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Humanism has been labelled as the "third force" in counselling, psychoanalytic and behavioural approaches being the other two. Humanistic approaches evolved from the synthesis of existential philosophy and counselling the individual is conceptualized as free to shape his/her life in the way he/she wishes in order to define his/her essence. This belief in freedom is contrary to the deterministic views of the psychoanalytic and behavioural approaches. The existential counsellor strives to understand the client's view of the world by emphasizing the here and how in order to help the client discover the meaning of life and recognize that he/she has the freedom to control his/ her fate (see Humanistic counselling).

Humanistic counselling includes a variety of approaches, such as Cestalt therapy, Logotherapy, and client-centered therapy (see Gestalt Therapy, Logotherapy; client-centered counselling). Client centered therapy, which has had by far the largest impact on the field of counselling, was developed by Carl Rogers (Rogers 1951). Rogers assumed that individuals are inherently self-actualizing, that is they tend to grow and develop in self-fulfilling and positive ways. Dysfunction occurs when significant others in the life of the client make their acceptance of the client contingent upon the client acting in ways that are incongruent to self-actualizing acts. The client centered counsellor uses on specific techniques; rather emotional growth takes place because of the counselling relationship. To be therapeutic, Rogers postulated three conditions must be present; genuineness, empathy, and unconditional positive regard. It is now thought that these conditions are necessary, but not sufficient to achieve therapeutic success.