Person-Centered Therapy
P-C Therapy Challenges…

Directive & Psychoanalytic Approaches

An approach of offering advice, suggestion,
diagnosis, and interpretation

A belief that clients need direct help in order
to resolve their own problems

A focus on problems instead of persons
P-C Therapy Emphasizes…

Therapy is shared by C. and T.

The client’s striving for self-actualization &
capacity for growth
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The therapist’s personal characteristics

The counselor’s creation of a “growth
promoting” climate

The quality of the therapeutic relationship
Views of Human Nature

Striving toward becoming fully functioning

Having the inner resources
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Having self-healing capacities
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Being a primary change agent
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Actualizing self-potential
Core concepts

Empathy
– Accurate understanding

Congruence/genuineness
– Therapist is his actual self in his encounter with
his client

Unconditional positive regard
– Warmth, acceptance, nonjudgmental attitude
Therapeutic Goals

Goals are from the client, not the therapist

an openness to experience

A trust in themselves

Acceptance of others

Being less concerned about pleasing others

Becoming a fully functioning person
Therapist’s function

to be present and accessible to clients

to focus on immediate experience

to be real in the relationship with clients

Through the therapist’s genuine caring,
respect, acceptance, and understanding,
change becomes possible for clients
Therapist’s Role

Believe in the inner resources of the client (not in
techniques) facilitating personal change

Use of self

Express feelings at the moment with the client

Value the quality of the therapeutic relationship

Is genuine, integrated, and authentic

Serve as a model of a human being’s struggling
Client’s Experience in Therapy

Incongruence
– discrepancy between self-perception and
experience in realityanxietymotivation to help

As clients feel understood and accepted
– Less defensiveness
– more open to their experiences

Therapeutic relationship activate clients’ selfhealing capacities
Relationship Between T and C

Emphasizes the attitudes and personal
characteristics of the therapist and the
quality of therapeutic relationship.

Therapist listening in an accepting way to
their clients, they learn how to listen
acceptingly to themselves.
Relationship Between T and C

Congruence
– genuineness or realness

Unconditional positive regards
– acceptance and caring, but not approval of all
behavior

Accurate empathic understanding
– an ability to deeply grasp the client’s subjective
world
Therapeutic techniques & procedures

No techniques
 Not simply to restate what the client just said
or the technique of reflection of feelings
 The therapeutic relationship is a key factor
for growth
 Therapist’s presence
– being completely engaged in the relationship with
clients.

The best source of knowledge about the
client is the client
Two Types of Research on P-C

A. The importance of the Core Conditions
(Genuineness, acceptance, and empathy) for Change

1. Barkhan & Shapiro (1986)
2. Bachelor (1988): four different client perceptions of
empathy

– Cognitive, affective, sharing, nurturant empathy

3. Client Evaluation of Counselor Scale (Hamilton,
2000): an instrument for clients’ perception of core
conditions
Two Types of Research on P-C

B. Comparing the effectiveness of PersonCenter Therapy with other theories


1. 1960-1970: most P-C research in US; most recent
research on P-C in Belgium and Germany
2. P-C Therapy is effective (Greenberg, Elliott, & Litaer,
1994)
3. But, CBT is more effective than P-C therapy for
adults
4. Relaxation is more effective than P-C for anxiety

***Who benefits best from which types of therapy***

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From a multicultural perspective


Contributions
– reached more than 30 counties and translated to
12 languages
– Similarity b/w P-C and Eastern thoughts
Limitations
– Some may like structure, coping skills,
directedness
– Some may focus on family or societal
expectations instead of internal evaluation
– May be unfamiliar with people in different cultures
Summary and Evaluation

Contributions
– Active role of responsibility of client
– Inner and subjective experience
– Relationship-centered
– Focus on therapist’s attitudes
– Focus on empathy, being present, and
respecting the clients’ values
– Value multicultural context
Summary and Evaluation

Limitations
– Discount the significance of the past
– Misunderstanding the basic concept: e.g.,
reflection feelings.