Rogers Person-Centered Therapy John C.W. Young California Baptist University Rogers Person-Centered Therapy Rather than viewing people as inherently flawed, with problematic behaviors and thoughts that require treatment, a person-centered therapy identifies that each person has the capacity and desire for personal growth and change. Rogers termed this natural human inclination actualizing tendency, or self-actualization. He likened it to the way that other living organisms strive toward balance, order, and greater complexity. According to Rogers, individuals have within themselves vast resources for self-understanding and for altering their self-concepts, basic attitudes, and self-directed behavior; these resources can be tapped if a definable …show more content…
This was the core from which he developed a theory of personality. When people enter client-centered therapy, they are in a state of incongruence, meaning there is a difference between how they see themselves and reality. Having an accurate self-concept, the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs people have about themselves, is key to client-centered therapy. For example, a person may consider himself helpful to others but often puts his own needs before the needs of others. It is the hope of client-centered therapists to help clients reach a state of congruence or a match between self-concept and reality. Which just means for people to see themselves as they actually are. For example, if a person considers herself a good chef, she would not doubt herself when it comes to cooking meals. In client-centered therapy, the therapist does not attempt to change the client's thinking in any way. The therapist merely facilitates self-actualization by providing a comfortable environment for clients to freely engage in focused, in-depth self-exploration. “The goal of therapy was to move the individual towards maturity, as being, becoming or being knowingly and acceptingly that which one most deeply is” (Anderson, 2001). Rogers believed that if a person is fully accepted, then they cannot help but change as the process leads to positive choices and increases the ability to problem-solve. Since Rogers’ initial work, …show more content…
Client-centered therapists work to help clients lead full lives of self-understanding and reduce defensiveness, guilt, and insecurity. As well as have more positive and comfortable relationships with others, and an increased capacity to experience and express their feelings. Believing strongly that theory should come out of practice rather than the other way round, Rogers developed his theory based on his work with emotionally troubled people and claimed that we have a remarkable capacity for self-healing and personal growth leading towards self-actualization. He placed emphasis on the person's current perception and how we live in the here-and-now. The person-centered counselor places so much emphasis on genuineness and on being led by the client, they do not place the same emphasis on boundaries of time and technique as would a psychodynamic therapist. If they judged it appropriate, a person-centered counselor might diverge considerably from orthodox counseling techniques. “A clear statement of Rogers’s perspective on how change occurs is evident in his fundamental hypothesis, which consist of three parts. If I can provide a certain type of relationship, the other person will discover within her or himself the capacity to use the relationship for growth” (Fernald 2000). The philosophy that people are essentially good, and that ultimately the individual knows what is right for them,
The counseling profession has a broad spectrum of possibilities when it comes to choosing which psychological approach to take. The field of counseling takes many forms and offers many career options, from school counseling to marriage and family therapy. As there are numerous styles in existence, it is important to be aware of the many approaches available to take. For my research two psychological approaches, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Person-Centered Psychology, will be critically analyzed and discussed in depth in order to compare the techniques as well as effectiveness of each.
While CBT has many advantages, it alone does not encompass all of the concepts I believe are necessary to tackle a client’s needs. Therefore, I draw upon concepts from various theories to assist clients in achieving their goals. Pulling from Reality therapy, a key concept I utilize is focusing on what the client is doing and how to get them to evaluate whether they’re present actions are working for them. CBT does use some form of this in the sense that one must examine and establish their cognitive misconceptions; however, I prefer to extract this concept from Reality therapy because CBT tends to do so by focusing on the past. I am a firm believer that while the past can shape who you are, it does little good to remain focused on it. Focusing on overt behavior, precision in specifying the goals of treatment, development of specific treatment plans, and objective evaluation of therapy outcomes all come from Behavior therapy (Corey, 2013, p. 474). Behavior therapy is highly structured much like that of CBT. By utilizing this aspect of Behavior therapy, I am better able to closely observe where a client is currently and where they are headed. Lastly, I pull from Person-Centered therapy as the final key concept of my counseling approach. PCT focuses on the fact that client’s have the potential to become aware of their problems and resolve them (Corey, 2013). This Person-Centered therapy concept has overlap with CBT as
Learning about Client Centered Therapy has opened my eyes to counseling. Roger’s theory of actualizing tendency and theory of self expanded my knowledge of my own self-concept as well as counseling. Rogers explained that every person has an innate drive to self-actualize. In many instances, loved ones put conditions for worth on him/her, which causes incongruence for the person. He/she begins to loose trust in his/her organismic valuing process. By understanding this concept, I am more inclined to stay true to my organismic valuing process. I have trust in my innate ability to lead myself in direction to self-actualizing. It may be challenging when others put conditions of worth on me, but understanding the concept may help me stay true to
This approach emphasizes the importance of the potential of humans and sought to make up for the missing component of conscious in the psychodynamic approach. The humanistic approach oriented psychologist has the belief that human behavior is guided by intent and the individual’s set of values (Association, 2014). Those who subscribe to this orientation believe there are both an unconscious and a conscious element to determining behavior. The unconscious element is considered to be the individual’s application of learned norms and experience, while the conscious element is applied by making deliberate choices and decisions. A humanistic oriented practitioner will use differing types of therapy such as client-centered therapy, Gestalt therapy, or existential therapy (American Psychological, 2015). Client-centered therapy or person-centered therapy was developed by Carl Rogers and places the client as the leader of the therapy. This approach allows for the growth and better understanding of self within the individual, as they solve their own problems, while the therapist is there to provide empathetic support (Australian, 2010). Gestalt therapy focuses on the responsibility of the individual for their current situation and considers relationships, environment, and social experiences occurring, and influencing behavior (Polster & Polster, 2010). This process consists of the practitioner acting as a guide and offer advise in helping the client to deal with their current issue. Existential therapy consists of allowing an individual the ability to live with their issues within their own existence (Price, 2011). This means a therapist uses this type of therapy to assist clients with understanding what the present problem is and learning to deal with the consequences of that issue in their every day life. With
Carl R. Rogers theorized that through providing a certain kind of relationship with the client, one in which empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence were present, the client would “discover within himself the capacity to the relationship for growth, and change and personal development” . As a counselor empathy is essential as it allows me to enter my clients internal frame of reference, while still retaining a problem-solving stance. Entering the client’s internal frame of reference means I must consider the emotions and thoughts of the client, it is similarly vital not to get lost in the internal frame of reference as this creates the distinction between sympathy and empathy. Unconditional positive regard, also called acceptance is essential as it plays a role in creating a helping relationship in which the client feels safe to express any negative emotions or thoughts, while being...
Person-Centred Counselling established its origins in the late 1940 during a conference when Carl Rogers gave a talk entitled ‘New Concepts in Psychotherapy’. The summarisation of the talk resulted in the theory that the client in a counselling relationship should be at the center of the relationship and lead the counselling process. The Client, in effect became the expert on their life and/or problems. The fundamental belief is that an individual is capable of change, growth and fulfillment (self-concept). Person-Centred counselling looks at ‘the here and now’ and how to make changes that affect the future. Person-Centred Counselling generated a system known as the ‘Core Conditions Model’ which emphasized three key components: Empathy, Congruence and Acceptance.
While CBT has many advantages, it alone does not encompass all of the concepts I believe are necessary to tackles a client’s needs. Therefore, I draw upon concepts from various theories to obtain a better idea of what we are working towards. Pulling from Reality therapy, a key concept I utilize is focusing on what the client is doing and how to get them to evaluate whether they’re present actions are working for them. CBT does use some form of this is the sense that one must examine and establish their cognitive misconceptions; however, I prefer to pull from Reality therapy because CBT tends to do so by focusing on the past. I am a firm believer that while the past can shape who you are, it does very little good to remain focused on it. Focusing on overt behavior, precision in specifying goals of treatment, development of specific treatment plans, and objective evaluation of therapy outcomes all come from Behavior therapy (Corey, 2013, p. 474). Behavior therapy is highly structured much like that of CBT. I utilize this aspect of Behavior therapy because high level of structure enables me to closely observe where a client is currently and where they are headed. Lastly, I pull from Person-Centered therapy as the final key concept of my counseling approach. PCT focuses on the fact that client’s have the potential to become aware of their problems and resolve them. This Person-Centered therapy concept has overlap with
To explain, the client should not be inferior to the counselor; the environment should be two people discussing an issue and ways to make a difference. A therapist should occasionally share similar experiences; therefore, sessions should make clients feel comfortable. To add, the client should feel safe due to the positive atmosphere the therapist brings to the session. The goal is to finally give the client a chance to be heard, regularly people are muted and feel like they are insignificant to society. Similarly, to Person-centered therapy where communication with the client is unconditionally positive. The therapist needs to genuinely care about the client needs for them to fully express themselves successfully. Furthermore, clients should be encouraging to make their own choices which model how to identify and use power responsibly. Hence, this will help the client feel more confident in everyday life when making a meaningful
His contributions to human behavior have changed many of the theories that preceded him, and his theory contributed to many theories that followed. I want to explore Client/Person Centered Therapy. This is a type of therapy that was pioneered by Carl Rogers. This therapy is different because as the name suggests it solely focuses on the client. ' In focusing on the client, the client’s feelings are deeply explored.
...entation, or several, in which they choose to practice in their professional career. Psychoanalysis and Person-Centered Therapy are just two, out of over four hundred types, of counseling approaches in use today. The constructs and theories are extremely different, however, neither can be considered right nor wrong. They are simply based on different beliefs, assumptions and viewpoints of human development and their behavior. Although, however different and unique, there are still similarities between the two types of therapy approaches. Through case examples, such as the case of D and the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder, the techniques and outcomes of different treatment approaches can be see in real life examples. Past research and writing support brings about contradictions, criticism and treatment outcomes to the theories and those who developed them.
In the second part of the book Rogers speaks of his ideas of his theory of the person-centered approach to therapy. This is the part of the book that I felt really spoke to me. Person-centered theory is a lot of what I would like to do. I enjoy the ideas and concepts that Rogers presents in his theory. I think that it is extremely important to be able to take into consideration not only the diagnosis of the patient/client with whom you are working, but that it is more important to be able to take the time to sit back and to listen to them. I have realized in the year that I have been working in the psychiatric hospital how important it is for the patient/client to just sit back and listen to what it is they're saying to you. This however does not mean I am only hearing their words, but that I am listening at a much deeper level and actually he...
Reflecting on the Person-Centered Therapy, it is similar to the Existential Therapy because it focuses on the client/therapist relationship, where the therapist needs to be totally genuine, empathetic and non-judgmental toward their clients in order to gain the client’s trust. I like the fact that the Person-Centered Therapy views the client as their best authority on their own experience, and being fully capable of fulfilling their own potential for growth. I also like the fact that the therapist is non-directive, does not give advice and there is no specific technique involved. Person Centered Therapy can basically develop their own technique as their relationship develop with the client.
(Zucconi, 2011). Rogers departed from viewing clients as a “patient” to avoid putting the stigma of a label on them or classifying them. Rogers was of the opinion that such terms or labels influenced a person’s identity and their behaviors causing them to feel the need to live up to the classification that was put on them. (Zucconi, 2011). Rogers was the first therapist to develop a complete therapeutic paradigm that was centered on the entirety or whole person and their potentialities. (Zucconi,
Rogers believed in his theory and stated that the organism has one basic goal self-actualization. He expressed his optimistic approach when he explained that all of us have the tendency to grow until we reach self-actualization. Also, he mentions that we exist because we need to gratify this need that we all have buried deep down inside of us. In relation to personality, he says individuals are open-minded and trusting to their own feelings and their environment around them. Rogers’ theory does emphasize when a person will finally reach self-actualization and that is from the experiences of his or her childhood. He says every child needs to obtain acceptance and unconditional love from others and a child will only be taken good care of and loved if he or she suits the expectancies of the others. Therefore, because of these, Rogers theorized that these conditions give an increasing level of influence to the person’s behavior. When his or her behavior and actions are continually reinforced by such conditions, the individual develops the personality type that corresponds to the generality of their
Carl Rogers was a founder of this movement that emphasizes personal growth, and he suggested that the personality only contains one paradigm- the self-concept. The self-concept is a collection of beliefs about one’s nature, qualities unique to them, and their typical behavior. If a person’s self-concept matched reality, then they are considered congruent. If they do not match reality, then they are considered incongruent, and this has an effect on the person’s well being. Rogers believed that a parent’s unconditional love for their child could help foster congruence in that person. (Weiten, Dunn, & Hammer, 2012) He based these humanistic theories off of the interactions that he had with his clients, as he observed them during their sessions. His theories help to explain a person’s defensive behavior among other things, but most importantly, he stressed that psychological health is extremely important. (Weiten, Dunn, & Hammer,