Client centred therapy

• Rogers client centred therapy is an important form of modern day psychotherapy
• It led to the general approach of counselling which is applied in many settings today
• Rogers refer to those in therapy as clients rather than patients as he saw the individual as the expert on their own condition
• Therapy is not directed by the therapist and the client is just encouraged towards the discovery of their own solutions within a therapeutic atmosphere that is warm supportive and non-judgemental
• for Rogers an effective therapist should provide the client with three things: genuineness, empathy and unconditional positive regard
• The aim of Rogerian therapy is to increase the persons feelings of self-worth, reduce the level of incongruence between the self concept and ideal self and help the person become a more fully functioning person
• Rogers work transformed psychotherapy and introduced a variety of counselling techniques
• In the UK and US similar counselling skills are practiced not only in clinical settings but throughout education, health, social work and industry
• Client centred therapy has been praised as a forward-looking and effective approach that focuses on present problems rather than dwelling on the past
• However much like psychoanalysis it is best applied to the treatment of mild psychological conditions such as anxiety and low self-worth
• Unlike Freud he chose to:

  • Focus on the positive aspect of a person
  • increase a client self-worth and to reduce in congruence between South image and the ideal self
• The mapping out of goals and milestones on the clients journey is known as phenomenology and Is a good example of the ideographic approach
• Rogers claim that personal growth is only achieved when both the concept of the self and ideal self are broadly in line with each other and to have congruence with each other
• By using these three techniques therapist can help clients grow psychologically, become more self-aware and change their behaviour via self direction