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What Is The Similarities Between CBT And PCT?

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Counselling psychology has been referred to as a “paradigm” due to its many therapeutic models and has been argued by the philosopher Thomas Kuhn (1962) that it is a “scientific community which is comprised of theories and concepts, experiences” (Woolfe, Dryden & Strawbridge, 2003). The humanistic paradigm is one that has been dominated by Carl Rogers and Fritz Perls, whereby the entire focus is on the client, also known as person centred or client centred therapy. On the other hand there is the existence of a more solution focused, problem solving paradigm which has been advocated by Albert Ellis’ Rational Emotive Therapy, Aaron Becks’ Cognitive Therapy and more recently Donald Meichenbaum’s Cognitive Behaviour Modification. Certain aspects …show more content…

They both have a “positive view of human nature and view the individual as not necessarily being a product of their past experiences, but acknowledge that they are able to determine their own futures” (Holder, 2013). They both attempt to improve their client’s wellbeing by implementing a two-way therapeutic relationship where both client and therapist collaborate to enable the clients coping mechanisms (Holder, 2013). CBT and PCT both instil the three core conditions of empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence but in CBT it is used mainly in the establishing of the working alliance (Holder, 2013). In both methods, the relationship between client and therapist is congruent and they both use the skills of reflection, paraphrasing and …show more content…

It has also been criticised because it “proceeds from no coherent theory of personality” but Rogers himself has backed up this statement by asserting that there is no need for a theory unless there is a phenomena to explain (Rogers, 1951, p. 15).
It has been suggested that it may place too much emphasis on the person and their ability to provide the necessary conditions for change and growth as there is not enough emphasis on problem solving techniques. It may be considered to be deceptive as it is too simple and mysterious due to its lack of structure which is in contract to CBT’s highly structured

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