5 Minutes of Thinking; 10 Minutes of Discussion

1. 5 Minutes of Thinking; 10 Minutes of Discussion Think of the people with whom you�ve had significant helping relationships. To what extent did they exhibit Rogers� Core Conditions? How have you experienced empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard from others?

2. ROGERS BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

3. 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

4. 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 permissive, �growth promoting� climate People are capable of self-directed growth if involved in a therapeutic relationship

5. View of Human Nature Optimistic/Positive Innate actualizing tendency Free will/Choice

6. KEY CONCEPTS

7. Theory of Personality Self Sense or awareness of ourselves and our experience Real Self Who and how we really are All our experiences Ideal Self Internalized ideal of who we think we should be Congruence Degree of agreement or consistency between real and ideal self

8. Conditions of Worth Perception that love and acceptance is contingent on meeting others expectations and standards Positive self-regard is conditional depending on others part of me is OK, but another part is not

9. Problem Development Incongruence Between real and ideal self Experiences are ignored or denied to awareness Environmental/relationship deficits From childhood In current relationships

10. Defensiveness Anxiety and threat are signs that awareness of incongruence is increasing Can be positive and lead to change or Protection of self-concept Two main types Denial � refusal to perceive an experience into awareness (not as common as distortion) Distortion � misinterpret experience, change it to fit with self-concept

11. Mechanisms of Change Trust - intense belief that all humans will move toward positive growth and development if given the chance. People do not need that much instruction or guidance. They know how to solve their problems, but are blocked from accessing those ways. Core Conditions Unconditional Positive Regard Congruence Empathy

12. Unconditional Positive Regard Ability to appreciate and value another person as a human being-> accepting them as is, with no conditions or judgments Based on the inherent dignity and worth of every human being Does not necessarily mean liking or approving ability to get beyond someone�s presentation or attitude in order to help them If you respect and accept someone, you are more likely to be honest with them

13. Congruence Ability to be yourself without presenting a front or fa�ade Communicate �realness� in interacting with others Requires one to be aware of own feelings and reactions and allow self to be spontaneous and honest in their expression Nonverbal bx needs to match your verbal Develops trust - Client knows immediately who you are and what you are about and thus can trust you. Minimizes game playing � Client does not have to work to figure out what you want or what your values are. That�s your job! Builds credibility � you have hard time influencing clients to take risks and make changes if you don�t do it yourself. Develops trust - Client knows immediately who you are and what you are about and thus can trust you. Minimizes game playing � Client does not have to work to figure out what you want or what your values are. That�s your job! Builds credibility � you have hard time influencing clients to take risks and make changes if you don�t do it yourself.

14. Empathy Ability to adopt someone else�s internal frame of reference or perceptions, make them your own, and communicate this back to your client Involves accurately and clearly understanding another�s private world of experience (their feelings and thoughts)

15. Rogers (1961, p. 90) If I am truly open to the way life is experienced by another person-if I can take his world into mine-then I run the risk of seeing life in his way, of being changed myself, and we all resist change. So we tend to view this other person�s world only in our terms, not in his. We analyze and evaluate it. We do not understand it. But when someone understands how it feels and seems to be me, without wanting to analyze or judge me, then I can blossom and grow in that climate.

16. So, what don�t person-centered therapists do?

17. Therapeutic Goals 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

18. THERAPIST�S FUNCTION AND ROLE Provide core conditions Be collaborative and egalitarian Go on a �shared journey� of discovery and change Focus on the phenomenological world of client

19. 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

20. 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

21. Techniques Therapist as change agent Facilitative listening skills Paraphrasing Feeling Reflections Accurate Empathy Open Questions Process Comments Self-involving Responses

22. Rogers with Gloria As you watch, look for the following: How does Rogers use the Core Conditions? Unconditional Positive Regard Congruence Empathy Identify Gloria�s incongruence How would you like Person-centered counseling?