Person Centered Therapy, Essay Example

Introduction

It was the American Psychologist Carl Rogers who was responsible for the introduction of Person Centred Therapy in the 1930’s.  This being approach to counselling aimed at increasing the self-esteem and improvement of relationships with other people. The approach received increased popularity in the 1960’s and the study of  mankind.  The approach contrasted with earlier philosophies and particular that of Sigmund Freud – Freud view people as  motivated by violent and sexual behaviour, whereas Rogers Person Centered Therapy viewed humans as being inherently good and motivated by a desire to achieve an individual’s maximum potential.

Person centred therapy treatment

At the core of Rogers, approach to his therapeutic treatment was the attitude of the person conducting the therapy. Whilst skills and training are important, it was really attitude that was paramount in making the therapy work.  He identified three specific attitudes that were instrumental in success and pivotal in making the therapy work i.e. 1) Congruence, 2) Uncontrolled positive regard and 3) Empathy.

Congruence By the definition of congruence Rogers was pointing towards the ability of the therapist to have an open and fair attitude that offered as genuine approach of the ability to empathise with a patients issues without hiding behind a professional image. In this way, the therapists have much more direct contact with the patient and allow all of the emotions to be freely expressed without worry or constraint. It is the important concept of empathy, understanding, listening and learning.

Unconditional Positive Regard This is essentially transparency and equity in the therapeutic procedure. Not to form bias, judgements or pre-conceived ideas of the patient at too early a stage. It is the ability of effective listening and the ability to let people speak without interrupting, making premature judgements or offering advice. This enables the patient to share intimate personal, hostile or difficult situations with the therapist without feeling persecuted or being judged.

Empathy Empathetic understanding is where the therapist approaches the discussion looking at the issues from the client’s point of view. This is applied by demonstrating an appreciation of the clients concerns and understanding of the issues in the therapy sessions. Active listening being an important skill here and maintaining eye to eye contact with the client. Another technique employed is that of reflection, where the therapist repeats or paraphrases a part of the past discussion.  This enables the client to carefully listen to what they have said and digest the meaning and implication of this.  This elaboration can be an important part of obtaining an accurate transcript of the issues or problems being faced.

Rogers feels that the combination of all three approaches provides the client the opportunity of freedom of expression. This saves the therapist the difficulty of verification or validation and even allows for all of the negative experiences to be captured. Owing to the benefit of this nondirective approach,  it allows the client to explore all facets of their issues and problems.  In turn, the reflections allow the client to reconsider what they have stated and permit alternatives to be considered and as such provides for growth and stimulation in the understanding of the issues. The therapist may therefore be described as proving a therapeutic atmosphere of self-actualization in a climate that freely permits interchange of ideas and expressions with in depth self-exploration.

Applying  post centered therapy

Rogers’s early applications were for a clinic for children and therefore focused upon the behavioural conditions of children.  This developed into treatments for broader range of classifications and this included that of the illness of schizophrenia. PCT has additionally been usedin the treatment of a wide range of other illnesses including that of alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and other disorders including that of personality disorders.  The person-centered approach became widely adopted within the framework of family and group therapy procedures. There are no specific guidelines on the treatment timelines for PCT  but on average it looks at around 1 hour sessions per week. However, these are adjusted to the patients needs and these particularly vary in the treatment of children. (Minddisorders.com, 2011).

Anticipated normal results

In general, terms the therapy should see results that include such items as improved self-esteem, greater confidence, self-growth and acceptance. In addition improved decision-making skills and the increased capacity to learn from making mistakes as opposed to plunging into the realm of despair, guilt and insecurity. Generally, people start to retain stability of changes over a period of time and depression and negative tendencies start to erode and fall away.

abnormal results Essentially when the client fails to respond and the positive results, as indicated in the normal results shown above, do not manifest themselves. One factor may be that there is a bad match between the patient and the therapist, hence this should be re-approached with a new therapist. In addition, some clients do not respond well to this approach, become bored with this level of treatment, and respond in a negative manner. It is often worth considering a new approach. (Cain, D.J.  2001).

Conclusion

An important contribution by Carl Rogers that has developed into an important therapeutic approach within the range of psychological treatments.

Works Cited

Cain, D. (2001). Humanistic psychotherapies:Handbook of research and practice. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.

Minddisorders.com. (2011). Person Centered Therapy. Retrieved 8 13, 2011, from Minddisorders.com: http://www.minddisorders.com/ob-Ps/Person-centered-therapy.html