Person-centered therapy, also known as person-centered psychotherapy, person-centered counseling, client-centered therapy and Rogerian psychotherapy, is a form of
psychotherapy
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...
developed by
psychologist
A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...
Carl Rogers
Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach (and client-centered approach) in psychology. Rogers is widely considered one of the founding fathers of ps ...
beginning in the 1940s and extending into the 1980s. Person-centered therapy seeks to facilitate a
client
Client(s) or The Client may refer to:
* Client (business)
* Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer
* Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuable ...
's self-
actualizing tendency
The actualizing tendency is a fundamental element of Carl Rogers' theory of person-centered therapy (PCT) (also known as client-centered therapy). Rogers' theory is predicated on an individual's innate capacity to decide his/her own best directi ...
, "an inbuilt proclivity toward growth and fulfillment", via acceptance (''
unconditional positive regard
Unconditional positive regard, a concept initially developed by Stanley Standal in 1954, later expanded and popularized by the humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers in 1956, is the basic acceptance and support of a person regardless of what the pers ...
''), therapist ''congruence'' (genuineness), and empathic understanding.
History and influences
Person-centered therapy was developed by
Carl Rogers
Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach (and client-centered approach) in psychology. Rogers is widely considered one of the founding fathers of ps ...
in the 1940s and 1950s,
and was brought to public awareness largely through his highly influential book ''Client-centered Therapy'', published in 1951. It has been recognized as one of the major
types of psychotherapy (theoretical orientations), along with
psychodynamic psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy or psychoanalytic psychotherapy is a form of psychological therapy.
Its primary focus is to reveal the unconscious content of a client's psyche in an effort to alleviate psychic tension, which is inner conflict with ...
,
psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
,
classical Adlerian psychology
Individual psychology (german: Individualpsychologie) is a psychological method or science founded by the Viennese psychiatrist Alfred Adler. The English edition of Adler's work on the subject (1925) is a collection of papers and lectures given mai ...
,
cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psycho-social intervention that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression and anxiety disorders. CBT focuses on challenging and changing cognitive distortions (suc ...
,
existential therapy
Existential psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy based on the model of human nature and experience developed by the Existentialism, existential tradition of European philosophy. It focuses on concepts that are universally applicable to human ...
, and others.
Its underlying theory arose from the results of empirical research; it was the first theory of therapy to be driven by empirical research, with Rogers at pains to reassure other theorists that "the facts are always friendly". Originally called non-directive therapy, it "offered a viable, coherent alternative to Freudian psychotherapy. ...
ogersredefined the therapeutic relationship to be different from the Freudian authoritarian pairing."
Person-centered therapy is often described as a humanistic therapy, but its main principles appear to have been established before those of humanistic psychology. Some have argued that "it does not in fact have much in common with the other established humanistic therapies", but by the mid-1960s Rogers accepted being categorized with other humanistic (or phenomenological-existential) psychologists in contrast to behavioral and psychoanalytic psychologists. Despite the importance of the self to person-centered theory, the theory is fundamentally organismic and holistic in nature, with the individual's unique self-concept at the center of the unique "sum total of the biochemical, physiological, perceptual, cognitive, emotional and interpersonal behavioural subsystems constituting the person".
Rogers coined the term ''counselling'' in the 1940s because at that time psychologists were not legally permitted to provide psychotherapy in the US. Only medical practitioners were allowed to use the term ''psychotherapy'' to describe their work.
Rogers affirmed individual personal experience as the basis and standard for living and therapeutic effect.
This emphasis contrasts with the dispassionate position which may be intended in other therapies, particularly the behavioral therapies. Hallmarks of Rogers's person-centered therapy include: living in the present rather than the past or future; organismic trust; naturalistic faith in one's own thoughts and the accuracy in one's feelings; a responsible acknowledgment of one's freedom; and a view toward participating fully in our world and contributing to other peoples' lives. Rogers also claimed that the therapeutic process is, in essence, composed of the accomplishments made by the
client
Client(s) or The Client may refer to:
* Client (business)
* Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer
* Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuable ...
. The client, having already progressed further along in their growth and maturation development, only progresses further with the aid of a psychologically favored environment.
[Rogers, Carl (1951). ''Client-Centered Therapy''. Cambridge Massachusetts: The Riverside Press.]
Although client-centered therapy has been criticized by
behaviorists
Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex evoked by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that individual' ...
for lacking structure and by
psychoanalysts
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might be ...
for actually providing a
conditional relationship,
it has been shown to be an effective treatment.
The necessary and sufficient conditions
Rogers (1957; 1959) stated that there are six necessary and sufficient conditions required for therapeutic change:
# ''Therapist–client psychological contact'': A relationship between client and therapist must exist, and it must be a relationship in which each person's perception of the other is important.
# ''Client incongruence'': Incongruence (as defined by Carl Rogers; "a lack of alignment between the real self and the ideal self") exists between the client's experience and awareness.
# ''Therapist congruence, or genuineness'': The therapist is congruent within the therapeutic relationship; the therapist is deeply involved—they are not "acting"—and they can draw on their own experiences (
self-disclosure Self-disclosure is a process of communication by which one person reveals information about themselves to another. The information can be descriptive or evaluative, and can include thoughts, feelings, aspirations, goals, failures, successes, fears, ...
) to facilitate the relationship.
# ''Therapist unconditional positive regard'': The therapist accepts the client unconditionally, without judgment, disapproval, or approval. This facilitates increased self-regard in the client, as they can begin to become aware of experiences in which their view of self-worth was distorted or denied.
# ''Therapist empathic understanding'': The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the client's internal frame of reference. Accurate empathy on the part of the therapist helps the client believe the therapist's unconditional regard for them.
# ''Client perception'': The client perceives, to at least a minimal degree, the therapist's unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding.
Core conditions
It is believed that the most important factor in successful person-centered therapy is the relational climate created by the therapist's attitude to their client. The therapist's attitude is defined by the three conditions focused on the therapist, which are often called the core conditions (3,4, and 5 of the six conditions):
# ''Congruence'': The therapist is willing to transparently relate to clients without hiding behind a professional or personal facade.
# ''Unconditional positive regard'': The therapist offers an acceptance and prizing of their client for who they are without conveying disapproving feelings, actions, or characteristics and demonstrating a willingness to attentively listen without interruption, judgement, or giving advice.
# ''Empathy'': The therapist communicates their desire to understand and appreciate their client's perspective.
Processes
Rogers believed that a therapist who embodies the three critical and reflexive attitudes (the three
core conditions
Core or cores may refer to:
Science and technology
* Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages
* Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding
* Core (optical fiber), the signal-carrying portion of an optical fiber
* Core, the central ...
) will help liberate their client to more confidently express their true feelings without fear of judgement. To achieve this, the client-centered therapist carefully avoids directly challenging their client's way of communicating themselves in the session in order to enable a deeper exploration of the issues most intimate to them and free from external referencing. Rogers was not prescriptive in telling his clients what to do, but believed that the answers to the clients' questions were within the client and not the therapist. Accordingly, the therapist's role was to create a facilitative, empathic environment wherein the client could discover the answers for themselves.
See also
*
Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that arose in the mid-20th century in answer to two theories: Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and B. F. Skinner's behaviorism. Thus, Abraham Maslow established the need for a "third force ...
*
Critical psychology
Critical psychology is a perspective on psychology that draws extensively on critical theory. Critical psychology challenges the assumptions, theories and methods of mainstream psychology and attempts to apply psychological understandings in diffe ...
*
Human Potential Movement
The Human Potential Movement (HPM) arose out of the counterculture of the 1960s and formed around the concept of an extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people. The movement takes as its premise the be ...
*
ELIZA
ELIZA is an early natural language processing computer program created from 1964 to 1966 at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory by Joseph Weizenbaum. Created to demonstrate the superficiality of communication between humans and machines, E ...
References
Bibliography
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External links
World Association for Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and CounselingThe Person-Centered WebsiteAn Introduction to Person-Centred Counsellingat CounsellingResource.com
Association for Person Centered Therapy Scotland The Association for the Development of the Person Centered ApproachNetwork of the European Associations for Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and CounselingThe British Association for the Person Centered Approach
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Psychotherapies