This approach involves a person taking immediate responsibility for their feelings as actions in the present moment; focus on and explore feelings as they arise. The ideal humanistic solution is that a person's problems decrease as they get in touch with their feelings. In this specific case, a therapist would like John to understand that he experiences anxiety and take responsibility that his actions are an obstacle to his personal and professional life. In this approach, the therapist would focus on John's feelings in the present moment, encourage positive thinking about himself, and encourage more positive and, possibly, more productive behaviors. Cognitive Theory The cognitive approach involves the development of a person's thinking process. This involves things like memory, thinking, perception, and problem solving (Myers, 2014). The cognitive therapy approach teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions (Myers, 2014). In other words, harmful or negative thought patterns are identified and examined, and better, less threatening alternative thought patterns are created to replace the negative thought patterns. This is especially helpful since compulsive actions are a response to the negative thought patterns they cause