Brief Description of Therapy

Person–centred therapy is one of the Humanistic approaches. Focusing on the ‘here and now’ and not on the childhood origins of the client’s problems, Carl Rogers’ theory emphasised the counsellor’s creation of a permissive and non-interventionist climate in which the client is free to move at his own pace and in his own direction. Rogers’ basic assumptions were that people were essentially trustworthy; that they have a vast potential for understanding themselves and resolving their own problem without direct intervention on their therapist’s part: and that they are capable of self-directed growth if they are involved in a therapeutic relationship. From the beginning Rogers emphasised that the attitude, personal characteristics and quality of the therapist were the prime determinants of the successful outcomes of the therapeutic process. He consistently relegated to a secondary position matters such as the therapist’s knowledge of theory and techniques.

 KEY CONCEPTS

1. The Actualising Tendency

Just as plants have an innate tendency to grow from a seed towards their full potential Rogers believed the same to be true of people. This he called the ‘actualising tendency’. For human beings, however, it means more than just growth and survival: rather it is the creative fulfillment of the personality and the reduction in, or satisfaction of, physical and psychological needs. This strong drive continues throughout life as we move towards the fulfillment of all that it is possible for us to achieve and become. None of us ever lives long enough to know our full potential.

We are always in a state of ‘being and becoming’. Rogers believed that the ‘actualising tendency’ is the only motive needed to account for all our behaviour, whether to fill an empty stomach, to produce children or to become independent and happy.

 2. The Organismic Valuing Process

 In order to satisfy the actualising tendency, we need to know what is of value to that growth. This ability to weigh up and to value experiences positively/negatively is the ‘organismic valuing process’. All humanistic psychologists tend to focus on the whole person rather than isolating different processes such as behaviour, thoughts or feelings. If we listen to our ‘organismic valuing process’ we will know what will help us move towards our potential.

 Difficulties can occur in both our abilities to weigh up and to value experiences and also in our efforts to fulfill our creative potential. If a persons overwhelming need for positive regard from others is not met or is conditional upon ‘good behaviour’ then the person may internalise the values and beliefs proffered by others. Cut off from their own sense of worth and value individuals continuously strive for the unconditional positive regard they feel they need. They fail and a vicious cycle begins. They begin to behave as others perceive them. Thus the person ceases to trust their organismic valuing process and their personal growth is stunted.

 3. Internal Frame of Reference

 A person’s subjective world, consisting of all memories, sensations, perceptions and meanings that are available to consciousness is sometimes referred to as the ‘internal frame of reference’. In order to understand the behaviour of another person it is necessary to get as close as possible to an understanding of their world or to see the world through their eyes. Striving to ‘walk in the client’s shoes’ and moving away from an ‘external frame of reference’ of judging, advising, preaching or moralising is an important task for the person–centred counsellor.

 4. Distinctive Features of Therapy

 The person-centered approach claims that the personal qualities of the therapist are more important than degrees or qualifications. It regards as essential that individuals realise that they can trust their own experiencing and the validity of their own perceptions. Rogers asserted that if certain necessary conditions are present then changes will occur in the client and the process of growth can take place. Rogers listed what he regarded as ‘the necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change’ (Rogers, 1957: 95):

1. Two persons are in psychological contact.
2. The first, whom we shall term the client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable and anxious.
3. The second person, whom we shall term the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship.
4. The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client.
5. The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the client’s internal frame of reference and endeavours to communicate this experience to the client.
6. The communication to the client of the therapist’s empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a minimal degree achieved.

 Goals of Therapy

 Since the person–centred counsellor believes that psychological difficulties are caused in the main by blockages of the actualising tendency, the main goal of counselling is to release the individual from any constraints or restrictions. If successful, the client is enabled to explore in safety their inner experiences, long denied or distorted, which are inconsistent with their self-concept. There is no final result or end state; rather, a continuing process of change which will hopefully continue after counselling has ended. Such progress towards becoming ‘a fully functioning person‘ would manifest itself in the person being open to experience, having a clear idea of the path to their own fulfillment; being able to trust their ability to know what is good and bad for their own development; accepting themselves for who and what they are and not only on the opinion of others; and accepting responsibility for their own behaviour.

 Counsellor Attitudes in Counselling

 Counsellor attitudes are considered to be of paramount importance in facilitating the relationship. Throughout his professional life, Rogers maintained that there are three counsellor attributes which release a growth – promoting climate in which individuals could move forward and become what they are capable of becoming. These are congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard.

 1. Congruence

 Congruence means that the counsellor’s outward responses match their inner awareness and feelings; that they are genuine, real, open, authentic and transparent. Rogers stressed that congruence is not a question of the counsellor blurting out compulsively every passing feeling; rather it is a state of being. Feelings only are to be expressed when they are persistent and of great strength and when communication of them assists the therapeutic process.

 Result: Endeavouring to be so open the counsellor acts as a role model sending the message that it’s ok to feel and communicate feelings. In order to develop and maintain congruence counsellors need to constantly work at being aware of their underlying feelings and also to realise the importance of having supervision and working on their own personal growth.

 2. Empathy

 Empathy is the process of understanding another person ‘as if you were that person but without ever losing the ‘as if’ quality’. Rogers described it as a way of ‘laying aside our own views and values in order to enter another’s world without prejudice. A Way of Being (Rogers ’43). If the ‘as if’ quality is lost then the process can become one of identification whereby the counsellor is no longer understanding the event from the client’s frame of reference but rather from their own experience of a similar event.

 Result: Research has shown clearly that when clients’ experience their counsellors as deeply empathic they are helped to explore their inner selves more profoundly and change is more likely to occur; alienated clients also feel more connected and less isolated.

 3. Unconditional Positive Regard

 Unconditional positive regard on the part of the counsellor means that the counsellor offers the person respect, acceptance (it does not have to be approval) caring and appreciation regardless of the client’s attitude or behaviour. Rogers often used the word ‘prizing’ to convey the meaning of this condition.

 Result: This condition is important because it undermines the clients’ beliefs that they are only valued if they behave as required by significant others. There is no longer any need for the client to shy away from aspects of his inner self which may be painful or shameful because he learns that it is possible to be truly himself and still be accepted.

 O’Leary ’82 in the only Irish and international longitudinal study of adolescents who received person–centred counselling from guidance counsellors lasting one year indicated that empathy was the most significant condition offered.

 Advantages Of Person–Centred Counselling

• Person–centred counselling deals with the here and now.
• It recognises and values the whole person.
• It encourages people to believe that they have potential, which with the counsellors help may be recognised and developed.
• It fosters greater self-reliance within the person.
• It is a particularly safe model of counselling because it emphasises staying with clients as opposed to getting ahead of them with interpretations, advice or judgements.
• It encourages the self-development of the counsellor.

 Disadvantages Of Person–Centred Counselling

•  The process of counselling may be quite lengthy.
• It may place too much emphasis on the person of the counsellor and on their ability to provide the necessary conditions for change and growth.
• It may not place enough emphasis on problem solving techniques
• It has been described as ‘too simple’.
• Some critics say that person–centred counselling uses a limited repertoire of techniques, such as attending, listening and reflecting are used.