PERSON-CENTERED THERAPY

1. PERSON-CENTERED THERAPY A REACTION AGAINST THE DIRECTIVE AND PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACHES

2. INTRODUCTION HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

3. PSYCHOANALYSIS BEHAVIORISM THIRD FORCE 1. Existential 2. Person-centered 3. Gestalt 1. Reductionistic 2. Mechanistic/Deterministic VS Holistic VS Teleological/ Phenomenological “Free will”

4. ROGERS BASIC ASSUMPTION You can trust people to solve their own problems or direct their own growth (self-actualizing) if core conditions (genuiness, unconditional positive regard, and empathy) are present in the therapist and the therapeutic relationship. The therapist’s attitudes are more important than knowledge, theory or techniques.

5. CHALLENGES • The assumption that “the counselor knows best” • The validity of advice, suggestion, persuasion, teaching, diagnosis, and interpretation • The belief that clients cannot understand and resolve their own problems without direct help • The focus on problems over persons

6. EMPHASIZES • Therapy as a journey shared by two fallible people • The person’s innate striving for self-actualization • The personal characteristics of the therapist and the quality of the therapeutic relationship • The counselor’s creation of a persmissive, “growth promoting” climate • People are capable of self-directed growth if involved in a therapeutic relationship

7. EXISTENTIAL AND HUMANISM PG. 171 SHARE: 1. RESPECT FOR CLIENT’S SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE 2. TRUST IN THE CLIENT TO MAKE POSITIVE CHOICES 3. AN EMPHASIS ON FREEDOM HUMANISM ADDS: THE IDEA OF AN INNATE SELF ACTUALIZING TENDENCY (DRIVE)

8. KEY CONCEPTS PG. 172 A SENSE OF TRUST IN THE CLIENT’S INNATE ABILITY TO MOVE FORWARD IN THE APPROPRIATE CONDITIONS. THE MORE THE THERAPIST TRUSTS AND COMMUNICATES THEIR REALNESS, CARING AND NONJUDGEMENTAL UNDERSTANDING, THE MORE SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN.

9. So, what don’t person-centered therapists do? DIAGNOSE? INTERPRET? ANALYIZE TRANSFERENCE? GIVE ADVISE?

10. WHAT IS THE CENTRAL VARIABLE RELATED TO PROGRESS IN THE PERSON CENTERED APPROACH?

11. PG. 172 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE THERAPIST AND THE CLIENT. PEOPLE EXPERIENCE GROWTH THROUGH A RELATIONSHIP WITH ANOTHER PERSON WHO IS CARING, UNDERSTANDING, AND REAL.

12. PERSON CENTERED THEORY HOLDS THAT THE THERAPIST’S FUNCTION IS TO BE PRESENT AND ACCESSIBLE TO THE CLIENT AND FOCUS ON THE HERE AND NOW. HOW IS THIS LIKE OBJECT CONSTANCY IN OBJECT RELATION THEORY? [ PG. 176*]

13. THERAPEUTIC GOALS PG. 174 PROMOTION OF THE ACTUALIZING TENDENCY THROUGH ESTABLISHING THE CORE CONDITIONS.

14. ROGERS DESCRIBES PEOPLE WHO ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY ACTUALIZED AS HAVING: • AN OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE • A TRUST IN THEMSELVES • AN INTERNAL SOURCE OF EVALUATION • A WILLINGNESS TO CONTINUE GROWING. • ENCOURAGING THESE CHARACTERISTICS IS THE BASIC GOAL OF PERSON CENTERED THERAPY

15. THERAPIST’S FUNCTION AND ROLE

16. ROLE “A WAY OF BEING” MUCH RESEARCH INDICATES THAT THE ATTITUDES OF THE THERAPISTS, RATHER THAN THEIR KNOWLEDGE, THEORIES, AND TECHNIQUES FACILITATE GROWTH

17. FUNCTION FUNCTION TO ESTABLISH A THERAPEUTIC CLIMATE CONSISTING OF GENUINESS, CARING, RESPECT, ACCEPTANCE, AND UNDERSTANDING THAT PROMOTES THE ACTUALIZING TENDENCY.

18. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THERAPIST AND CLIENT

19. Therapy is a journey taken by therapist and client... • The person-to-person relationship is key • The relationship demands that therapists be in contact with their own phenomenological world

20. The core of the therapeutic relationship…. • Respect, and faith in the clients’ potential to cope • Sharing reactions with genuine concern and empathy

21. SIX CONDITIONSNECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT FOR PERSONALITY CHANGES TO OCCUR • Two persons are in psychological contact • The first, the client, is experiencing incongruency • The second person, the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship • The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard or real caring for the client

22. SIX CONDITIONS, CONT... • The therapist experiences empathy for the client’s internal frame of reference and endeavors to communicate this to the client • The communication to the client is, to a minimal degree, achieved

23. A GROWTH-PROMOTING CLIMATE • Congruence - genuineness or realness • Unconditional positive regard - acceptance and caring, but not approval of all behavior 1) ACCEPTANCE OF THE CLIENT’S RIGHT TO ALL HIS OR HER FEELINGS 2) ACCEPTANCE OF THE CLIENT WITHOUT CONDITIONS • Accurate empathic understanding - an ability to deeply grasp the client’s subjective world • Helper attitudes are more important than knowledge. THIS IS CONVEYED BY ACTIVE LISTENING AND REFLECTION

24. WHICH CORE CONDITION DO YOU BELIEVE TO BE MOST IMPORTANT? ROGERS?

25. EVOLUTION OF PERSON-CENTERED METHODS PG. 179 FROM EARLY REFLECTION OF FEELING TOWARD EMPHASIS ON PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THERAPIST IN RELATIONSHIP TO THE CLIENT

26. THORNE POINTS OUT THAT ROGERS WAS COMMITTED TO “THE TASK OF DEMYSTIFYING THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPS SO THAT THEY COULD BE STUDIED AND EXPERIENCED AS VIBRANT INTERACTIONS BETWEEN REAL HUMAN BEINGS RATHER THAN AS PRIVATE, HERMETIC AND ESSENTIALLY MYSTERIOUS TREATMENT PROCESSES BWTWEEN DISTRESSED PATIENTS AND OMNISCIENT PROFESSIONAL” (PP. 46-47)

27. THE THERAPIST • Focuses on the quality of the therapeutic relationship • Serves as a model of a human being struggling toward greater realness • Is genuine, integrated, and authentic, without a false front • Can openly express feelings and attitudes that are present in the relationship with the client