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Carl Rogers: The Person-Centered Approach to Therapy
Rodger's therapeutic philosophy is based around what he calls the "actualizing tendency" present within every human being, in fact, within every organism (Boeree 2006). This is every sentient being's inherent drive to develop its potential to the fullest. The actualizing tendency is not merely confined to the basic needs of survival; it is a "force of life" or the determination to make one's life the best it can be (Boeree 2006). Human society often interferes with this force of life by establishing conditions of worth, or making social acceptance and love dependant on a series of carrots and sticks. Society bends the human character to behaving in a certain manner, 'on condition.' To obtain conditional positive regard people hide their real desires to conform to a society that may or may not truly have the individual's best interests at heart.
Over time, this "conditioning" leads people to have conditional positive self-regard. In other words, we come only like ourselves when others like us (Boeree 2006).
To help his clients get in touch with their true desires, Rogers adopted a method of therapy where the client's needs and desires drove the therapeutic process, not the therapist's outside direction. Genuineness, empathy, and respect are at the heart of Rogers' process of mirroring. Instead of directing or challenging the client, a Rogerian therapist validates the client's feelings and expressions. For example, if the client says 'I am worthless,' unlike a cognitive behaviorist who might ask why, or probe the false and extreme nature of the statement, a Rogerian might simply say, 'you feel as if you have no worth at all?' To encourage the client to explore the statement. Rogerian therapy has been criticized for being overly circular, for taking longer than most people can afford to spend upon therapy, and not being directive enough. However, Rogerians contend that "If independence (autonomy, freedom with responsibility) is what you are helping a client to achieve, then they will not achieve it if they remain dependent on you, the therapist. They need to try their insights on their own, in real life beyond the therapist's office! An authoritarian approach to therapy may seem to work marvelously at first, but ultimately it only creates a dependent person" (Boeree 2006)
Works Cited
Boeree, C. George. (2006). Carl Rogers. Personality Theories. Retrieved March 16, 2009 at http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/rogers.html
When addressing positive emotions, Freud might have assumed that individuals who were raised in ideal environments and who did not develop sexual hang-ups were more likely to experience positive emotions than anxiety. Freud might also claim that positive emotions were the result of working through neuroses in psychotherapy, but his overall view of the human condition remained bleak. 4. The DSM-IV-TR is the latest version of the American Psychiatric Association's
Rather, Rogers argued that the therapist was there fundamentally in a support role, with the client in his or her own journey toward self-actualization. How then, does the client experience this kind of therapy? For many clients who are experiencing anxiety or self doubt, person-to-person therapy can lead them to discover their own ability to heal themselves. Assuming responsibility for one's own mental health by recognizing the range of
However, after several internal conflicts with the Wisconsin psychology department, Rogers became disillusioned with academia and left the field. In 1964, after being selected "Humanist of the Year" by the American Humanist Association, Rogers moved to La Jolla, California where he joined the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute as a researcher. In 1968 Rogers went on to found the Center for Studies of the Person. Rogers devoted the later part of
Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow Treatment Approach for Outpatient Therapy Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow treatment approach for out-patient therapy. The study of human psychology is important in understanding personality of individuals. One can study personality of individuals, but there is no scientific method of studying personality of the whole humanity. Human are different from person to person and vey unique to some degree. This paper prompts a thesis, and it digs
Carl Rogers was probably the most important psychologist and psychotherapist of the 20th Century apart from Sigmund Freud, and his humanistic, person-centered approach has been applied to many fields outside of psychology, such as education, business, nursing, medicine and social work. Many of the basic textbooks in all of these fields reflect his influence, including the concept of learner-centered education and the use of the term 'clients' instead of 'patients'.
After all, Rogers believed that every individual has within himself "vast resources for self-understanding and for altering their self-concepts, basic attitudes and self-directed behavior" (Moon quoting Rogers). But these resources need to be tapped if a facilitator (like the client-centered therapist) can bring out conditions such as "congruence, empathic understanding, and unconditional positive regard" (Moon). In order to properly provide therapy for the client, a therapist should be able to experience