The document provides an overview of Carl Rogers' person-centered counseling approach. Some key points: - Rogers believed people have potential for self-understanding and resolving problems without direct intervention, and are capable of growth in a therapeutic relationship based on trust, understanding and genuineness. - The counselor's role is to provide an accepting, empathetic environment to facilitate the client's self-healing, rather than impose techniques. This view centered counseling on the client. - Core conditions of person-centered counseling are empathic understanding, unconditional positive regard, and congruence or genuineness on the counselor's part. The approach aims to increase self-worth and bring the client's

1. Rogers
Person Centered
Counseling
Chapter 7

2. Introduction
• The person-centered approach shares many concepts and values with the
existential perspective presented in Chapter 6. Rogers’s basic assumptions are
that people are essentially trustworthy, that they have a vast potential for
understanding themselves and resolving their own problems without direct
intervention on the therapist’s part, and that they are capable of self-directed
growth if they are involved in a specific kind of therapeutic relationship. From the
beginning, Rogers emphasized the attitudes and personal characteristics of the
therapist and the quality of the client–therapist relationship as the prime
determinants of the outcome of the therapeutic process. He consistently
relegated to a secondary position matters such as the therapist’s knowledge of
theory and techniques. This belief in the client’s capacity for self-healing is in
contrast with many theories that view the therapist’s techniques as the most
powerful agents that lead to change (Bohart & Tallman, 2010). Clearly, Rogers
revolutionized the field of psychotherapy by proposing a theory that centered
on the client as the primary agent for constructive self-change (Bohart &
Tallman, 2010; Bozarth, Zimring, & Tausch, 2002; Elkins, 2016).

3. Emotion-Focused Therapy(EFT)
EFT emphasizes the importance of awareness, acceptance, and
understanding the visceral experience of emotion. Greenberg
(2014) believes that our emotions cannot be changed merely by
talking about them, understanding their origins, or by modifying
our beliefs. Clients are encouraged to identify, experience,
accept, express, explore, transform, and manage their
emotions. The act of experiencing feelings and replacing old
feelings with new positive feelings offers a corrective emotional
experience. “One changes emotions by accepting and
experiencing them, by opposing them with different emotions to
transform them, and by reflecting on them to create new
narrative meaning” (p. 18).

4. What is the Person-Centered
Approach?
• The Person-Centered Approach developed from the
work of the psychologist Dr. Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987).
He advanced an approach to psychotherapy and
counseling that, at the time (1940s – 1960s), was
considered extremely radical if not revolutionary.
• His view differs sharply from the psychodynamic and
behavioral approaches in that he suggested that clients
would be better helped if they were encouraged to focus
on their current subjective understanding rather than on
some senseless motive or someone else's interpretation
of the situation.

5. Rogers’s strategies:
• Rogers strongly believed that in order for a client's
condition to improve therapists should be warm, genuine
and understanding.
• Rogers determine that we behave as we do because of
the way we perceive our situation.
• Rogers developed his theory based on his work with
emotionally troubled people and claimed that we have a
remarkable capacity for self-healing and personal growth
leading towards self-actualization.
• Central to Rogers' (1959) theory is the notion of self or
self-concept. This is defined as "the organized,
consistent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself".

6. Person Centered Approach
• One major difference between humanistic counselors and other therapists is
that they refer to those in therapy as 'clients', not 'patients'.
• The client is responsible for improving his or her life, not the therapist.
• Rogers (1951) rejected interpretation was that he believed that, although
symptoms did arise from past experience, it was more useful for the client to
focus on the present and future than on the past.
• Rogers hope to help their clients to achieve personal growth and eventually
to self-actualize.
• Rogers (1959) called his therapeutic approach client-centered or person-
centered therapy because of the focus on the person’s subjective view of the
world.
• Client-centered philosophy was applied to education and was called student-
centered teaching (C. Rogers & Freiberg, 1994). The approach was also
applied to encounter groups (C. Rogers, 1970).

7. Rogers purpose:
• The purpose of Roger’s humanistic
therapy is to increase a person’s feelings
of self-worth,
• reduce the level of incongruence between
the ideal and actual self,
• and help a person become more of a fully
functioning person.
• increased self-esteem and greater
openness to experience.

8. Core Conditions

9. Application:
• Rogers originally developed person-centered therapy in
a children's clinic while he was working there; however,
person-centered therapy was not intended for a specific
age group or subpopulation but has been used to treat a
broad range of people. Rogers worked extensively with
people with schizophrenia later in his career. His therapy
has also been applied to persons suffering from
depression, anxiety, alcohol disorders, cognitive
dysfunction, and personality disorders . Some therapists
argue that person-centered therapy is not effective with
non-verbal or poorly educated individuals; others
maintain that it can be successfully adapted to any type
of person. The person-centered approach can be used in
individual, group, or family therapy . With young children,
it is frequently employed as play therapy .

10. Results:
• The expected results of person-centered therapy include
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;
• increased capacity to experience and express feelings at
the moment they occur;
• and openness to new experiences and new ways of
thinking about life.

11. Ten Tips for Client-Centered
Counsellors
• Set clear boundaries. For example, when and how long
you want the session to last.
• The client knows best. The client is the expert on his/her
own difficulties.
• Act as a sounding board. One useful technique is to
listen carefully to what the client is saying and then try to
explain to him/her what you think he/she is telling you in
your own words.
• Don’t be judgmental. Some clients may feel that their
personal problems mean that they fall short of the ‘ideal’.
• Don’t make decisions for them. Remember advice is a
dangerous gift.

12. also
• Concentrate on what they are really saying. Sometimes
this will not be clear at the outset.
• Be genuine. If you simply present yourself in your official
role the client is unlikely to want to reveal personal
details about themselves.
• Accept negative emotions. Some clients may have
negative feelings about themselves, their family or even
you.
• How you speak can be more important than what you
say. It is possible to convey a great deal through your
tone of voice.
• I may not be the best person to help. Knowing yourself
and your own limitations can be just as important as
understanding the client’s point of view.

13. • Thank you