The Agent Of Change And Healing

Rogers worked with many others in developing the idea that clients could heal themselves, if only the therapist provided ‘facilitative’ or core conditions of, ‘empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard.’

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,

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

The strength of person-centered therapy is it is one of the most effective therapies. It is also known as belief that client is the central figure in therapy. The counselor will put own self into the shoes of client which understand and perceive the way the client think. However, the counselor will not become overly enmeshed in the client’s feeling and thinking (Gatongi, 2007). This therapy is very easy and quick for counselor to learn. It is a basis for the training and practical counselor. Besides, it links both counseling and psychotherapy together, helps to get into client easier. Apart from that, this therapy can overcome wide range of difficulties which include daily problem and serious psychological disorder. For example, anxiety disorder, marriage problem, depression and cancer.

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

These correct conditions which are required within person centred therapy in order that the client can achieve self actualisation and personality change were outlined by Carl Rogers and he believed that if this 6 conditions were met, it would facilitate change within the client: Two persons are in psychological contact- both client and counsellor are present physically and psychologically. The client is in a state of incongruence, (which will be discussed in more detail) the communication of the counsellor’s empathetic understanding and unconditional positive regard is met at a minimal level. The last condition mentioned involves 3 other conditions, which are essential attitudes and qualities necessary for the counsellor to posses for successful therapy; empathic understanding, unconditional positive regard and congruence. (Rogers C, 1957).

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.

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 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.

Whether one believes that a person is a blank slate when they are born, or their personality is preprogrammed through genetics and expressed as environmental inputs stimulate the individual to behave in certain ways, a counseling theory must be utilized to help the client function effectively in their world. The author believes that many professional counsellors or psychotherapists must practice an integrative approach to therapy where they blend specific types of techniques and concepts to aid a client who is in distress or transition. Ideally, this aid will motivate the client to better their autonomy, competence, and ability to relate to others, so they may reach specific goals or satisfy identifiable needs/desires in a healthy manner. Consequently, clients require support and guidance in order to become responsible for their choices while they transcend their psychological obstructions in order to become aware of their problems, where the problems

The Person Centred Approach (Originator: Karl Rogers 1902 – 1987) focuses on the belief that we are all born with an innate ability for psychological growth if external circumstances allow us to do so. Clients become out of touch with this self-actualising tendency by means of introjecting the evaluations of others and thereby treating them as if they were their own. As well as being non-directive the

Person-Centered therapy applied in a therapeutic relationship by the therapist being empathetic and allowing the clients to move in their own time on finding their own self-actualization. This allows the client to gain and learn their own independence and integration in the world that they live in. The therapist not leading the client into any direction but being empathic to what they are going through to help the client’s growth process does this. It is not about the therapist having the client do anything or the therapists do anything but to be open and have a good attitude towards the client (Corey, 2013).

Person-centered therapy can be understood as a form of counseling and psychotherapy which puts a particular emphasis on conceptualizing and engaging with people in a deeply valuing and respectful way (Cooper &McLeod, 2011). It was also mentioned that Person-centered therapy aims to provide clients with a set of therapeutic conditions in which they can reconnect with their actual, individual experiences and valuing processes, moving away from a reliance on more external judgments. Cooper and McLeod (2011) reports that person-centered theorists have argued that some psychological features, such as the need for positive regard or conditions of worth are universal, there is a particular emphasis on the fact that each human being is different, inimitable, and inexchangable. Person-centered therapies operates according to three basic principles that reflect the attitude of clinician to client. Three principles are as follows: congruent, unconditional positive regard and empathy.

The ‘principle of non-action’ (Carl Rogers 1961 p.8), as the Actualising theory suggests, shows that change happens anyway, given the right conditions to promote growth and understanding. The Person-Centred approach is all about the therapeutic relationship and its importance above all else. The emphasis is that it is the client who ‘knows what hurts, what direction to go.’ (Carl Rogers. Becoming a person p12). Meaning that the practitioner need only embody certain conditions, to promote growth and actualisation within their client. There is a focus on ‘meeting’ the client in their process and facilitating the Actualising Tendency (Carl Rogers. 1961), without appropriating the content to the counsellor. In order for this to be achievable Carl Rogers says the counsellor must embody what he calls the three ‘Core Conditions’. The first of these is Unconditional Positive Regard (‘UPR’); this is somewhat elusive as it depends on the attitude of the therapist and is somewhat immeasurable but if present has huge therapeutic qualities on its own. The

Person-centered therapy originated in the mid-1900s with Carl Rogers, who developed an alternative to Freudian psychoanalysis that adopted a more supportive approach. Rogers perceived the role of the therapist to be supportive and encouraging,