In American history, Carl Ransom Rogers (1902-1987) was considered to be the most influential psychologist. With consideration of psychotherapy he established a new major approach; respectively known as the ‘client-centred’ and ‘person-centred’ approach. Carl Rogers aided and encouraged further scientific research within counselling and psychotherapy; he also became responsible for the escalation of professional psychotherapy and counselling. For Rogers, the central truth remained clear that the client knows best. Ultimately, it is only the client who can know what hurts, where the pain lies and in the final analysis they will discover the way forward. The therapists’ task is to be the kind of companion that can relate to the client in a way that grants them to access their own wisdom and discover self-direction. This essay aims to identify and analyse Person-Centred therapy, and the role of the therapist within the therapeutic process. The essay concludes by critically evaluating the impact of the discipline between client and therapist.
The starting point of Rogers approach to counselling is best stated by Rogers (1986) himself: “It is that the individual has within himself or herself vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his or her self-concept, attitudes and self-directed behaviour – and that these resources can be tapped if only definable climate of facilitative psychological attitudes can be provided”. Initially, person-centred approach focused on the client taking sole charge of therapy which would lead to the greater understanding of the self with improved self-concepts and self-exploration, which is central to Rogers’ (1959) theory, interpreted as ‘the organised, consistent
31/03/2016 1504520 (3)
set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself’, ultimately combining all of the ideas and values that characterise. In more recent times the person-centred approach has focused on the client placing themselves in a specific environment, allowing a deeper understanding of the self, leading to resolution of their problems without the therapist giving any direct intervention. With person-centred therapy, the therapist should hold a questioning stance, remaining open to change whilst demonstrating the courage to face the unknown at any given point.
The 1950’s was revolutionised by Rogers’ as he proposed “view people as capable and autonomous, with the ability to resolve their difficulties, realize their potential, and change their lives in positive ways” (Seligman, 2006), creating the evolution of the humanistic approach. A proposition from Carl Rogers suggested that therapy could be simpler and more optimistic than current therapy being carried out by psychodynamic or behavioural psychologists, and there-fore developed the Person centred approach. Behaviourists criticized this therapy for lacking structure, and furthermore, it failed to provide a conditional relationship according to psychoanalysts. Despite this person-centred therapy has proven to be a popular and effective treatment. This genre of therapy deviated from the more traditional model of therapy where the therapist was the expert. Alternatively, it moved towards a non-directive, empathic approach that ensured the client would become empowered and motivated during the therapeutic process, whilst still emphasizing the importance of the therapist as a non-coercive companion rather than a guide. Client centred therapy placed greater significance on the central phenomenological world and the
31/03/2016 1504520 (4)
need for the therapist to stay accurately attuned to the clients experience and perception of reality. Additionally, Carl Rogers placed emphasis on the humanistic perspective, whilst ensuring therapeutic relationships with clients promoted self-esteem, authenticity, self-actualisation and helping them to use their own strengths (Seligman, 2006). Rogers likened it to the manner in which other kinds of living organisms strive to achieve balance, order and greater complexity.
Rogers professed that for successful therapy to happen the most important factor is the relational climate, created by the therapists attitude towards the client, specifying that there must be three interrelated core conditions; congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy. According to Rogers’, Congruence holds the highest importance in counselling; meaning that the client experiences the therapist as they really are, showing authenticity and not hiding behind a profession or personal façade. ‘Congruence is a correlative of acceptance: there can be no openness to the client's experience if there is no openness to one's own experience. And without openness there can be no empathy either. In this sense, congruence is the 'upper limit' of the capacity for empathy’ (Barrett-Lennard, 1962, p.4) Thus showing that the therapist can never bring the client further than where he is himself as a person. Unconditional positive regard refers to the therapists genuine caring for the client. In some instances of therapy, the therapist may not approve of the clients actions, but must remain in full approval of the clients themselves, suspending any form of personal judgement, accepting them exactly as they are regardless of any disclosure they may make. The therapist must always maintain a positive attitude towards the
31/03/2016 1504520 (5)
client, allowing them to feely express their own emotions and thoughts in a confident and safe environment, without fear of rejection or condemnation. The therapist must always perceive and understand the problems clearly, allowing the client to feel valued, accepted and appreciated; subsequently setting the foundations for a relationship of trust. The unconditional positive regard must happen throughout the entire length of the counselling relationship, despite an almost too common issue of the client posing an initial challenge of acceptance. For these clients, the therapist must pay very close attention to their own body language and behaviour, and how they demonstrate unconditional positive regard. Empathy is having the ability to hold a clear understanding of what the client is feeling in the here and now, understanding with accuracy and sensitivity. "If I am truly open to the way life is experienced by another person…if I can take his or her world into mine, then I risk seeing life in his or her way…and of being changed myself, and we all resist change. Since we all resist change, we tend to view the other person's world only in our terms, not in his or hers. Then we analyse and evaluate it. That's human nature. We do not understand their world. But, when the therapist does understand how it truly feels to be in another person's world, without wanting or trying to analyse or judge it, then the therapist and the client can truly blossom and grow in that climate." (Rogers, 1975). Empathy is often an expression of the regard, and more importantly, respect that the therapist holds for the client, despite differences in experiences. Having the ability to empathise with a client is often enhanced by attentiveness to facial expressions, body language, silences etc. Only when the therapist can be open, clear and
31/03/2016 1504520 (6)
sensitive to the feelings and emotions of the client does the authentic care truly begin.
These three core conditions are the therapists’ conditions which are need to be followed with precision in order to facilitate change; if these are absent it becomes nearly impossible for a healing relationship to form. Rogerians’ believe that if the therapist is ‘in the moment’ they can aid at a higher level to work through the issues presented, offering unconditional encouragement, conveyed to the client through clear channels of communication. Rogers’ counselled that when these three critical and reflexive attitudes were fulfilled, it enables the person to gravitate towards a constructive realisation of potential, and will help with liberation to more confidently express their inner feelings without fear of judgement. In order for this to be achieved by the therapist, they must avoid direct challenging of the way in which the client communicates themselves, which will inevitably enable deeper exploration of intimate issues. At no point was Rogers prescriptive with telling his clients what to do, he simply believed that the answers to the patients’ questions were always within themselves and not the therapist.
Rogers work was advanced in 1952 by Charles Curran. Curran worked alongside Rogers and acquired some basic principles from the field of person centred therapy and applied them within the educational field. The idea of ‘counselling-learning approach’ was proposed by Curran (Yayasan, 2006). In this, he incorporated counselling techniques to take into consideration how students felt towards their learning experiences, and subsequently lower the affective filter. Although person
31/03/2016 1504520 (7)
centred therapy was initially developed as an approach to psychotherapy, in more recent times it has been transferred to many other areas where people are said to be in professional relationships such as childcare, teaching and patient care, allowing service users to create smart objectives and follow these along their undertaken journey.
In conclusion, person centred therapy uses the three core conditions that summarize its approach to enable the client to create their own answers. The therapist’s role is effectively to walk in the clients shoes. Rogers believed that the therapist should remain as a fiend, that actively listens and puts use to the reflection techniques of empathy to ensure they remain genuine and facilitate unconditional positive regard, allowing clients to move through therapy without pressure and at their own pace. Mearns and Thorne (1988) claim that it is not possible to understand person centred therapy by its techniques alone. The therapist holds an optimistic and highly positive view of human nature. Philosophy shows that essentially, people are good, and ultimately, only the individual knows what will be right for them; the essential ingredient for successful person centred therapy.