Carl rogers self theory of personality ppt

Person-Centered Theory and Therapy

Chapter Five

Welcome

This week we’re focusing on person-centered theory and therapy (PCT).
This approach was developed by Carl Rogers.
The approach is deeply optimistic and guided by principles of trusting clients and an actualizing or formative tendency.
Biographical Information: Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers’s development as a person was characterized by the following (and more) events:
He rejected his parents’ conservative religious ideology.
He decided to marry his childhood sweetheart.
He decided to pursue graduate studies at the liberal Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
He studied clinical psychology at Columbia University.
Historical Context

Rogers adopted the following principles from Otto Rank:
Clients have creative powers.
Therapy should help clients accept their personal uniqueness and self-reliance.
The client is the central figure in the therapy process; the therapist only helps clients access their powers of self-creation.
Therapists shouldn’t seek to educate clients.
Therapists shouldn’t foster dependency with clients by becoming love objects.
Therapy works when clients are able to experience the present within the therapy setting (Raskin & Rogers, 1989).
Historical Context II

Rogers was also influenced by:
Elizabeth Davis
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
John Dewey
His relationship with his wife
His clients
Historical Context III

Honoring the Client
Rogers credited his clients as the greatest source of his development.
Natalie Rogers stated: “And so like Carl, I stayed open to learning from my clients. They are always our best teachers.” (J. Sommers-Flanagan, 2007, p. 122)
Historical Context IV

Struggles with Psychiatry and Psychology
Rogers had a blistering battle with psychiatry to obtain for psychologists the right to practice psychotherapy.
Rogers also felt like a respected gadfly within the psychology discipline.
Historical Context V

The Evolution of Person-Centered Therapy
Nondirective counseling
Cleint-centered therapy
Becoming a person
Worldwide issues
Theoretical Principles

Theory of Personality
Self theory
Phenomenology and the valuing of experience
Learning and growth potential
Conditions of worth
In sum, it emphasizes several concepts. It is the theory of self, experience, striving for maintenance and enhancement of the self, and learned needs of positive regard.
Theoretical Principles II

Theory of Psychopathology
Psychopathology can be a discrepancy between the real self and the ideal self.
It is also thought of as the failure to learn from experience.
Theoretical Principles III

Theory of Psychotherapy
It is related to Rogers’s theory of personality. For constructive personality change, it is necessary for the following core conditions to exist:
Two persons are in psychological contact.
The client is in a state of incongruence.
The therapist is congruent or integrated in the relationship.
The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard.
The therapist experiences an empathic understanding.
Communication of unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding is at least minimally achieved.
Theoretical Principles IV

Congruence
Authenticity or transparency
For example:
“The more that I can be genuine in the relationship the more helpful it will be.” (Rogers, 1961, p. 33)

How would you describe congruence?
Theoretical Principles V

Unconditional Positive Regard
Acceptance, respect, or prizing
Valuing a client as a separate person
“I find that the more acceptance and liking I feel toward this individual, the more I will be creating a relationship which he can use.” (Rogers, 1961, p. 34)

How would you describe unconditional positive regard?
Theoretical Principles VI

Accurate Empathy or Empathic Understanding
Noticing your clients’ feelings and feeling with them
“The most powerful thing from the client’s point of view is to be deeply heard.” (Natalie Rogers from Carlson, 2000)

How would you describe accurate empathy?
The Magic of Person-Centered Listening
The Practice of PCT:
A Way of Being With Clients

Two Types of Person-Centered Therapists
Classical
This group continues to uphold the position that the six core conditions articulated by Rogers in 1957 are both necessary and sufficient.
Contemporary
This group believes in person-centered principles, but feels free to be more active and directive and to blend PCT with other approaches.
The Practice of PCT:
A Way of Being With Clients II

Assessment Issues and Procedures
Classical person-centered therapists don’t employ standardized assessment or diagnostic procedures.
Contemporary person-centered approaches sometimes employ assessment procedures (e.g., emotion-focused therapy).
The Practice of PCT:
A Way of Being With Clients III

The Therapist’s Opening Statement
The main point is to convey to clients that they can take the lead in determining what to talk about.
Example: “Anything you’d like to tell me about yourself that will help me to know you better, I’d be very glad to hear.” (Rogers, 1963)
The Practice of PCT:
A Way of Being With Clients IV

Experiencing and Expressing Congruence
This can be tricky.
How do you think therapists should experience and express congruence?
The Practice of PCT:
A Way of Being With Clients V

Experiencing and Expressing Unconditional Positive Regard
This is also tricky.
It involves accepting clients as they are and avoiding judgments.
Is this possible?
How do you think you could experience and express unconditional positive regard?
The Practice of PCT:
A Way of Being With Clients VI

Experiencing and Expressing Empathic Understanding
Entering and becoming at home in the client’s personal perceptual world.
Being sensitive from moment to moment with the client’s changing meanings and emotions.
Temporarily living, and moving about delicately, in the client’s life.
Sensing deep meanings, but not uncovering feelings that are too far out of awareness.
The Practice of PCT:
A Way of Being With Clients VII

PCT has been integrated with other therapies. These include:
Motivational interviewing
Emotion-focused therapy
Nondirective play therapy
The Practice of PCT:
A Way of Being With Clients VIII

Motivational Interviewing (MI): A Contemporary PCT Approach

MI builds on person-centered principles by adding more focused theraputic targets and specific client goals.
Moving Away from Confrontation and Education
The Practice of PCT:
A Way of Being With Clients IX

Focusing on Client Ambivalence (primary target of MI)
Use reflective listening
Notice and develop the theme of discrepancy
Resistance with reflection
Self-efficacy
Cultural and Gender Considerations

Empowering of all persons, including women.
Designed to address the needs and interests of unique clients.
Too indirect for some cultures, but actually could be too direct (focusing on self and emotions) in other cases.
Evidence-Based Status

Rogers was the first to record his sessions.
He conducted some ambitions outcomes research.
‘‘The efficacy of client centered psychotherapy for the client rests on 50 years of outcome and process research’’ and ‘‘Few therapies have such a long, storied, and successful research base.’’ (Lambert & Erekson, 2008, p. 225)
Of all the factors that therapists bring to the therapeutic endeavor, client ratings of their therapist’s empathy are the strongest predictor of positive treatment outcomes (Bohart, Elliott, Greenberg, & Watson, 2002).
Evidence-Based Status II

Recent research on the effectiveness of PCT has yielded small, but positive results.
PCT is consistently more effective than no treatment.
It is more effective than placebo treatment.
It is less effective than structured cognitive and behavioral treatments.
Concluding Comments

It may be that at least in some cases, the person of the therapist and the attitudes the therapist holds are more important than specific problems or techniques.