Strengths Of Person Centered Approach

Person-centered therapy views people from a positive perspective. While therapists may not always agree with the choices that a person makes, they always try to accept a person for who they are. The belief is that people can change and become self-actualized. Person-centered therapy focuses on the belief that people’s personalities are influenced by internal and external factors. These experiences will be different for everyone, because we are all exposed to different social and

Human beings are seen has having capacity to strive for fulfilment and growth. Rogers referred this capacity as the ‘ideal self’. Enabling a person to move in the direction of their self defined ideals is major aim of the person centred therapy. Human beings are viewed as fully functioning persons who are open to experience and able to live existentially, trusting in own organism, expresses feelings freely, acts independently, are creative and lives a richer life which involve a process and a direction, and not a destination (Rogers, 1961, p.186).Therapy can develop and psychologically change those who do not have an optimal childhood in order restore the organismic valuing process (Rogers, 1959).This idea portrays an importance strand contrast to psychoanalysis whose orientation of their theory as reflected by Freud was towards understanding and explaining pathology or illness.

This assignment is an attempt to discuss two different types of therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy and person centered therapy and highlight some important similarities and differences between them.

One of key concepts of person centred therapy is the belief that the client has the ability to become aware of their own problems and has the inherent means to resolve them. In this sense,

In the very early years of the person-centred approach, the direction and goals of the therapy were very much determined by the client, with the therapist’s role being to assist the client in clarifying their feelings. This approach of non-directive therapy was associated with a greater self-exploration, increased understanding, and improved self-concept. Further development of person centred therapy has seen a shift in concentration toward the core conditions assumed to be both necessary and sufficient for successful therapy (Cox, Bachkirova & Clutterbuck, 2010)

Person Centered Therapy continues to be an effective treatment for depression and potentially effective for panic, anxiety, and personality disorders. Across Axis 1 disorders Person Centered Therapy was comparable to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Process Experiential Therapy, and Psychodynamic approaches (Quinn, 2013). These studies have continued to show the relevance that Person Centered Therapy has in today’s counseling

Often social workers are faced with having to choose from a wide variety of practice approaches, models, and methods when working with clients. Understanding which approach is appropriate to use with your client is imperative. “Paying equal attention to people and their environments is a critical aspect when choosing the appropriate approach, as each client and situation is unique” (Gitterman & Heller, 2011). For this critical analysis of the therapeutic approach known as Person-Centered Therapy, I will be outlining the ‘core conditions’, which guide the counselors approach. The reason I chose to highlight this

Person Centered Therapy was established by Carl Rogers, a noted psychologist in the 1940s. This style of therapy deviated from the customary model of the therapist as professional and moved rather toward a nondirective sensitive method that empowers and encourages the client in the therapeutic fashion. The concept is Humanistic in nature which affirms the client’s anatomy, psyche, and soul. It provides clients the freedom to achieve self- realization. Cognitive Behavior Therapy understands personal functioning to be the result of continuous reciprocal interaction between behavior and its social conditions. Therapist used their own life experiences to developed theories that can be conformed to help others. Integrating theories has proven

In this essay I will look at the claim that Person-Centred Therapy offers the therapist all that he/she will need to treat clients. Firstly, I will outline what Person-Centred therapy is and look at what its originator, Carl Rogers’, theories behind this approach are. I will then discuss some of the criticisms that have been made about Person-Centred Therapy, and weigh them up to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this therapeutic approach. In the conclusion I will reflect on my learning, and on my own experiences and opinions.

Carl R. Rogers is known as the founding father of person-centered therapy. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1902 to a devoted Christian and a civil engineer (Rogers, Kirschenbaum, & Land, 2001). In 1922 Rogers began to doubt his religious teaching from early on in life, he sought a more liberal education at the Union Theological Seminary (Rogers, Kirschenbaum, & Land, 2001). After two years he left to attend Columbia University to study clinical and education psychology. Rogers went on to write four major books: The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child (1939), Counseling and Psychotherapy: New Concepts in Practice (1942), Client-Centered Therapy (1951), and Psychotherapy and Personality (Rogers & Dymond, 1954) (Walsh, 2010; Patterson, 2007).

Within psychology there are many different theories that counselors should get to know in order to figure out which theory fits their own personal style of counseling. Some counselors stick to one specific theory, but many take on an integrative approach and use multiple theories within their practice. The four psychological theories that I am focusing on in this paper are the contemporary psychodynamic, theory, cognitive behavioral therapy, person-centered therapy, and the family systems theory.

In the 1940s Carl Rogers was well on his way to revolutionizing the state of traditional, directive psychotherapy and pioneering what would soon become the person-centered approach. Although Rogers strayed from the psychological mainstream’s view that therapists drive their clients recovery through such mediums as advice, direction, teaching and interpretation he still believed that the therapist’s role was crucial, and it was their attributes that paved the way to increased awareness and self-directed change.

Person-centered therapy was developed over the course of approximately 40 years by a man named Carl Rogers. Rogers believed a person experienced dysfunction when they are unable to experience themselves as the individual they perceive themselves to be. This is a person-centered case study for Melissa Reed who views her ideal self as a mother and wife. A woman who is now on her fifth marriage and has relational discord with her two daughters struggles with a sense of self-worth. The therapist will attempt to help Melissa progress through therapy at her own pace while working toward congruency between her real self and who she

It is important that the therapist conduct sessions in a way where they are showing themselves in the session without pretense. This allows a growth-promoting climate with the psychoanalysis of the client’s behavior. An important factor for a successful person-centered therapy allows clients the freedom to develop and control their own lives, rather than being tied to their past (Goodwin, 2008). This method also denotes and consists of psychotherapy theory and humanistic therapy where the concentration is on the present rather than the past, and the humanistic analyst tends to underlines awareness instead of being unaware. Both theories share a common method while patients and clients converse their feelings vocally and the therapist provide analyses.

Person-Centered therapy applied in a therapeutic relationship by the therapist being empathetic and allowing the clients to move in their own time on finding their own self-actualization. This allows the client to gain and learn their own independence and integration in the world that they live in. The therapist not leading the client into any direction but being empathic to what they are going through to help the client’s growth process does this. It is not about the therapist having the client do anything or the therapists do anything but to be open and have a good attitude towards the client (Corey, 2013).