Person-centered psychotherapy
Encyclopedia
Person-centered therapy (PCT) is also known as person-centered psychotherapy, person-centered counseling, client-centered therapy and Rogerian psychotherapy. PCT is a form of talk-psychotherapy
developed by psychologist
Carl Rogers
in the 1940s and 1950s. The goal of PCT is to provide patients with an opportunity to develop a sense of self wherein they can realize how their attitudes, feelings and behaviour are being negatively affected and make an effort to find their true positive potential. In this technique, therapists create a comfortable, non-judgmental environment
by demonstrating congruence (genuineness), empathy
, and unconditional positive regard toward their patients while using a non-directive approach. This aids patients in finding their own solutions to their problems.
Although this technique has been criticized by behaviorists for lacking structure and by psychoanalysts for actually providing a conditional relationship it has proven to be a vastly effective and popular treatment.
(most famously Sigmund Freud
), Adlerian
, Cognitive-behavioral therapy, and Existential therapy
(such as that pioneered by Rollo May
).
Others acknowledge Rogers' broad influence on approach, while naming a humanistic or humanistic-existentialist school group; there is large debate over what constitute major schools and cross-influences with more tangential candidates such as feminist, Gestalt, British school, self psychology, interpersonal, family systems, integrative, systemic and communicative, with several historical influences seeding them such as object-relations.
Rogers affirmed individual personal experience as the basis and standard for living and therapeutic effect. Rogers identified 6 conditions which are needed to produce personality changes in clients: relationship, vulnerability to anxiety (on the part of the client), genuineness (the therapist is truly himself or herself and incorporates some self-disclosure), the client's perception of the therapist's genuineness, the therapist's unconditional positive regard for the client, and accurate empathy. This emphasis contrasts with the dispassionate position which may be intended in other therapies, particularly the more extreme behavioral therapies. Living in the present rather than the past or future, with organismic trust, naturalistic faith in your own thoughts and the accuracy in your feelings, and a responsible acknowledgment of your freedom, with a view toward participating fully in our world, contributing to other peoples' lives, are hallmarks of Roger's Person-centred therapy.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
developed by psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers
Carl Ransom Rogers was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology...
in the 1940s and 1950s. The goal of PCT is to provide patients with an opportunity to develop a sense of self wherein they can realize how their attitudes, feelings and behaviour are being negatively affected and make an effort to find their true positive potential. In this technique, therapists create a comfortable, non-judgmental environment
Frame (therapy)
The Frame refers to the environment and relationship in psychotherapy, which enables the client to be open about their life with the therapist, in a secure and confidential manner...
by demonstrating congruence (genuineness), empathy
Empathy
Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...
, and unconditional positive regard toward their patients while using a non-directive approach. This aids patients in finding their own solutions to their problems.
Although this technique has been criticized by behaviorists for lacking structure and by psychoanalysts for actually providing a conditional relationship it has proven to be a vastly effective and popular treatment.
History and influences
Person-centred therapy, now considered a founding work in the humanistic school of psychotherapies, began formally with Carl Rogers. "Rogerian" psychotherapy is identified as one of the major school groups, along with psychodynamic, psychoanalyticPsychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
(most famously Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
), Adlerian
Classical Adlerian psychology
Classical Adlerian psychology is a values-based, fully integrated theory of personality, model of psychopathology, philosophy of living, strategy for preventative education, and technique of psychotherapy...
, Cognitive-behavioral therapy, and Existential therapy
Existential therapy
Existential psychotherapy is a philosophical method of therapy that operates on the belief that inner conflict within a person is due to that individual's confrontation with the givens of existence. These givens, as noted by Irvin D...
(such as that pioneered by Rollo May
Rollo May
Rollo May was an American existential psychologist. He authored the influential book Love and Will during 1969. He is often associated with both humanistic psychology and existentialist philosophy. May was a close friend of the theologian Paul Tillich...
).
Others acknowledge Rogers' broad influence on approach, while naming a humanistic or humanistic-existentialist school group; there is large debate over what constitute major schools and cross-influences with more tangential candidates such as feminist, Gestalt, British school, self psychology, interpersonal, family systems, integrative, systemic and communicative, with several historical influences seeding them such as object-relations.
Rogers affirmed individual personal experience as the basis and standard for living and therapeutic effect. Rogers identified 6 conditions which are needed to produce personality changes in clients: relationship, vulnerability to anxiety (on the part of the client), genuineness (the therapist is truly himself or herself and incorporates some self-disclosure), the client's perception of the therapist's genuineness, the therapist's unconditional positive regard for the client, and accurate empathy. This emphasis contrasts with the dispassionate position which may be intended in other therapies, particularly the more extreme behavioral therapies. Living in the present rather than the past or future, with organismic trust, naturalistic faith in your own thoughts and the accuracy in your feelings, and a responsible acknowledgment of your freedom, with a view toward participating fully in our world, contributing to other peoples' lives, are hallmarks of Roger's Person-centred therapy.
Core concepts
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, or Vulnerability: that incongruence exists between the client's experience and awareness. Furthermore, the client is vulnerable to anxiety which motivates them to stay in the relationship.
- Therapist Congruence, or Genuineness: the therapist is congruent within the therapeutic relationship. The therapist is deeply involved him or herself - they are not "acting" - and they can draw on their own experiences (self-disclosure) to facilitate the relationship.
- Therapist Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR): 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 by others.
- 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 love for them.
- Client Perception: that the client perceives, to at least a minimal degree, the therapist's UPR and empathic understanding.
See also
- Humanistic psychologyHumanistic psychologyHumanistic psychology is a psychological perspective which rose to prominence in the mid-20th century, drawing on the work of early pioneers like Carl Rogers and the philosophies of existentialism and phenomenology...
- Cognitivism (psychology)Cognitivism (psychology)In psychology, cognitivism is a theoretical framework for understanding the mind that came into usage in the 1950s. The movement was a response to behaviorism, which cognitivists said neglected to explain cognition...
- Critical psychologyCritical psychologyCritical psychology is an approach to psychology that takes a critical theory–based perspective. Critical psychology is aimed at critiquing mainstream psychology and attempts to apply psychology in more progressive ways, often looking towards social change as a means of preventing and treating...
- Human potential movementHuman Potential MovementThe Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
- ELIZAELIZAELIZA is a computer program and an early example of primitive natural language processing. ELIZA operated by processing users' responses to scripts, the most famous of which was DOCTOR, a simulation of a Rogerian psychotherapist. Using almost no information about human thought or emotion, DOCTOR...
External links
- World Association for Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counseling
- The Person-Centered Website
- http://counsellingresource.com/types/person-centred/
- The Carl Rogers Bibliography Online
- Person-Centred Bibliography
- Person-Centered Bibliography in French
- Association for Person Centred Therapy Scotland
- The Association for the Development of the Person Centered Approach
- Network of the European Associations for Person-Centred and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counselling
- The British Association for the Person Centred Approach