The Role of Paraphrasing and Reflecting in Counseling

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

Therapists using one or other of the approaches would approach the session with completely different perspectives. A Rogerian therapist would approach the session with the assumption that the client is the one in charge since Daniel knows the situation and characteristics that drive him better than he, the therapist, does. In other words, Rogers specified that the client, being in control of his own destiny, could engender his own solutions provided that the client was helped to do so in an environment that was non-judgmental, accepting, emphatic, and presented other skills, such as active listening, that would enable the client to reach his goals. In Roger's schema that was distinct to previous counseling orientations, it was not the counselor who directed, but the client.

Reflecting with the client during a session is very important to make sure the counselor and client is both on the same thought.

All professional counselors have the ethical and legal duty to help their clients to the best of their ability. Counselors using Person Centered Therapy are no exception to this rule. It is up to the counselor to gage the best therapeutic benefit within their scope of knowledge for their clients when choosing approaches and theories.

It is necessary for all counselors and psychotherapists to engage in personal and professional development in order to obtain interpersonal challenge to enable clients make their own choices and personal growth. A range of professional bodies provide self-regulation of counseling and psychotherapy. In this essay I shall discuss importance of the BACP Ethical Framework and how its principles promote Carl Roger’s ideas within Person-centered approach. I also include few major professional aspects that are fundamental in good counselling practice such as supervision, confidentiality, research or referrals.

Person-Centered Therapy (PCT) embodies a humanistic approach, which is intended to increase a person’s feelings of self-worth, and reduce the level of incongruence between the ideal self and the actual self (Gelso, Cepeda & Davenport, 2006). This critical analysis is meant to examine various approaches and skills counselors/therapists would use when applying a ‘person-centered’ type of therapy. This analysis briefly outlines what PCT is, but focuses more heavily on the various approaches used by social workers throughout the therapeutic relationship. More specifically, PCT approaches such as, counselor/client congruence, empathic understanding, and unconditional positive regard are the main approaches highlighted in this analysis as they play an integral role in the counseling relationship.

This reliability study was designed to test the inter-rater reliability of a newly developed measure of counselor competence for person-centered and experiential psychotherapy techniques. Developed by the authors in hopes of improving counselor training and supervision outcomes for therapists specializing in a person-centered approach, the Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy Scale (PCEPS) is a rating scale containing two sub-scales (the person-centered subscale and experiential subscale) with which trained observers can rate the adherence and competence of therapists to a person-centered approach. The aim of this study was to investigate whether inter-rater agreement existed in ratings of therapists on the Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy Scale (PCEPS).

When comparing and contrasting the differences in the three approaches, I will review the relationship between client and counsellor. I will attempt to discover how the relationship is formed and how it is maintained during the therapeutic process. Once this has been established, I will then look at how the changes occur in the therapeutic relationship and which techniques will be used. I will compare and contrast the approaches of Carl Rogers, Sigmund Freud and Albert Ellis. I will look at how their theories have impacted on the counselling processes in modern times and throughout history.

The background and moral differences of a client should not prevent the counsellor attaining the Rogerian conditions. The counsellor has to accept the positive and negativity of ones

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).

Within psychology there are many different theories that counselors should get to know in order to figure out which theory fits their own personal style of counseling. Some counselors stick to one specific theory, but many take on an integrative approach and use multiple theories within their practice. The four psychological theories that I am focusing on in this paper are the contemporary psychodynamic, theory, cognitive behavioral therapy, person-centered therapy, and the family systems theory.

This application paper will discuss my personal theory of counseling or psychotherapy in a number of different areas. Specifically, I will discuss the seven areas of interest. First, I will discuss and describe

There are many values this writer wishes to incorporate into a counseling relationship. The fundamental values this writer wishes to incorporate are: flexibility, self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy. The ability to be flexible and alter what one does in order to fit the client’s needs is crucial to establishing and maintaining a therapeutic relationship. Flexibility can be demonstrated in many different ways, such as the way the therapist interacts with the client, the tone of voice that is utilized, down to the way the therapist provides material to the client. In being flexible, treatment is able to remain focused on the client and his or her needs (Egan, 2014).

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 provides a pathway to self-actualization through the creation of an empathetic, trusting relationship between client and counselor. In the case scenario described, a woman struggles with anger and depression, which negatively impacts her relationship with her husband. This case study presents an overview of person-centered therapy and an explanation of how it could be used in the therapeutic environment to help this client successfully cope with her issues.