ROGERS

• Person-centered theory


  • Client-centered refers to Rogers' therapy
  • Person-centered refers to his personality theory
• If-then framework


  If certain conditions exist, then a process will occur; if this process occurs, then certain outcomes can be expected
• If the therapist is congruent and communicates unconditional positive regard and accurate empathy to the client


  • Therapeutic change will occur
  • The client will experience more self-acceptance, greater trust of self, and so on

  
• Formative Tendency


  • A tendency for all matter, both organic and inorganic, to evolve from simpler to more complex forms
  • Tendency for things to move from disorganization to organization
• Actualizing Tendency


  • The tendency within all humans (and other animals and plants) to move toward completion or fulfillment of potentials
  • Tendency toward Self Actualization
  • Actualization involves the whole person- physiological and intellectual, rational and emotional, conscious and unconscious
• "Tendencies to maintain and to enhance the organism are subsumed within the actualizing tendency."
• Maintenance


  • Includes basic needs like food, air and safety; but also the tendency to resist change and to seek the status quo
  • People's desire to protect their current, comfortable self-concept
  • People fight against new ideas; they distort experiences that do not quite fit; they find change painful and growth frightening
• Enhancement


  • The need to become more, to develop, and to achieve growth
  • Strong desire to learn and willingness to change
  • People are willing to face threat and pain because of a biologically tendency for the organism to fulfill its basic nature
• Enhancement needs are expressed in

  • Curiosity
  • Playfulness
  • Self-exploration
  • Friendship
  • Confidence that one can achieve psychological growth
• The actualization tendency is not limited to humans. Other animals and even plants have an inherent tendency to grow toward reaching their genetic potential— provided certain conditions are present.
• Congruence


  The therapist is authentic and genuine
• Unconditional Positive Regard


  The therapist demonstrates unconditional acceptance and caring for the client
• Empathy


  The therapist demonstrates an accurate understanding of the client's internal frame of reference
• Whenever congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy are present in a relationship, psychological growth will invariably occur.
• These 3 conditions are both necessary and sufficient conditions for becoming a fully functioning or self-actualizing person.
• Although people share the actualizing tendency with plants and other animals, only humans have a concept of "self" and thus a potential for self-actualization.
• Self-concept


  • Includes all those aspects of one's being and one's experiences that are perceived in awareness (though not always accurately) by the individual
  • Evaluation of one's own characteristics
  • The Subjective Self

  
• Organismic self


  • The Real Self
  • What one "is"
  • One's Entire Being
• Ideal Self


  • One's view of self as one wishes to be
  • Contains all those attributes, usually positive, that people aspire to possess
• Ignored or Denied


  Experiences that are ignored or denied in awareness
• Accurately symbolized


  Experiences that are both non-threatening and consistent with the existing self-concept
• Perceived in a distorted form


  When our experience is not consistent with our view of self, we reshape or distort the experience so that it can be assimilated into our existing self-concept
• Denial of positive experience


  • Many people have difficulty accepting genuine compliments and positive feedback, even when deserved
  • They maybe distorted because the person distrust the giver, or they may be denied because the recipient does not feel deserving of them
• Positive regard


  • A need to be loved, liked or accepted by another person
  • A prerequisite for positive self-regard
• Positive self-regard


  Experience of prizing or valuing one's self
• Conditions of worth


  People perceive that their parents, peers, or partners love and accept them only if they meet those people's expectations and approval
• Incongruence


  • The INCONGRUENCE between our self concept and our organismic experiences is the source of psychological disorders
  • Vulnerability- when we have no awareness of the incongruence within our self
  • Anxiety and threat- as we gain awareness of such incongruence
• Defensiveness


  • The protection of the self-concept against anxiety and threat by the denial or distortion of experiences inconsistent with it
  • When one of our experiences is inconsistent with one part of our self concept, we will behave in a defensive manner in order to protect the current structure of our self-concept
• Two defenses


  • Distortion- we misinterpret an experience in order to fit in into some aspect of self-concept
  • Denial- we refuse to perceive an experience in awareness, or at least we keep some aspect of it from reaching symbolization
• Disorganization


  • Most people engage in defensive behavior, but sometimes defenses fail and behavior becomes disorganized or psychotic
  • Behavior can become disorganize or even psychotic when one's defenses fail to operate properly