Humanistic psychotherapy deals with psychological dysfunction in the broad context of clients' engagements in life and ways of being in the world. Humanistic psychologists are oriented towards promoting the psychological development and growth of individuals, families, and communities through the support of their own creative and self-initiated efforts. Humanistic interests are likely to include phenomena such as the aspirations of whole persons, their goals, their desires, their fears, their potential for growth, their higher selves, and qualities such as empathy, congruence, authenticity, presence, and intimacy. Discontinuities in life and in experience, tragedy, and pain, are taken seriously as often reflecting basic issues concerning the nature of the self, the nature of existence, and the nature of one's engagement in the world, rather than being seen as pathogens to be eliminated. Since humanists hold issues of human value as fundamental, the provision of humanistic services is unavoidably an issue of human value.
Humanistic services begin from the assumption of a client whose choice to seek therapy is personal.
This entails a view of the client as an agent, who must be engaged in the creation and development of all therapeutic processes, not only as a matter of theoretical truth and clinical efficacy, but also of ethical integrity and coherence. Therefore humanists reject the model of the practitioner as the expert who decides for the patient what the appropriate treatment is. Humanistic practitioners recognize that their job is to place their expertise at the service of their clients and to establish a collaborative dialogical relationship with them. The joint project of client and psychotherapist is to work towards individualized goals that are framed in the clients' world view and understandings of their own aspirations rather than on normative diagnostic categories. Humanists believe that the methods used in providing services must reflect the basic value of promoting the agency and empowerment of individuals and groups.