CIA 1

By

Name- Samatha A. S.

Class- 1 MPCO

Register Number- 1424338

Person-Centered Therapy

Therapeutic Process

Introduction• Carl R. Rogers was a prestigious and

influential psychotherapist who formulated the Person-Centered Approach and was known as a ”quiet revolutionary”.

• Also known as Client- Centered Therapy or Non-Directive Counselling.

• Client plays an active role• Counsellor plays a passive role

Basic Assumptions of this therapy

• Clients are fully capable of finding out their problems and resolving it by themselves

• Clients are trustworthy and possess all other qualities for self-directed growth

• Clients are the sole agents for change• Clients are capable of understanding

themselves without direct intervention

Determinants of successful therapy

• Attitudes, behaviour and personal characteristics of the therapist.

• Quality of relationship between client and therapist.

• Creating a conducive environment for the client to establish trust and disclose themselves for self-directed growth.

Therapeutic Goals

• There are no specific goals as such, however, therapists help the clients in framing their own goals

• Focus is on the client as a ‘person’ and not at solving their problems

• Helping the client to achieve independence and integration

• Self-awareness and self-actualization

Cont…

• Encouraging and boosting client’s characteristics of self-actualization, openness to experience, trust in oneself, internal source of evaluation and willingness or striving for continuous growth

• Providing a suitable atmosphere (climate of safety and trust) in order to establish clarity for the clients to become self aware of their problems, set goals and strive to change and grow

Therapist’s Functions and Role

• Therapist’s attitudes and belief in the client’s potential to help them become aware and resolve their problems is crucial

• Non-Directive attitude is of utmost importance• Must be real, honest, genuine, authentic, congruent,

empathetic, accepting, caring, respecting, supporting and understanding towards the client for establishing trust and also a healthy relationship based on equality

• To help clients unmask themselves, gain clarity and expose themselves freely for self-directed growth

Don’ts of the Therapist

• Usually client’s case history is not taken• Asking probing questions or advicing• Evaluating client’s ideas, plans and decisions• Interpreting client’s behaviour, being

judgemental• Deciding or setting the length of the therapy• Making decisions and setting goals for the

clients

Client’s Experience and Outcomes of Therapy

• They soon realize that they are responsible for bringing about change and are a reliable creator of personal meanings, ideas, trust, beliefs, etc.

• Clients gradually expose their true, inner selves during the process

• Gain self awareness, understanding and achieve self-acceptance and growth, also strive towards self-actualization.

• Become more self confident, self assertive, risk-taking, experiential, empathetic, goal-oriented

• Clients are the ‘magicians’ with healing powers and therapists set the stage and serve as assistants for the ‘magic’ to operate.

Client-Therapist Relationship

• No specific or special skills or techniques are required by the therapist. It is a shared journey.

• Relationship is mainly based on equality, which determines the success of the therapy.

• Four core conditions to bring about change and self-growth in the client which are used by the therapist are:-

Four core conditions

1. Congruence/Genuineness- therapists must be open and express freely, integrated, authentic, real, true, unbiased for effective therapy.

2. Unconditioned Positive Regard- Non-possessive caring attitude towards the clients, non-judgemental, non-evaluative.

3. Acceptance- Therapists must have high acceptance level and respect for the client’s ideas, values, beliefs, etc.

Cont…

4. Empathy - Therapists stepping into client’s shoes in order to understand and feel their subjective feelings and emotions. • Most important ingredient in order to bring

about change in terms of self-understanding and clarifications of client’s beliefs and world views.

• Empathy alleviates client’s cognitive processes and emotional self- regulation.

Applications

• Individual and group counselling• Student-centered teaching and learning. As per research it

helps in building ‘positive self-concept ‘ amongst students in terms of independence, maturity, etc.

• Parent-child relations and human relations training labs• Anxiety disorders, alcoholism, psychosomatic problems,

agoraphobia, interpersonal difficulties, depression, cancer, personality disorders

• Well suited for early phases of crisis intervention• Administration and management and systems and

institutions

Limitations of the Therapy

• Using of control subjects• Failing to account for placebo effects• Using of inappropriate statistical procedures• The four core conditions are not necessarily

sufficient• Clients to find their own way is challenging• Discounts significance past• Cultural differences- difficult to apply in other

cultures.

Cont…

• Not a standardized treatment due to lack of specific technique of counselling

• Also no guarantee that the therapist’s attitudes, beliefs, values, etc. will not interfere with the therapeutic process. Thus questions the genuine relationship element of the therapy.

Further Reading…

• As per research, there have been many changes in school environment in the last fifty years that have changed the attitudes of the school counsellors.

• Since the student-counsellor ratio increased tremendously, in order to speed up the counselling process, elements such as advising, interpreting, evaluating, etc. have been incorporated.

• Thus school counsellors use both therapeutic and educative modes to bring about change and independence.

Cont…

• Various schools are incorporating this therapy in middle school teachers in order to bring about better and more effective learning methods and outcomes amongst students.

• These teachers also help students to become more creative, think out of the box, self-directed and self-growth, etc.

References

• Corey, G. (1979). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (8th ed., pp.164-191). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

• Colvin, G. (1999). Person-Centered Counseling After Fifty Years: How Is It Fairing in School-Land? American Secondary Education, 28 (1), 19-26. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from Jstor.

• Krause, C. (1972). Person-Centered Evaluation Builds Positive Self-Concepts. Peabody Journal of Education, 49 (4), 290-294. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from Jstor.

References

• Tyrrell, R., & Natko, J. (1979). Person Centered Teachers For Emerging Adoloscents. Middle School Journal,10 (2), 18-19-26-27. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from Jstor.

• Witty,M C. (n.d). CLIENT CENTERED THERAPY. In Springer. Retrieved June 23, 2014, from www.springer.com/cda/content/document/cda./9780387296807-c2.pdf