This form of therapy takes a non-pathological view of the person and is thought of as a general category of therapy that includes other school of therapy, such as client-centered, existential, and Gestalt. The humanistic view is one that is hopeful, constructive, and present-focused, addressing how one's history contributes to the present; it is set up on the belief that all people have the capacity to be self-determining.

Some of the techniques used in humanistic therapy include:

1. Everything is everything: assume coincidence does not exist, and what occurs in session is not an isolated, one-time event, but instead the client's way of being. For example, if the client confuses appointment times, the therapist can assume this is a behavior that occurs in other relationships and explore this at an appropriate time; the therapist and client can explore thoughts and feelings about this way of being, the meaning made from it, or if change is desired, start a deeper discussion on how the client conducts life in general.

2. Emphasis on intention and/or resistance: with most client actions, you can focus attention on the intention or resistance toward wholeness, or both depending on the situation and current status of the therapeutic relationship. For example, if the client focuses on his anxiety, the therapist can focus on how that keeps him from engaging in more productive pursuits and in living a more inhibited life. On the contrary, the therapist could focus upon the client's tenacious focus on his health concern, and explore what would happen if he used that same intensity and strength in more productive ways. The therapist could ask about how he would be and what his life would look like if he experiences his own tenacity and strength.

3. Emphasis on transparency and authenticity: the therapist is real and exists as a person in session, is open, honest, direct, and clear, within the context of the therapeutic relationship and in line with the client's goals. For example, the therapist may share appreciation for the client's strength and courage to stay with difficult feelings, or share the experience of feeling detached from the client, as though not making a strong contact or connecting on the issue at hand.

4. Emphasis on mutuality: the therapist maintains a client-centered approach and forges a connection along a human journey together, empowering the client through mutuality. This is opposed to a hierarchical relationship in which the client is evaluated, has treatment prescribed, and is considered successful when the treatment is followed.

5. Engaged curiosity: the therapist engages genuine curiosity to draw the client out, encouraging the client to describe experiences of various life facets, such as employment, relationships, or hobbies. The therapist may wonder about what the client likes/does not like, how the client keeps moving forward, or what is held back in communication.

6. Check feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations behind their story: the therapist asks the client to describe what he/or she is feeling as he/or she describes something, or conversely what the client is thinking as he/or she is feeling something. Having the client check for a sensation in the body may be helpful to remain in the present, fully aware. For example, the client may say he/or she is feeling tension in the shoulders when describing marital issues; at this point, the therapist may say "allow yourself to breathe into the feeling in your shoulders and open up whatever associations come up and share what emerges."