Introduction
In this assignment I will describe my personal odyssey and explain my understanding of why I entered the counselling profession. I will go onto describe my preferred counselling model, Person Centred Therapy (PCT) and explain existentialism as a philosophy and its influence on psychotherapy. I will then go more in-depth into his chosen model and go through its theoretical framework in detail and its philosophy of relationship and the Core Conditions. My next piece will describe the model in practise and will finish with the impact of Michael Buber on Person Centred Therapy.
Main Body
Chapter One: My Personal Odyssey, My Reasons for Entering the Counselling Profession.
1:1 My Personal Odyssey:
My journey did not start out with counselling as a chosen career. My mother was born into a family of seventeen so it is understandable not all her needs were fully met. At a time when everything was sinful and religiously righteous my mother committed the most dreadful sin of all for any young woman from the heart of the country and became pregnant. Fortunately this was in London in the mid 1960’s and this may have saved me from being brought into one of the infamous institutions that existed at that time here in Ireland.
With that beginning, my journey was not made easy and the first part of my existence was hidden from her family in shame and so my path was laid. My mother tried her best with what she knew but unfortunately succumbed to alcohol and prescription medication as a way of relieving her existential hurt. The next chapter involved amazing carers within my extended family. Even with these loving people I still believed I was worth less and not good enough to be loved fully. On attaining reunification with my mother, my journey went downhill, familiar coping strategies and living now with continual criticism and judgement the seeds that were first sown, now flowered.
Subsequently, I learned similar ways of coping, through many years of addiction, crime and general self-destruction I finally reached a point of change during my early thirties. While this change was the saving of me, I always struggled in creating close intimate relationships, something always just out of reach. Somehow I always ended up with another version of my mother, a woman who only knew anger, resentment and criticism.
It is here that I can identify with Rogers, though our stories are different in many aspects, similar in the context of the absence of intimacy. From the beginning I knew something worked for me in therapy. It didn’t work all the time, but when it did I walked away with something special and I put it down to knowing I was of value to someone else. As I matured in my work which was working with families impacted on by a family members addiction, I found this happened more often. I discovered that when I worked with someone and I carried less agenda, I was able to work with depth and at times working together to a degree that allowed much more to be explored. I always struggled with control, either controlling or being controlled, which creates obstacles to establishing a therapeutic alliance. So it is within these sessional relationships, the ones I allow myself to be, where genuineness and authenticity are present and where trust exists, that I am fulfilled. I believe now it is within this space that I experience what I was have always been looking for, which is intimacy with another human being. I have discovered some of this through personal therapy and my journey now, partly, is to find that place within me, as it is important for me not to rely on the therapeutic relationship with other people to satisfy that need. This is why I chose, at this time, Person Centred Therapy as my model.
So a good portion of my journey will be in personal therapy. Agreeing with Yalom I ‘believe there is no better way to learn about a psychotherapy approach than to enter into it as a patient’ (Yalom, 2010 p43). Though at times I am discomforted, disturbed and challenged in therapy I grow nonetheless.
1:2 Carl Rogers; Biographical Journey
Carl Rogers was born in in 1902 in a suburb of Chicago and was the fourth child out of six. His father was a civil engineer and his mother was a homemaker and was described as a devout Pentecostal Christian. Rogers upbringing had affection and love and yet was ‘based on an almost fundamentalist approach to Christianity and on the worship of the virtue of hard work’ (Thorn 2013 p.1). Corey (2001 p169) describes Rogers recalling of ‘his family atmosphere as characterised by close and warm relationships but also by strict religious standards”. In some families with difficult experiences this may be seen as acceptable but Thorn (2013 p1) again describes the home environment consisting of rules that were very strict “No drinking of alcohol was permitted, no dancing or theatre visits, no card games and, indeed, little social life of any kind.” He was seen as the quiet one of the family and in a large family would be the one to be on the end of teasing and conflict. As a result Rogers would withdraw and retreat into his own world (Thorn 2013). He described himself as lonely and did not make friends easy, and understandably used his energy managing more scholarly pursuits (Thorn 2013). Rogers journey took a different turn when the family moved to a farm and he was able to bring his scientific and naturist interests together and became an avid student of the mixture of agriculture and science, in short here lay his first findings in psychology, (Thorn 2013). It was the absence of intimacy that drew Rogers into the area he grew so famous for, Counselling and Psychotherapy.
1:3 Person Centred Therapy Initial Moorings
Rogers enrolled in scientific agriculture, his idea being to manage a farm in this way eventually (Thorn 2013). It was in this area that he was able to develop a different kind of relationship, both with students and leaders, having a profound effect on his journey (Thorn 2013). He changed his mind about where he was heading and changed from agriculture to history and then onto religion (Corey 2001). Even though some of these changes were significant for Rogers, probably the most significant was being chosen with eleven other students to go to the World Student Christian Federation conference in Peking, China. (Thorn 2013). It was here that he found a different way of being, experiencing an environment that allowed him to live outside the ‘shackles of the narrow parental view of reality’ (Thorn 2013 p). It was here that he found independence and discovered autonomy in his existence. Rogers got sick during this stay and needed to return home for treatment. He subsequently got married and took on a correspondence course in introductory psychology. He actually got a job as a pastor but did the regime in place did not suit him and he began setting up groups without any agenda, just consisting of questions existing in the group (Thorn 2013). Moving towards psychology more and more Rogers got his degree in clinical and educational psychology, and went on to ‘distinguish himself as a doctor, medical researcher and university teacher’ (Thorn 2013).
Rogers still struggled with finding a theology that suited him and resisted falling in with any specific orthodox. Working at the Child Study Department of the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children for 12 years learning a lot during this time, he found the ‘comparative ineffectiveness therapeutically of interpreting a client’s behaviour’ (Thorn 2013 p9). During this time Rogers discovered that it is the client who knows where to go, how to go forward and that the therapist is just there for guidance. In his first book The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child, he named four basic attributes; Objectivity, Respect, Understanding and Knowledge (Thorn 2013). He completed a paper naming new approaches, taking into account the emotions rather than the cognitive aspects and received varying responses ‘from enthusiastic approval to somewhat aggressive criticism’ (Thorn 2013 p13). Rogers took this as positive and his second book ‘Counselling and Psychotherapy: Newer Concepts in Practice named ‘client’ for the first time and it was here Rogers realised the resistance to this new practice was practitioners resistance to clients knowing more than them.
Rogers next book Client-Centred Therapy gathered a huge following and was the start of something much bigger and in 1957 Rogers came up with the conditions of ‘The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change’ (Thorn 2013 p15). ‘On Becoming a Person’ that became the breakthrough for him. In its day this was something very new and has greatly influenced Counselling and Psychotherapy ever since.
Chapter Two: Person Centred Therapy in Theory and Practise
2:1 Theoretical Framework
Person Centred Therapy falls within the Third Force of Existential Humanism which arose during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Existential Therapy is not a model of therapy but a philosophy and was a major move away from the traditional psychoanalytic or behavioural approaches. Some of its major proponents were Rollo May, Viktor Frankl, Irvin Yalom and Michael Buber. Within the First Force, Psychoanalysis believed that the key to freedom was through unlocking unconscious forces, past events and irrational drives, beneath the surface. Within the Second Force Behavioural Psychology believed that the key to freedom lay in the behavioural aspects of the person, above the surface. Existentialism took root in Europe, out of wars and conflict, where people were seen to be used, as soldiers, as workers and throughout that age had what was termed by Nietzsche the ‘herd mentality’ (O’Rourke, class notes). Existentialism moves from telling people what to do to helping them find out what they can do. “Unlike other psychotherapeutic approaches in which theory and treatment are of utmost importance and philosophy is considered a necessary but often ignored aspect, existential psychotherapist place philosophy as the guiding force in both theory and treatment” (O’Rourke, class notes)
Rogers progress shows how much he was influenced by the existential movement, he established four changes that altered the way therapists could work, in the 1940’s he developed non-directive counselling, moving from the usual position of psychoanalysis more direct way of working. In the 1950’s he named his approach ‘Client Centred Therapy’ changing his way of working, this time to allow the client to be their own frame of reference and that they are in a better position to know what works best for them. He expressed belief that each and every human being can self-actualise, meaning that people can develop from one level of self-understanding to another. In the 1960’s the change was about the process, one’s own experience and being able to trust that and experiment with it, having an internal locus of evaluation and being willing to be in that process. (Corey 2001)
2:2 Person Centred Therapy in Practise
The fundamental philosophy of PCT is about the relationship and the capacity within each person for change. Rogers believed all they need is the right conditions in order to get in touch with it. Yalom (2010) agrees with this ‘The rest would follow automatically, fuelled by the self-actualising forces within the patient’. Rogers admits this tendency for change may be latent if it is not evident but is there to move towards maturity (Rogers, 2004). And he says it’s up to the therapist, when they ‘are able to experience and communicate their realness, caring, and non-judgmental understanding, significant changes are likely to occur’ (Corey 2001 p172). He never liked the idea that people are not to be trusted and that they need to be directed or guided. So PCT focuses on the positive aspects on the person, creating the space in order for them to access and work with it themselves. In PCT it is not so much about the issue or presenting problem but about the growth of the person themselves. Corey (2001 p174) describes Rogers belief in the context of a client’s journey to self-actualisation, that they have “(1) an openness to experience, (2) a trust in themselves, (3) an internal source of evaluation, and (4) a willingness to continue growing”.
The role of PCT revolves around the development of the relationship rather than having knowledge to pass on and teach. Rogers maintains that the therapist needs to have three attributes in order to provide the space necessary for change; Genuineness, Unconditional Positive Regard and Empathy. He says that if we can provide these then our client will be able to access what they need for exploration of self (Corey 2001).
Rogers calls these attributes Core Conditions. For Genuineness his belief is that the therapist needs to be real within the relationship, to be willing to express his own thoughts and feelings within the therapy, to truly inform the client that he is there, present with him all the time, not to pretend to be someone else, it is about being comfortable in their own skin. When he says acceptance Rogers means that we are warm to this person coming for help and we believe in them, it’s important to fully accept them for who they are, whatever their origins, behaviour or way of communicating. It is to have respect for and accept the journey in the therapeutic relationship and whatever comes up is part of their story and will slowly unfold (Rogers, 2004). Empathy, for Rogers is about understanding where clients are coming from, being sensitive about it and coming from a place of genuine curiosity. To do this free from judgment, appraisal or morality. By empathising with a client, you help them to accept their own feelings, thoughts and way of being (Rogers, 2004).
2:3 Martin Buber
In a famous Dialogue meeting between Carl Rogers and Michael Buber in 1957 there was a lot of exploration about Person Centred and our way of being in therapy. Buber disagreed with Rogers in relation to peoples goodness and wanted to acknowledge our potential for great harm as well. However, he did point out that he thought that Rogers Core Conditions were very spiritual in nature but that in the therapeutic relationship the client needed that bit more.
He expanded on Rogers interpretation of acceptance and challenged Rogers in that acceptance is necessary but clients needed confirmation, for without that acceptance on its own could lead to dependence or reliance on the therapist. (O’ Rourke, Guideline) Confirmation meaning “It implies the determination to develop, to influence towards change, to seek actively to bring about change, to struggle with the other where necessary and it leads to a formative conception of the role of counsellor” (O’Rourke, Guideline p32). This is about working with the client in the presence of acceptance, of challenging the client, in that free space already established by the Core Conditions. Rogers way of working changed with this dialogue and took on the concept of confirmation, creating modern Person Centred Therapy, supporting Rogers assertions that PCT is not to be taken as gospel, it is to be expanded on, thought about and explored, experimented with and made better.
Conclusion
In this Assignment I have connected my personal journey with entering into the profession of Counselling and Psychotherapy. It is within the intimacy of the therapeutic relationship that my needs are met and even though this work may be of great value to the client my needs are primarily met. I also conclude, that there is a journey ahead for me in relation to removing these needs from the work or at least to acknowledge them enough and work with them to have these needs met within another nurturing relationship, allowing the client’s needs to be foremost.
I conclude that the Core Conditions do not come naturally to me and at times I wonder am I actually of service to people. Rogers describes this struggle and necessity very well ‘It is only by providing the genuine reality which is in me, that the other person can successfully seek for the reality in him” (2004 p33). It is similar to experiences I have when I let go of me and I am able to be genuine without letting myself become the obstacle for my clients potential for self-actualisation.
I have described Existential Psychotherapy and its emergence throughout the 20th Century and how compared to Psychoanalysis and Behavioural Psychology this philosophy was more about working with the client as a person. This correlates with PCT and how each one aligned itself with the other. I described the main tenets of PCT, the capacity within each person to self-actualise and the relationship. I described the Core Conditions and how these were necessary to bring about change for the client and the role of the therapist to have the ability to provide these. Finally, I explained growth with PCT culminating from a famous dialogue meeting between Rogers and Buber and how confirmation became a practising component in Modern PCT.