Compare and contrast the humanistic and existential perspectives.

While the humanistic and existential perspectives do share some common elements, there are also ways in which they differ significantly. The humanistic perspective view humans as basically good and focuses on the present. Humanistic therapy focuses on aiding a person in finding their means of achieving self-actualization, of being the best that he or she can be. The existential perspective is comparable in recognizing that we are all unique individuals who desire self-fulfillment, but it does not have such a positive view of human nature. Existentialists place more emphasis on irrational tendencies and the external obstacles to self-fulfillment.