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Comparing Humanistic-Existential Psychotherapy With Cognitive Behavioral Theory

This paper will provide a review of the Human-Existential psychotherapy as demonstrated and discussed in the “Existential-Humanistic Psychotherapy with James Bugental” video, as well as a comparison with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Overview of the “Existential-Humanistic Psychotherapy with James Bugental” Video

In Dr. James Bugental’s Existential-Humanistic psychotherapy video, he tries to explain the meaning of existential and humanistic; in existential the main purpose of our concern is our existence, what do we do with the fact that we are alive (Bugental, 2008). The humanistic part deals with everyone living to their full potential. James Bugental encouraged the client, Gina, to narrate her personal

experience and tried to make meaning of it. Gina’s main concern is

about survival, always tried to be perfect with everything she did. She is

extremely hard with herself and how she raises her boys, for fear of

failure. She is particularly concerned because she is going through a

divorce and will have custody of the boys (Bugental, 2008). The more

Gina talks about her experiences the more she becomes emotional, she at

first acted as if she had everything under control, but later, she was

tearing up. She finally agrees that she is beating herself up unnecessarily

and she should accept who she is. She realizes that she must stop trying

to please people and put herself first, take care of herself. Gina was able

to identify her weaknesses and now has a plan on how to overcome

them. She admitted that instances where she puts herself first, she is

mostly happy and plans to do that more……….. Continue