Person Centered Therapy Case Conceptualization

Carl Rogers (1902-87) was the founder of the client-centred or person-centred approach to counselling and therapy. (McLeod 2001)

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

This assignment is an attempt to discuss two different types of therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and person centered therapy and highlight some important similarities and differences between them.

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

(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

Person Centered Therapy was developed by Carl Rogers in the 1940’s and 1950’s. It remains a relevant technique practiced today. This article researched the relevance of Person Centered Therapy since Carl Rogers’s death in the late 1987. The article determined the relevance of this by using three measures. First, how often Person Centered Therapy was included in organizations, journals, and institutes dedicated to this approach. Secondly, it researched how often Person Centered Therapy was included in new research since Rogers’s death. Finally, any current research that has validated Roger’s core conditions (Kirschenbaum & Jourdan,

Often social workers are faced with having to choose from a wide variety of practice approaches, models, and methods when working with clients. Understanding which approach is appropriate to use with your client is imperative. “Paying equal attention to people and their environments is a critical aspect when choosing the appropriate approach, as each client and situation is unique” (Gitterman & Heller, 2011). For this critical analysis of the therapeutic approach known as Person-Centered Therapy, I will be outlining the ‘core conditions’, which guide the counselors approach. The reason I chose to highlight this

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

Person centred counselling originated and was evolved on the ideas of American psychologist Carl Rogers. The influences on Carl Rogers and he’s conceptualisation of Person centred counselling are numerous, from his early family life living on a farm, his interest and involvement in theology and his formative professional career.

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.

Rogers seems therefore to be describing an emotional consequence resulting from what the behaviourist BF Skinner called positive and negative conditioning. He conceptualised Conditions of Worth as the limited ways in which a person could see him- or herself as being valued. The formulation was also influenced by psychoanalyst Erik Erikson and his ideas of the early stages of development. Rogers asserted that the child who learns trust and a sense of personal control are more likely to have a sense of self agency and robustness in the face of later difficulties. This comes about when conflicts find a successful resolution leaving both parties emotionally respected and intact. Thus Rogers’ more developed model of how a child is socially instructed can encompass concepts such as shame (Psychoanalysis), Modelling (Albert Bandura) and ideas of Internalization, amongst many others, and as such is more of a meta- model of growth of the personality.

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).

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.

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.

Person-Centered and reality therapy both have good techniques that enable the client-therapist relationship be successful. They are very similar yet distinctly different from each other. They are similar in the fact they both put the client in the front of the therapy and the therapist is there to guide the clients in the issues or conditions they are facing. Both of these types of therapy depends on the therapist ability to communicate and respect the clients. They also enable to the clients to gain a better understanding of how their inner and outer world work together or separately in determining their behaviors.