Person-Centered Therapy
Carl Rogers
In my early professional years I was asking
the question: How can I treat, or cure, or
change this person? Now I would phrase the
question in this way: How can I provide a
relationship which this person may use for his
own personal growth?
The good life is a process, not a state of
being. It is a direction, not a destination.
Relationship to Existing Theory
Based on concepts of humanistic psychology
brought to the US by Jews fleeing the Nazis
Was developed as non-directive counseling
In reaction to the directiveness of psychoanalytic
theory
Falls into what has been termed the third
force in therapy
An alternative to both psychoanalysis and
behaviorism
Theory Development
First Period -- 1940s
Nondirective Counseling
Developed in reaction to psychoanalytic approach
Challenged the basic assumption that “counselor knows
best”
Second Period -- 1950s
Client-Centered Therapy
Reflects emphasis on the client rather than on nondirective
methods
Characterized by shift from clarification of feelings to a
focus on the phenomenological world of the client
Focused more actualizing as a motivational force
Theory Development
Third Period -- 1950s – 1970s
Openness to experience
Trust in one’s experience
Internal Locus of Evaluation
Willingness to be in process
Encounter Groups, Applied in education as
student-centered
Existentialism & Humanism:
Similarities
Share a respect for the client’s subjective experience
Trust in capacity of the client to make positive and
constructive conscious choices
Emphasize concepts such as freedom, choice,
values, personal responsibility, autonomy, purpose
and meaning
Parallel concepts with regard to the client-therapist
relationship at the core of therapy
Both adopt a phenomenological stance
Call for therapist to enter the subjective world
Both emphasize client’s capacity for self-awareness
Existentialism & Humanism:
Differences
Existentialists believe
that, as humans, we are
faced with the anxiety
of choosing to create an
identity in a world that
lacks intrinsic meaning
Humanists believe
each person has a
natural potential that
we can actualize and
through which we can
find meaning
Major Philosophical Assumptions
Belief that people are resourceful, capable of
self-direction and able to live effectively and
successfully
People will move in positive directions if the way is
clear for them to do so
When people are free to do so, they will find their
own way
Has little faith in the role of experts who
direct others toward self-betterment
Major Philosophical
Assumption, cont…
Humanistic philosophy is compared
to the acorn, which, if provided the
right nurturing conditions will
automatically grow in positive ways,
pushed naturally toward actualization
as an oak tree.
Major Philosophical
Assumption, cont…
Becoming increasingly actualized =
An openness to experience
A trust in oneself
An internal source of evaluation
A willingness to continue growing
Central Constructs & Tenets
Therapist can promote client growth by
demonstrating:
Congruence
Unconditional positive regard
Accurate empathy
Self-Actualization
These result in people being less defensive,
letting go of rigid perceptions and being more
open to self-actualization
Congruence
Genuineness & Caring
Real without False Front
Considered by Rogers as most important
Trying too hard to be genuine can lead to
incongruence
Therapist does not have to be fully selfactualized in order to be effective:
However, Congruence must be present in
the counseling relationship
Unconditional Positive Regard
Refers to acceptance of the worth of
the person; not acceptance or approval of
all behaviors
Accurate Empathy
Able to grasp the subjective world of
another
Implies that the therapist will sense the
client’s feelings without getting lost in them
(losing own identity)
Easier said than done, learning it sometimes
feels silly (example of mirroring in counselor
training)
Self-Actualization
Looked at the healthy rather than the sick side of
clients and at the value of their moving toward
self-actualization through which they experience
Tolerance of uncertainty
Acceptance of self and
others
Spontaneity and
creativity
Comfort with solitude
Autonomy
Capacity for deep
personal relationships
Sense of humor
Genuine caring for
others
Inner-directedness
Positive outlook on life
Therapeutic Frame of Reference
Present
Past is important only as it contributes to
current awareness
Therapeutic Goals
To achieve a greater degree of
integration and independence
To focus on the person rather than on the
presenting problem.
No preset goals
Client with the help of a trusted, facilitating
therapist will set own course
View of Pathology
Clients come to therapy in a state of
incongruence (discrepancy between selfperception and their experience in reality) with
resultant anxiety
Feel sense of helplessness and powerlessness
toward making appropriate decisions to direct
their own life
Since the drive toward higher levels of
psychological maturity are deeply rooted,
person-centered therapy can be effective with
normal and maladjusted persons
Therapeutic Objectives
Congruence
Increased trust in self
Increased willingness to explore alternatives
Increased personal resources
Role of the Therapist
To establish a therapeutic climate (i.e.,
congruence, empathy, unconditional positive
regard) that facilitates growth and change.
Clients should be able to:
Feel understood and accepted without judgment
Lower their defenses to self-exploration and feel more
open to experience
Discover hidden aspects of themselves
Become more realistic
Perceive others with greater accuracy
Relationship of Counselor & Client
Quality of relationship determines outcome of counseling
2 people are in psychological contact
Client is in state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious
Counselor is congruent or integrated in the relationship
Counselor experiences unconditional positive regard for the
client
Counselor experiences an empathic understanding of the
client’s internal frame of reference and endeavors to
communicate this experience to the client
The communication to the client of the counselor’s empathic
understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a
minimal degree achieved
To hear stories from counselors who worked
with Rogers’ about his perceptions of the
importance of Counselor-Client relationship
and approach to developing and maintaining
that relationship click the picture.
http://www.odu.edu/~eneukrug/therapists/rogers.html
Clients should be able to…
Feel safer and less vulnerable
Accept themselves more as they are
Become truer to themselves and less
affected by others’ expectations
Become more self-directed
Perceive the past as less deterministic
Multicultural Contributions
Significant contributions to cross-cultural
communication
Person-centered philosophy and practice is studied
and practiced in many different cultures
Emphasis on core conditions increases the utility of
approach for understanding diverse worldviews
Multicultural Limitations
Some clients desire more structure
Difficult to translate the core conditions into
actual practice in some cultures
Communication of conditions must be congruent
with client’s cultural framework
Internal Locus of Evaluation
Some cultures value collectivism more than
individualism
Gloria Video
Watch for Rogers’ use of techniques and
tenets related to his theory with Gloria.
Click on the picture to play the video clip.
0
