which could be found at the higher levels of the hierarchy are not strongly geared towards physical survival, instead their focus are more on the psychological well-being and growth. These needs have lesser power in motivating individuals and they are more influenced by the individual’s life experiences and even formal education. The ensuing hierarchy of needs is frequently portrayed as a pyramid, with physical survival needs situated at the bottom of at the foundation of the pyramid whereas the needs for self-actualization are situated at the top. The historical context of Maslows theories During the time the hierarchy of needs was developed, psychology in the early 1960s was dominated by two views of human behavior. These views are the behaviorist as well as the psychoanalytic. The psychoanalytic view places its emphasis on the unconscious conflicts and makes, drawing a lot of of its conceptions from case studies of neurotic people. On the other hand, the behaviorist view places more attention on the function of learning and generated a lot of its principles from observations of animal behavior. Maslow put forward the observation that the psychoanalysts fell short to take into account the behavior of healthy human beings, at the same time as the behaviorists were very mechanistic and basically took notice of the subjective experience. Maslow possessed the conception that that no theory of human personality would be absolute without a systematic investigation of healthy functioning, in this case he ventured out to inspect the conscious motivations as well as experiences of individuals who are healthy. One essential result was that psychologically healthy people have more tendencies to put into account what Maslow referred to as "peak experiences." Maslow described a peak experience as one in which the individual loses a sense of place and time and goes through a fleeting feeling of harmony with the universe. It is a predominantly powerful type of growth experience. Maslows viewpoint, along with other similar approaches put forward by Carl Rogers, Gordon Allport, and others, turned to be recognized as the "third force" in psychology. Particularly due to their emphasis on the positive, growth-oriented components of human behavior, these standpoints came to be defined as humanistic theories of behavior. All together, they were able to encourage the materialization and rapid growth of the human potential movement. In time, other schools of thought with inspiration from the hierarchy of needs also came to be. At present, countless types of counseling techniques have emerged and two of these would be discussed in this paper. The person centered counseling and psychodynamic counseling. Definition Person-centered therapy, also referred to as client-centered Rogerian therapy, or non-directive, pertains to a method of psychotherapy and counseling that positions a great deal of the responsibility for the treatment procedure on the client, while the therapist claims a nondirective role. Two key goals of person-centered therapy could be found in greater sincerity to experience as well as increased self-esteem. A number of the related changes that this type of therapy attempts to encourage in clients consist of a closer concurrence involving the clients idealized and genuine selves; improved self-understanding; lower levels of defensiveness, guilt, and lack of confidence; more optimistic as well as relaxed relationships with others; and an improved ability to experience and articulate feelings the precise moment that they take place. Background American psychologist Carl Rogers developed the client-centered therapy during the 1930s. This particular therapy geared away from the characteristically formal, disconnected role of the therapist which is normally highlighted in psychoanalysis and other related types of treatment. Rogers heavily thought that therapy ought to take place in an encouraging setting generated by a close personal relationship involving the therapist and the client. Rogerss introduction of the word "client" as compared to "patient" puts across his refutation of the conventionally hierarchical relationship involving client and therapist as well as his outlook of them as equals. In this particular form of therapy and counseling, the client decides the general course of the therapy, at the same time as the therapist attempts to enhance the clients insight and self-understanding by means of informal clarification of questions. Starting from the 1960s, person-centered therapy turned out to be connected with the human potential movement. This association, having its roots to the 1900s, mirrored a distorted perception of human nature. Preceding psychological theories have observed human beings as intrinsically self-seeking and fraudulent. For instance, Freuds theory placed its focus on aggressive and sexual tendencies taking them into account as the key forces driving human behavior. The human potential movement, by contrast, described human nature as intrinsically excellent. Based on its point of view, human behavior is provoked by a drive to accomplish ones fullest potential. Self-actualization is essentially a term drawn from the human potential movement. This particular term serves as a significant concept fundamental to person-centered therapy. It pertains to the propensity of all individuals to go forward, develop, and accomplish their fullest potential. Provided that humans go in the direction of self-actualization, they are furthermore considered as pro-social; that is, they have a propensity to be concerned for other people and act in truthful, reliable, and productive ways. The conception of self-actualization emphasizes on human strengths as compared to human deficiencies. Rogers put forward that self-actualization could be blocked by a detrimental self-concept. This means pessimistic or impractical attitudes concerning oneself. At the same time as person-centered therapy is taken into account as one of the major therapeutic approaches, in the same as psychoanalytic and cognitive-behavioral therapy, Rogerss influence is extremely apparent in schools of therapy apart from his own. The concepts as well as strategies he developed are practiced in a diverse manner by many diverse types of therapists and counselors. Applications Rogers initially came up with person-centered therapy in a childrens clinic at the same time as he was working there. Nevertheless, person-centered therapy was not planned for a definite subpopulation or age group yet it has been put into practice to take care of a wide range of people. Rogers exerted his effort broadly with people diagnosed with schizophrenia later in his career. Apart from this, his therapy has also been functional to persons going through depression, alcohol disorders, anxiety, cognitive dysfunction, as well as personality disorders. A number of therapists put forward the argument that person-centered therapy is not efficient with non-verbal or inadequately educated individuals; others sustain that it could be effectively adapted to any kind of individual. In this light, the person-centered approach could be applicable to individual, group, or family therapy. In the case of children, it is commonly practiced in terms of play therapy. Normal results The predictable results of person-centered therapy consist of enhanced self-esteem and even confidence in ones personal feelings and experiences taking them into consideration as important sources of information for generating decisions; improved aptitude to learn from mistakes instead of repeating them, reduced defensiveness, remorse, and lack of confidence. Results for this particular therapy also include a more optimistic and relaxed relationships with others, an improved capability to experience and communicate feelings at the exact time that they take place as well as openness to new experiences and new methods of perceiving life. Results of researches done on humanistic therapies in general and person-centered therapy point out that people who have been taken care of with these methods sustain unwavering changes over long periods of time. They also change considerably in comparison to untreated individual and that the changes are approximately similar to the changes in clients who have been given treatment through other forms of therapy. Humanistic therapies come into view as predominantly effective in individuals with depression or relationship issues. Person-centered therapy, on the other hand, seems to be somewhat less effective as compared to other forms of humanistic therapy since therapists recommend more advice to clients and propose topics to explore. Psychodynamic Counseling Psychodynamic psychotherapists perceive the mind in three diverse levels. These are the conscious, the unconscious and the preconscious. The "conscious" covers practically everything that the individual is aware of. On the other hand, the preconscious level covers knowledge as well as emotions that individuals are not aware of at this particular time, although they are effortlessly accessible. Nonetheless, several past childhood experiences as well as desires of an individual could prove to be very painful and frightening to the individual for him/her or to recognize it. An individual’s mind deals with this by repressing or trying to push them out of their "conscious" into one’s "unconscious". And most of the time the individual sees to it that they are kept there. For instance, a person that is a victim of childhood abuse could suppress the painful memories. This is one case of an individual’s innate psychological mechanisms. These mechanisms are also pertained to as "defense mechanisms". Defense mechanisms function as protection to the individual against from being aware of these anxiety triggering themes. Another case would be a woman diagnosed with breast cancer. She could make use of denial when it comes to dealing with the news. For the cases provided, these mechanisms definitely do us several advantages, as if not we could just end up absolutely psychologically weighed down. Even though a person’s mind keeps this threatening material nearly permanently out of one’s "conscious," it could nonetheless return into haunting that individual. For instance, one would find it hard to institute relationships as adults or experience neurotic symptoms which could come in the form of depression as well as anxiety. Provided that a person would wish to do away with these symptoms and live a more satisfying life, it could be favorable to unearth this material in that person’s "unconscious" part and realize how one’s childhood experience could have affected one. Essentially, this is the rationale behind psychodynamic psychotherapy. Psychodynamic psychotherapy in action Usually the duration of the therapy varies and is most of the time agreed at the beginning, nonetheless long term therapy typically lasts for at least one year. The sessions in this type of therapy are most of the time approximately 50 minutes long and are held at the same time and place each week. At the time of the sessions the patient is motivated to speak about whatever comes to mind whereas the therapist listens with no support, interruption, or giving advice. The patients are free to put across out of the ordinary or reprehensible ideas that unexpectedly enter their mind. Provided that the patients have problems in executing such exercise it could mean that they still have strong defense mechanisms. The therapist could also persuade patients to talk about recent dreams. The therapist distinguishes symbols in the dreams, deduces them to the patient, and further filters the interpretations according to the patients reactions. Application to the case In the case provided, provided that person-centered approach is applied, there are chances that it would be effective since Jim is essentially an educated man. In this type of therapy, the therapist would basically provide or recommend Jim with certain measures or procedures which could help in the dilemma that he is facing. The focus of the therapy is in transforming Jim to become a person with more confidence and someone with an improved judgment which would help him avoid further conflicts that he is currently faced. The therapy essentially helps Jim face the problems he is facing and taking them on. On another note, if psychodynamic therapy is applied in the case, what the therapy does is look into the factors which contributed to the manner in which Jim behaved and how come he ended up making decisions. The aim of the counseling is to bring out hidden thoughts and emotions that Jim must be feeling and help him face it, so that he would have the realization as to why he acted the way he did. Once these factors have been discovered, the therapy takes it from there helping Jim to confront pent-up matters which could eventually assist him in the process of dealing with the situation. Jim would also be able to talk about things he wishes to unlike in the person-centered therapy, Jim could freely express himself first without any intervention. References: Kahn, Edwin. "A Critique of Nondirectivity in the Person-Centered Approach." Journal of Humanistic Psychology 39, no. 4 (1999): 94-110. Kensit, Denise A. "Rogerian Theory: A Critique of the Effectiveness of Pure Client-Centred Therapy." Counselling Psychology Quarterly 13, no. 4 (2000): 345-351. Malan DH. Individual psychotherapy and the science of psychodynamics 2nd edition. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann,1995. Myers, Sharon. "Empathic Listening: Reports on the Experience of Being Heard." Journal of Humanistic Psychology 40, no. 2 (2000): 148-173. Price JR, Couper J. Cognitive behaviour therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome in adults (Cochrane review). In: The Cochrane Library, issue 3, 2001. Oxford: Update Software,2001. Read More