Father of Humanistic
Psychology
Father of Client-
Centered Therapy
One of the most
influential
psychologists of the
20th century.
He believed that
people are
fundamentally
good.
DEFINITION
Client-centered therapy, which is also known as
person-centered or Rogerian therapy, is a
humanistic approach to counseling and
psychotherapy that places much of the
responsibility for the treatment process on the
client, with the therapist taking a nondirective
role.
OBJECTIVE
The primary objective of this therapy is to
resolve the incongruence of the clients to
help them able to accept and be
themselves.
4 Waves of Client-Centered Therapy
Non-directive counseling
Client-centered therapy
Necessary & Sufficient Conditions of
Therapy
Person-centered Therapy
I. Non-directive Counseling
In 1940s, Rogers developed what was known
as non-directive counseling.
It includes any type of counseling in which the
counselor does not offer any direct advice or
direction.
Main Objective: To gain insight into the
feelings expressed by the client.
He emphasized that the therapist create a
permissive and nondirective climate.
II. Client-centered Therapy
During the 1950s, Rogers renamed his
approach to counseling as client-centered
therapy.
He proposed that this therapy could be
simpler, warmer and more optimistic than the
behavioral and psychodynamic therapies
He placed emphasis on the person's current
perception and how we live in the here-and-
now.
"As no one else can know how we perceive,
we are the best experts on ourselves.
Therapist, not doctor. Client, not patient.
Client-centered Therapy
In 1959, the central to Rogers' theory is the
notion of self or self-concept.
It is defined as "the organized, consistent set
of perceptions and beliefs about oneself".
It has three components:
1. The view you have of yourself (self image)
2. How much value you place on yourself (self
esteem or self-worth)
3. What you wish you were really like (ideal self)
The more is the gap between real self and
ideal self, the more will be the maladjustment.
III. Necessary & Sufficient
Conditions of Therapy
In 1961, Rogers identified six key factors that
stimulate growth within an individual. These
are the following:
1. Therapistclient psychological contact: the
relationship between client and therapist exists
2. Client incongruence: that incongruence exists
between the client's experience and awareness, their
being vulnerable and anxious
3. Therapist congruence, or genuineness: the
therapist is congruent within the therapeutic
relationship.
Necessary & Sufficient Conditions
of Therapy
4. Therapist unconditional positive regard (UPR):
the therapist accepts the client unconditionally,
without judgment, disapproval or approval.
5. Therapist empathic understanding: the
therapist experiences an empathic understanding of
the client's internal frame of reference.
6. Client perception: that the client perceives, to at
least a minimal degree, the therapist's UPR and
empathic understanding.
Necessary & Sufficient Conditions
of Therapy
Client-centered therapy operates according
to three basic principles that reflect the
attitude of the therapist to the client:
1. The therapist is congruent with the client.
CONGRUENCE: refers to the therapist's
openness and genuineness to the client.
2. The therapist provides the client with
unconditional positive regard.
Necessary & Sufficient Conditions
of Therapy
UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD: means
that the therapist accepts the client totally for
who he or she is without evaluating or censoring,
and without disapproving of particular feelings,
actions, or characteristics
3. The therapist shows empathetic understanding
to the client.
EMPATHY: showing an emotional understanding
of and sensitivity to the client's feelings
throughout the therapy session.
Necessary & Sufficient Conditions
of Therapy
Rogers believed that a therapist who
embodies these three critical and reflexive
attitudes (the three 'Core Conditions') will
help liberate their client to more confidently
express their true feelings without fear of
judgment.
Rogers was not prescriptive in telling his
clients what to do, but believed that the
answers to the patients' questions were
within the patient and not the therapist.
IV. Person-centered Therapy
In 1980s to 1990s, Rogers' ideas was marked to
many facets of life. Hence, Rogers changed the
name of his approach to person-centered
therapy.
One of its strengths: the development of
innovative and sophisticated methods to
work with an increasingly difficult, diverse,
and complex range of individuals, couples,
families, and groups.
According to Rogers, self-actualization can be
blocked by an unhealthy self-concept (negative
or unrealistic attitudes about oneself).
The psychotherapist should
Listen and try to understand how things are
from the client's point of view.
Check that understanding with the client if
unsure.
Treat the client with the utmost respect and
regard.
Always be "congruent", or "transparent as his
own mandate.
The psychotherapist should
Focus on the quality of the therapeutic
relationship
Serve as a model of a human being struggling
toward greater realness
Be genuine, integrated, and authentic, without
a false front
Openly express feelings and attitudes that are
present in the relationship with the client
APPLICATIONS
Used to treat a broad range of people
People with schizophrenia
Persons suffering from depression, anxiety,
alcohol addictions and disorders, cognitive
dysfunction, eating disorders and personality
disorders
Can be used in individual, group, or family
therapy; with young children, it is frequently
employed as play therapy.
Frequency of Therapy
No strict guidelines
Usually therapists adhere to a one-hour session
once per week
Scheduling may be adjusted according to the
client's expressed needs
Termination usually occurs when he or she
feels able to better cope with life's difficulties
Expected Results
Improved self-esteem
Trust in one's inner feelings and experiences
as valuable sources of information for making
decisions
Increased ability to learn from (rather than
repeating) mistakes
Decreased defensiveness, guilt, and insecurity;
more positive and comfortable relationships
with others
An increased capacity to experience and
express feelings at the moment they occur;
and openness to new experiences and new
ways of thinking about life
CLIENT-CENTERED THERAPY
CLIENT-CENTERED THERAPY
CONCLUSION
Pure client-centered psychotherapy as originally
practiced is rarely used today. But, it opened
the way for a variety of humanistic- oriented
therapies in which focus is the clients present
conscious problems and in which it is assumed
that the client is the primary actor in the
curative process, with the therapist essentially
being the facilitator.
