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Person Centered Therapy: An Analysis

Person Centered Therapy is primarily based upon the humanistic personality theory of the American psychologist Carl Rogers, (1961) whose ideographic and phenomenological approach reflects his view that human behavior is “exquisitely rational.” Because of his belief that “the core of man’s nature is essentially positive,” Rogers developed a theory of personality that enables therapists to engage their clients both professionally and personally through a non-directive approach.

This helping style has been very beneficial to many clients, for it grants them control over the pace and content of their therapy and enhances trust in the therapist. Since they are not subjected to leading questions or confronted with diagnoses or treatment options, the focus of their sessions meets their needs much more effectively than rigid and demeaning evaluations intended to categorize them.

According to Carl Rogers (1961) the components of a healthy personality, the nature and sources of dysfunction, and the appropriate goals of the helping process theorist’s philosophy should be identified in accordance with the concept that people have an inherent capacity to find their own solutions as they seek to overcome their problems, heal and grow. Subsequently, the therapist encourages this tendency by providing an accepting and understanding environment.

As Pescitelli (1996) notes, the key components of this approach rest upon Rogers’ view of human nature, which maintains that all human beings possess an underlying actualizing tendency that exists in order to promote the development of enhancing autonomous capacities. According to Rogers (1977) this actualizing tendency is directional, constructive and present in all living things. It can be suppressed but it can never be destroyed without the destruction of the organism.

In harmony with this view of human nature, the therapist seeks to engage the client through listening and rapport in order to understand the situation from the client’s perspective. While treating the client with the utmost respect and regard, the therapist interacts with transparence, self-awareness, and self-acceptance. Guided by these theorist beliefs concerning the role of the helper and the importance of the helper/client relationship in the helping process, the therapist conducts the session as a human partner in the process, not as a clinical evaluator.

This theorist helping style involves the necessary formulation of preferred strategies for assessment, intervention, and evaluation, which should reflect acknowledgement that the inherent potentialities of the actualizing tendency can become distorted when maladjustment occurs and lead to destructive behavior. According to Pescitelli (1996) strategies should be designed to address the fact that actualization and self-actualization tendencies can come into conflict when alienation from the true self is manifested in the form of conscious struggle in one direction and organismic movement in another.

Accordingly, Person Centered Therapy approaches based upon Rogers (1961) apply a therapeutic process involving techniques and procedures which treat the client as someone, “capable of evaluating the outer and inner situation, understanding herself in its context, making constructive choices as to the next steps in life, and acting on those choices”. As Pescitelli (1996) notes, such an approach recognizes that while humans behave rationally, defenses can prevent awareness of this rationality and produce conscious/organismic conflict.

Person Centered Therapy tends to be a complicated process, for clients are free to discover themselves and pursue greater self-awareness at their own pace. The therapist endeavors to assist this process through understanding and acceptance, which is not a simple task. But the benefits are worth the effort invested and even though ultimate success is not assured, the process itself is valuable.

Examining person centered theory from a multicultural perspective, it is noteworthy that many members of ethnic or racial minorities are often confronted with personal and societal challenges that exacerbate maladjustment. Since maladjusted people tend to be defensive, feel more compelled to live according to a preconceived plan, and feel manipulated rather than free, they are more vulnerable to dysfunction, but also more likely to benefit from Person Centered Therapy.

In conclusion, Carl Rogers encouraged a humane and ethical treatment of people and considered psychology a human science rather than a natural science. His person-centered approach has proven successful throughout much of the world, not only in the context of therapy but also in terms of its influence on administrators, educators, community and business leaders, human resource personnel, and the medical community.

Unfortunately, non-directive therapy based upon the psychological theories of Carl Rogers is uncommon in the United States, despite the fact that we could benefit much more from improved self-awareness than from the self-delusion our wayward culture imposes upon us.

Sources Pescitelli, Dagmar. (1996). “An Analysis of Carl Rogers Theory of Personality.”
Online. Available: http://www.wynja.com/personality/rogersff.html. 26 January 2005.
Rogers, Carl. (1961). “A Theory of Therapy, Personality and Interpersonal Relationships, as Developed in the Client-Centered Framework.” In S. Koch (ed.). Psychology: A Study of Science. New York: McGraw Hill.
_ _ _. (1977). Carl Rogers on Personal Power. New York: Delacorte Press.