Unconditional positive appreciation

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The unconditional positive appreciation is one of the three basic attitudes of the client-centered psychotherapy and counseling, with which the client seeking advice or suffering is encountered. This basic attitude is realized through unconditional acceptance of the person , especially with their particularities and difficulties. It essentially means that the person is accepted by the therapist as he sees himself. The other two basic attitudes of client-centered psychotherapy and counseling are empathy and congruence .

Within humanistic psychology ( Abraham Maslow , Fritz Perls , Carl Rogers etc.) the need for "unconditional positive appreciation / attention" is considered one of the fundamental psychological needs that humans always have due to their dependence on fellow human beings (relationality of the person) seeks to satisfy.

In the context of person-centered psychology ( Carl Rogers ), in addition to the tendency to actualize, the need for unconditional positive appreciation is an overriding human need that organizes behavior. If favorable environmental conditions allow this overriding need to be satisfied, then man is fundamentally constructive, rational and social in striving to develop his possibilities. In unfavorable circumstances he has many forms and mechanisms in a given situation to maintain his existence, including his self-respect . This can lead to blockages, mental disorders and inhibitions or to destructive, irrational and anti-social behavior.

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