1. Do you think humanistic psychotherapy is both necessary and sufficient for successful treatment? Is it only necessary, only sufficient, or neither? Explain your responses. Do your responses vary based on disorder or specific situation?

2. Which do you think is more important: a therapist’s behaviors (what he says and does on a technical level) or a therapist’s attitude (the way in which he provides psychological services)? Does your opinion vary based on situation, disorder, or client?

3. Unlike behavioral-based treatments, humanistic therapy can be difficult to empirically define and study. How might you design experiments to measure the efficacy of humanistic therapy?

4. Can you think of an instance when you received conditional positive regard in your life? How, if at all, did this conditional positive regard affect you? Do you envision a different outcome had you received unconditional positive regard? How so?

5. What is your opinion of Gestalt psychotherapy—the idea that we are all essentially alone in the world and knowledge of this can cause anxiety? Do you believe this theory can explain all types of psychopathology? Can you think of patient characteristics or traits that might suggest that this type of therapy is a good match for the patient? How about traits that might suggest this would be a therapy mismatch for the patient?

6. Motivational interviewing appeals to many clients and therapists alike because it feels both hopeful and consistent with our ideas about therapy. Does it appeal to you? Why or why not?

7. Out of the elements of humanistic therapy (empathy, unconditional positive regard, etc.) which do you think is the most important and why?