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2. What do we need to know?. Clarification of terms
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1. 1 Using Theories in Social Work
Humanist and Existential Approaches
with acknowledgments
and thanks to Phil Lee
(Hull campus)
2. 2 What do we need to know? Clarification of terms – what is humanism, existentialism etc?
Examples of such approaches
What will be covered – what you need to cover yourselves
Outlines of particular approaches
Strengths & weaknesses
Use of case studies where appropriate
3. 3 Clarification of terms(1) : Humanism Humanism poses the question “how are we to live in this meaningless and irrational world?”
The answer lies in ourselves – the self – without having to rely on external forces – in particular, deities – God
Rather ironically some humanist approaches in social work do value the spiritual aspects of the human condition – we will return to this
Alongside existentialists, humanists assume that human beings are trying to make sense of the world they experience (see Howe’s paradigm: Seekers After Meaning)
Perhaps the best known is Carl Rogers – I will spend the largest amount of time on his work
4. 4 Clarification of terms(2) : Existentialism For existentialists – thinkers such Kierkegaard & Sartre – human existence is distinguished by the unique capacity of people for self awareness and self concern
We are active ‘beings in the world’ who experience the world as being full of what Sartre described as tasks and projects – crucially involving choices
Humans are struggling to find meaning in their lives….always facing multiple choices….but in charge of those choices…..in control of their destiny
The key is to take responsibility for our actions – thus freeing an individual’s authentic self from the cage-like existence of the inauthentic self
Think of when you ponder what is there after I die – dread! – what is this all about?
5. 5 Thompson’s definition of existentialism
“A conceptual framework which aims to understand human existence in terms of the freedom & responsibility, and the problems and complexities we encounter when we exercise such freedom (in the form of choices and decisions) & take responsibility for our actions. It seeks to locate such freedom (the fundamental freedom of being responsible for ourselves) in the wider social contexts of the structure of society, in terms of social constraints and influences, for example, class, race/ethnicity or gender.”
Thompson N (1992) Existentialism and Social Work, Avebury, p 62
To Sartre even negative reactions to outside phenomena demonstrates the realisation of freedom – creative negativity
6. 6 Examples of Humanistic Approaches Person Centred Ideas – Carl Rogers
Eastern Philosophies & Spiritualities – Zen; African Centred; Gandhian social work
Symbolic Interactionism – dealt with in Payne
Sociological/Socio-Psychological Approaches
Transactional Analysis – as mentioned in the Psychodynamic session
Humanistic Group Work – Glassman & Kates
We will consider existentialist approaches – including Laing - after these
7. 7 Person Centred Ideas – Carl Rogers -On Becoming a Person (1971) Also known as client centred or non-directive approaches – the client should have as much impact on the direction of therapy as the therapist
For Rogers the key to personal change is the self seeking personal growth
Emphasis should be placed in the here & now – not the history of the service users’ problems
How the client views the social worker/therapist is central to the latter being able to function as an effective change agent
Rogers identified a 10 point list of the characteristics of any effective helping relationship – see separate handout
8. 8 Person Centred Therapy This approach emphasises that:
Therapy is a journey shared by 2 fallible people
People innately strive for self-actualisation
The personal characteristics of the therapist are key to the quality and successful outcome of the relationship
Therapists must create a permissive, “growth promoting” climate – no direction of change is done by the therapist – a climate conducive to change is created
Trust is essential
People are architects of their own lives and capable of self-directed growth – but may need a therapeutic relationship to aid it along
9. 9 Key Attributes for successful outcomes
clients should perceive that their helpers/workers act in the following manner:
they are genuine and congruent i.e. how they are reflects their true self & attitudes – does not hide true feelings
provide unconditional positive regard for clients
they empathise with client’s views of the world – attitudes more important than knowledge – empathy consistent and unflagging
The worker’s approach should be:
Non-directive
Non-judgemental
And involve:
Active listening
Accurate empathy
Authentic friendship
One can easily see why this counselling approach found an enthusiastic audience in some social work quarters
10. 10 Truax and Carkhuff’s three principles
Honesty and genuineness
Non-possessive warmth, respect, acceptance
Empathic understanding
(Truax C & Carkhuff RJ 1967 Towards Effective Counselling and Psychotherapy: Training and Practice, Aldine)
They imply that it is the presence of these principles that underpins any success in therapy…..even behaviourally based ones!
Person-centredness is now a term used ubiquitously within social work – person-centred assessment forms; person centered palliative care; person centred work with people experiencing dementia – this is not always used in the sense that Roger’s initially used it!
11. 11 Key Rogerian Concepts/Principles/Rationale
Actualising tendency – an innate tendency to develop our constructive capacities – and enhance our total organism - fundamental motive that underlies all human behaviour
Self – a learned, conscious state distinct from other people and things
Self-actualisation – portion of our experience taken up with a view of self. The individual is psychologically well adjusted to the extent that learned self-actualising tendency remains unified with our innate actualising tendency
Conditional positive regard – liking a person only because that individual’s feelings and self concept meet one’s own standard; a typical way in which parents behave to their children
Unconditional positive regard – liking and accepting all of another person’s feelings and self concept; a non-judgemental & non-possessive caring
Congruence – a healthy state of harmony between’s one’s total organismic experience and a self-concept free of conditions of worth
Incongruence – a discrepancy between one’s total organismic experience and a self concept burdened by conditions of worth
Organismic valuing process – an innate capacity to value positively those experiences that are perceived as actualising, and to value negatively all those perceived as non-actualising
12. 12 Essence/Summary of Person Centred Approach
At root the client ‘knows’ what’s wrong, what needs to be done & what is best
The therapist is not a technical expert – yet ironically of course, training takes a long time!
Luborsky describes well what Rogerian therapy means to the client when it is working – see P100 of Howe…..a voyage…discovery…”well yes you may have behaved like that….but really you are an OK person”
Anthony Clare claims that the appeal of Rogers is the simple, rather cosy, almost sentimental and benign view of human nature/condition that lies at its centre
May have started with Freud but developed a much more optimistic view of the human condition – a view that maybe reflects where the theory was developed
13. 13 Eastern Philosophies & Spiritualities – Zen; African Centred; Gandhian social work, etc Retaining this idea of where and by whom a therapeutic theory is developed maybe vital in understanding this collection of spiritually based positions
More irony – as humanist positions – start more than usually – as we have seen - from a rejection of deities…external controls…spiritualities…...starting with the nature of ‘us’- our essential being
Clearly though where there is power over, indeed ‘dominance’ e.g. the Indian Raj and colonialism; US slavery and racism – the oppressed are often ‘seen’/theorised as “the other”….Edward Said….as uneducated; a savage……and ultimately as inferior as “not human”
Not difficult to appreciate why people retain aspects of their cultural traditions and pasts – non Western traditions – pre scientific, maybe pre rationalist traditions
Particularly straight-forward to see this in societies where religious belief and spirituality are integral parts of living
14. 14 Clear examples of this process….
Liberation theologies generally
African Centred World Views
Gandhian therapeutic/social work
Sometimes these develop both within original and host societies. They generally can be seen to involve variations of:
Criticisms of materialism & consumerism
The need to respond more effectively to ethnic and cultural minorities
Recognition that religion & spirituality are central to the lives of many of the people receiving services
Desire for faith communities to make a larger contribution to organised care and community services
Effective religious participation – following ‘the right path’ – will minimise the possibility of social difficulties arising
15. 15 Effective vehicles for social change?
Such ideas can develop sustained criticisms of the status quo involving:
Solidarity and the common good
Sustainability – careful use of precious resources
The self as a non-materialist personal entity – Hinduism and Buddhism
Recognising and valuing separate cultures
You will find Payne’s summaries of Gandhian social work & African- Centred world views on p191 of Modern Social Work Theory
16. 16 Humanistic Group Work ; Glassman and Kates An extension of Transactional Analysis – I’m OK – You’re OK
Based on valuing all members of the group and therefore enriching each through ‘democratic mutual aid’. Group development to aid individual development through a series of stages:
We’re Not in Charge
We Are in Charge
We’re Taking You On
Sanctuary
This isn’t any good any more
We’re okay and able
Just a little longer
17. 17 Techniques for Humanistic Group Work The objective is to develop this democratic mutual aid system whilst facilitating individuals to ‘actualise’ their own purpose
To this end, workers employ:
Staying with feelings – show how to express feelings constructively
Respecting silences
Demanding work – use their own commitment to move members who are stuck forward
Exploration – through free-flowing activities
Identification – pointing out repetitive patterns of behaviour
18. 18 What is existentialism? A Reminder As good a starting point as any for understanding existentialism and its relevance for social work is Thompson’s text - Existentialism and Social Work – see quote on slide 5 above
See p 202-203 of Payne in which he attempts to summarise this text
In particular he summarises two examples – one to do with children, the other to do with older people
19. 19 Thompson’s Practice Principles for existential social work Thompson outlines his existentialist practice principles in a chart.
(see Payne page 204)
Some of this appears fairly straight-forward and conventional…..other parts more intriguing and possibly threatening……in that it would be difficult to follow bureaucratic procedures and remain an existentialist practitioner
20. 20 R D Laing Famous anti-psychiatry movement member in 1960s/1970s
Uses existentialist ideas in his work on schizophrenia – influenced radical social work movement
Understand this major psychotic illness better by regarding it as a person’s reaction to a bewildering and potentially harmful social environment
Self and false self system
Later used family therapy ideas such as Bateson et al’s double bind
Allowed social workers to be much more sceptical of medical diagnoses – and be able to recognise the importance of social and family factors
21. 21 Strengths of humanistic and existential approaches They offer less judgmental and flexible ways of working
Directly value the client’s view – respect
Treat people as ‘wholes’ – connected to their environments
Try to always show that the client’s view – however apparently strange – is based in their view of what has happened to them
Resistant to highly deterministic – dismissive understandings – of client behaviour e.g. cognitive behaviourist; psycho-analytic models
Herald post – modernist ideas about social work
22. 22 Weaknesses of humanistic and existential approaches
Have no real direct pertinence to the necessary bureaucratic, inevitable(?) functions of state social work – social control etc
Discounts the user’s past in ways that might be problematic
Spirituality raises fears that workers might import and impose their own values – dogmatism – imposition – true of Rogerian approaches too
Real lack of clarity in allowing social workers to develop clear, generalisable targets and agreed explanations about human behaviour
Obviously of little use with less or non-verbal users – although some would doubt that – see work on dementia