Rogers upholds that the human “organism” has an original actualizing tendency. This tendency “encompasses all motivations, tensions, and needs, as well as pleasure-seeking tendencies (Rogers 1959);” this theme of ‘tendency’ is present in most of Rogers’ work. He believed that generally, people are good and that there are basic abilities in all clients to experience constructive personality change. Rogers (1959) perceived human nature as a byproduct of factors, such as inheritance, heredity, and early development, along with multiple other environmental factors. Person-centered therapy views human nature in a positive light, enabling the therapist to focus on what is right about the person rather than their faults. Another PCT belief of human
One of key concepts of person centred therapy is the belief that the client has the ability to become aware of their own problems and has the inherent means to resolve them. In this sense,
Person centred therapists believe that people are driven by two distinct needs. The first is self-actualisation (the ability to be the best we can be), the second is the need to be loved and valued.
Humanistic therapy emerged in the 1950's as an alternative to behavioural and psychoanalytic therapy. Rogers is it’s
Person Centered Therapy was established by Carl Rogers, a noted psychologist in the 1940s. This style of therapy deviated from the customary model of the therapist as professional and moved rather toward a nondirective sensitive method that empowers and encourages the client in the therapeutic fashion. The concept is Humanistic in nature which affirms the client’s anatomy, psyche, and soul. It provides clients the freedom to achieve self- realization. Cognitive Behavior Therapy understands personal functioning to be the result of continuous reciprocal interaction between behavior and its social conditions. Therapist used their own life experiences to developed theories that can be conformed to help others. Integrating theories has proven
Human beings are seen has having capacity to strive for fulfilment and growth. Rogers referred this capacity as the ‘ideal self’. Enabling a person to move in the direction of their self defined ideals is major aim of the person centred therapy. Human beings are viewed as fully functioning persons who are open to experience and able to live existentially, trusting in own organism, expresses feelings freely, acts independently, are creative and lives a richer life which involve a process and a direction, and not a destination (Rogers, 1961, p.186).Therapy can develop and psychologically change those who do not have an optimal childhood in order restore the organismic valuing process (Rogers, 1959).This idea portrays an importance strand contrast to psychoanalysis whose orientation of their theory as reflected by Freud was towards understanding and explaining pathology or illness.
Person-centered therapy views people from a positive perspective. While therapists may not always agree with the choices that a person makes, they always try to accept a person for who they are. The belief is that people can change and become self-actualized. Person-centered therapy focuses on the belief that people’s personalities are influenced by internal and external factors. These experiences will be different for everyone, because we are all exposed to different social and
Person-centered therapy was developed over the course of approximately 40 years by a man named Carl Rogers. Rogers believed a person experienced dysfunction when they are unable to experience themselves as the individual they perceive themselves to be. This is a person-centered case study for Melissa Reed who views her ideal self as a mother and wife. A woman who is now on her fifth marriage and has relational discord with her two daughters struggles with a sense of self-worth. The therapist will attempt to help Melissa progress through therapy at her own pace while working toward congruency between her real self and who she
Carl R. Rogers is known as the founding father of person-centered therapy. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1902 to a devoted Christian and a civil engineer (Rogers, Kirschenbaum, & Land, 2001). In 1922 Rogers began to doubt his religious teaching from early on in life, he sought a more liberal education at the Union Theological Seminary (Rogers, Kirschenbaum, & Land, 2001). After two years he left to attend Columbia University to study clinical and education psychology. Rogers went on to write four major books: The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child (1939), Counseling and Psychotherapy: New Concepts in Practice (1942), Client-Centered Therapy (1951), and Psychotherapy and Personality (Rogers & Dymond, 1954) (Walsh, 2010; Patterson, 2007).
(Wilkins, 2002) discusses one of the most common misunderstandings about person-centred therapy are the three core conditions needed for successful therapy. According to (Rogers, 1957), this is not the case and spoke of six core conditions believed to be necessary
In the 1940s Carl Rogers was well on his way to revolutionizing the state of traditional, directive psychotherapy and pioneering what would soon become the person-centered approach. Although Rogers strayed from the psychological mainstream’s view that therapists drive their clients recovery through such mediums as advice, direction, teaching and interpretation he still believed that the therapist’s role was crucial, and it was their attributes that paved the way to increased awareness and self-directed change.
Person-centred therapy came about through Roger’s theory on human personality. He argued that human experiences were valuable whether they were positive or negative so long as they maintained their self actualising tendency. Through one’s experiences and interactions with others Roger believed that a self-concept/regard was developed. Carl Rogers believed that a truly therapeutic relationship between client and counsellor depends on the existence, of three core conditions. The core conditions are important because they represent the key concepts and principles of person-centred therapy. These core conditions are referred to as congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy. Congruence is when the therapist has the ability to be real and honest with the client. This also means that the therapist has to be aware of their own feelings by owning up to them and not hiding behind a professional role. For example, a therapist may say ‘I understand where you are coming from’’ to the client. However the therapist has expressed a confused facial expression while saying this. The clients can be become aware of this and may feel uncomfortable in expressing their feelings, which might impact their trust and openness towards the therapist. Therefore the major role of the therapist is to acknowledge their body language and what they say and if confusion happens the therapist needs to be able to
In this essay I will look at the claim that Person-Centred Therapy offers the therapist all that he/she will need to treat clients. Firstly, I will outline what Person-Centred therapy is and look at what its originator, Carl Rogers’, theories behind this approach are. I will then discuss some of the criticisms that have been made about Person-Centred Therapy, and weigh them up to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this therapeutic approach. In the conclusion I will reflect on my learning, and on my own experiences and opinions.
Person-centered therapy is similar in that it identifies a specific personality structure, the OVS. When behavior is congruent and in harmony with the OVS, there is a movement towards self-actualization and the enhancement of being. When humans consciously or unconsciously behave in a way that goes against the OVS, behavior is a detriment to the being and hinders the self-actualization process.
As a humanistic counselling approach, person-centred therapy emphasises the potential for self-knowledge and personal growth (Corey, 2009). It views the deviation from one’s inherent goodness as a source of psychological problems, in turn aiming to increase one’s self-awareness to help them direct their life in more satisfying ways (Cooper, 2003). With the person-centred approach being more an attitude than a set of definitive techniques, a better understanding of its process is formed through connecting theory and practice. As such, this case study aims to apply the person-centred approach to a fictional client based around Lester Burnham from American Beauty (Cohen, Jinks & Mendes, 1999). Initially, an introduction to the client will be presented, followed by the assumptions, assessment, and goals formed when working with him from a person-centred perspective. Several hypothetical helping sessions will then be presented.
It is important that the therapist conduct sessions in a way where they are showing themselves in the session without pretense. This allows a growth-promoting climate with the psychoanalysis of the client’s behavior. An important factor for a successful person-centered therapy allows clients the freedom to develop and control their own lives, rather than being tied to their past (Goodwin, 2008). This method also denotes and consists of psychotherapy theory and humanistic therapy where the concentration is on the present rather than the past, and the humanistic analyst tends to underlines awareness instead of being unaware. Both theories share a common method while patients and clients converse their feelings vocally and the therapist provide analyses.