Therapeutic Personality Change

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.’

In counselling and psychotherapy, it is fundamental aspect for practitioners to use theory as a way of informing the way the work with a client.(McLeod). The goal of this essay is to explore the humanistic personality theory of Carl Rogers. The essay will begin by giving a summary

Humanistic therapy emerged in the 1950's as an alternative to behavioural and psychoanalytic therapy. Rogers is it’s

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.

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

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

Before looking at the latter 3 in more detail, it is important to understand Carl Rogers’s view of the person and perhaps what is ultimately bringing the client to therapy. Carl Rogers believed that there is incongruence between the self that is the actualisation part, that has a desire to grow, is open to experiencing in the moment and ultimately psychological well being and the actual experience of the self. He believed this effect was caused

Carl R. Rogers constructed the person-centered theory by his influences of Elizabeth Davis and Frederick Allen who studied under Jessie Taft as well as Otto Rank and John Dewey (Patterson, 2007; Walsh, 2010). Influenced by Jessie Taft, Rogers adopted an optimistic view of people, individuals are capable of recreating themselves and are not the end products of their past (Patterson, 2007; Walsh, 2010). Otto Rank advocated that treatment of a client be centered around that client and that therapist be more emotionally involved within the process. Third Rogers was influenced by John Dewey who helped him understand and develop his position that self-actualized people live in harmony rather then conflict

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.

Understanding Roger’s humanistic theory and the emphasis on empathy and acceptance is a crucial skill to possess regardless of one’s theoretical orientation. Many may argue that the humanist approach is centralized on naïve assumptions. In other words, empathy alone would not be as effective to a client facing a harsh reality. However, I believe that every therapist should acquire the qualities of this particular perspective. For example, every client should walk into a safe and accepting atmosphere. Plus, a therapist should certainly actively listen and form a cohesive connection with the patient. I agree with the central principle in which one’s self-perception should be the focus of the session. Although, I am aware that in many cases this

It is inevitable that in psychotherapy there are numerous theories. Theories arise out of scholarly investigations of ideas on human behavior. Human behavior is an extraordinarily interesting subject and therefore produces a plethora of ideas from a variety of theorists. These theorists are influenced by their education, culture, and time period. One influential theorist is Carl Rogers. His contributions to human behavior have changed many of the theories that preceded him, and his theory contributed to many theories that followed.

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.

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.

Moving to Wisconsin was in many ways a disaster. Rogers’ vision of psychology and psychiatry holding hands was never fulfilled and he was quickly at odds with several of his new colleagues, especially in the Psychology Department. So great were the conflicts that in the end Rogers resigned from the department, although he continued to work with the Psychiatric Institute. The powerful desire to be more influential which took Rogers back to University of Wisconsin was in no way fulfilled by the work he did there. Yet it was his fifth book, On Becoming a Person, published in 1961 that, almost overnight, he became more famous and influential than he had ever hoped for. The book broke free from the professional world of psychology and showed that client-centered principles could be applied in almost every facet of day-to-day living. He went to Wisconsin to make an impact and failed, but then he wrote a book and discovered that he was suddenly influential beyond his wildest dreams. In 1963 he resigned from the University of Wisconsin. The extraordinary success of On Becoming a Person gave him the confidence to set out on a riskier path. When Richard Farson, one of his former students, invited him in the summer of 1963 to join him and others at the recently created Western Behavioral Sciences Institute Rogers initially hesitated. Rogers later accepted the offer and set out for La Jolla in California to join WBSI, a non-profit-making organization concerned chiefly with humanistic