Sarah Wheeler
Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Skills
Unit R/601/7575 Understanding counselling theory
Assessment criteria
1.1
paras. 1.1, 1.2, 1.4 and 1.5.
1.2
paras. 1.2, 1.3 and 1.5.
1.3
paras. 1.10, 1.11, to a lesser extent, paras. 1.3, 1.6 to 1.9. The role
of self is crucial to the overall model.
1.4
paras. 1.12 to 1.15.
1.5
paras 1.6 to 1.9.
1.6
paras 1.16 to 1.18.
2.1
paras. 1.19, 1.20, 1. 23 to 1.25.
2.2
paras. 1.21, 1.22, 1.24-1.29.
Feedback
I found that writing about PCC (and the other approaches) made me read more
widely. It definitely helped greatly in sorting out the conceptual framework
and seeing how this may influence the counsellor in practice. I am feeling
keener and more committed to counselling and studying further in some form
than from before the assignment.
[DRAFT
However, I found the format of the questions extremely frustrating and felt
uncertain about how to structure my answer. I am not entirely sure of the
marking scheme, formatting or word limitations. The questions (which do not
invite an essay or polemic style of discourse) appear to be asking the student
to explain and comment on three orientations (including a comparison), but
only the most superficial coverage could be achieved in the parameters. If the
assignment is marked, and if there is a strict word limit, then I would have
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found guidance on the marking criteria and relative weight of the different
sections helpful.]
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Person Centred Counselling
Historical development and underlying philosophy
1.1
A clinical psychologist, Carl Rogers (1902-1987) received training in
psycho- dynamically orientated therapy from Jessie Taft, a follower of
Otto Rank. However, Rogers went on to develop his own distinctive
approach. Although largely intuitive, guided by what worked in practise,
Rogers also subjected his beliefs to vigorous scientific scrutiny, believing
that “a theory is only useful if it can be put to test” (Rogers, 1961, p.
244).
1.2
Frequently described as representing “the third wave,” Rogers provided
a more positive alternative to the prevailing reductive determinism of
behaviouralism and classical Freudianism1. At its core is the belief that
“we behave in the world in response to our personally experienced
reality.” (Merry, 2002, p. 18). Some commentators therefore see PCC as
essentially humanistic, placing Rogers on the same continuum as
existentialists, such as Rollo May, and humanist psychologists, such as
Maslow (McLeod, 2008, p.180, Merry, 2002, p.16) . However, PCC is
distinct from other approaches in its theoretical and practical treatment
of the individual—
“The governing feature… is not its humanistic orientation but its
forsaking of mystique and other powerful behaviours of
therapists”(Mearns and Thorne, 2000, p. 27).
1.3
1
2
PCC is profoundly democratic and non-directive, placing ultimate faith in
the human potential for self-realization; “it is a way of being with people
based on a particular theory of helping relationships which, in turn, rests
on a deep respect for and trust in the individual’s capacity for growth,
development and creativity” (Merry, 2002, p 12). This, coupled with its
relatively positive hopeful view of humanity, has led to accusations of
naïve optimism. However, other interpretations of Rogers’ model of
personality stress its essentially amoral, quasi-biological nature.2
See further McLeod, 2008, p.170 and Merry, 2002, p.16.
See, for example, Merry, 2002, pp. 19 and 22.
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1.4
Commentators commonly divide the evolution of PCC into three stages.3
The first corresponds to the development of Rogers’ framework of nondirective therapy, which stressed the importance of the relationship
between counsellor and client and the reliance on the client’s own selfdirected growth processes. The second or client centred phase saw the
publication of Client-Centred Therapy (1951), the first systematic outline
of Rogers’ theory of personality, motivation and change,4 and Rogers’
groundbreaking statement of the six conditions necessary and sufficient
for constructive personality change.5 In the third or person-centred
phase, counsellor attitudes, values and relationship qualities came to the
fore. In On Becoming a Person (1961), Rogers set out his seven
identifiable stages of personality growth.6 For some, however, this third
period represents primarily a refining and broadening of Rogers’ original
model. Further, Tony Merry, albeit somewhat tentatively, also suggests a
possible fourth period comprising a “client centred and experiential
counselling/psychotherapy stage” (Merry, 2002, p. 14).
1.5
Whilst Rogers is undoubtedly the founding father of PCC, he is not the
only influencer, nor have matters stood still since his death. Peter
Sanders, for example, has described the continuing and developing
influence of Rogers’ colleagues and former students from the 1950s,
particularly the so-called Chicago School.7 However, development and
diversity has engendered wider tensions, more acute after Rogers’
death, between PCC classicists and those more willing to adopt new
ways of thinking, revealed in the willingness (or not) to embrace
experiential psychotherapy, the possible plurality of the self-structure,
and the appropriateness of integrative approaches. What being personcentred truly means has become increasingly contested, as evidenced by
the attempts of writers, like Lietaer, Schmid and Sanders, to delineate
3
See further for example, Merry, 2002, pp. 13-14.
Rogers’ based his hypothesis on 19 propositions, set out in Appendix A.
5
The six conditions are set out in Appendix B.
6
See further Rogers, 1961, pp. 132 to 159.
7
For example, Virginia Axline, pioneer of play therapy, Godfrey Barrett-Lennard, Eugene Gendlin, who
developed focusing, Jules Seema, on personality integration, Thomas Gordon, on Parent Effectiveness
Training). More recently, Garry Prouty, in developing pre-therapy, has built upon Rogers’ first condition of
psychological contact, Natalie Rogers and Liesl Silverstone have applied person-centred principles to art
therapy, and Margaret Warner has adopted a person-centred approach in her work with clients with fragile
and disassociated processes. See further Sanders, 2004, pp 5-8.
4
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the underlying principles which new developments must adhere to in
order to remain within the person-centred fold (Sanders, 2004, p.151153).
The concept of self
1.6
In PCC, the actualising tendency is “considered to be the sole motivation
for human development and growth” (Merry, 2002, p. 21). Development
is neither haphazard, nor (necessarily) consciously planned. There is a
natural tendency to complexity and growth. In theory, an individual free
to value his own experiences in terms of whether or not they allow him
to grow (his organismic valuing process) would be fully functioning.
Amongst other things, he would be more congruent, more open to
experience and consequently less anxious.8 Such an individual is able to
realise his innate potential, to become his real, authentic self. As Rogers
puts it, “the goal the individual most wishes to achieve, the end which
he knowingly and unknowingly pursues, is to become himself”(Rogers,
1961, p. 108).
1.7
In practice, however, actualisation takes place in a particular (and
evolving) physical and social context. Our often overwhelming need for
love and acceptance from significant others (for example, parents) coexists (often uneasily) with our need for positive self-regard (the value
we attach to our own organismic valuing process). We may develop an
external locus of evaluation (where we attach more importance to what
other people think of us than our own internal values). We begin to
acquire conditions of worth (where love or acceptance of significant
others is conditional on our being certain things).
1.8
Moreover, as soon as we start to develop, each of us comes to identify
certain parts of experience as “me.” We form a concept of self, or selfstructure. This differentiation of self is part of the actualising general
tendency (the organism adapting to its environment). However, our
need for approval causes us to incorporate not only our own valued
experiences into that self-structure, but some that are not our own. We
incorporate values introjected from others (and which we may even
8
See further Appendix C for characteristics of a fully functioning individual.
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perceive in a distorted fashion – as if they were our own experiences, in
a sense, we come to “own” our conditions of worth). We develop a
conditioned self, incorporating, sometimes distorting, subsequent
experiences into the self-structure, denying others, depending largely
upon whether they “fit” with our sense of self. Our actualising tendency
continues. However, it is our conditioned self rather than our authentic
self (the person we would be if we had no conditions of worth) which we
actualise (the process of self-actualising). The PCC model sees tension or
maladjustment arising from closure of awareness to certain experiences,
the failure to integrate what does not “fit,” which we may perceived as a
threat, into our sense of self.
1.9
Rogers’ theory of personality is, in essence, unitary, seeing the self as a
single construct (albeit one made up of many parts and constantly in
flux). Critics have labelled this approach simplistic. More recently,
however, developments have centred on expanding Rogers’ hypotheses
to reflect certain practitioners’ observations in practice; that clients may
manifest multiple selves. Mearns and Thorne, for example, refer to
configurations of self. A configuration represents “a developed selfwithin-a-self that can contain a wide array of elements – a set of
thoughts, feelings and behaviours that together represent an important
dimension of the person’s existence” (Mearns and Thorne, 2007, p. 34).
A plurality of selves (often in dialogue between themselves) provides an
infinitely more complex, sophisticated, model, “able to describe human
experience more fully” (Mearns and Thorne, 2000, p.113). Introjections,
for example, may be “owned” by a configuration, whilst another
configuration is able to “hold” an opposing value. Experiences denied by
one part of the self, may be incorporated into another part (albeit one
with restricted access).9
9
In addition, Mearns and Thorne have built on arguments that (particularly in his later work) Rogers allowed
insufficient credit to the role social mediation plays in the actualising process. As social and relational beings,
we are subject to social and purely individual concerns for growth. Social factors may limit the actualising
tendency. However, in the context of the individual’s lived existence, some form of social mediation is
necessary to maintain the necessary social contexts for future growth. This is not “the neurotic concern to
please others that Rogers challenged…..it is a reasoned consideration for others and an appreciation of the
importance others have in the continuing development of the person”, Mearns and Thorne, 2007, p. 29. In
this way, different configurations of the self may be dominant in different social contexts (the submissive wife,
for example, is able to co-exist with the assertive businessperson). The individual has a dialogical system in
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The therapeutic relationship
1.10 Rogers held that if six hypothetical
conditions are present over time in a
relationship (whether a formal
counselling one, or otherwise),
constructive personality change will
occur, no other conditions being
necessary.10 Roger’s original
formulation considered the six
conditions as a whole. However, much
subsequent research and debate has
centred on the so-called three core
conditions; that the therapist is
congruent in the relationship, holds the
client in unconditional positive regard
and experiences “an empathetic
understanding of the client’s internal
frame of reference and endeavours to
communicate this experience to the
client” (Rogers, 1957, cited in Merry,
2002, p. 49). The therapeutic
relationship thus facilitates the
dissolution of conditions of worth and
the return of the client to a state of
greater congruence in which “feelings
can be fully felt, accepted and
expressed appropriately” (Merry, 2002,
p. 53). The client comes to value his
own organismic valuing process more.
Empathy
Rogers described empathy
as “entering into the
private perceptual world
of the other and becoming
thoroughly at home with
it” Rogers, 1980, cited in
Merry, 2002, p. 79). More
of a continuing process, it
is a way of being with the
client, rather than a skill).
The empathetic counsellor
experiences the client’s
world as if it is her own,
but without losing her
awareness of its otherness
and uniqueness. Thus the
client is able to feel
understood, but with the
security of knowing that
(even at times of
desperation and crisis) the
counsellor “will be
someone who remains
reliable and coherent, as
well as sensitive” (Mearns
and Thorne, 2007, p. 69).
place to hold the dissonance, but only up to a point (individual configurations and the balance between
different configurations within the individual constantly having to meet the challenge of the individual’s own
lived experiences and societal expectations).
10
See Appendix B.
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Therapy thus reduces the gap between
the client’s conditioned self and his
real, authentic self, allowing him to
become more of a fully functioning
individual and experience less anxiety
and dissonance.
1.11 Whilst individual person-centred
counsellors may adopt slightly different
approaches to the process of
counselling (and the extent to which
the six conditions alone are necessary
and sufficient), the core of PCC remains
a belief in the innate power of the
process of actualisation, a power
vested in each individual. As Merry
puts it, “if trusting in the actualising
tendency is to be more than simply a
cliché then it is necessary to recognise,
understand and respect each client as a
unique person and engage in a
collaborative discovery of the person’s
self-healing resources” [Merry, 2002,
p55). For this reason, person-centred
counsellors often speak of developing
attitudes rather than skills, the three
core conditions frequently merging
into one holistic whole.
Unconditional Positive Regard
Unconditional positive regard is
a form of warmth, something
more than liking. It is valuing (or
prizing) an individual without
judgment or imposing
conditions. “Unconditional
positive regard is aimed at the
basic humaneness present in us
all, even though that
humanness may have become
very damaged” (Merry, 2002, p.
81).
Congruence
Congruence may also be
described as authenticity or of
“being true to yourself.” Just as
counselling aims to reduce
dissonance by allowing the
client to become more of their
true, authentic self, the
counsellor should strive to be
authentic within the therapeutic
relationship. She should not
deny her own feelings to
awareness but be “able to freely
to be them” (Rogers , 1957,
cited in Merry, 2002, p. 83).
How the chosen model informs practice
1.12 The person-centred counsellor will thus put a lot of emphasis on
developing the core conditions (the development of which, being
attitudes and a way of being, is likely to extend beyond the counselling
room). Rather than relying upon tools or techniques, she brings her
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authentic self to the counselling context. As such, the person-centred
counsellor is concerned with what her client is experiencing (entering
into his frame of reference) and with her own reaction to the client.
However, in contrast to the psychodynamic approach, the personcentred counsellor does not view the feelings engendered as an example
of counter-transference (the attribution of feelings towards the client as
inappropriate projections of the counsellor’s own ambiguities and
unresolved issues). Instead, she will consider the relevancy of those
feelings to the client. A greater openness on the part of the counsellor,
therefore, characterises PCC. Although congruence does not require the
therapist to express her feelings in an unregulated or haphazard way,
she should always be herself, “even in ways which are not regarded as
ideal for psychotherapy” (Rogers, 1957, cited in Merry, 2002, p. 83).
1.13 In responding congruently, to her client’s immediate need, the personcentred counsellor may treat some of the formalities associated with a
pre-contract meeting somewhat cursorily (holding them over to another
session). She will respond to her client as an individual, not a patient
(and in doing so recognises his innate humanity and the power of the
actualising tendency). She will not diagnose a client or offer a treatment
plan. PCC is, in a sense, generic. Dissonance is the result of the gap
between our authentic self and our conditioned self (or selves), which
we all experience to some lesser or greater extent, rather than some
pathological imbalance or abnormality. Rather than adopting the role of
expert, telling the client what is wrong with him (which would require an
external frame of reference and place the therapist on a hierarchy) the
person-centred therapist works with the client.
1.14 The importance of this cannot be over-stressed. In many cases,
conditions of worth are likely to have been absorbed from so-called
experts (or, at the very least, from people who adopted a position of
superiority, or knowing best). Reversing the negative impact of those
conditions of worth, allowing the client to return to a state of greater
authenticity, requires not only the acceptance of the client’s autonomy,
but also of their own intrinsic value (that, at some level, the client knows
himself best). The person-centred counsellor acknowledges the
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vulnerability of the client who has come to her for help and is “at pains
to redress the power imbalance” (Mearns and Thorne, 2007, p.156). She
will gently disabuse her client of any notions that she is the expert able
to “cure” the client’s problems, establishing instead the notion of
“cooperation and coming along side in order that the necessary work be
undertaken together…..”(op cit., p. 158).
1.15 In contrast to some other orientations, counsellor and client may agree
not to confine sessions to the physical consulting room. At the request
of the client, for example, the therapist may agree to accompany her
client on a particular trip that has significance. So too may the duration
and number of sessions be determined by the client’s needs, with the
possibility of review or revival meetings after an initial number of
sessions. Mutuality and developing trust, which will allow counsellor and
client to work at relational depth, are of key importance. Clients must
feel “that they have the primary role in determining their own
therapeutic need” (Mearns and Thorne, 2007, p. 168). The personcentred counsellor must strike a careful balance between allowing her
client to determine the pace and ensuring that he does not feel
abandoned or threatened by his perception of the therapist’s ability to
terminate the relationship (which would inhibit his ability to experience
the counsellor’s unconditional positive regard).
Some difficulties and dangers
1.16 A therapist of any orientation should be competent, properly trained
and under regular supervision. Counselling may release powerful and
difficult emotions (in the client and, sometimes, in the counsellor). It is
important that an adequate structure be in place in which such feelings
may be safely resolved or, at least, contained. Particular issues with PCC,
the efficacy of which depends upon the realness of the therapeutic
relationship rather than a set of techniques, often revolve around the
issue of boundaries. For example, the BACP Ethical Framework prohibits
sexual relations between client and practitioner, but managing any form
of personal relationship with a potentially vulnerable client may become
problematical (whose previous history of abuse may influence his
experience and interpretation of the counsellor’s behaviour).
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1.17 Clear boundaries may be the protective “answer.” However, this may sit
uncomfortably with PCC and its emphasis on authenticity and relational
depth. An agency policy against physical contact, for example, may
inhibit the person-centred counsellor who reacts congruently to a
distressed client’s request for a hug. Notwithstanding the counsellor’s
congruency, her behaviour could still be criticised as encouraging clientdependency. Mearns and Thorne respond to this challenge by arguing
for the treatment of boundaries functionally rather than structurally,
delineating and accounting for actions as a particular client and a
particular context demand (Mearns and Thorne, 2000, p 36). The
person-centred counsellor must therefore work from within a deep
understanding of the core philosophy of PCC, not just with a superficial
nodding acquaintance.
1.18 The counsellor must take particular care with vulnerable clients, who will
often have an external locus of evaluation. In those cases, the counsellor
must take great care not to be (or to appear to be) directive. The client
may take any form of direction as instruction, or respond in a way that
he imagines will please the counsellor rather than authentically. In
extreme cases, counsellor-led suggestions (or even inadvertently
changing the client’s symbolism and reflecting instead the counsellor’s
constructions) can result in false memory syndrome. However, the truly
non-directive approach of PCC and the restorative power of
unconditional positive regard may be particularly appropriate for
individuals who have suffered abuse from authority figures.11
Gestalt
1.19 Fritz Perls (1893 -1970) was “the colourful and iconoclastic originator of
Gestalt therapy” (Clarkson, 2004, p. 2). Like Rogers, Perls was reacting, in
part, against the analytical approach of the time. In common with PCA,
Gestalt therapy is essentially a “third force,” humanistic and
phenomenological in nature. It is an existential and experiential form of
psychotherapy, which emphasizes personal responsibility, the primacy of
11
See further Mearns and Thorne, 2000, p. 128 to 131. For an in-depth discussion of working with clients with
fragile and dissociated processes, see Warner, Margaret, S., in “Person-centred therapy as the difficult edge: a
developmentally based model of fragile and dissociated process,” in Mearns and Thorne, 2000, pp. 144 to 171.
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working in the here-and-now, the need to give meaning to perception
and to work towards wholeness (bodily, emotionally, socially, in all
senses—the relationship between the individual and the environment is
a central tenet of the Gestalt approach).
1.20 Defining, rather than describing, Gestalt, however, is problematical.
Perls saw Gestalt as based purely on phenomenology, “working away
from concepts and towards pure awareness”(Clarkson, 2004, p.4) Whilst
it deploys a number of concepts and principles (for example, the
relationship between figure and ground, the cycle of experience, the
adaptation of various concepts from psychoanalysis) Gestalt lacks a
unifying conceptual core. Unlike PCA, which has a highly defined
theoretical basis, the conceptual framework of Gestalt tends to be selfreferential—
“Gestalt therapy’s conceptual foundation or world view is Gestalt,
i.e., based on holism and field theory” (Clarkson, 2004, p.31).
1.21 At some level, there appears to be much similarity between Gestalt and
PCA. It shares a common faith in the potential for human growth. It
values authenticity and makes “the dialogue between the two partners
in growth the central healing dimension” (op cit., p.25). Like PCA,
ostensibly at least, Gestalt questions the value of techniques and places
great emphasis on the counsellor being the therapeutic conduit.
“A Gestalt therapist does not use techniques; he applies himself in
and to a situation with whatever professional skill and life
experience he has accumulated and integrated”(Perls, cited in
Clarkson, 2004, p 30).
The reference to professional skills is perhaps telling. Unlike, the personcentred counsellor, the Gestalt therapist will, in practice, typically deploy
a number of techniques, albeit experimentally, aimed at increasing the
client’s awareness. She is, at least, a de facto expert in process (albeit
one who is open to challenge). She may also use diagnostic terminology,
speaking, for example, of confluence and neuroses. She may associate
diagnoses with particular behaviours, or interruptions to the cycle of
experience, rather than personality types. However, this is a marked
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contrast to PCA, which eschews diagnostic labels altogether and sees
dissonance as generic, the root cause of disturbance being always the
gap between the conditioned self and the authentic self.
1.22 Unlike PCA, Gestalt lacks a core theory of self. In Gestalt, self, being a
purely phenomenological experience, can only exist in comparison with
other. Gestalt therapy is not about facilitating the actualisation of our
inherent and authentic self, but about exploring relationships and our
felt awareness of self in the here-and-now. For the Gestalt therapist,
challenge and provocation may be legitimate strategies for increasing
the client’s awareness (an awareness of what is). The person-centred
counsellor, however, will seek primarily to communicate her
unconditional positive regard to the client, the experience of which
facilitates the dissolution of conditions of worth and promotes
actualisation, or growth. The person-centred counsellor fosters not only
an awareness of what can be, but change itself (the necessary outcome
of the six conditions). Moreover, she proceeds in the belief of the
natural tendency to growth and its “ownership” by the client. Gestalt,
whilst nominally valuing client integrity, is characterised by more
therapist-led interventions. For some, this makes it antithetical to true
autonomy and to the primacy of the actualising tendency.
Psychodynamic approaches
1.23 Psychodynamic psychotherapy, whilst building on the work of Freud Carl
Jung, Alfred Adler, Otto Rank, Melanie Klein and others within the
psychoanalytical movement, may take many forms.12 However,
commonalities include a belief in—
 the centrality of intrapsychic and unconscious conflicts,
 a resultant system of defence mechanisms to contain the ensuing
tension,
 that the resultant conflict may give rise to problems
(psychopathology),
12
Susan Howard (Howard, 2006, p. 8), for example, commented, “that there is no such thing as The
Psychodynamic Model.”
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 these problems or conflicts have their origins in the past, typically
in early childhood experiences,
 that these conflicts continue to manifest themselves in
relationships in the here and now, including the one between
therapist and client.
1.24 In contrast to PCC with its unifying core belief in the actualising
tendency, a psychodynamic counsellor may adopt one or more of a
number of different models or concepts as a way of gaining insight into
the client’s inner world. For example, she may use the classical Freudian
structural model. This divides the mind into three agencies; the id, the
ego and the super-ego, in which the ego mediates between the wild,
instinctive, child-like impulses of the id and the parent-like, agent of rule
enforcement, super-ego.13 She may draw on Freud’s development
theory (children passing through three psycho-sexual stages; oral, anal
and phallic or genital).14 She may utilise the work of Melanie Klein and
Objects Relation Theory.15 Alternatively, she may draw on the work of
later theorists, such as Donald Winnicott (who developed the ideas of
good enough parenting and transitional objects) or John Bowlby
(pioneer of attachment theory). However, all of these models seek to
explain our adult personalities and our psychological difficulties through
our developmental history, primarily the experience of our early
childhood. There is, therefore, a loose similarity with the way
introjections, or conditions of worth, which we commonly absorb in
childhood, may interfere with the actualising tendency.
13
Tension arises through repression, or other defence mechanism, as the ego struggles to deal with the
unacceptable urges of the id. For example, at an instinctive level we may want to satisfy our immediate desire
for physical gratification, hunger, anger, sex, etc, but, experiencing this in a social environment, know
consciously that such behaviour is not acceptable. Our struggle to reconcile these conflicting impulses results
in tension, which may manifest itself emotionally, socially, or physically. We may, for example, deny our gut
feelings or project them onto another person.
14
Each stage requires the child to negotiate issues that arise from his separateness and difference. This may be
envy and jealously from being orally deprived or frustrated or difficulties relating to authority exhibiting
themselves in withholding or expulsing during the potty-training period. In the third stage, a whole gamut of
issues, such as the Oedipus and Electra complexes and castration anxieties may arise as the developing child
unconsciously comes to desire the parent of the opposite sex and struggles to contain the resultant feelings of
aggression (to do away with the same sex parent) and fear (that the parent will punish him).
15
Very briefly, this posits two important stages in development: the paranoid-schizoid and the depressive
position. The infant, encountering the good breast (present) and the bad breast (absent or withdrawn) first
divides or splits these experiences before, in the normal developmental cycle, coming to appreciate the coexistence of good and bad in the mother object.
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1.25 In PCC, tension reflects the gap between our conditioned self and our
authentic self. A psychodynamic approach views tension as the result of
how we deal with and process our experiences internally. However, the
person-centred model is, in essence, a positive one, which sees growth
as a natural impulse. Psychodynamic approaches, on the other hand,
tend to focus on understanding our unconscious processes (over which,
at best, our control is imperfect). The aim of therapy in this case is not
the return to a state of greater congruence (our natural, albeit
hypothetical, state before we developed a conditioned self) but to foster
a greater awareness of the process of negotiation and containment
(reflected in the use of the word dynamic). At a very simplistic level, it is
less about returning to a position of health and more about helping the
client to understand his own conflicted being “and…to tolerate the pain
that is inevitable when he faces it” (Howard, 2006, p. 16). Greater
awareness may result in challenging defence mechanisms, but,
conversely, preservation may be preferred where those mechanisms
serve the critical function of facilitating the client’s survival and social
adaptation.
1.26 It is this, conceptual, difference that marks the major difference
between PCC and psychodynamic approaches. From a person-centred
perspective, which is non-directive and prizes the autonomy of the
individual, psychodynamic approaches may appear hierarchical and
rigid. Typically, sessions will be delimited physically (to the consulting
room) and temporarily (for example, fixed periods of 50 minutes on set
days over a relatively sustained period). The psychodynamic counsellor,
focused on exploring and, significantly, interpreting the client’s
motivations may appear distant. A request for personal information
from the counsellor is likely to meet with an exploration of the
significance of the question to the client rather than an honest and open
reply! In contrast to PCC, the therapeutic relationship (though still
critical) is commonly viewed not as one of equal, co-explorers, but as
one of expert and patient, parent and child.
1.27 Indeed, reflecting his theoretical base, the psychodynamic counsellor
will seek to recreate a facilitating environment, but one geared to
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containment and safe exploration rather than organic growth. In
mirroring the parent-child relationship, the psychodynamic counsellor
does not provide an idealised nurturing space (as his person-centred
counterpart may do through communicating her unconditional positive
regard). Rather, she creates a space in order to explore both the good
and bad experiences of childhood safely.
1.28 In this context, the client’s feelings for the counsellor (transference) and
the counsellor’s reaction to the client (counter-transference) are critical,
although not because they are owned directly, but because of the
insight that they provide to the client’s past and present relationships
outside of the consulting room—
“The here and now of the therapeutic relationship provides some
of the clues that are necessary to enable the present to be better
understood; and when these different elements can be related to
each other, the picture becomes clearer” (Jacobs, 2006, p. 25).
1.29 Likewise, we should view the psychodynamic counsellor’s use of
particular techniques, such as free word association or the
interpretation of dreams, their use of labels and diagnostic categories
(antithetical as they are to the person-centred approach) in the context
of the informing conceptual framework. Contemporary psychodynamic
practitioners are frequently well aware that they “must not replace
repression with oppression” (Jacobs, 2006, p. 45). However, almost
inevitably in an approach that focuses on processes that, by definition,
are opaque or distorted internally, there is the omnipresent risk of client
disempowerment and susceptibility to leading interpretations.
Bibliography
BACP, Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy,
February 2010, Lutterworth, BACP.
Clarkson, Petrūska (2004), Gestalt Counselling in Action, third edition, London,
Sage.
Howard, Susan (2006), Psychodynamic Counselling in a nutshell, London, Sage.
Page 16 of 21
Jacobs, Michael (2006), The Presenting Past; the core of psychodynamic
counselling and theory, third edition, Maidenhead, Open University Press.
McLeod, J. (2008), D171, Introduction to counselling , ed. D.Langdridge,
Maidenhead/Milton Keynes, Open University Press/Open University.
Mearns, David and Thorne, Brian, 2000, Person-Centred Therapy Today; New
frontiers in Theory and Practice, London, Sage.
Mearns, David and Thorne, Brian, 2007, Person-Centred Counselling in Action,
London, Sage.
Merry, Tony (2002), Learning and Being in Person-Centred Counselling, second
edition, Ross-on-Wye, PCCS Books.
Rogers, C.R. (1961), On Becoming a Person, a therapist’s view of
psychotherapy, 2004 edition, London, Constable and Robinson Limited.
Sanders, P. (2002), First Steps in Counselling, A Students’ companion for basic
introductory courses, Ross-on-Wye, PCCS Books.
Sanders, Pete, 2004, ed.,The tribes of the person-centred nation, an
introduction to the schools of therapy related to the person-centred approach,
Ross-on-Wye, PCCS Books.
Page 17 of 21
Appendix A
The 19 propositions
1. All individuals (organisms) exist in a continually changing world of experience
(phenomenal field) of which they are the center.
2. The organism reacts to the field as it is experienced and perceived. This perceptual
field is "reality" for the individual.
3. The organism reacts as an organized whole to this phenomenal field.
4. A portion of the total perceptual field gradually becomes differentiated as the self.
5. As a result of interaction with the environment, and particularly as a result of
evaluational interaction with others, the structure of the self is formed - an
organized, fluid but consistent conceptual pattern of perceptions of characteristics
and relationships of the "I" or the "me", together with values attached to these
concepts.
6. The organism has one basic tendency and striving - to actualize, maintain and
enhance the experiencing organism.
7. The best vantage point for understanding behavior is from the internal frame of
reference of the individual.
8. Behavior is basically the goal-directed attempt of the organism to satisfy its needs as
experienced, in the field as perceived.
9. Emotion accompanies, and in general facilitates, such goal directed behavior, the kind
of emotion being related to the perceived significance of the behavior for the
maintenance and enhancement of the organism.
10. Values experienced directly by the organism, and in some instances are values
introjected or taken over from others, but perceived in distorted fashion, as if they
had been experienced directly.
11. As experiences occur in the life of the individual, they are either, a) symbolized,
perceived and organized into some relation to the self, b) ignored because there is no
perceived relationship to the self structure, c) denied symbolization or given distorted
symbolization because the experience is inconsistent with the structure of the self.
12. Most of the ways of behaving that are adopted by the organism are those that are
consistent with the concept of self.
13. In some instances, behavior may be brought about by organic experiences and needs
which have not been symbolized. Such behavior may be inconsistent with the
structure of the self but in such instances the behavior is not "owned" by the
individual.
14. Psychological adjustment exists when the concept of the self is such that all the
sensory and visceral experiences of the organism are, or may be, assimilated on a
symbolic level into a consistent relationship with the concept of self.
15. Psychological maladjustment exists when the organism denies awareness of
significant sensory and visceral experiences, which consequently are not symbolized
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and organized into the gestalt of the self structure. When this situation exists, there is
a basic or potential psychological tension.
16. Any experience which is inconsistent with the organization of the structure of the self
may be perceived as a threat, and the more of these perceptions there are, the more
rigidly the self structure is organized to maintain itself.
17. Under certain conditions, involving primarily complete absence of threat to the self
structure, experiences which are inconsistent with it may be perceived and examined,
and the structure of self revised to assimilate and include such experiences.
18. When the individual perceives and accepts into one consistent and integrated system
all his sensory and visceral experiences, then he is necessarily more understanding of
others and is more accepting of others as separate individuals.
19. As the individual perceives and accepts into his self structure more of his organic
experiences, he finds that he is replacing his present value system - based extensively
on introjections which have been distortedly symbolized - with a continuing
organismic valuing process.
Rogers, Carl (1951), Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications and theory,
London: Constable.
Page 19 of 21
Appendix B
The six conditions
For therapy to occur it is necessary that these conditions exist.
1. That two persons are in contact.
2. That the first person, whom we shall term the client, is in a state of incongruence,
being vulnerable, or anxious.
3. That the second person, whom we shall term the therapist, is congruent in the
relationship.
4. That the therapist is experiencing unconditional positive regard toward the client.
5. That the therapist is experiencing an empathic understanding of the client’s internal
frame of reference.
6. That the client perceives, at least to a minimal degree, Conditions 4 and 5, the
unconditional positive regard of the therapist for him, and the empathic
understanding of the therapist.
Rogers, Carl, 1959, ‘A theory of therapy, personality, and interpersonal relationships, as
developed in the client-centered framework’ in Psychology: A Study Of Science, ed. S. Koch,
Vol. 3, pp. 184-256,New York, McGraw-Hill.
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Appendix C
Characteristics of the fully functioning individual
1. An increasing openness to experience – the individual moves away from
defensiveness and feels that he has a right to be attended to with care and respect
when in need.
2. Increasingly existential living – an increasing tendency to live fully in each
moment.– not distorting the moment to fit personality or self concept but allowing
personality and self concept to emerge from the experience. The results are greater
adaptability and less rigidity. "To open one's spirit to what is going on now, and
discover in that present process whatever structure it appears to have" (Rogers,
1961, p. 189).
3. An increasing trust in his organism – the individual trusts his own judgment and can
choose behaviour that is appropriate for each moment, “the most satisfying
behaviour in each existential situation” ( op. cit., p. 189) . He no longer relies on
existing codes and social norms but trusts his own sense of what feels right.
4. Greater freedom of choice – the individual is no longer so constrained by the
restrictions that influence an incongruent individual. He is able to make a wider
range of choices more fluently. He is “more able to permit his total organism to
function freely in all its complexity in selecting, from the multitude of possibilities,
that behaviour which in this moment of time will be most generally and genuinely
satisfying” (op. cit., p. 191).
5. Increased creativity – the individual feels more freedom to be creative. He may not
be adapted to his particular culture, and is unlikely to be a conformist. However, in
any culture, he would live constructively, more in touch with his own experiences
and in touch with “his deepest needs,” (op. cit., p. 195).
6. Reliability and constructiveness – the individual can be trusted to act constructively,
open to all his needs and able to maintain a balance between them. Intrinsic
goodness can even match aggressive needs.
7. A rich full life (the good life) – the life of the fully functioning individual is rich, full
and exciting. He can experience joy and pain, love and heartbreak, fear and courage
more intensely.
Adapted from Rogers, Carl, 1961, pp. 187 to196.
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