Person-Centered Therapy

Person-centered therapy (PCT), which is also known as client-centered, non-directive, or Rogerian therapy, is an approach to counseling and psychotherapy that places much of the responsibility for the treatment process on the client, with the therapist taking a non directive role. Two primary goals of PCT are increased self-esteem and greater openness to experience. Some of the related changes that this form of therapy seeks to foster in clients include closer agreement between the client’s idealized and actual selves; better self-understanding; lower levels of defensiveness, guilt and insecurity; more positive and comfortable relationships with others; and an increased capacity to experience and express feelings at the moment they occur.

Rogers(1977) describes therapy as a process of freeing a person and removing obstacles so that normal growth and development can proceed and the client can become independent and self-directed. During the course of therapy, the client moves from rigidly of self-perception to fluidity. Certain conditions are necessary for this process. A “growth promoting climate” requires the therapist to be congruent, have unconditional positive regard for the client as well as show empathic understanding (Rogers, 1961). Congruence on the part of the therapist refers to his or her ability to be completely genuine whatever the self of the moment. While it is necessary during therapy he or she is not expected to be a completely congruent person all the time, as such perfection is impossible (Rogers, 1959). Empathy refers to understanding the client’s feelings and personal meanings as they are experienced and communicating this back to the person. While unconditional positive regard encourages the therapist to treat the client as worthy and capable, even when the client does not act or feel that way. The therapist needs to treat the client not as a scientist to an object of study, but as a person to a person. He feels this client to be a person of self-worth; of value no matter what his condition, his behavior or his feelings. He respects him for what he is, and accepts him as he is, with his potentialities (Rogers, 1965, p.22)

Rogers’ strong belief in the positive nature of human brings is based on his many years of clinical experience, working with a wide variety of individuals (1961, 1965, 1977). The theory of PCT suggests any client, no matter what the problem, can improve without bring taught anything specific by the therapist, once he or she accepts and respects themselves (Shaffer, 1978). The resources all lie within the client. While this may be so, this type of therapy may not be effective for server psychopathologies such as schizophrenia or other disorders such as phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder or even depression. In one meta-analysis of psychotherapy effectiveness that looked at four hundred studies, PCT was found the least effective. In fact, it was no more effective than the placebo condition (Class 1983; cited in Krebs & Blackman, 1988).

Rogers is reputed to have been a very gifted clinician. However, it is difficult to know whether the therapists that follow his model (or use some of the techniques) are truly practicing Rogerian therapy as it was intended. The concepts of congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard allow too much room for interpretation, although Rogers likely possessed these qualities. To Rogers credit, he took the revolutionary step of recording his sessions and opened up the previously private domain of therapy for empirical study and assessment (Ryckmann, 1993) that few can match his stature is not due to lack of sharing techniques. Rogers (1959) himself noted that every theory, including his own, contains "an unknown (and perhaps at that time unknowable) amount of error and mistaken inference" (p.190). His belief was that a theory should serve as a stimulus to further creative thinking. I believe he has succeeded in this intention. This theory has very strong heuristic value and continues to generate debate and interest (Krebs & Blackman, 1988; Ryckmann, 1993). The theory further focuses on the whole individual as he/she experiences the world. Agency and free will are not undermined in this model. It gives considerable attention to the concept of self and the suggestion that we can all overcome damages inflicted in childhood is very appealing. Full functioning is not the exclusive domain of a very lucky few. It is, at least theoretically, attainable for many. Rogers does not assume women are inferior to men and his "sexist" language was corrected in his later writings. Another strength is that Rogerian theory is grounded in the study of persons, leading to its strong applied value in many areas of life. The main problems with this theory of personality are related to the lack of precision and specificity regarding some of the terms and concepts. Krebs & Blackman (1988) also rate the logical consistency as only "fair", maintaining that some connections are not completely clear. While this theory has become increasingly comprehensive over time, a major weakness is that it does not sufficiently address stages of development (Krebs & Blackman, 1988; Maddi, 1996). Due to his emphasis on conscious experience, Rogers has also been criticized for a lack of attention to the unconscious (Hall & Lindzey, 1985; Nietzel, Benstein, Milich, 1994). This criticism is not entirely justified.