Person centred therapy (1)

1. Person centred psychotherapy Carl Rogers

2. A Person-Centered Theory of Psychotherapy Conditions for therapeutic process Goals Therapeutic alliance Facilitative conditions Non directiveness Current use Strengths Limitations

3. Goals • The goals of therapy come from the client, not the therapist. • Clients move away from phoniness or superficiality to become more complex in that they more deeply understand various facets of themselves. • Goals should be to move in a self-directed manner, being less concerned about pleasing others and meeting the expectations of others. • The therapist does not choose the client’s counseling goals but rather helps develop a therapeutic atmosphere that can increase positive self-regard so that the client can become more fully functioning.

4. The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Client Change 1. Psychological contact: There must be a relationship in which two people are capable of having some impact on each other. Concept of presence, which refers to the therapist not just being in the same room with the client but also bringing forth her abilities to attend to and be engaged by the client. 2. Incongruence: The client must be in a state of psychological vulnerability,that is, fearful, anxious, or otherwise distressed. Implied in this distress is an incongruence between the person’s perception of himself and his actual experience.Sometimes individuals are not aware of this incongruence, but as they become increasingly aware, they become more open to the therapeutic experience.

5. 3. Congruence and genuineness: In the therapeutic relationship, the therapist must genuinely be herself and not “phony.” Congruence includes being fully aware of one’s body, one’s communication with others, being spontaneous, and being open in relationships with others. In addition, congruence incorporates being able to be empathic and to offer unconditional positive regard to the client.

6. Genuineness in therapy means that the therapist is his actual self in his encounter with his client. Without facade, he openly has the feelings and attitudes that are flowing in him at the moment. This involves self-awareness; that is, the therapist’s feelings are available to him—to his awareness—and he is able to live them, to experience them in the relationship and to communicate them if they persist. The therapist encounters his client directly, meeting him person to person. He is being himself, not denying himself.

7. 4. Unconditional positive regard or acceptance. The therapist must have no conditions of acceptance but must accept and appreciate the client as it is. Hurtful, painful, bizarre, and unusual feelings, as well as good feelings, are to be accepted by the therapist. Even when the client lies, the therapist accepts, and eventually the client is likely to confront his own lies and admit them to the therapist Acceptance does not mean agreement with the client but rather refers to caring for the person as a separate individual. By accepting but not agreeing with the client, the therapist is not likely to be manipulated. Clearly, therapists do not always feel. Unconditional positive regard for their clients, but it is a goal toward which they strive. 5. Empathy: To be empathic is to enter another’s world without being influenced by one’s own views and values (Freire, 2007; Rogers, 1975). To do so, individuals must have sufficient separateness so that they do not get lost in the perceptual world of the other person.