The Good Life Is A Process

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

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.’

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

The concept of living “the good life” means something different for everyone. There is a general understanding that living “the good life” is associated with unyielding happiness and lasting satisfaction. The exact meaning of this desired life was pondered by thinkers and philosophers for hundreds of years. They constructed principals of behavior, thought, and obligation that would categorize a person as “good”. Although some of these ancient philosophies about “the good life” had overlapping ideas, their concepts varied widely. This contrast of ideas can be examined through two major characters in two famous works: Aeneas in “The Aeneid” and Socrates in “The Apology”. Aeneas exemplifies the philosophy that the direct route to “the good life" is through faith, trust in the Gods, and family, while Socrates in “The Apology” emphasizes free will, and vast knowledge of life.

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,

cognitive approach. Rogers used a humanistic person centred approach to therapy and I will look at

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.

Rogers himself was aware of the criticism expressed about his theories by people who prefer other therapeutic approaches. He describes in Chapter 5 in his book ‘Client-Centred Therapy, three questions raised by other viewpoints’. One of the questions from therapists with a psycho-analytical orientation is how a Person-Centred therapist deals with “transference”, which is “the repetition by the client

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.

Humanist Carl Rogers developed a theory that saw behavior motivated by what he called the actualizing tendency, the desire to preserve and enhance oneself through self-actualization. While persuing self- actualization we engage in the valuing process, where we go through various experiences that either enhance oneself and are valued as good, or, bad experiences not enhancing oneself which are avoided. Hence, how we handle this process relies on two interacting factors: the organism, our total perception of our experiences, and, the self, our image of ourselves. A major decisive factor is childhood experience and the positive regard that is engrossed. Rogers also developed a technique called client-centered therapy. In an accepting atmosthere the patient confronts inconsistent feelings and experiences, where self and organism are brought back into congruence. Now free from their troubles they can proceed with

Carl Rogers’s belief was that the clients have the ability to see their own growth potential and can get there with only guidance from a therapist (Person-Centered Therapy (Rogerian Therapy), 2015). His thought was if therapist helped clients with empathy

The person-centered theory is also referred to as the client-centered theory. It is presently a popular theory for therapy and counseling. Rogers believed in clients helping themselves so that they could empower themselves with a self-actualizing motive to improve their lives. He did not believe in the concept of treating people as patients that had mental issues and needed to be diagnosed. His ideas continue to be relevant in modern psychology (Cervone & Pervin, 2010).

Carl Rogers originated client-centred therapy, which is based on the belief that individuals, rather then environment or subconscious drives, can control their choices and values and fulfil their own unique potential. Rogers' theory stresses that it is the individual's own comprehension of his or her experiences that is important, rather then the therapist's professional interpretation (Rogers, 1951). Kelly founded what is known as the personal construct system. He suggested that our personal constructs reflect our constant efforts to make sense of our world, just as scientists make sense of their subject-matter; we observe, we draw conclusions about patterns of cause and effect, and we behave according to those conclusions (Kelly, 1963). Both theories emerged at a time when psychotherapy was the most commonly practiced therapy technique.