Maslow's being-psychology

Domain III · Humanistic, existential & experiential · Abraham H. Maslow · 1961

What it is

Being-psychology is not a manualised therapy. It is Maslow's theory of health, motivation and higher experience, and a founding text of the humanistic "third force" between behaviourism and psychoanalysis. It distinguishes D (deficiency) motivation and cognition, which are driven and coloured by…

Format

• What the sources give. Maslow described no phases, no session counts and no criteria for moving between phases. His sources do give an ordering logic:
• The structure below is: an organising scheme built on that logic for a clinician who wants to use Maslow's ideas inside ordinary individual therapy. Typical use is 50-minute individual sessions, adjunctive to another primary modality, roughly 8–20 sessions for the growth-focused work. These numbers…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Where it lives today. Maslow's terms became the working vocabulary of Esalen and the human-potential movement. His ideas now appear inside humanistic, existential, transpersonal and positive-psychology practice rather than as a stand-alone school. No accrediting institute teaches "being-psychology therapy" as such.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• forced positivity, or guilt ("I should be grateful"). It is working when there is spontaneous appreciation.
• spiritual practice used to avoid problems. It is working when there is steadier calm and value-guided action.
• dismissing real hardship as "low". It is working when the client accepts recurring discontent without despair.
• depression mislabelled as existential malaise. Screen properly. It is working when a renewed value commitment emerges.
• intellectualising. Keep it experiential. It is working when the client recognises smaller versions of the state in daily life.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.