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Key Concepts from the Three Roots of Counselling Essay

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There are three main approaches in counselling these are the Humanistic, Cognitive Behavioural (C.B.T) and Psychodynamic. Within this essay I want to identify and describe some of their key concepts starting with the Humanistic Approach. The Humanistic Approach or (Person Centred Therapy) began in the 1950’s due to theorists views that there were limitations within the prior two approaches of C.B.T and Psychodynamic. The two main theorists associated with this movement are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers who believed that humans were innately good and possessed a drive towards growth and fulfilment called self-actualization. Abraham Maslow based his findings of this on healthy people who had found a meaning to their life that gave …show more content…

• Empathic understanding: - the Counsellor accurately understands the Client’s thoughts, feelings and meaning from their own perspective demonstrating that the Client is being accepted and their views valued. With these three core conditions in place the Client will be able to build a healthy relationship with the Counsellor who will facilitate the discovery of their own perspectives and encourage them to make their own action plans and activate their own self healing process and flourish. Carl Rogers noted also that the drive for self-actualisation was common to all living things though particularly in humans from birth there is a drive or motivating force present, this is what enables people to strive for wholeness. This concept within the Humanistic Approach or Person Centred counselling places the emphasis on the innate ability of the Client to be able to regulate and improve their own lives if allowed to do so. When the Client attends counselling it means their actualizing tendency may have become latent through low self worth or experience of incongruence of self-concept. Carl Rogers believed there were 3 key parts to this self-concept these being: - • Self image – how we see ourselves. • Self esteem – how much we value ourselves. • Ideal self – how we wish we could be. So in conclusion Person Centred Therapy is non-directive process and works on the basis that the

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