Person-Centered Therapy: Rogers' Approach Explained

Introduction: Freud vs. Rogers

Sigmund Freud took the world of psychotherapy by storm in the early 20th century. He painted a picture of people who needed the guiding hand of an expert to help them overcome their malaise. In his view, only a trained therapist could uncover repressed emotions and conflicted family histories. Patients were described as suffering and also incapable of healing themselves without the dedicated help of a psychoanalyst, usually for many years of intensive therapy.

Carl Rogers rejected these fundamental assumptions of Freud and his colleagues. Instead of conceptualizing the therapist as the star of the story — armed with expertise to cure the ill patient — Rogers repositioned the client as the center of the therapeutic trajectory. He argued that individuals contain the seeds of their own best selves, and that no amount of diagnosis or direction could do this work for them. The therapist's job was not to provide solutions but rather to create an atmosphere of trust, empathy, and acceptance. In these conditions, the client would be empowered to tap into their own actualized self.

Origins of the Person-Centered Approach

Carl Rogers was a therapist practicing in Ohio in the 1940s. At the time, most therapy placed the therapist in a directive and interpretive role: therapists were there to guide the client's monologue and then offer interpretations based on what the client said. Rogers questioned the wisdom of this role and argued that, in some cases, the therapist might not be effective if he or she maintained this professional distance. Instead, Rogers proposed a more direct role for the therapist, in which one of the important tasks for the counselor was to create an environment that felt safe for the client. The focus shifted from the therapist as a source of expertise to the interactions between therapist and client. A strong relationship between the two might be the tool that allowed for greater success in the patient's progress.

The second phase of the development of Rogers' signature theory came in the 1950s, when he named his approach client-centered therapy and began practicing this strategy in his new home base of Chicago. During this phase, Rogers stressed the importance of the client's own perspective and began to describe self-actualization as the most important piece of the therapeutic puzzle. Over the next twenty years, Rogers became a prolific writer. He practiced therapy, conducted research, and his theory blossomed. Of particular interest to him during this time was the way the patient–client relationship contributed to therapeutic outcomes.

Finally, toward the end of his career, Rogers extended his ideas beyond the counseling environment and into education, industry, and conflict resolution on a global stage. At this time, his focus was quite broad. He spoke a great deal about the role of power in defining relationships and individual satisfaction — that is, in what ways do people "obtain, possess, share, or surrender power and control over others and themselves" (Corey, 2009: 167). His ideas became known as the person-centered approach.

Like humanism and existentialism, person-centered therapy begins with a "respect for the client's subjective experience, the uniqueness and individuality of each client, and a trust in the capacity of the client to make positive and constructive conscious choices" (Corey, 2009: 168). All three of these approaches place the client, rather than the therapist, at the center of the therapeutic environment. The client is seen as an individual with a unique ability to heal himself or herself, if only the therapist can create the right conditions for that kind of self-awareness.

Core Concepts and Assumptions

Person-centered therapy begins with a very important assumption about the validity of the client. Individuals have an innate capacity for self-healing. They can build on their own life experiences to grow into a fuller version of themselves. Rogers believed that people are naturally driven toward self-actualization and can accomplish this if the right conditions are provided. One student of Rogers describes self-actualization as the process of "being and behaving on the basis of one's own inner ways of being and inner possibilities" (Mahrer, 2004: 64). Thus, Rogers assumes a very positive view of innate human nature. Clients ultimately know what is best for them, and therapists must not interfere with this internal direction.

Moreover, Rogers valued the quality of the therapeutic relationship more than accurate diagnosis, research, or intellectual insight. Reflecting on his experience as a guidance counselor, he explains:

"The quality of the personal encounter is probably, in the long run, the element which determines the extent to which this is an experience which releases or promotes development and growth. I believe the quality of my encounter is more important in the long run than is my scholarly knowledge, my professional training, my counseling orientation, the techniques I use in the interview" (Rogers and Stevens, 1967: 86).

In this way, it is clear that Rogers' person-centered therapy offers a critical departure from more traditional, expert-focused approaches.

Many patients come to therapy because they are suffering from symptoms associated with incongruence. This condition may stem from a sense of dissatisfaction, or even failure, and refers to the gap between a person's idealized vision of themselves and reality. While most people experience some degree of incongruence in their lives, many are so disturbed by this gap that they begin to feel anxious, depressed, or helpless. These emotions can lead a person to seek therapeutic help.

If patients are suffering from incongruence, then it is critically important for the therapist to model congruence. Especially in a model that asks the therapist to adopt a personal, authentic, and involved posture in the therapy session, it is up to the therapist to demonstrate her own sense of self-worth. She must be open, honest, expressive, and genuine. Therapists must be pursuing their own self-actualization, and this commonality will allow them to relate more honestly to the work being done by their patients. Only in this way can a therapist be truly empathetic, and only when empathy is authentic will these attributes be effectively communicated to the patient. Indeed, "accurate empathy is the cornerstone of the person-centered approach" (Corey, 2009: 175).

Finally, therapists must demonstrate unconditional positive regard and acceptance. The patient must not feel judged. Rogers expressed concern that a remote, note-taking therapist might communicate judgment to a fragile patient, thereby negating any positive effect of the therapy. Only unconditional acceptance can create the kind of open and safe environment that allows clients to begin their own journeys of self-discovery.

Self-actualization is a broad term, but Rogers provides some landmarks by which therapists might recognize progress. People who are successfully actualizing will demonstrate openness to new experiences, trust in themselves, internal evaluation skills, and a willingness to continue the work of growing (Corey, 2009). The assumption is that people naturally tend toward these levels of self-awareness. The therapist does not need to teach or create these goals; rather, the therapist simply needs to encourage the natural path toward actualization.

Conclusion

Carl Rogers' person-centered approach transformed therapy. It shifted assumptions about people in treatment — from helpless victims of mental disease to the sole source of their own self-healing. It shifted the role of the therapist away from a technical expert and toward an empathetic partner in a client's journey. It shifted the role of the client away from passive participation in diagnosis and treatment and toward active engagement in uncovering the full self within. It placed new obligations on therapists and rewrote the thrust of the therapeutic process. Critics have revised some of the more idealistic elements of Rogers' theories — especially the notion that self-actualization will happen naturally given the right therapeutic environment — but his impact on the field has been durable. Unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence are now consistent features of a therapist's approach to treating clients, regardless of which therapeutic model is being followed.

Bibliography

Corey, Gerald (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy, 8th Edition. Fullerton, CA.

Ellis, Albert (1998). The Albert Ellis Reader: A Guide to Well-Being Using Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. Carol Publishing Group: Secaucus, NJ.

Goldfried, Marvin R. (2007). What Has Psychotherapy Inherited from Carl Rogers? Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 44 (3): 249–252.

Mahrer, Alvin R. (2004). The Complete Guide to Experiential Psychotherapy. Bell Publishing Company: Boulder, CO.

Rogers, Carl R. and Barry Stevens (1967). Person to Person: The Problem of Being Human. Real People Press: Lafayette, CA.