Person-Centered Counseling Theory

    Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was the American psychologist who developed person -centered therapy. His views about the therapeutic relationship radically revolutionized the course of therapy. He believed that "the client knows what hurts, what directions to go, what problems are crucial, what experiences have been buried" (Rogers, 1961, pp. 11-12). He helped people in taking responsibility for themselves and their lives. He believed that the experience of being understood and valued, gives one the freedom to grow.
     The person-centered approach views the client as their own best authority on their own experience, and it views the client as being fully capable of fulfilling their own potential for growth. It recognizes, however, that achieving potential requires favorable conditions and that under adverse conditions, individuals may well not grow and develop in the ways that they otherwise could. In particular, when individuals are denied acceptance and positive regard from others — or when that positive regard is made conditional upon the individual behaving in particular ways — they may begin to lose touch with what their own experience means for them, and their innate tendency to grow in a direction consistent with that meaning may be stifled.

   The person-centered approach defines that three core conditions provide a climate essential to growth and therapeutic change. They contrast starkly with those conditions believed to be responsible for psychological disturbance. The core conditions are:

1. Unconditional positive regard: the counselor accepts the client unconditionally and non-judgmentally.
2. Empathic understanding: the counselor accurately understands the client’s thoughts, feelings, and meanings from the client’s own perspective.
3. Congruence: the counselor is authentic and genuine.

   Together, these three core conditions are believed to enable the client to develop and grow in their own way to strengthen and expand their own identity and to become the person that they really are independently of the pressures of others to act or think in particular ways.

  Clients who have a strong urge in the direction of exploring themselves and their feelings and who value personal responsibility may be particularly attracted to the person-centered approach. Those who would like a counselor to offer them extensive advice, to diagnose their problems, or to analyze their psyches will probably find the person-centered approach less helpful. Clients who would like to address specific psychological habits or patterns of thinking may find some variation in the helpfulness of the person-centered approach, as the individual therapeutic styles of person-centered counselors vary widely, and some will feel more able than others to engage directly with these types of concerns.

References:

Corey, G. (2013). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. (9th ed. ed.). Belmont, CA:           Brooks/Cole CENGAGAE Learning.

Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person, a therapist's view of psychotherapy. New York: Mariner Books.