Person-centered therapy and its criticisms in modern practice

Person-centered therapy brings a highly non-directive approach to the therapeutic relationship. In an outcomes-based approach, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, the therapist sets goals with the patient for the various sessions, often gives the patient behavioral 'homework' to do between the sessions, and sets a defined goal for the therapeutic process itself. The person-centered or Rogerian therapist instead offers unconditional positive regard for the patient. According to Kirschenbaum and Jourdan (2005) "therapists or counselors who are accurately empathic, nonpossessively warm in attitude, and genuine, are indeed effective" according to a number of empirical studies with a variety of patients. Yet the person-centered approach has fallen out of favor in recent decades.

There are a number of reasons, despite the undeniable influence of Rogers, that person-centered approaches have been criticized. Person-centered approaches tend to be longer in duration than more directive forms of therapy. There is often insufficient regard given to the impact that biology can have upon shaping the client's psyche. "Newer research has gradually come to recognize or acknowledge, first, that the success of psychotherapy is only partly determined by the psychotherapy itself, that is, by the therapist's approach, skill, attitudes, and relationship with the client" (Kirschenbaum and Jourdan 2005). And the harshest criticisms of person-centered approaches would hold that Rogerian therapy has fueled the negative aspects of the self-esteem movement, bolstering self-regard and setting unrealistic expectations without encouraging the individual to take proactive actions to change his or her life.