case study using person centered therapy

Person-Centered Therapy Case Study: Examples and Analysis

Introduction

Welcome to The Knowledge Nest's in-depth exploration of person-centered therapy case study examples and analysis. We aim to provide you with comprehensive insights into the therapeutic approach, techniques, and outcomes associated with person-centered counseling. Through real-life case scenarios, we demonstrate the effectiveness of this humanistic and client-centered approach in fostering personal growth and facilitating positive change.

Understanding Person-Centered Therapy

Person-centered therapy, also known as client-centered therapy or Rogerian therapy, is a compassionate and empathetic therapeutic approach developed by the influential psychologist Carl Rogers. This person-centered approach recognizes the profound significance of the therapeutic relationship, placing the individual at the center of the therapeutic process.

Unlike traditional approaches that impose solutions or interpretations on clients, person-centered therapy emphasizes the innate human capacity to move towards growth and self-actualization. By providing a supportive and non-judgmental environment, therapists aim to enhance clients' self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-discovery. This holistic approach has proven to be particularly effective in addressing a wide range of mental health concerns, empowering individuals to overcome challenges and achieve personal well-being.

Case Study Examples

Case study 1: overcoming social anxiety.

In this case study, we explore how person-centered therapy helped Sarah, a young woman struggling with severe social anxiety, regain her confidence and navigate social interactions. Through the establishment of a strong therapeutic alliance, her therapist cultivated a safe space for Sarah to explore her fears, challenge negative self-perceptions, and develop effective coping strategies. Through the person-centered approach, Sarah experienced significant improvements, enabling her to participate more actively in social situations and regain a sense of belonging.

Case Study 2: Healing from Trauma

John, a military veteran suffering from PTSD, found solace and healing through person-centered therapy. This case study delves into the profound transformation John experienced as he worked collaboratively with his therapist to process unresolved trauma. By providing unconditional positive regard, empathetic listening, and genuine empathy, the therapist created an environment where John felt safe to explore his traumatic experiences. With time, he was able to develop healthier coping mechanisms, embrace self-compassion, and rebuild a sense of purpose.

Case Study 3: Enhancing Self-Esteem

In this case study, we examine Lisa's journey towards building self-esteem and self-worth. Through person-centered therapy, her therapist empowered Lisa to identify and challenge deeply ingrained negative self-beliefs that inhibited her personal growth. By offering non-directive support, active listening, and reflective feedback, the therapist enabled Lisa to develop a more positive self-concept, fostering increased self-esteem, and self-empowerment.

Analysis of Person-Centered Therapy

The therapeutic relationship.

Person-centered therapy places profound importance on the therapeutic relationship as the foundation for positive change. The therapist cultivates an atmosphere of trust, respect, and authenticity, enabling the individual to feel heard and valued. By providing unconditional positive regard, therapists create a non-judgmental space where clients can freely explore their thoughts, emotions, and experiences.

Client-Centered Approach

The client-centered approach encourages individuals to take an active role in their therapeutic journey. The therapist acts as a facilitator, guiding clients towards self-discovery and personal growth. By allowing clients to set the agenda and directing the focus of sessions, the person-centered approach acknowledges the unique needs and perspectives of each individual.

Empowering Self-Awareness and Growth

Person-centered therapy seeks to unlock individuals' innate capacity for self-awareness and personal growth. Through empathic understanding, therapists support clients in gaining insight into their emotions, thoughts, and needs. This heightened self-awareness helps individuals develop healthier coping mechanisms, make meaningful choices, and move towards a more fulfilling life.

Person-centered therapy, as exemplified through the case studies presented, offers a powerful and transformative path towards holistic well-being and personal growth. The Knowledge Nest is committed to providing a platform for sharing knowledge, experiences, and resources related to person-centered counseling. Together, we strive to facilitate positive change, empower individuals, and create a more compassionate and understanding society.

Explore more case studies and resources on person-centered therapy at The Knowledge Nest to discover the profound impact of this therapeutic approach.

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Person-Centered Therapy Case Study: Examples and Analysis

By: Tasha Kolesnikova

Person-centered therapy, also known as client-centered therapy or Rogerian therapy, is a form of psychotherapy developed by prominent American psychologist Carl Rogers throughout the 1940s to the 1980s. This type of therapy is a humanistic approach and was seen as revolutionary as most psychotherapies before its emergence was based on behaviorist and psychodynamic approaches. The humanistic approach directly contradicts and contrasts core techniques and models of other approaches that were commonly used at the time.

What Is Person-Centered Therapy?

5 characteristics of the fully functioning person, causes of incongruence, person-centered therapy in practice, person-centered case study, person-centered treatment plan.

Nowadays, the fundamental modalities of person-centered therapy are widely used in modern counseling practices in combination with other techniques and therapies. Rogers is often considered the father of all humanistic schools of therapy, as many new therapies have since stemmed from his work.

Students can use this article as a resource to help them with an academic essay about person-centered therapy.

Person-centered therapy focuses on facilitating self-actualization . The therapy is built upon the fundamental ideology that human beings have an innate desire and ability to be the best they can be and live happy, fulfilling lives. An individual must set their own goals, and proceed to approach them in their own way. Once these goals have been met, self-actualization is also achieved and, as a result, they will become a fully functioning person .

It also promotes the notion that all individuals have the ability to cope with their problems and possess the potential for change. These abilities are unique to each individual, and therefore, everyone has the power to formulate appropriate solutions to help themselves navigate and manage their lives.

Positive growth can be achieved when an individual has positive regard for themselves and from others. Once optimal levels are reached, the individual will become fully functioning. Under this self-concept, it is believed that every individual has:

the capacity for self-awareness
the need for meaning in their life
the need for balancing freedom and responsibility

The key part of the person-centered approach is to assist individuals in self-discovery and self-acceptance by providing sufficient conditions that help resolve incongruence between themselves and their experiences.

According to Rogers, a fully functioning person has the following five characteristics:

They are open to new experiences , both positive and negative. They accept that life can sometimes be painful, but they have healthy abilities to cope and learn from them.
They are mindful and focus on present experiences without preconceptions from previous experiences. They do not dwell on the past or obsess about the future.
They are aware of and attentive to facts , feelings, and gut reactions . Unity of all three allows them to be true to themselves and thus have the confidence to make the right decisions. If the wrong choice is made, they will be able to accept it and learn from it.
They are willing to take risks and be adaptive . They will seize healthy and appropriate opportunities for growth.
They have a sense of contentment and a desire for new challenges and experiences.

Each of these characteristics is achieved through congruence of the self.

An individual tends to struggle with becoming a fully functional person, mostly due to incongruence. Incongruence is usually caused by encountering conditional worth or conditional love at some point, often during childhood.

If love and worth are dependent on meeting specific expectations and withdrawn when these expectations were not met, the individual will suffer from anxiety. This anxiety leads to a feeling of the unified self-being under attack. To relieve this anxiety, the individual will engage in detrimental methods such as denial and defensiveness.

Another cause is frustrated basic impulses that lead to negative feelings and poor social skills.

Individuals receiving person-centered therapy are referred to as clients rather than patients. This is in line with the overall concept that therapy is a shared journey between two people rather than the therapist or counselor treating or giving the advice to solve problems. The client is regarded as the expert of themselves and has all the answers to their own problems required within them.

Sufficient core conditions required for therapeutic change under person-centered therapy are outlined as follows:

Psychological contact - a mutually respectful relationship between the counselor and patient must exist, where both parties feel equally important.
Client incongruence – the client must experience distress caused by incongruence between their experiences and awareness. They are vulnerable and or anxious.
Therapist congruence or genuineness – sometimes referred to as being authentic. The therapist must be aware of their active participation and be deeply involved, becoming congruent with the therapeutic relationship.
Therapist unconditional positive regard – the therapist or counselor must have a non-judgmental stance, so the counselor does not impose any conditions of worth.
Therapist empathy – the therapist or counselor must effectively and accurately communicate their empathic understanding of the client's frame of reference. Presenting problems from another perspective can also help the client gain a new point of view to solving them.
Client perception – the client must perceive and appreciate this empathy and acceptance from their therapist or counselor and develop positive self-regard to a minimal degree.

It is interesting to note that Rogers viewed both approval and disapproval shown towards an individual to be disruptive to therapeutic change. The role of the therapist is to provide a caring and accepting environment conducive to giving clients the freedom to explore areas of their lives in ways they were previously denied or distorted.

Unlike other therapies, Person-centered therapy does not have many set techniques. This Is because therapy sessions are largely directed by the individual. The counselor's or therapist's job is to create a safe environment that facilitates congruence and form a therapeutic alliance with the individual.

Because of this, a defining technique used during person-centered therapy is non-directiveness . This is achieved by:

giving no advice
asking no questions
giving no interpretations
allowing clients to set their own goals

Another technique used during therapy sessions is active listening . This is achieved by:

paraphrasing
summarizing

It was theorized that the client will initially be closed, not open to experiences, and have little to no self-awareness. But once therapy is completed, all these obstacles will be addressed and reversed due to gaining positive self-regard.

There are many advantages in the techniques used during person-centered therapy. However, some concerns have also been raised about the approach:

Non-directiveness - idea of non-directiveness has been largely debated. Some have argued that therapy by nature will always be directed in some capacity. Furthermore, bias can never be completely eliminated. Therefore, unconscious or unintentional bias can cause direction.
Inefficient – person-centered therapy can take an unnecessarily long time due to the lack of structure and non-directiveness. For fear of intervening with progress, therapists may deliberately withhold solutions or advice from a client, and it may take longer than necessary to reach that solution, if at all.
Frustration – being non-direct can understandably cause frustration in some clients who may be seeking advice or opinions.
Disorder specific – Rogers originally claimed that Person-centered therapy could treat all mental health disorders, but research has shown this is not the case.

Jane's phenomenological worldview causes her to be incongruent with her true self and what she believed is expected of her. Expectations imposed upon her are unrealistically high, and fear of not meeting those standards has caused her incongruent distress. Subsequently, this has created a condition for her self-worth.

These expectations are a direct result of traumatic stress stemming from culture, religion, and loved ones. In her phenomenological world, she will never be good enough as a daughter, mother, wife, Catholic, or accountant. She feels she constantly lets everyone down and can never gain approval from those whose opinions she cares about.

Trying harder to please and meet everyone's expectations takes her further away from wholeness and true self-worth. She has lost confidence in her ability to make good decisions and constantly seeks outside direction on how she should act. This low self-esteem will hinder any feelings of success and satisfaction.

She is aware that how she handles situations as it stands is not working but fails to see the situation from another perspective or figure out new solutions.

This is a classic example of a client that may benefit from person-centered therapy. We can understand that although Jane feels these pressures of meeting rejection and disapproval, she still has the potential for self-actualization.

This is evidenced by her independent decisions of marrying a spouse outside her religion and studying accountancy against her family's wishes. The act of seeking therapy confirms her desire for growth and change for a better life.

Jane has risen above adversity on multiple occasions in life. She has achieved academically, personally, and professionally but the lack of caring relationships has distorted her ability to recognize and accept her success and potential. This has deterred her from achieving higher levels of self-actualization. Jane must take new risks to attain the growth she seeks.

For treatment to be effective, the core conditions must be met. The formulation was as follows:

Undertaking person-centered therapy, the therapist will provide an optimal therapeutic environment where her actualizing tendencies can flourish.
Through active listening and empathy, the therapist and Jane will build a trusting therapeutic alliance and further clarify her thoughts and feelings. Being able to work out problems and breaking them down, Jane will no longer view them as insurmountable as she did before.
Unconditional positive regard will install confidence in Jane as a competent person capable of making decisions and problem solving on her own. By increasing trust in herself, she reduces the control others have over her and will begin to believe in her own self-worth.
Consistency and genuine rapport between Jane and the counselor will allow her to feel that the ideas and actions developed during sessions are authentic, dependable, and can be replicated outside in the real world.
Jane's newfound view of the world will lead to her trying out new approaches to problems. She will continue to report back on her progress in integrating these new approaches. She will eventually come to recognize that she is capable of independently achieving success and overcoming failure.
Jane will continue these practices until she has reached self-actualization and becomes a fully functional person.

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10 Person-Centered Therapy Techniques & Interventions [+PDF]

Client-Centered Therapy + Carl Rogers' #1 Person-Centered Technique

This term seems redundant now, but when it was first developed, it was a novel idea.

Before the humanistic therapies were introduced in the 1950s, the only real forms of therapy available were behavioral or psychodynamic (McLeod, 2015). These approaches focused on the subconscious or unconscious experience of clients rather than what is “on the surface.”

Many of today’s popular forms of therapy are more client-centered than the psychotherapy of the early 20th century, but there is still a specific form of therapy that is set apart from others due to its focus on the client and aversion to giving the client any type of direction.

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

So, how does this Lao Tzu quote apply to client-centered therapy? Read on to learn about how knowing one’s self and others is key to the person-centered approach.

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This Article Contains:

What is client-centered therapy a definition, carl rogers: the founder of client-centered therapy, goals of client-centered therapy, how does it work the person-centered perspective, client-centered therapy method and techniques, a take-home message.

Client-Centered Therapy, also known as Client-Centered Counseling or Person-Centered Therapy, was developed in the 1940s and 50s as a response to the less personal, more “clinical” therapy that dominated the field.

It is a non-directive form of talk therapy, meaning that it allows the client to lead the conversation and does not attempt to steer the client in any way. This approach rests on one vital quality: unconditional positive regard . This means that the therapist refrains from judging the client for any reason, providing a source of complete acceptance and support (Cherry, 2017).

There are three key qualities that make for a good client-centered therapist:

Unconditional Positive Regard : As mentioned above, unconditional positive regard is an important practice for the client-centered therapist. The therapist needs to accept the client for who they are and provide support and care no matter what they are going through.
Genuineness: A client-centered therapist needs to feel comfortable sharing his or her feelings with the client. Not only will this contribute to a healthy and open relationship between the therapist and client, but it also provides the client with a model of good communication and shows the client that it’s okay to be vulnerable.
Empathetic Understanding : The client-centered therapist must extend empathy to the client, both to form a positive therapeutic relationship and to act as a sort of mirror, reflecting the client’s thoughts and feelings back to them; this will allow the client to better understand themselves.

Another notable characteristic of person- or client-centered therapy is the use of the term “client” rather than “patient.” Therapists who practice this type of approach see the client and therapist as a team of equal partners rather than an expert and a patient (McLeod, 2015).

Carl Rogers is considered the founder of client-centered therapy, and the godfather of what are now known as “humanistic” therapies, While many psychologists contributed to the movement, Carl Rogers spearheaded the evolution of therapy with his unique approach.

If his approach were to be summed up in a quote, this quote would be a good choice:

“Experience is, for me, the highest authority. The touchstone of validity is my own experience. No other person’s ideas, and none of my own ideas, are as authoritative as my experience. It is to experience that I must return again and again, to discover a closer approximation to truth as it is in the process of becoming in me.”

Carl Rogers

The individual experience of the client is paramount in client-centered therapy.

The Rogerian Approach to Psychotherapy

Rogers’ approach to therapy was a simpler one than the earlier approaches in some ways. Instead of requiring a therapist to dig deep into their patients’ unconscious mind, an inherently subjective process littered with room for error, he based his approach on the idea that perhaps the client’s conscious mind was a better focus.

In Rogers’ own words:

“It is the client who knows what hurts, what directions to go, what problems are crucial, what experiences have been deeply buried. It began to occur to me that unless I had a need to demonstrate my own cleverness and learning, I would do better to rely upon the client for the direction of movement in the process.”

This approach marked a significant shift from the distant, hierarchical relationship between psychiatrist and patient of psychoanalysis and other early forms of therapy. No longer was the standard model of therapy one expert and one layman – now, the model included one expert in the theories and techniques of therapy , and one expert in the experience of the client (the client themselves!).

Rogers believed that every individual was unique and that a one-size-fits-all process would not, in fact, fit all (Kensit, 2000). Instead of considering the client’s own thoughts, wishes, and beliefs as secondary to the therapeutic process, Rogers saw the client’s own experience as the most vital factor in the process.

Most of our current forms of therapy are based on this idea that we take for granted today: the client is a partner in the therapeutic relationship rather than a helpless patient, and their experiences hold the key to personal growth and development as a unique individual.

In addition to this client-focused approach, Rogerian psychotherapy is also distinct from some other therapies in its assumption that every person can benefit from client-centered therapy and transform from a “potentially competent individual” to a fully competent one (McLeod, 2015).

Rogers’ approach views people as fully autonomous individuals who are capable of putting in the effort required to realize their full potential and bring about positive changes in their lives.

client centered therapy carl rogers personal growth

“In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?”

Like many current forms of therapy (like narrative therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy , for example), the goals of client-centered therapy depend on the client. Depending on who you ask, who the therapist is, and who the client is, you will likely get a range of different answers – and none of them are wrong!

However, there are a few overarching goals that the humanistic therapies focus on, in general.

These general goals are to (Buhler, 1971):

Facilitate personal growth and development
Eliminate or mitigate feelings of distress
Increase self-esteem and openness to experience
Enhance the client’s understanding of him- or herself

As it is, these goals span an extremely broad range of sub-goals or objectives, but it is also common for the client to come up with his or her own goals for therapy. Client-centered therapy posits that the therapist cannot set effective goals for the client, due to his or her lack of knowledge of the client. Only the client has enough knowledge of themselves to set effective and desirable goals for therapy.

Other commonly gained benefits include:

Greater agreement between the client’s idea and actual selves
Better understanding and awareness
Decreased defensiveness, insecurity, and guilt
Greater trust in oneself
Healthier relationships
Improvement in self-expression
Improved mental health overall (Noel, 2018)

Carl Rogers on Person-Centered Therapy video

“When functioning best, the therapist is so much inside the private world of the other that he or she can clarify not only the meanings of which the client is aware but even those just below the level of awareness.”

The quote from Carl Rogers above highlights an important point: the success of this form of therapy rests on the extremely important connection between the client and therapist. If this relationship is not marked by trust, authenticity, and mutual positive feelings, it is unlikely to produce any benefits for either party.

Rogers identified six conditions that are required for success in client-centered therapy:

The client and counselor are in psychological contact (a relationship).
The client is emotionally upset, in a state of incongruence.
The counselor is genuine and aware of their own feelings.
The counselor has unconditional positive regard for the client.
The counselor has an empathic understanding of the client and their internal frame of reference and looks to communicate this experience with the client.
The client recognizes that the counselor has unconditional positive regard for them and an understanding of the difficulties they are facing (Noel, 2018).

When these six conditions are met, there is great potential for positive change.

The way client-centered therapy works is a natural extension of these conditions: the therapist and client discuss the client’s current problems and issues, the therapist practices active listening and empathizes with the client, and the client decides for themselves what is wrong and what can be done to correct it (McLeod, 2015).

It is clear from Rogers’ works that he placed a great deal of value on the firsthand experience of the client, and much less in the “cleverness and learning” or technical expertise of therapists – including himself!

client centered therapy method active listening

“We think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real understanding, true empathy. Yet [active] listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for change that I know.”

The only technique recognized as effective and applied in client-centered therapy is to listen nonjudgmentally. That’s it!

In fact, many client-centered therapists and psychologists view a therapist’s reliance on “techniques” as a barrier to effective therapy rather than a boon. The Rogerian standpoint is that the use of techniques can have a depersonalizing effect on the therapeutic relationship (McLeod, 2015).

In the words of Carl Rogers:

“When you are in psychological distress and someone really hears you without passing judgement on you, without trying to take responsibility for you, without trying to mold you, it feels damn good!”

While active listening is one of the only and most vital practices in client-centered therapy, there are many tips and suggestions for client-centered therapists to facilitate successful therapy sessions. In context, these tips and suggestions can be considered client-centered therapy’s “techniques.”

Saul McLeod (2015) outlines 10 of these “techniques” for Simply Psychology:

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1. Set clear boundaries

Boundaries are vital for any relationship, but they are especially important for therapeutic relationships. Both the therapist and the client need healthy boundaries to avoid the relationship becoming inappropriate or ineffective, such as ruling out certain topics of discussion.

There are also more practical boundaries that must be set, for example, how long the session will last.

2. Remember – the client knows best

As mentioned earlier, this therapy is founded on the idea that clients know themselves, and are the best sources of knowledge and insight about their problems and potential solutions. Do not lead the client or tell them what is wrong, instead let them tell you what is wrong.

3. Act as a sounding board

Active listening is key, but it’s also useful to reflect what the client is saying back to them. Try to put what they are telling you into your own words. This can help the client clarify their own thoughts and understand their feelings better.

4. Don’t be judgmental

Another vital component of client-centered therapy is to refrain from judgment. Clients are often already struggling with feelings of guilt, low self-worth, and the belief that they are simply not good enough. Let them know you accept them for who they are and that you will not reject them.

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5. Don’t make decisions for your clients

Giving advice can be useful, but it can also be risky. In client-centered therapy, it is not seen as helpful or appropriate to give advice to clients. Only the client should be able to make decisions for themselves, and they have full responsibility in that respect.

The therapist’s job is to help clients explore the outcomes of their decisions rather than guide them to any particular decisions.

6. Concentrate on what they are really saying

This is where active listening can be put to use. Sometimes a client will feel uncomfortable opening up at first, or they will have trouble seeing something just below the surface. In these situations, be sure to listen carefully and keep an open mind – the problem they come in with may not be the real problem.

7. Be genuine

As mentioned earlier, the client-centered therapy must be genuine. If the client does not feel their therapist is authentic and genuine, the client will not trust you. In order for the client to share personal details about their own thoughts and feelings, they must feel safe and comfortable with you.

Present yourself as you really are, and share both facts and feelings with the client. Of course, you don’t have to share anything you don’t feel comfortable sharing, but appropriate sharing can help build a healthy therapeutic relationship.

8. Accept negative emotions

This is an important technique for any therapist. To help the client work through their issues and heal, it is vital to let them express their emotions – whether positive or negative. The client may even express anger, disappointment, or irritation with you at one point or another.

Learn to accept their negative emotions and practice not taking it personally. They may need to wrestle with some difficult emotions, and as long as they are not abusing you, it is beneficial to just help them through it.

9. How you speak can be more important than what you say

Your tone of voice can have a huge impact on what the client hears, understands, and applies. Make sure your tone is measured, and make sure it matches your non-judgmental and empathetic approach.

You can also use your voice to highlight opportunities for clients to think, reflect, and improve their understanding; for example, you can use your tone to slow down the conversation at key points, allowing the client to think about where the discussion has led and where s/he would like it to go next.

10. I may not be the best person to help

It is vital that you know yourself as a therapist and are able to recognize your own limits. No therapist is perfect, and no mental health professional can give every single client exactly what they need.

Remember, there is no shame in recognizing that the scope of a specific problem or the type of personality you are working with is out of your wheelhouse. In those cases, don’t beat yourself up about it – just be honest and provide any resources you can to help further the client’s healing and development.

This PDF from the Australian Institute of Professional Counselors also lists some useful techniques for client-centered therapy. Some of them overlap with previously mentioned techniques, but all are helpful!

These techniques include:

Congruence : This technique involves therapists being genuine and authentic, and ensuring that their facial expressions and body language match their words.
Unconditional Positive Regard : As described earlier in this piece, unconditional positive regard (UPR) is practice by accepting, respecting, and caring about one’s clients; the therapist should operate from the perspective that clients are doing the best they can in their circumstances and with the skills and knowledge available to them.
Empathy : It is vital for the therapist to show clients that s/he understands their emotions rather than just feeling sympathy for them.
Nondirectiveness : A cornerstone of client-centered therapy, non-directiveness refers to the method of allowing the client to drive the therapy session; therapists should refrain from giving advice or planning activities for their sessions.
Reflection of Feelings : Repeating what the client has shared about his or her feelings; this lets the client know the therapist is listening actively and understanding what the client is saying, as well as giving them an opportunity to further explore their feelings.
Open Questions : This technique refers to the quintessential “therapist” question – “How does that make you feel?” Of course, that is not the only open question that can be used in client-centered therapy, but it is a good open question that can encourage clients to share and be vulnerable.
Paraphrasing : Therapists can let clients know that they understand what the clients have told them by repeating what they have said back to them in the therapist’s own words; this can also help the client to clarify their feelings or the nature of their problems.
Encouragers : These words or phrases, like “uh-huh,” “go on,” and “what else?” are excellent at encouraging the client to continue; these can be especially useful for a client who is shy, introverted, or afraid of opening up and being vulnerable (Garrett & Garrett, 2013).

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We hope this information provides you with a better understanding of client-centered therapy, and that it will encourage you to think of yourself as the master and expert of your own experience. You are the only one who understands your problems, issues, needs, desires, and goals , and it is to you that you must turn to solve these problems and reach these goals.

It is an added responsibility when you understand that you are responsible for how your life unfolds, but it can also be extremely liberating.

We encourage all of you to work on building the trust in yourself and in your knowledge and skills that can take your life from “going through the motions” to living a life that is authentic.

As always please let us know your thoughts in the comments! Have you ever tried client-centered therapy, as either a client or a therapist? What did you think of it? We want to hear from you!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Positive Psychology Exercises for free .

Buhler, C. (1971). Basic theoretical concepts of humanistic psychology. American Psychologist, 26 (4), 378-386.
Cherry, K. (2017, June 20). What is client centered therapy? A closer look at Carl Rogers’ person-centered therapy. Verywell Mind . Retrieved from https://www.verywell.com/client centered-therapy-2795999
Garrett, J. & Garret S. (2013). Person-centered therapy: A guide to counselling therapies. Counselling Connection. Retrieved from http://www.counsellingconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Person-Centred-Therapy.pdf
Kensit, D. A. (2000). Rogerian theory: A critique of the effectiveness of pure client-centred therapy. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 13 (4), 345-351.
McLeod, S. (2015). Person centered therapy. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/client-centred-therapy.html Person-centered therapy
Noel, S. (2018). Person-centered therapy (Rogerian Therapy). GoodTherapy . Retrieved from http://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/person-centered

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I have loved your article on person centred therapy. I am also a student doing a Bachelors degree in reproductive health and I found this so much useful. It is worth a resource. So madam, my question is, is it right to appropriately ask a client what I think they could do to address their problem after listening to them ? This is because I am not allowed to show any direction to the client although I can carefully give the counselling

I am aware that one of the most important skills of a counsellor is active listening. The client needs to feel that the counsellor is directing their whole attention to what the client is saying. My question is: Is it acceptable that the counsellor takes notes while the client is talking? Thank you in advance for your answer.

Thank you for your question. Note-taking can actually be a sign of active listening. Although the counsellor should not spend the entire session looking down and writing every word, taking short notes is definitely acceptable and will help the counsellor remember important details.

I hope this helps.

-Caroline | Community Manager

Hi there, I’m interested to know if there are ever any instances when intervention is used in the form of a tool with person centered. I From what I’ve read this is not part of person centered, but from watching demonstrations, it feels like the client is sometimes left with an opened can of emotional worms and nowhere to go with those emotions. I’m getting interventions would be used if someone is in serious crisis, suicidal or perhaps reruiring a more structured approach, but I’d hate to keep referring clients if there’s some accepted tools or is it literally just trusting the process? Also, is there any particular publication that has case studies?

You’ll find a great case study example here: https://doi.org/10.1080/14779757.2014.927390

You’re right that a weakness of person-centered therapy is its non-directed nature. In this approach, therapists tend to refrain from recommending particular strategies or techniques, and presumably that includes techniques to manage overwhelming emotions. An underlying axiom of the approach is that clients, by nature, want to grow. Therefore, the therapist need not push and prod them. Instead, the therapist focuses on creating a safe enough space that the client can freely talk about things that have been brewing beneath the surface. This may result in emotional tension that they either need to move through (e.g., processing unprocessed emotions), or perhaps making a difficult change in their life. When you get to this point, it can be helpful to bring in tools from other modalities, such as mindfulness, or different types of support to help the client work through the change they need to make (e.g., assertiveness training, goal-setting).

I hope this helps a little.

– Nicole | Community Manager

I would like to assure readers that Person-Centered therapists do intervene when required by the professional, ethical, and legal standards of their practice. For example, non-directive therapists will intervene when a client threatens to kill their self or another person. Although all therapists are required to intervene in specific circumstances, therapists trained in classical client-centered and the person-centered approach do not consider those interventions to be therapeutic. In practice, a client-centered therapist would only intervene against their client’s wishes after communicating with the client that the intervention is distinctly separate from therapy. It is a common misconception that person-centered and non-directive therapists “refrain from recommending particular strategies or techniques, and presumably that includes techniques to manage overwhelming emotions.” Non-directive therapists have access to all the same clinical and counseling tools (e.g. diagnosis, techniques, exercises, handouts, workbooks, homework assignments, and psycho-education) available to other therapeutic approaches; however, non-directive therapists only offer these tools upon request from the client who will ultimately choose whether or not to use these strategies.

For anyone who is interested in studying classical, non-directive client-centered therapy, I highly recommend reading this book about the theory and practice. The author Barbara T. Brodley was a client-centered therapist, clinical professor of psychology, and researcher that emphasized the value of principled non-directiveness in the person-centered approach. This book is a collection of her most studied papers that continue to guide the development of psychotherapists training in the person-centered approach today.

Brodley, B. T. (2013). Practicing client-centered therapy: Selected writings of Barbara Temaner Brodley. (K. Moon, M. Witty, B. Grant, & B. Rice, Eds.). PCCS Books. https://a.co/d/drnIQ0O

After decades of practice in the field, I totally agree with almost most of the above. Yet, a practical question arises from this practice: How do you keep the client at the center of the conversation with her? Our answer: Before and above everything else – By asking her to ask the questions to be discussed with her. https://www.amazon.com/Signs-Road-Therapy-Conversations-Clients/dp/6200300925/

Thank you for this book recommendation, I’ve been searching high and low for a book that solely accounts for the person-centered approach and nothing more. I’m in my practicum and I’m finding that the person-centered approach feels the most like me, and the best for fostering the therapeutic relationship. I’ve used a lot of CBT techniques with my undergraduate clients but have been met with a great lack of enthusiasm.

I first studied Carl Rogers over 40 years ago when I was working on my MA degree in counseling. I enjoyed your summary article and am glad to see that Rogerian Therapy is still alive and well. I believe that the most important aspect of therapy is not the techniques one uses but the therapeutic relationship.

I’m an on-going masters student in counseling psychology. I found this article a very important piece of information, that client-centered therapy involves allowing the client determines the course and direction of the treatment while the role of the therapist is to support through active listening. I have learn alot, that would help me during practicum

Loving the exchanges! Common sense personalized and shared and heard!

This is a well put article on a Person Centered Theory.

Dr. Nicole,

Thank you very much for putting this together. I have a better understanding of the person-centered theory reading your post.

Can you help explaining Abraham Maslow theory with consent of Guiding and counselling………. The above is mavelous

Hi Kipkorir,

Glad you enjoyed the post. Could you please rephrase your question and I’ll see if I can help. I.e., are you interested in how the principles of Maslow’s theory factor into modern counseling practices, or something different. Let us know!

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Person-Centered Therapy: The Case of Tommy

First Online: 30 November 2020

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Ann F. Trettin 3

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This chapter reviews the development of Carl Rogers’ person-centered approach to psychotherapy, a way of facilitating change with clients that has its roots in the concepts of humanistic psychology. Instead of directing the clinical process within a hierarchical structure with the clinician as expert, Rogers was one of the first to seek balance in the therapeutic relationship, viewing clients as the experts of their own lived experiences. He believed that it is the client who knows what needs to be changed. He de-emphasized pathology and focused on the individual’s strengths, resources, and potential for growth. Rogers’ core conditions of unconditional positive regard, congruence, and empathic understanding are defined and framed as necessary components for therapeutic growth to occur. Excerpts from the case study of Tommy, a child who was referred for psychotherapy after experiencing neglect and multiple losses during his earliest years of development, are included here to explore how both directive and nondirective interventions influenced his therapeutic process.

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Trettin, A.F. (2021). Person-Centered Therapy: The Case of Tommy. In: Dealey, R.P., Evans, M.R. (eds) Discovering Theory in Clinical Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57310-2_6

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Counselling Case Study: Working with Grief

Maggie is a 35 year old woman who came for counselling six months after the break up of her nine year marriage to Michael, the father of her two children, Josh aged 6 and Joseph aged 12 months. Currently both children are in Maggie’s sole care. Maggie has been referred to counselling by her General Practitioner whom she has been seeing for a number of minor physical ailments and early signs of depression.

For ease of writing the Professional Counsellor is abbreviated to “C”.

Maggie and Michael met at university when they were studying business computing. After graduating they were employed in separate companies and dated for a number of years before finally getting married. They both continued working until the birth of their first child Josh, when Maggie took a year off before returning to work part time. Michael continued in full time work and received a number of promotions over his years of continuous employment.

Maggie continued working part time until the birth of their second child Joseph, when she again took a year off to care for both children at home. She was about to return to work when Michael came home one night and said he was leaving her for a woman he had met at work. Two weeks later Michael moved out of the family home. He has not contacted Maggie or the children since. Maggie has not felt well enough to return to work and is now in danger of losing her position with the company.

Application of Person-Centered Counselling

The counsellor applying this approach is primarily concerned with communicating empathy and unconditional positive regard to the client. This includes the application of micro skills such as active listening, reflection of feeling and meaning and summaries in the context of a genuine interaction between the counsellor and the client. The counsellor’s role is specifically ‘non expert’ supporting the client to recognise personal strengths and to find answers that are congruent with her/his own values and beliefs.

Preparation

C’s preparation of the counselling room included placing chairs in face-to-face mode, checking the position of curtains to minimise glare, and placing a box of tissues within easy reach of the client’s chair. C also spent a couple of quiet moments clearing her mind of prevailing thoughts from the previous client in order to give Maggie her full attention.

Session Details

Upon Maggie’s arrival, C introduced herself and spent some time developing rapport in an attempt to make her feel welcome and at ease. This was done by asking Maggie to be seated and making general conversation about the weather, and about how Maggie’s day had been so far.

C formally began the session by asking Maggie whether she had received the counselling agency’s letter sent to confirm her appointment details and a brochure containing information about the counselling service including fees, hours of opening, qualifications of staff and map location. Maggie confirmed she had received the leaflet and said that it had been very useful and informative.

C then asked if Maggie had any questions not covered in the information brochure. Maggie replied in the negative and C proceeded to ask Maggie what had brought her to counselling.

Maintaining good eye contact and an open posture, C waited for Maggie to start speaking. After about 20 seconds of silence during which Maggie looked down at the floor, she finally spoke through tears. “My husband left me for another woman six months ago and I just don’t seem to be able to get on with my life.”

C observed Maggie’s emotional reaction and decided that Maggie would be best supported by a person centered approach which would allow her to voice her feelings surrounding the loss of her marital relationship.

C responded with a paraphrase and reflection of feeling “You sound devastated by the loss of your marriage Maggie.”

Maggie replied “Yes I am, but it was six months ago, I should be getting on with my life by now. That’s what my family and friends are saying anyway. But I still miss Michael so terribly and the boys cry for him every night at bedtime.”

C: “So, am I right in saying that you and the boys are still heartbroken yet friends and family think you should be over it by now?”

Maggie: “Yes, that’s about it. Maybe I should be over him by now. What do you think?”

C: “Let me ask you Maggie. Do you think six months is long enough to mourn the loss of a long-term intimate relationship?”

Maggie: “No I don’t.”

C: “And you’re the only one who knows how it feels to have lost your relationship with Michael, Maggie.”

Maggie nodded and continued telling the story of her life in the past six months, pausing occasionally to wipe her reddened eyes with a tissue from the box nearby. Maggie described the physical and emotional upheaval as she struggled to cope with looking after the children on limited income. She also voiced her fears and uncertainty about her own and her children’s future.

C continued to stay focused on Maggie emotionally and to use encouragers and reflections of feelings to confirm and validate her feelings.

After one of many silences, during which C had remained silent but attentive, Maggie looked up without speaking. C decided that this was an opportune time to summarize some of the issues Maggie had raised so far and said “Maggie, you’ve described a huge upheaval in your life in the past six months that has meant reorganising your life in many ways. You’ve taken on the sole responsibility for two children, managing the house and finances and at the same time dealing with the emotional loss of your marriage. That sounds like an awful lot to deal with at once.”

Maggie: “Yes, I suppose it is when you put it all together. It didn’t seem so daunting when Michael was there to help.”

Thereafter, through continued bouts of tears Maggie described her childhood dream of being married with children and the emptiness she now felt having lost that dream so suddenly. She also voiced feelings of anger and self-recrimination for not being able to cope with her new circumstances as a sole parent.

Through the use of open questions, paraphrases and reflections, C was able to explore with Maggie her feelings of anger and also clarified the meaning of what being a ‘good mother’ meant to her. Maggie talked about memories of her own mother who did not work outside the home and was always waiting for her when she returned home from school.

Further exploration through paraphrases and reflections highlighted the significant differences in parenting lifestyles of the past and today, with many parents now assuming the onerous task of undertaking responsibilities of homemaking, parenting and external work.

Maggie then said ” Yes, I suppose being a mother has changed a lot since my Mum’s time.”

C: “That’s for sure Maggie.”

Maggie then went on to describe how much she missed working outside the home and having a career. C reflected Maggie’s feelings (expressed explicitly verbally and implicitly though non verbal signals such as frowns, smiles and wistful glances at the ceiling) and used open questions to explore what Maggie liked about her work including her strengths and capabilities.

Maggie: “You know, maybe I could negotiate to return to work part time for a while until I can get my life organised a bit better? I have a few friends who might be able to help me out with picking the boys up from childcare if I need to work late occasionally.”

C (smiling): “So you think working part time with some childcare support from friends might be the way to go Maggie?”

Maggie: “Yes, I think I’ll put the idea to my boss on Monday.”

From then on, Maggie’s talk slowed and she assumed a more relaxed posture sitting back in her chair. C asked if there was anything else she’d like to talk about today. Looking at her watch Maggie replied that she would need to get going to pick up the boys up from the childcare centre. She also said she would like to come back again the following week.

C replied that she was most welcome to come back anytime and wished her luck as she left looking tired, but definitely more relaxed.

Session Summary

In this session, Maggie, given the freedom to voice her emotional pain in an atmosphere of empathy, genuineness and unconditional positive regard was able to acknowledge that the expectations she was placing on herself were unrealistic and was able to begin to consider other ways of managing her new life.

The use of the Person Centered Approach to counselling in this initial session was well suited to a client such as Maggie who was able to articulate and explore her feelings associated with the loss of her marriage and future uncertainty.

The key concepts of Person Centred Therapy applied in this session were:

The creation of a non-directive and growth-promoting climate wherein the client feels nurtured and respected.
A congruent and empathic approach by the counsellor that emphasises and promotes self worth and empowerment encouraging clients to find answers that are congruent with her own values and beliefs.

Author: Liz Jeffrey

Related Case Studies: A Case of Grief and Loss , A Case of Grief Using an Eclectic Approach , A Case of Acceptance and Letting Go

March 5, 2007
Case Study , depression , Person-centred
Case Studies , Clinical Mental Health , Relationship & Families

Comments: 3

A very well presented case study/ counselling session. thank you

Well organized and well written. Thank you.

That was a great way to do this. I love how the c got her to open up more and made her more comfortable.

A Case Demonstrating Person Centred Therapy

Author: Jane Barry

Michael has made an appointment to see his School Counsellor. He is due to finish school this year and is undecided about what direction he should take once he leaves school. Michael is a high achiever and his parents want him to make the most of his opportunity to enter University and study Law or Medicine. Whilst Michael is interested in Medicine, he feels that his interests at the moment are directed towards working and travelling abroad. He wants to discuss his preferences with the School Counsellor and to talk about the pressure he has been experiencing.

For ease of writing, the Professional Counsellor is abbreviated to “C”.

Essential Case Information

“C” has known Michael for the last 18 months and has developed a rapport with him. Michael and his parents have visited “C” a few times to discuss Michael’s career options and the subjects that would benefit him the most. From these meetings, “C” has ascertained the following information. Michael’s parents would like him to achieve a high OP score and are encouraging him to pursue science and maths subjects to allow him access to University to study Law or Medicine. Michael’s father is a Barrister and would like to see his son follow on in his professional footsteps. Michael’s mother wishes for Michael to have a professional career, but she has also encouraged his interest in arts, history and travel.

Both parents have contributed considerable time and energy into Michael’s education and Michael is very grateful for their support. As he has a very close relationship with his parents, Michael feels a great deal of pressure to follow the goals that they have set for him. Whilst he would like to follow a career in Medicine, he is not sure that he has the life experience to make such an important decision. After the last meeting, Michael confided to “C” that he did not want to go into university straight after school. If he could have his own way, he would prefer to take some time off from study and travel for a while. He has a close group of friends who are interested in welfare work. Together they have plans to travel and work voluntarily. These dreams with his friends seem exciting and challenging to him and would allow him some time to come to a decision about his career.

Michael has talked to his parents about travelling, particularly to his mother. She is understanding of his need to see the world and to experience a different side to life, however she is also concerned that he is still very young and inexperienced. She would prefer to see him enter University first and travel when he gets a little older. Michael’s father is also concerned about Michael’s preferred directions. He fears that if Michael doesn’t undertake University at this age, he may spend his life wandering around the world, without any substantial training to fall back on. Michael’s older sister (Theresa) has dropped out of her studies and has spent the last 5 years travelling. Michael’s father does not want to see his son follow the same direction as his sister. He has offered to finance his son’s further education if he enters university directly after school.

“C” has previously administered a Personality Need Type Profile for Michael, and has found him to have moderate type C/D needs. After some discussion with Michael, “C” believes that he has fairly high need gratification through his school work and home life, however the disagreement with his parents has been causing him some discomfort, particularly because of his security needs.

Session Content

“C” has decided to use a person-centred approach with Michael. “C” believes that Michael has the resources to come to his own decision about his life. Because of the rapport that already exists between “C” and Michael, “C” suspects that Michael may look to him to acknowledge his right to choose his own path. Because of “C’s” respect for both Michael and his parents, “C” believes that a person centred approach would be of benefit, to ensure that the responsibility for the decision remains with Michael.

When Michael arrives, “C” begins the session by making him comfortable and asking some questions about his sports interests. Both “C” and Michael are interested in touch football, and it is a topic that they have discussed in some detail in the past. As this conversation draws to a close, “C” asks Michael about his reasons for making the appointment.

As Michael explains the difficult decision he has to make, “C” pays close attention to Michael’s body language and his description of feelings. “C” attempts to make Michael feel listened to by making eye contact with him and by sitting forwards, in a more active listening position.

“As you know, Mum and Dad are really keen for me to go to University next year, but I really don’t like the idea. I’m not looking forward to more years of study yet,” Michael explained. “I’m getting to the point where I don’t want to do any more study after this year, I’d rather hang out with Paul and Mica. Their parents don’t put the same pressures on them to study and they don’t mind if they travel after leaving school. Compared to them, I feel like I’m wrapped up in cotton wool.”

“C” paraphrased Michael’s comments, focussing on his feelings, “so your feeling that you haven’t got as much freedom as your friends do.” “Well, yeah,” replied Michael, “I’ve always gone along with what Mum and Dad wanted, and so I’ve never had any reason to really disagree with them, and I’ve always kinda wanted what they wanted anyway. But now I don’t. Sure it will be great to go to University one day, it’s not like I’m going to be like my sister and never come home, but Dad is really paranoid about it.”

“C” responded, “It sounds like you’ve got some plans of your own, that are different to your sister’s and your fathers, is that right?”

“Definitely,” Michael said with emphasis. “Definitely,” “C” replied, “you said that with a lot of conviction!” “Yeah,” Michael replied, “you know, I’ve got some really good ideas of where I want to go and what I could do with my life.” “That’s great,” responded “C”, “I’d really like to hear about them.”

As Michael describes his plans for the future, “C” listened carefully and felt proud of the goals Michael was setting himself. “C” appreciated the strength of character that Michael demonstrated, for someone of such a young age. “C” felt that Michael had both the conviction and determination to create meaningful goals for himself and to carry them through.

Michael felt excited and elated to talk about his plans so candidly with someone. He felt that “C” had a deep appreciation of his needs, which inspired confidence in himself and the goals that he dreamed about. Michael was surprised and heartened by the depth of his convictions and the strength of his belief in his goals. Having someone listen to him so intently made him feel special and worthwhile. He genuinely felt that his world was an exciting and challenging place to be.

“C” expressed some of his thoughts to Michael, so as to further convey his genuine concern for Michael. “You certainly seem to have some very clear goals for yourself. From what I know of you, you’re a very determined young man and you’ve achieved very well at the subjects that you’ve taken on. I am sure that you can achieve all of your goals if you keep your determination. It takes a lot of maturity, and a certain type of person to be able to identify your goals so clearly. I can imagine that it must be frustrating to experience some obstacles to reaching your dreams.”

“Yes…I’m not sure what to do about that,” replied Michael. “I know that my parents mean well and are worried for me, but, I think that I want them to support me in other ways now.” “How is their support of value to you,” inquired “C”.

“Probably more valuable than what I realise! You know, they’ve done a lot for me. I’ve always been into a lot of things and they seemed to have sensed that and tried to give me lots of opportunities. In some ways we’re a well suited family, you know? They want a son who achieves well, and I just want to achieve. Up until this point, we’ve mostly agreed about what I achieve at. My sister is different though, she is happier to just accept life as it comes along and she never used to like Dad pressuring her to do stuff. They used to argue a lot and sometimes I think she saw going overseas as a way to escape and be herself.”

“Dad was pretty upset when she went, I think he took it personally. I know he would just go crazy if he thought that I was going to do the same thing. I just wonder if I can ever get him to see that the decisions Theresa made and the ones I want to make have got nothing to do with him. I really don’t want him to think that I’m ungrateful or doing it to spite him.”

“C” reflected, “it sounds like your pretty grateful to your father and that you respect him. It also sounds like you are trying to find some ways to tell him about your plans, whilst still respecting him.”

“Yeah, though I’m still afraid that he won’t agree to my plans,” replied Michael.

“C” responded, focussing on his feelings, “can you tell me more about your fears?” “Well,” Michael replied, “I don’t know, I guess I fear that he’ll back off and not offer me any more chances to go to University.”

“How would you feel if that happened,” inquired “C”. “Really let down, and angry too. I mean, he’s got to let me make my own life now. I’m not just a kid any more,” Michael responded, frowning.

“C” reflected Michael’s meaning back to him. “You’re feeling angry about your lack of freedom and you want your father not to treat you like a kid any more. You want to go to University some day, but you’d like to have a break from study and travel with your friends. You’re afraid that your father will not accept your decisions and you will lose respect for each other. Does this sound right to you?”

Yeah, Michael sighed, “so what am I supposed to do? Why won’t Dad give me some credit for my own sense? Does he think that I’m going to be a kid for the rest of my life? I deserve to make my own plans,” complained Michael.

“C” nodded and responded, “they’re all important questions Michael, what do you think some of the answers might be?” “I don’t know,” replied Michael, “I thought that you could help me out there.” “Hmm,” said “C”, “that’s a tough one. I can see why you’re having such difficulty in making a decision. On the one hand, you’ve got some very exciting plans of your own that you want to fulfil. On the other hand, your trying to consider the plans that your parents are offering you, to get a tertiary education. I’m also wondering how you’ll make a decision.”

“Ultimately, I’d like to do both,” said Michael. “C” nodded and remained silent for a period. Michael also sat silently, thinking to himself. After a period, Michael replied, “I think I need to think about it some more. I need to talk to my parents some more too. I’ve been a bit afraid to talk about it directly, in case they definitely say ‘no’. I was thinking that I have to put in my selection for university soon, so perhaps I could apply for Medicine, but then defer for a year. It might be easier for Dad to accept, if I did this. What do you think about that?”

“C” replied, “discussing some of your options with your parents is a good idea. Perhaps you might think about how you would approach them. How might you feel if they still did not accept your proposals?”

“I’d feel let down and angry. I think I’d want to leave home if that happened. I wouldn’t want to make a scene, but I do want to live my own life. I think that I would have to leave.”

“C” replied, “that is a serious move, leaving home. Your goals must be very important to you indeed.”

“They are!” Michael exclaimed.

“C” probed further into Michael’s feelings about the choices he wanted to make. In particular he asked Michael about approaching his parents to discuss his goals. “C” focussed in on what Michael would say to his parents to let them know the seriousness of his intentions. “C” also asked Michael to consider how his parents might react to his news. From this, Michael developed some strategies for himself to use when telling his parents of his intentions.

In summary, “C” expressed his appreciation of Michael’s world and experiences. “C” validated Michael’s feelings and goals and complemented Michael on his mature strategies to explain his goals to his parents. Michael’s decisions included setting a time with his parents to discuss his goals, to suit everyone. He thought that they might go out for dinner one evening, to mark it as an important event. Michael would ask his parents to think about their goals for him and discuss these over dinner. In this way Michael would be allowing for his parents to contribute to his plans and hopefully influence them to listen to and respect his own ideas.

As a finishing point “C” asked Michael how he had felt about the session in general. Michael had appreciated the opportunity to talk about his issues and goals so completely to someone. He said he felt clearer about the direction he wanted to take in his life and was beginning to consider how to explain his goals to his parents. He thought that “C” had really appreciated him for who he was and it made him feel more mature in himself. He had hoped that “C” would have offered him some more direct advice about what to do, but understood that it was his own responsibility to decide.

End of Session

Some points to consider with Person Centred Therapy are as follows:

This therapy focuses on the quality of the client / counsellor relationship . It assumes that clients are basically trustworthy and have the inner resources to find solutions to their own problems. It is a less directive therapy on the counsellor’s behalf, meaning that clients are free to set their own goals and create the conditions that will allow themselves to explore their needs and behaviours.

Therapists themselves contribute to the client’s growth by providing a warm, positive, trusting, and open relationship with the client . The three important qualities the counsellor should possess are congruence (genuineness), unconditional positive regard (acceptance and caring) and accurate empathetic understanding (ability to deeply grasp the world of another person).

There are no fixed techniques that apply to Person Centred Therapy, rather there are a set of principles for counsellors to be guided by. Some of these are as follows:

The client is experiencing a discrepancy between the way they perceive themselves, the ideal picture of themselves and the reality of their situation. They may feel helpless and unable to make a decision, or direct their own life.
Whilst the client may look to the counsellor for direction, the emphasis will be upon the client to take responsibility for their own decisions and to learn to use the therapeutic relationship to increase their self-understanding.
The therapist should attempt to understand the client’s world through listening, empathising, respecting and accepting them; and in doing so, the counsellor will be integrating themself into the relationship with the client.
The therapist should try to experience genuine care and acceptance of their client, otherwise, the client may feel that the counsellor is feigning interest and will not fully disclose their feelings.
As clients experience the therapist listening to them and accepting them, they learn how to accept themselves. As they find the counsellor caring for them, they start to experience themselves as worthwhile and valuable. When they experience realness from the counsellor, the client is encouraged to shed their pretences with themselves and others.

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Everything to Know About Person-Centered Therapy

How it works, what to expect.

When to See a Provider

Person-centered therapy, also known as Rogerian therapy, is a client-based form of therapy that empowers the client to take ownership of their mental well-being. It shifts the focus from the mental health professional to the client and allows them to have control of the therapeutic process. Person-centered therapy provides a safe space for clients to become more self-aware and find their own solutions.

Person-centered therapy can be helpful for various types of mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more.

Read on to learn more about person-centered therapy, techniques, and benefits associated with this form of treatment.

FatCamera / Getty Images

Defining Person-Centered Therapy

Person-centered therapy, also known as Rogerian therapy, was developed during the 1940s by humanist psychologist Carl Rogers. It is a form of therapy that shifts the focus from the mental health professional to the client, who is empowered to take control of the therapeutic process. Rogers believed that every person, regardless of their mental health struggles, desires and is capable of reaching their full potential.

This therapy practice steers away from the idea that human beings are flawed and require treatment for their problematic behaviors. Instead, it provides clients with the tools and resources they need to understand themselves and what they need to achieve positive change in their lives.

Client vs. Patient

The term "client" is used on purpose in this type of therapy to avoid implying that the person seeking therapy is sick. Using the word client instead helps to empower the person seeking help by emphasizing that they are in control of their life and future and are capable of overcoming any difficulties they face.

In person-centered therapy, the client and the therapist work as a team. The therapist is supportive and avoids the use of judgment, suggestions, or solutions for the client's problems.

Person-centered therapy is a type of non-directive therapy that is empathetically driven toward providing a person with a safe space to talk, self-actualize (realize your full potential), and make positive changes in their life.

Person-centered therapy can help with various types of mental distress including:

Post-traumatic stress disorder
Other mood disorders

Person-centered therapy can be utilized one-on-one or in a group setting. There are both inpatient and outpatient programs available.

Your first session will begin much like a meet-and-greet, in which you will get to know one another. Your therapist will want you to talk about what brought you to person-centered therapy and go over how the therapeutic relationship will work if you choose them as your therapy partner.

If you are interested in person-centered therapy, you can contact your healthcare provider for recommendations.

What Techniques Are Involved in Person-Centered Therapy?

There are three main techniques used in person-centered therapy. Each technique is designed to help a person become more aware of their own behaviors in a safe space. When this happens, people are then able to make the necessary changes needed to recover.

Genuineness and Congruence

The genuineness and congruence technique involves the therapist being genuine and harmonious toward their clients. The therapist is open and honest about their thoughts and feelings and, by doing so, teaches their clients the ability to do the same.

This technique also teaches the client self-awareness and knowing how thoughts and feelings affect a person’s experiences.

Clients feel safer when their therapist acts in this way, which in turn builds a trusting relationship between both client and therapist. Trust in the relationship allows clients to be more comfortable opening up in a genuine way.

Unconditional Positive Regard

Unconditional positive regard is total acceptance. This means that the therapist always completely accepts and supports their client when participating in client-centered therapy.

The therapist takes all of their client's feelings and emotions seriously and validates what they are feeling. They also offer reassurance through active listening and positive body language.

How Does Unconditional Positive Regard Help?

When your therapist practices unconditional positive regard, you are likely to feel safe opening up fully, without fearing how they will respond. Research suggests that when a person's experiences and emotions are validated, this type of therapy can be very effective.

Empathetic Understanding

Empathy is the true understanding and sharing of feelings between two people.

In person-centered therapy, the therapist uses empathetic understanding in an effort to get to know who you are, the way your experiences shape your life, and your point of view of the world, yourself, and the people in your life.

The main goal of empathetic understanding is to ensure that the client feels completely understood in everything they say. This is done in a way that gives clients the opportunity to gain insights into themselves that they may not have had prior to beginning therapy.

What Are the Benefits of Person-Centered Therapy?

There are many benefits associated with person-centered therapy including:

Improved self-awareness
Improved self-concept (the way you see yourself)
Greater trust in oneself and one’s own abilities
Healthier relationships with others based on an improved view and understanding of oneself
Healthier communication skills
Improved ability to express opinions and feelings
Ability to let go of past hurt or mistakes
Ability to strive for healthy changes that make one's life better

What Are the Potential Limitations of Person-Centered Therapy?

Person-centered therapy has many strengths, but it also has its limitations:

The lack of structure and interventions may not be effective for everyone, especially people with certain personality disorders or severe mental illnesses, which also may limit someone's ability to self-reflect or relate well to other people.
While no therapy offers a quick fix, person-centered therapy can be time-consuming. People who want a more goal-oriented and less open-ended approach may not benefit from person-centered therapy.
The person-centered approach may not work for people who are from cultural or family backgrounds that don't encourage emotional openness.

Things to Consider

To be able to benefit from person-centered therapy, you have to be open to discussing your experiences, both good and bad. Therapists will not direct you in any way, so you must lead the conversation in a way that feels most comfortable to you. You must also establish a relationship with your therapist that feels safe and supportive.

When to See a Healthcare Provider

Mental health issues can be difficult to cope with. Oftentimes, people aren’t sure where to turn or what type of help they need.

If you are dealing with mental health distress, you can contact your primary healthcare provider for assistance. They will likely direct you toward different types of available therapists.

Emergency Assistance for Mental Health Distress

If you are having suicidal thoughts , contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911 .

Person-centered therapy, also called client-centered therapy, is a form of psychotherapy that places emphasis on the client over the therapist. It empowers the client to take control of their mental health without judgment and helps improve the client's self-awareness. An open and trusting relationship between client and therapist is key in person-centered therapy.

Frequently Asked Questions

The cost of person-centered therapy will vary significantly depending on factors such as how long you see yourself going, as well as the specific therapist. Your location will also play a role in the cost. In many cases, person-centered therapy is covered by medical insurance.

There are many types of therapy available. The main branches of therapy are psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, and integrative. Person-centered therapy is a form of humanistic therapy.

Erekson DM, Lambert MJ. Client-centered therapy . In: Cautin RL, Lilienfeld SO, eds. The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology . John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 2015:1-5. doi:10.1002/9781118625392.wbecp073

Allerby K, Goulding A, Ali L, Waern M. Increasing person-centeredness in psychosis inpatient care: staff experiences from the Person-Centered Psychosis Care (PCPC) project . BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 May 3;22(1):596. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08008-z

Kim SK, Park M. Effectiveness of person-centered care on people with dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis . Clin Interv Aging . 2017 Feb 17;12:381-397. doi: 10.2147/CIA.S117637

Barkham M, Saxon D, Hardy GE, Bradburn M, Galloway D, Wickramasekera N, et al. Person-centred experiential therapy versus cognitive behavioural therapy delivered in the English Improving Access to Psychological Therapies service for the treatment of moderate or severe depression (PRaCTICED): a pragmatic, randomised, non-inferiority trial. The Lancet Psychiatry . May 14, 2021. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00083-3

Farber BA, Suzuki JY, Lynch DA. Positive regard and psychotherapy outcome: A meta-analytic review . Psychotherapy . 2018;55(4):411-423. doi:10.1037/pst0000171

Moon K.A. Rice B. The nondirective attitude in client-centered practice: A few questions. Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies. 2012;11(4):289-303. doi:10.1080/14779757.2012.740322

Kolden GG, Wang CC, Austin SB, Chang Y, Klein MH. Congruence/genuineness: A meta-analysis. Psychotherapy. 2018;55(4):424-433. doi:10.1037/pst0000162

Elliott R, Bohart AC, Watson JC, Murphy D. Therapist empathy and client outcome: An updated meta-analysis . Psychotherapy . 2018;55(4):399-410. doi:10.1037/pst0000175

Yao L, Kabir R. Person-Centered Therapy (Rogerian Therapy) [Updated 2023 Feb 9]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan-.

By Angelica Bottaro Bottaro has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and an Advanced Diploma in Journalism. She is based in Canada.

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Case Report

Client assessment and formulation with person centered approach.

Arpita Ghosal*

Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London

Corresponding Author

Arpita ghosal, Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, London.

Received Date: August 27, 2018; Published Date: September 21, 2018

This paper is comprised of a case study on success of using psychotherapy for “Laura1” a client who experi-ences emotional disruption and executive difficulties. The primary approach of the issues of the client has been Person Centered Therapy, although some other problem-solving techniques such as pluralistic frame-work was also used. A report done previously of therapy with a client who experienced executive dysfunc-tion suggested that the client tend to perseverate on some specific negative thoughts inducing significant dis-tress to such clients. The case study of Laura has shown that this can be a risk, although there is possibility of working successfully with at least certain clients, and for doing so the Person-Centered approach is used.

Keywords: Person-Centered therapy; Emotional disruption; Executive dysfunction; Pluralistic framework

Abbreviations: FAQs: Frequently Ask Questions Sheet

Case Context

The case study of this paper is about Laura, 51yrs old lady, who has faced personal upheaval for which she is experiencing severe trauma. Laura had a head injury 10 years ago that led to her cognitive difficulties charac-terized by executive dysfunction including repetition, impulsiveness, poor planning, and disinhibition.

I completed the assessment for Laura. Based on a structured assessment form provided by the counselling service that lasted 50 minutes. I confirmed confidentiality of the sessions to the client. However, GP inter-vention can be requested with client approval if risk is identified. An agreement and frequently ask questions sheet (FAQs) including all these data is given to the client before the sessions begin.

Three months before the assessment, her husband left the marital home after giving her notice the previous night that he is walking away from her life. Subsequently, her husband has set up home with another woman. The proceedings of divorce are underway. This has impacted Laura very adversely. She felt alone and utterly abandoned leading to her inability to cope and a sense of hopelessness for the future. She recollected about her suicidal thoughts and the way she came close to initiate self-harm on many occasions.

Firstly, the case of Laura has had similarity to FS case as explained by King [1]. Both Laura and FS have had the experience of psychological distress along with trauma and a head injury related executive dysfunction. In the case of FS, the therapy turned out to be problematic as the client experienced his difficulties and trau-ma evoked repeatedly outside of sessions. The client was encouraged in accessing his perseverative difficul-ties and traumatic memories meant the inability of FS in disengaging from these when he is not inside the sessions. Therefore, King argued that there should be caution when therapy is conducted with such clients. Therefore, I decided following Laura in seeing if there is occurrence of similar issues as observed by King, and if possible, how to ameliorate them.

Secondly, Laura presents a platform in observing whether Person Centered Therapy to deal with her traumat-ic stress can be effective. The challenge in this case is whether extreme executive difficulties have the likeli-hood of impairing access to the processes of innate growth posited by the Person-Centered Therapy. At the outset, my prediction of this study has been that this could be an effective approach with a client of this type. I had experienced previously success with another type of neurological impairment client, which was related to myalgic encephalopathy with its interfering with their cognitive processing [2].

Assessment techniques and resources

This work deals with evaluation of efficacy of person centered, interactive therapy for Laura who also has head injury. The approach involves maintenance of respect for the client as implementation of therapeutic conditions was tried upon as advocated by Carl Rogers [3]. There would be openness to the goals and needs of the client who has the will of using approaches and techniques from other therapeutic modalities in the likes of cognitive behavioral therapy [4].

The model used widely, either on the basis of integration or in its own right, is the client centered approach [3]. The clients are allowed, with this model, in exploring their difficulties at their own pace and in their own time. This approach has also shown working well with neurological populations to help them coming in terms with their psychological distress and difficulties. For instance, Ward & Hogan, [2] have found effec-tiveness of this approach in a small trial that involved participants having myalgic encephalitis. These partic-ipants often had been coming in terms with severe personal loss. This has similarity with Laura as she faces neurological symptoms such as mental slowing, fatigue, lacking concentration.

Person Centered Approach offers a non-threatening and emphatic relationship to the client characterized by congruence, empathy, and unconditional positive regard. The involvement of emphatic understanding is with communication with the client that the counselor can understand and grasp in relation to the “frame of refer-ence” or the own perspective of the client. It should also be ensured that a genuine relationship is developed. The counselor must not hold opinions or attitudes about the client which he or she is unaware of and that can be detrimental to the relationship [5]. Finally, the counselor must have an “unconditional positive regard” to the client so as to avoid the communication of any negative attitude for the client. However, it should be not-ed that the counselor does not have to approve all behaviors of the client so long the counselor responds the client in a manner that is respectful and congruent with the therapeutic relationship.

Client in context and contextual information

Laura displayed considerable level of fear of her husband. She also feared physical consequences from her husband despite the fact that there has not been any history of physical abuse. Laura also experienced dis-tressing and recurrent recollection of the night when she got the announcement from her husband of his leav-ing her. This led her with a sense of a foreshortened future. She found it difficult to concentrate that had the lasting of over a month. Moreover, the distress started to impair her ability of functioning on a social level.

The emotional reaction of Laura to the fact that her husband left her was characterized by frequent recalling of the moment when he declared of his leaving. When Laura recollects this incident, she was overcome with intensely felt despair that drove her to tears. Her concerns involve that it would be very difficult for her to survive without her husband and the fact that she was dependent on him for last one decade. She has also given description that as she has been left alone, it would take a lot more time for her in completing a task.

Laura, for past many years has performed the homemaker’s role. From her account, it is clear that her need included considerable support and help from her husband in achieving certain daily tasks. Certain routine tasks like preparing meals for the family needed a lot of concentration and effort and can be taking several hours.

Laura’s executive functioning report was found in her medical record. There was administrating of two standard tasks from the version 3 of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale [6]. These are the digit span and block design tasks. The scaled scores have been four and seven respectively, which is suggestive of the scores being 63 and 70 respectively in the full-scale IQ. Contrastingly, on the vocabulary subtest, her scaled score has been 16. This suggests she had 134 overall full-scale IQ. This indicates that current level of executive func-tioning of Laura has been very low in comparison to a level of high pre-morbid ability.

Formulations

Laura suffered a head injury ten years ago. This led to her inability of pursuing her normal occupation and the experiences of certain difficulties in daily tasks to run her home. Her perception about herself was that she has become totally dependent on her husband. Her husband has taken responsibility for all complex affairs of the household.

Seemingly, a pattern was developing over the years where Laura’s perception about herself has been her de-pendence on her husband. She started to look at herself in way where she does not have the capability of any independent existence without the support of her husband. This culminated into a behavior where Laura found herself helpless on her own and therefore her views were self-perpetuated of her dependence on her husband. The relationship of Laura with her husband, in many respects, cannot be called as ideal, although she has been emotionally highly dependent on her husband. Therefore, the self structure of Laura came to be dominated by her thoughts of dependence on her husband along with her inability of copying or carrying out complex tasks without his help [7].

Treatment plan

The treatment plan for Laura has been formulated into two parts. Firstly, a Person Centered relationship will be given to her so as to enabling her to process her emotional reaction as her husband has left her. This would be allowing her to experience fully her feelings within the safety that the relationship provides her.

Secondly, it can be expected that her feelings’ intensity would subside over time and she would develop the ability of exploring other aspects of her feelings apart from her sense of overwhelming despair and loss. It can also be anticipated that with the unfolding of the sessions, it would be possible for Laura moving on to consider more practical ways of coping with her everyday challenges. Alongside this, the sessions will also help her in making use of both her loved ones and other community resources with the ability of moving forward towards an independent and a new existence.

These twin aims are expressible as two intervening goals, according to pluralistic framework. The first goal is not feeling emotionally overwhelmed because of the departure of her husband. The treatment of this goal is with Person Centered therapy. The second goal is working on some specific home management tasks in enabling Laura to be as independent as possible to carry out the task. The addressing of this goal is by the use of rehabilitation oriented, action focused and psycho-educational interventions.

Informed judgments

In the case of Laura, the question remains whether she dwells repetitively on her predicament’s negative as-pects and the ability of coping. I have taken the decision of recording and transcribing all our sessions, fol-lowed by the rating of the negative and positive coping statements that have had the occurrence and the in-stances of suicidal ideation. This would indicate whether the in-session behavior of Laura has seen augmen-tation of these dimensions. This would also have the repetition later as the therapy progresses to find if the proportions of the negative and positive coping statements have undergone any change.

These transcripts have allowed me in discussing the process of therapy and in ensuring the faithfulness of the sessions to the Rogerian Person-Centered way of working. As it has been mentioned before, the Person-Centered Therapy was chosen as the approach in dealing with Laura’s emotional difficulties. I have also in-tended in addressing Laura’s other concerns that involves practical issues of day to day life with the use of principles of rehabilitation in an integrative way.

Pluralistic approach

The approach of pluralistic has been a framework allowing the integrating of different theoretical approaches with the process of collaborating with the client. Cooper & McLeod [4] described the process of assessment of client and derive a set of goals agreed upon. These goals are the means to achieve them and the reviewing with the client throughout the therapy process.

The pluralistic framework allowed integration of Person- Centered Therapy with rehabilitation oriented, more action focused and psycho-educational interventions. The last component comprised of intervention in rela-tion to problem solving in helping Laura recognizing and dealing with and overcoming difficulties to remem-ber.

Monitoring of therapy and usage of feedback information

The scheduling of the supervision sessions has been on a weekly basis. The structuring of the supervision sessions in considering progress on work has been with the client and through exploration of any concerns or difficulties. The therapist would be noting the brief summaries that discussed issues and the points that are related to the future sessions are immediately recorded at the end of every session.

Critical exploration

Laura’s therapy was open ended and she had 43 sessions in total. The 43 sessions had frequency of once a week throughout the year.

Session 1-43: Works with Emotional Trauma and Phase it in Practical Difficulties

Emotional trauma

After the assessment initially, the counselor and Laura agreed that her most important goal initially was pro-cessing and coming to terms with trauma that has happened because of her divorce. The traditional Person-Centered approach was taken in helping Laura dealing with her trauma [8]. The counselor reflected carefully the narrative of Laura while facilitating her experience that had association with her mental states. The first eight weeks of therapy was dominated by this approach.

The statements of Laura in the early phase had the tendency of revolving around the initial trauma created by the separation, her enormous loss as perceived by her, and her fear related to what will happen to her in the future. For instance, when she had the initial shock that her husband announced that he will leave her, she said:

The first time I had panic attacks is when my husband told me this. It was terrible; he came after seeing his new lady that literally shattered me. In the morning, I was crying, but was trying to control the noise as he was sleeping and could have disturbed him.

My mind was full of fear as to how I will cope with the situation. Nay, I would not be able to cope. I knew that. I was even contemplating committing suicide but just in the nick of time he came to my room. The cli-ent’s narrative, by the fifth session, started to change. The therapist found that Laura’s emotional trauma has started to lose its raw edge as if she has started accepting and acknowledging these feelings. Laura heard her story’s other aspects being reflected back, which brought other feelings to the fore. Laura started to re-evaluate the relationship that she has gone through with her husband over the years and started to feel angry at some of ways her husband treated her [9].

These signs of her movement had been giving reassurances to the counselor, since it was suggestive that Laura would not experience the negative trauma outside the sessions. Moreover, Laura has been accessing processes of growth and going beyond blaming herself. For instance, she said: It was a life when I never had to go out. I would stay back home and do the household work. I felt I am Cinderella. It was by husband who would go out and brought things for me, whatever I wanted and the best that I wanted.

When her past relationship is reviewed and with the acknowledgement of the anger she felt now, Laura had been able to question a number of assumptions accepted by her over the years. She had the realization that there are a number of notions being planted by her husband by not giving her the opportunities in relearning certain previous skills of her. For instance, she said:

(My husband) told me that I can never have friends. I believed that when he told, but now I am seeing that there are many people who looks out for me and try to help me – amazing.

Unable dealing with housework

Following therapy for eight weeks, other issues started emerging in the narrative that have been worked with and taken up with the usage of other strategies by the counselor in collaboration with the client. The key is-sue, in particular, that have come up several times has been Laura’s inability of dealing with the household paperwork.

For instance, she said:It was half past eight when I found that I have to pick up two papers……it was terrible and was not at all feeling like doing it……still I did……and all the papers that I sorted the whole day……was behind me………I could not take any more. She referred here how the whole day was spent by her trying to sort out paperwork and realizing that in the end what she had done is laying behind her in a big trail.

Memory prompts

Laura was late frequently for sessions because of her difficulties with memory. This prompted a cell phone text system through SMS initiated in the 18th session reminding just ahead of each session each week. Thus, the number of sessions that she missed was reduced as compared to the sessions in the past.

Executive difficulties

During the therapy, it was evident that the executive difficulties of Laura impacted on the therapeutic dia-logue. The statements of Laura were significantly longer compared to what is experienced typically. Howev-er, her statements have a lot of repetition within specific utterances and within a session across the utteranc-es.

Assessment of progress within the process of therapy

I tried to make an objective assessment after the end of every 2 months in relation to whether progress has been made by Laura. I have also been concerned of whether the additional therapy would be undermining the potential of Laura in perseverating on her difficulties and expressing the negative perceptions about her abil-ity to cope. To be specific, as a baseline, I have recorded and transcribed sessions 1-5 with the counting of various verbal behaviors. To be specific negative and positive coping statements and idea of suicidal tenden-cy is notable. The positive coping statements expressed by Laura have shown some glimpses of positive out-look on her current situation. For instance, Laura has said: “but now I am seeing that there are many people who look out for me and try to help me – amazing”.

Contrastingly, she expressed negative coping statements of having negative outlook or not having the ability of doing things. For instance, “It was half past eight when I found that I have to pick up two papers……it was terrible and was not at all feeling like doing it……still I did……and all the papers that I sorted the whole day…… was behind me………I could not take any more.”, or “My mind was full of fear as to how I will cope with the situation”.

Concluding Evaluation of Outcome and Process of the Therapy

Laura, at the end of the therapy, have shown significant gains in positive coping statements in each session and decrease in the negative coping statements and reduction of statements showing suicidal tendency in each session. The therapeutic intervention outcome after the end of the therapy showed positive changes overtime. The changes that have been observed were the reflection of the fact that Laura experienced greater magnitude of wellbeing, was expressing lesser tendency towards self-harming impulses, having a feeling of greater ability for functioning, and was overwhelmed at a lesser degree by her problems [10]. Laura’s case has been the illustration of how a client having executive difficulties can be making use of fairly nondirective therapeutic strategy and being able to adjust and cope with emotional trauma. At the end of the therapy, Laura apparently was less emotionally distressed and more confident. Behaviorally, also, she was being able to cope much better with daily activities in the absence of her husband.

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Hastings E (1997) Hidden Disability Discrimination. Dulwich Centre Newsletter 4: 8-11.
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DOI: 10.33552/ANN.2018.01.000506
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Arpita G. The Effectiveness of Attentional Training on Stress AND Self-Esteem. Arch Neurol & Neurosci . 1(2): 2018. ANN.MS.ID.000506.

Person-Centered therapy, Emotional disruption, Executive dysfunction, Pluralistic framework, Psychological distress, Trauma, Head injury, Dysfunction, Neurological impairment client, Cognitive behavioral therapy, Neurological symptoms, Distress, Emotional reaction, Mental states, Memory prompts

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StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-.

StatPearls [Internet].

Person-centered therapy (rogerian therapy).

Lucy Yao ; Rian Kabir .

Affiliations

Last Update: February 9, 2023 .

Continuing Education Activity

Person-centered therapy, also referred to as non-directive, client-centered, or Rogerian therapy, was pioneered by Carl Rogers in the early 1940s. This form of psychotherapy is grounded in the idea that people are inherently motivated toward achieving positive psychological functioning. The client is believed to be the expert in their life and leads the general direction of therapy, while the therapist takes a non-directive role. This activity reviews person-centered therapy and highlights the role of the interprofessional team in improving care for patients who undergo person-centered therapy.

Identify the core conditions of person-centered therapy.
Explain the therapeutic process of person-centered therapy.
Describe the benefits and criticisms of person-centered therapy.
Review the efficacy of person-centered therapy in the treatment of common psychiatric illnesses.
Introduction

The therapist's role is to provide a space conducive to uncensored self-exploration. As the client explores their feelings, they will gain a clearer perception of themselves, leading to psychological growth. The therapist attempts to increase the client's self-understanding by reflecting and carefully clarifying questions. Although few therapists today adhere solely to person-centered therapy, its concepts and techniques have been incorporated eclectically into many different types of therapists' practices. [1]

Issues of Concern

Origins of Person-Centered Therapy

Person-centered therapy, also referred to as non-directive, client-centered, or Rogerian therapy, was pioneered by Carl Rogers in the early 1940s. His ideas were considered radical; they diverged from the dominant behavioral and psychoanalytic theories at the time. Rogers' method emphasizes reflective listening, empathy, and acceptance in therapy rather than the interpretation of behaviors or unconscious drives. [1]

In the 1960s, person-centered therapy became closely tied to the Human Potential Movement, which believed that all individuals have a natural drive toward self-actualization. In this state, one is able to manifest their full potential. According to Rogers, negative self-perceptions can prevent one from realizing self-actualization.

Rogers postulated that a state of incongruence might exist within the client, meaning there is a discrepancy between the client's self-image and the reality of their experience. This incongruence leads to feelings of vulnerability and anxiety. [2]

Person-centered therapy operates on the humanistic belief that the client is inherently driven toward and has the capacity for growth and self-actualization; it relies on this force for therapeutic change. [3] The role of the counselor is to provide a nonjudgmental environment conducive to honest self-exploration. The therapist attempts to increase the client's self-understanding by reflecting and carefully clarifying questions without offering advice. The therapist functions under the assumption that the client knows themselves best; thus, viable solutions can only come from them.

Direction from the therapist may reinforce the notion that solutions to one's struggles lie externally. Through client self-exploration and reinforcement of the client's worth, person-centered therapy aims to improve self-esteem, increase trust in one's decision-making, and increase one's ability to cope with the consequences of their decisions. [4] Rogers did not believe that a psychological diagnosis was necessary for psychotherapy. [2]

The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions

Rogers identified six conditions that were necessary and sufficient to facilitate therapeutic change. [2]

Therapist-client psychological contact: the therapist and client are in psychological contact
Client incongruence: the client is experiencing a state of incongruence
Therapist congruence: the therapist is congruent, or genuine, in the relationship
Therapist unconditional positive regard: the therapist has unconditional positive regard toward the client
Therapist empathic understanding: the therapist experiences and communicates an empathic understanding of the client's internal perspective
Client perception: the client perceives the therapist's unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding

Core Conditions

Rogers defined three attitudes on the therapist's part that are key to the success of person-centered therapy. These core conditions consist of accurate empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard. [3] [2]

Accurate Empathy

The therapist engages in active listening, paying careful attention to the client's feelings and thoughts. The therapist conveys an accurate understanding of the patient's private world throughout the therapy session as if it were their own. One helpful technique to express accurate empathy is reflection, which involves paraphrasing and/or summarizing the feeling behind what the client says rather than the content. This also allows clients to process their feelings after hearing them restated by someone else.

The therapist transparently conveys their feelings and thoughts to genuinely relate to the client. Within the client-therapist relationship, the therapist is genuinely himself. The therapist does not hide behind a professional façade or deceive the client. Therapists may share their emotional reactions with their clients but should not share their personal problems with clients or shift the focus to themselves in any way.

Unconditional Positive Regard

The therapist creates a warm environment that conveys to clients that they are accepted unconditionally. The therapist does not signal judgment, approval, or disapproval, no matter how unconventional the client's views may be. This may allow the client to drop their natural defenses, allowing them to freely express their feelings and direct their self-exploration as they see fit.

Critics have contended that the principles of person-centered therapy are too vague. Some argue that person-centered therapy is ineffective for clients who have difficulty talking about themselves or have a mental illness that alters their perceptions of reality. There is a lack of controlled research on the efficacy of person-centered therapy, and no objective data suggests its efficacy was due to its distinctive features. [1] People have asserted that the unique qualities of client-centered therapy are not effective, and the effective aspects are not unique but characteristic of all good therapy. [5]

Clinical Significance

Indications for Psychotherapy

Clinicians may initiate or refer a patient to psychotherapy for reasons not limited to the following:

Treatment of a psychiatric disorder
Help with maladaptive thoughts or behaviors
Support during stressful circumstances or when a chronic problem impairs functioning
Improve a patient's ability to make positive behavioral changes, such as healthy lifestyle changes or increasing adherence to medical treatment
Helping with interpersonal problems

Person-centered therapy can be used in various settings, including individual, group, and family therapy, or as part of play therapy with young children. There are no set guidelines on the length or frequency of person-centered therapy, but it may be used for short-term or long-term treatment. Person-centered therapy may be a good choice for patients who are not suitable for other forms of therapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBPT) or psychoanalysis, which require homework assignments and the ability to tolerate high levels of distress that may occur when elucidating unconscious processes. [6]

Person-centered therapy relies on the client's active participation and may not be appropriate for individuals who lack motivation or insight into their emotions and behaviors.

To examine the efficacy of person-centered therapy in the treatment of various psychiatric conditions, this article will include recent studies using any form of non-directive counseling based on Rogerian principles, including person-centered therapy/client-centered therapy (PCT/CCT), non-directive supportive therapy (NDST), and supportive counseling/therapy (SC/ST).

Important limitations exist as NDST is not a popular focus of most researchers in the field. It is often only included as a control for nonspecific therapeutic conditions, and therapists may not have administered optimal treatments. Consequently, the researcher's allegiance to a specific therapy could skew results. [7] [8] Additionally, given the inherent vagueness of this type of therapy, there could be differences in how NDST/SC/ST was defined and implemented.

There is evidence in the literature to support the efficacy of non-directive therapy as a treatment for depression. Three meta-analyses conducted within the past decade concluded that ST/NDST is an effective therapy for adult depression but may be less effective than other forms of therapy. [7] [Level 1]

Importantly, the authors mention that researcher bias may have played a role in the superiority of the other psychotherapies. After controlling for researcher allegiance, the differences in efficacy between non-directive therapy and other psychotherapies disappeared. This was true for all three meta-analyses. One study also notes no significant difference in effect sizes of non-directive supportive therapy versus full person-centered therapy. However, this was only based on two studies. [7]

A 2021 randomized, non-inferiority trial comparing person-centered therapy with CBT as a therapeutic intervention for depression found that person-centered therapy was not inferior to CBT at six months; however, person-centered therapy may be inferior to CBT at 12 months. The authors suggest that there needs to be continued investment in person-centered therapy to improve short-term outcomes. [9] [Level 1]

In adults with depression over the age of 50, one meta-analysis found non-directive counseling to be effective, with effects maintained for at least six months. However, non-directive counseling was less effective than CBT and problem-solving therapy. [10] [Level 1]

A 48-week randomized control trial compared nonspecific supportive psychotherapy with cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy (CBASP) in patients with chronic depression that were unmedicated (n=268). Both groups demonstrated a reduction in depressive symptoms. Patients who received nonspecific supportive psychotherapy had a lower response rate than patients who received CBASP. [11] [Level 1]

However, there were fewer severe adverse events with nonspecific supportive psychotherapy. [12] [Level 1] Follow-up two years posttreatment found the benefits of the two treatments were comparable on multiple measures, including the number of asymptomatic weeks. [13] [Level 1]

Bipolar disorder

One randomized controlled trial (n=76) compared ST/SC to CBT in treating bipolar disorders and observed no difference in relapse rates. [14] [Level 2]

Non-directive psychotherapy may be comparable to CBT and other forms of psychotherapy in treating generalized anxiety disorder in older adults. [15]

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

In the treatment of PTSD, non-directive therapy may be an effective treatment. [16] Person-centered therapy may be comparable to evidence-based treatments for PTSD, with fewer dropouts. [17] Trauma treatment research consistently shows lower dropout rates with person-centered therapy compared to other types of treatment. PCT may be a reasonable option in settings without the resources to provide the high levels of training required in other therapeutic modalities for PTSD.

Despite mixed evidence of its efficacy compared to other forms of psychotherapy, person-centered therapy is consistently recommended as a viable option, given the rising demand for psychological therapy. [9] The literature suggests an important role for PCT in low-resource communities where the training and supervision of more technical psychotherapies may be less readily available, and access to mental healthcare is limited. [17] [18]

Enhancing Healthcare Team Outcomes

It is estimated that 1 in 5 adults living in the United Kingdom and the United States suffer from mental illness. [19] Most patients receive treatment for a nonpsychotic psychiatric disorder in a primary care setting. In recent years, mental health care in children and adolescents has increased more rapidly compared with adult mental health care. Again, most of this mental health care has been provided by non-psychiatrist providers. [20]

In response to this rising need, there have been recent efforts to integrate behavioral health and primary care—an interprofessional care strategy will result in the best outcomes. The Collaborative Care Model employs a team-based approach emphasizing collaboration between different providers and has demonstrated improvement in depression outcomes compared to the usual care that persists for at least 24 months. [21] [Level 1]

Compared to other forms of psychotherapy, person-centered therapy has the advantage of being more readily available and more easily implemented in other healthcare roles. [11] Rogers himself stated that professional psychological knowledge is not required of the therapist; the qualities of the therapist and their experiential training are more important than intellectual training. [2]

In a small randomized controlled trial comparing various psychotherapeutic interventions of PTSD in a low-resource setting, all participants experienced symptom reduction regardless of the intervention. Importantly, nurses felt that supportive counseling was the most transferable to their respective work environments. [18] [Level 2] Another pragmatic trial (n = 228) found that non-directive counseling provided by public health nurses is an efficacious treatment for post-partum depression. [22] [Level 3]

Non-directive supportive counseling has a broader application beyond behavioral health. Healthcare providers can employ these principles to help patients make informed decisions about their physical health; however, more research is necessary to assess the impact of this approach on healthcare outcomes. [23] [Level 1]

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Disclosure: Lucy Yao declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Rian Kabir declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits others to distribute the work, provided that the article is not altered or used commercially. You are not required to obtain permission to distribute this article, provided that you credit the author and journal.

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Person-Centred Therapy and Core Conditions

Saul McLeod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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On This Page:

Humanistic therapies evolved in the USA during the 1950s. Carl Rogers proposed that therapy could be simpler, warmer, and more optimistic than that carried out by behavioral or psychodynamic psychologists.

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 unconscious motive or someone else’s interpretation of the situation.

Why Person-Centred Therapy?

Rogers strongly believed that therapists should be warm, genuine, and understanding for a client’s condition to improve. The starting point of the Rogerian approach to counseling and psychotherapy is best stated by Rogers himself:

“It is that the individual has within himself or herself vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his or her self-concept, attitudes and self-directed behavior – and that these resources can be tapped if only a definable climate of facilitative psychological attitudes can be provided” (1980, p.115-117).

Rogers (1961) rejected the deterministic nature of both psychoanalysis and behaviorism and maintained that we behave as we do because of the way we perceive our situation. “As no one else can know how we perceive, we are the best experts on ourselves.”

Believing strongly that theory should come out of practice rather than the other way round, 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 .

He emphasized the person’s current perception and how we live in the here and now.

Rogers noticed that people tend to describe their current experiences by referring to themselves in some way, for example, “I don’t understand what’s happening” or “I feel different to how I used to feel.”

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.” It consists of all the ideas and values that characterize “I” and “me” and includes perception and valuing of “what I am” and “what I can do.”

Consequently, the self-concept is a central component of our total experience and influences both our perception of the world and our perception of ourselves. For instance, a woman who perceives herself as strong may behave with confidence and see her actions as actions performed by someone who is confident.

The self-concept does not always fit with reality, though, and how we see ourselves may differ greatly from how others see us.

For example, a person might be very interesting to others and yet consider himself to be boring. He judges and evaluates this image he has of himself as a bore, and this value will be reflected in his self-esteem.

The confident woman may have high self-esteem, and the man who sees himself as a bore may have low self-esteem , presuming that strength/confidence are highly valued and that being boring is not.

Person-Centered Approach

Note : Person-centered therapy is also called client-centered therapy, and Rogerian Therapy.

A person enters person-centered therapy in a state of incongruence. It is the role of the therapists to reverse this situation. 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.

One major difference between humanistic counselors and other therapists is that they refer to those in therapy as “clients,” not “patients.” This is because they see the therapist and client as equal partners rather than as an expert treating a patient.

Unlike other therapies, the client is responsible for improving his or her life, not the therapist. This is a deliberate change from psychoanalysis and behavioral therapies, where the patient is diagnosed and treated by a doctor.

Instead, the client consciously and rationally decides for themselves what is wrong and what should be done about it. The therapist is more of a friend or counselor who listens and encourages on an equal level.

One reason why 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.

Rather than just liberating clients from their past, as psychodynamic therapists aim to do, Rogerians hope to help their clients achieve personal growth and eventually self-actualize .

There is an almost total absence of techniques in Rogerian psychotherapy due to the unique character of each counseling relationship. However, the quality of the relationship between the client and therapist is of utmost importance.

The therapeutic relationship…is the critical variable, not what the therapist says or does.

If there are any techniques, they are listening, accepting, understanding, and sharing, which seem more attitude-orientated than skills-orientated.

In Corey’s (1991) view, “a preoccupation with using techniques is seen [from the Rogerian standpoint] as depersonalizing the relationship.” The Rogerian client-centered approach emphasizes the person coming to form an appropriate understanding of their world and themselves.

Rogers regarded everyone as a “potentially competent individual” who could benefit greatly from his form of therapy.

Roger’s humanistic therapy aims 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.

Core Conditions of Client-Centered Therapy

Client-centered therapy operates according to three basic principles that reflect the attitude of the therapist to the client:

The therapist is congruent with the client.
The therapist provides the client with unconditional positive regard .
The therapist shows an empathetic understanding to the client.

Congruence in Counseling

Congruence is also called genuineness. According to Rogers, congruence is the most important attribute in counseling.

This means that, unlike the psychodynamic therapist who generally maintains a “blank screen” and reveals little of their own personality in therapy, the Rogerian is keen to allow the client to experience them as they really are.

The therapist does not have a façade (like psychoanalysis); that is, the therapist’s internal and external experiences are one and the same. In short, the therapist is authentic.

Unconditional Positive Regard

The next Rogerian core condition is unconditional positive regard . Rogers believed that for people to grow and fulfill their potential, it is important that they are valued as themselves.

This refers to the therapist’s deep and genuine caring for the client. The therapist may not approve of some of the client’s actions, but the therapist does approve of the client. In short, the therapist needs an attitude of “I’ll accept you as you are.”

The person-centered counselor is thus careful to always maintain a positive attitude to the client, even when disgusted by the client’s actions.

Empathy is the ability to understand what the client is feeling. This refers to the therapist’s ability to understand sensitively and accurately [but not sympathetically] the client’s experience and feelings in the here and now.

An important part of the task of the person-centered counselor is to follow precisely what the client is feeling and to communicate to them that the therapist understands what they are feeling.

In the words of Rogers (1959), accurate empathic understanding is as follows:

“The state of empathy, or being empathic, is to perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person, but without ever losing the “as if” condition. Thus, it means to sense the hurt or the pleasure of another as he senses it and to perceive the causes thereof as he perceives them, but without ever losing the recognition that it is as if I were hurt or pleased and so forth. If this “as if” quality is lost, then the state is one of identification” (p. 210-211).

Common Person-Centered Therapy Techniques

1. set clear boundaries, 2. the client knows best, 3. act as a sounding board, 4. don’t be judgmental, 5. don’t make decisions for them, 6. concentrate on what they are really saying, 7. be genuine, 8. accept negative emotions, 9. how you speak can be more important than what you say, 10. i may not be the best person to help, learning check.

Joyce is a successful teacher and is liked by her colleagues. However, Joyce has always dreamed of becoming a ballroom dancer.

She spends much of her free time with her partner practicing elaborate lifts and can often be seen twirling around the classroom during break times. Joyce is considering leaving teaching and becoming a professional dancer.

Her colleagues described her plans as ‘ridiculous,’ and her parents, who are very proud that their daughter is a teacher, have told Joyce that they will not speak to her again if she does leave teaching to become a dancer. Joyce is beginning to feel sad and miserable.

Referring to features of humanistic psychology, explain how Joyce’s situation may affect her personal growth. [8 marks].

Contemporary Branches

Various contemporary offshoots have developed, guided by different Rogerian principles:

Child-centered play therapy applies the nondirective principle to therapy with children, using play as children’s natural mode of expression. Pioneered by Virginia Axline and Garry Landreth, it believes in the child’s capacity for inner growth and healing through play and creativity in an accepting relationship.

Focusing-oriented psychotherapy comes from Eugene Gendlin and sees experiencing as central to growth. It gently guides clients to bring awareness to their bodily “felt senses” to get in touch with unclear feelings that can carry forward change if articulated.

Emotion-focused therapy from Leslie Greenberg integrates person-centered principles with Gestalt therapy and contemporary emotion research. It sees problematic emotion schemes as causing disturbances, which can be worked through and transformed in the therapeutic alliance via emotional processing tasks.

Dialogical/relational approaches emphasize the two-way, co-created therapist-client encounter as central. Inspired by Martin Buber’s “I-Thou” concept, the client is seen as infinitely foreign but can be related openly with flexibility beyond just empathy.

Creative person-centered approaches use arts, movement, music, and other creative modalities to facilitate self-discovery and spontaneous expression within a nondirective relationship. Pioneered by Natalie Rogers, creative processes are seen as actualizing growth pathways.

Pre-therapy is for clients with severe contact impairments from Garry Prouty and uses very concrete mirroring and repetitions of client behavior to try and reestablish psychological contact gently as a precursor to therapy.

Integrative person-centered approaches combine core conditions with other practices, challenging “purism” and recognizing different clients need different things. Pluralistic therapy from Mick Cooper and John McLeod is one prominent integrative framework emphasizing client preferences.

Person-Centered Training and Supervision

In training and supervision, the focus is on using person-centered relating to stimulate trainee/therapist personal growth and self-understanding. The assumption is that their own actualization will transfer to more effective practice.

Belief that trainees have inherent capacity for professional development. Allows programs to be highly self-directed – trainees shape curriculum, assessments etc.
Personal development groups
Encounter groups
Skills practice sessions
Feedback centers on helping develop empathy/acceptance capacities and active listening skills.

Supervision:

Primary aim is to facilitate therapist self-awareness and congruence.
Supervisor takes exploratory, person-centered style rather than authority role.
Discussion explores supervisee’s experiences/reactions to client to reveal material at the “edge of awareness.”
Audio recordings of sessions often used to understand relational dynamics.
Supervisory relationship itself models acce

Because the person-centered counselor places so much emphasis on genuineness and being led by the client, they do not place the same emphasis on time and technique boundaries as a psychodynamic therapist.

A person-centered counselor might diverge considerably from orthodox counseling techniques if they judged it appropriate.

As Mearns and Thorne (1988) point out, we cannot understand person-centered counseling by its techniques alone. The person-centered counselor has a very positive and optimistic view of human nature.

The philosophy that people are essentially good and that, ultimately, the individual knows what is right for them is the essential ingredient of a successful person-centered therapy is “all about loving.”

What is person-centered therapy?

Person-centered therapy, also known as client-centered therapy, is a psychological approach developed by Carl Rogers. It emphasizes the client’s autonomy and capacity for self-determination in the therapeutic process.

The therapist provides a supportive environment, demonstrating empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence (genuineness), facilitating the client’s self-exploration and self-understanding.

The goal is to promote personal growth and help individuals achieve their full potential by resolving incongruences between their self-perception and reality.

Which techniques are most often used in person-centered therapy?

Person-centered therapy doesn’t use specific techniques like other therapeutic approaches. Instead, it relies on three core principles: unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence.

Unconditional positive regard involves accepting and supporting the client without any conditions. Empathy requires the therapist to understand and share the feelings of the client.

Congruence refers to the therapist being genuine and transparent. The therapist’s role is to create a safe, non-judgmental environment that encourages self-exploration and self-understanding, facilitating the client’s natural tendency toward self-actualization.

Corey, G. (1991). Invited commentary on macrostrategies for delivery of mental health counseling services .

Mearns, P., & Thorne, B. (1988). Person-Centred Counselling in Action (Counselling in Action series) . London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Rogers, C. (1951). Client-centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory . London: Constable.

Rogers, C. (1959). A Theory of Therapy, Personality and Interpersonal Relationships as Developed in the Client-centered Framework. In (ed.) S. Koch, Psychology: A Study of a Science. Vol. 3: Formulations of the Person and the Social Context . New York: McGraw Hill.

Rogers, C. R. (1961). On Becoming a person: A psychotherapists view of psychotherapy . Houghton Mifflin.

Rogers, C. (1975). Empathic: An unappreciated way of being . The counseling psychologist, 5(2), 2-10.

Rogers, Carl R. (1980). Way of Being . Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Rogers, C. (1986). Carl Rogers on the Development of the Person-Centered Approach. Person-Centered Review , 1(3), 257-259.

Case Conceptualization: Person Centered Therapy

To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
As a template for you assignment

Person Centered Case Conceptualization

Humanistic case conceptualization: example treatments, person centered therapy conceptualization & spiritual application.

Person-centered therapy is a kind of treatment that gives clients an opportunity to figure out how their deeds and thoughts affect their health. The therapy is client-oriented. Therefore, clients assume the responsibility for their treatment course under the guidance of therapists.

Carl Rogers developed the treatment after realizing that the success of therapy depends on close interaction between therapist and client. For person-centered therapy to succeed, three conditions are necessary. These are empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard. Therapists should treat clients with utmost respect and not criticize or judge them.

Person-centered therapy can be used to treat clients suffering from depression, identity crisis, and alcohol disorders. Person-centered therapy is prone to ethical and cultural challenges. One of the ethical challenges is therapist’s attitude towards a client.

Therapists should not have a negative attitude towards their customers no matter their situation. Since person-centered therapy gives clients the liberty to decide on the treatment course to use, it might not work for clients who hail from cultures that value consultation. Person-centered therapy is to some extent compatible with Christian teachings. However, some of its practices and beliefs contradict Christian teachings.

Person-centered therapy (PCT) is also referred to as person-centered counseling. It is a kind of talk-psychotherapy established by Carl Rogers. The primary objective of person-centered therapy is to present clients with a chance to create a sense of character, where they can figure out how their actions, emotions and mindsets are being adversely affected (Cooper, O’Hara, Schmid & Wyatt, 2007).

Person-centered therapy gives much of the duty of healing course to the patient, with the therapist assuming a nondirective responsibility. Other objectives of person-centered therapy to clients are “greater openness to experience and increased self-esteem” (Cooper et al., 2007, p. 46). The therapy seeks to establish close conformity between clients’ idealized and real selves. It also aims to promote self-understanding and reduce cases of insecurity.

Rogers had a conviction that therapy should “take place in a supportive environment created by a close personal relationship between client and therapist” (Cooper et al., 2007, p. 53). Thus, he came up with the term client to demonstrate his rebuff of the conventionally hierarchical correlation between counselor and client and his perception of them as equals.

Rogers believed that therapist’s attitude plays a great role in helping a client. He asserted that congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard are three correlated attitudes that are critical to person-centered therapy. Person-centered therapy seeks to boost self-esteem and help a client to interact with others.

Research in humanistic therapies has shown that individuals who are treated through person-centered therapy sustain steady changes over a long period. Besides, studies have shown that the changes exhibited by a patient treated through person-centered therapy are comparable to those exhibited by patients treated through other forms of treatment.

A five-year evaluation of the effectiveness of person-centered therapy in treating clients suffering from mental problems proved that the treatment is effective (Gibbrad & Hanley, 2008). Most of the clients evaluated showed significant improvement after therapy.

Rogers initially developed person-centered therapy to help in treating children. With time, therapists started to use PCT to treat even the adults. Person-centered therapy is mainly used to help individuals suffering from depression, cognitive dysfunction, alcohol disorders and anxiety (Cooper et al., 2007). In addition, the therapy can be used to treat any personality disorder.

Person-centered therapy helps in treating clients suffering from low self-esteem and those suffering from identity crisis. The therapy assists clients to come up with techniques to reconnect with themselves and attain self-actualization. Hence, person-centered therapy is the most appropriate treatment to use for my client because it will help him to gain inner locus of control and overcome anxiety and depression (Gibbrad & Hanley, 2008).

The therapy will allow my client to assume full responsibility for his treatment course. Hence, it will guarantee him a full recovery. One of the ethical issues that might arise when using person-centered therapy is therapist’s attitude towards a client. A therapist ought to treat a client as a person with dignity despite his or her situation.

Therapist ought to conduct themselves in a way that does not devaluate clients (Gibbrad & Hanley, 2008). Additionally, they should respect the client’s right to self-direction rather than imposing directions on the clients. In other words, therapists should make sure that they try as much as possible not to dominate their clients.

Rogers overlooked the concept of cultural diversity when coming up with person-centered therapy. One of the multicultural issues that might arise when using PCT with clients is a need for dependence on parents or relatives (MacDougall, 2002). The therapy encourages self-direction as the ultimate way to help clients overcome their challenges.

However, this approach may not work, especially when dealing with clients whose cultures require one to consult before making decision. In addition, it might be hard for the counselor to meet cultural expectations when helping a client to attain self-actualization. Person-centered therapy can be used in a crisis situation. The therapy is client-oriented.

Therefore, it contributes to establishing a calm environment for clients to come to terms with their challenges. Additionally, the therapy advocates genuineness on the side of a therapist (Kensit, 2002). A therapist identifies with client’s challenges and assists the client to come up with strategies to cope with the challenges. Thus, person-centered therapy can be helpful in a crisis situation since it begins by establishing a good rapport between a client and therapist.

Presenting Problems

John Cater is an African American, who presents himself as depressed after university administration thwarts his dream of becoming a civil engineer. John alleges that he was accused of orchestrating a strike in the university. In spite of him not being part of those who organized the strike, the school expelled him together with six other students.

After staying at home for two months, John secured a job with a local contractor. He was committed to his work, though his commitment earned him nothing but expulsion. He was accused of misappropriation of financial resources. The expulsion aggravated his depression.

As if this was not enough, John lost his childhood sweetheart after losing his job. He tried to plead with his wife to stay as he attempts to look for ways to sustain the family, but the wife was adamant to leave. All these incidences happened very fast such that it was hard for John to comprehend.

Goals for Counseling

John feels depressed after being unable to salvage his future and rescue his family. The first goal of seeking counseling is to help him change his attitude towards relationship. Even though John would like to marry again, he feels that he cannot keep a relationship because of his financial hardships. The second goal is to help John regain his self-esteem.

John claims that he developed low self-esteem after losing his work and wife. Hence, it is imperative to help him regain his self-worth. John’s predicament has made him irritable and hasty. The third goal of therapy is to assist him deal with his emotions, which are critical if he has to get another job and establish a family.

The three objectives aim to help John live a happy and confident life. John holds the key to solutions to his challenges. Person-centered therapy will help John to determine the direction of treatment that suits his objectives. As a result, he will assume control of the treatment course, thus being in a position to recover completely.

Interventions

Congruence. Kensit (2002) defines congruence as, “The willingness to relate to clients without hiding behind a professional façade” (p. 347). Therapists who demonstrate congruence in their counseling processes shares important sensational reactions with their patients. Congruence will be of significant help in helping John to accomplish his goals.

As a therapist, I will be open with John and establish a counseling environment that allows us to relate without fear of intimidation. Such an environment will make John disclose other challenges that he might not be comfortable revealing to people. In the process, I will help him to come up with a comprehensive treatment course that addresses all the challenges.

By being open, I will help John to cope with his emotions and come up with measures to shun anxiety. I will help John to learn that negative feelings keep him far from his loved ones and might deny him a chance to get a job in the future. I will do this by asking John to determine the number of friends he has made, or job applications he has tried since he lost his job and family. Such an exercise will help him to understand that his emotions may be one of the factors that frustrate his desire to live a happy life.

Unconditional Positive Regard. Unconditional positive regard implies 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” (Kensit, 2002, p. 350). Therapists exhibit unconditional positive regard through listening to clients’ stories without criticizing, disrupting or giving advice.

Positive regard establishes a non-threatening background, which allows a client to share freely sensational, aggressive, or atypical feelings without fear. Unconditional positive regard will help John to deal with his low self-esteem. I will allow John to give his side of the story without interruptions. Besides, I will make sure that I do not criticize John for his actions, feelings or decisions.

Showing unconditional positive attitude will help John to believe in himself and trust that he can still achieve his dreams regardless of the hardships he has gone through. I will assist John to identify fears and perceptions that make him develop low self-esteem and guide him on how to deal with the fears. Besides, I will help John to explore concerns and perceptions that are most critical to his dreams and guide him on how to work on the perceptions.

Empathy. Empathy refers to therapist’s attempt to understand client’s predicament from the client’s point of view. Empathy acts as a prelude step that determines if therapy session will proceed. One way that I will show empathy when helping John is by paying attention to his story (Blair, 2013).

Additionally, I will use reflection technique, which involves summarizing what John is saying. Such an approach will make John to feel that I am listening accurately, thus give him a chance to examine his thoughts and feelings. Through empathy, I will help John to deal with his attitude towards relationship (Walker, 2001).

I will request John to elaborate on his thoughts about relationship and assist him to change the views. I will endeavor to create an environment that will allow John to discern solutions to his challenges by himself.

Compatibilities

Person-centered therapy addresses matters that are often encountered in Christian teachings. First, person-centered therapy helps individuals to determine their identity. MacDougall (2002) argues that person-centered therapy helps clients to pursue pure conscience, which enables them to understand the meaning of their lives and to live as expected.

Christians are supposed to live as per their potential and meaning. Failure to achieve this leads to profound guilt. Person-centered therapy helps clients to focus on real conscience and budge forward. Second, Christianity encourages self-emptying. Christians regard self-emptying as “God’s way of being in the world” (Thorne, 2008, p. 87).

On the other hand, person-centered therapy encourages self-emptying as a way to understand oneself and seek solutions to challenges facing an individual. Third, person-centered therapy “offers a supportive bearing in relating to others” (Jones & Butman, 2011, p. 43). Undoubtedly, the Bible approves genuineness. Person-centered therapy requires therapists to be honest in all they do.

Besides, therapists are called to love and treat their clients with love. They are obliged to serve all clients diligently regardless of their social status. In person-centered therapy, therapists take their time to listen to clients without criticizing or interrupting them. It demonstrates the love, which Christianity advocates.

Incompatibilities

There are glaring inconsistencies between person-centered therapy and spiritual teachings. First, person-centered therapy assumes that mankind is innately provoked towards positive growth. Nevertheless, this is not the reality. We were created in God’s likeness, and we know that one benefits from being good.

However, we always find ourselves committing sins. Person-centered therapy holds that an individual can improve his or her life by striving to do well (Jones & Butman, 2011). However, Christianity teaches that man can only be made perfect through intercession of the Holy Spirit. Second, person-centered therapy encourages selfishness, which is against Christian teachings.

Person-centered therapy promotes self-actualization. Self-actualization involves, “Removing personal barriers, knowing ourselves and reaching our full potential” (Thorne, 2008, p. 91). In most cases, self-actualization makes individuals fail to discharge their duties to others and become self-centered.

Thorne (2008) alleges, “Person-centered therapy holds that human nature is intrinsically good and it supposes that self-actualization leads to goodness” (p. 95). However, the Bible encourages people to be selfless. Another incompatibility between person-centered therapy and Christianity is that person-centered therapy is phenomenological. The treatment “Uses subjective experience to determine a client’s concept of truth” (Thorne, 2008, p. 101).

It encourages therapists to accept a client no matter his or her situation. Therefore, it gives room for truth to be relative. Diverse clients may delineate ethics differently, and a counselor is required to acknowledge all the delineations. Christianity is very strict on the issue of morality, and it does not give room for morality to be relative. Thorne (2008) alleges, “In person-centered therapy, however, unconditional positive regard can be a trap” (p. 103).

Even though Christianity encourages people to love one another unconditionally, it emphasizes on the importance of truth. Christians are obliged to love one another. However, they are not forced to acknowledge everything their colleagues do. Christianity asserts that people should establish limits and encourage restraint in the lives of their loved ones.

With time, it is hoped that John will cope with his emotions and regain his self-esteem. It is also expected that John will understand how his emotions push him far from people and deprive him a chance to establish new relationships that might eventually lead to marriage. Besides, he will understand that it is hard for him to get a job without interacting with people.

It will be significant for John to know that it is possible for one to develop depression after going through hardships. However, one is not supposed to dwell on his past but to look for ways to overcome his or her challenges. It is hoped that John will gain the courage to apply for jobs and approach women in search of a suitable lady to marry.

One of the most challenging aspects of treatment will be helping John to regain self-esteem. He believes that he is worthless and spends most of his time alone. It will be challenging to convince him to start relating with people that he perceives to be in a high social status.

Blair, L. (2013). Ecopsychology: challenges for person-centered therapy. Person-centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, 12 (4), 368-381.

Cooper, M., O’Hara, M., Schmid, P., & Wyatt, G. (2007). The Handbook of person-centered psychotherapy and counseling . London: Palgrave MacMillan.

Gibbrad, I., & Hanley, T. (2008). A five-year evaluation of the effectiveness of person-centered counseling in routine clinical practice in primary care. Counseling and Psychotherapy Research, 8 (4), 215-222.

Jones, S., & Butman, R. (2011). Modern psychotherapies: A comprehensive Christian appraisal (2nd ed.). Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press.

Kensit, D. (2002). Rogerian theory: a critique of the effectiveness of pure client-centered therapy. Counseling Psychology Quarterly, 13 (4), 345-351.

MacDougall, C. (2002). Rogers’s person-centered approach: consideration for use in multicultural counseling. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 42 (2), 48-65.

Thorne, B. (2008). Person-Centered Counseling: Therapeutic and Spiritual Dimensions . New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Walker, M. (2001). Practical applications of the Rogerian perspective in postmodern psychotherapy. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 20 (2), 41-57.

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Person-Centered Therapy

Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff

Person-centered therapy , also known as Rogerian therapy or client-based therapy, employs a non-authoritative approach that allows clients to take more of a lead in sessions such that, in the process, they discover their own solutions.

The approach originated in the work of American psychologist Carl Rogers, who believed that every person is unique and, therefore, everyone’s view of his or her own world, and their ability to manage it, should be trusted. Rogers was a proponent of self-actualization, or the idea that each of us has the power to find the best solutions for ourselves and the ability to make appropriate changes in our lives. He initially referred to this approach as non-directive therapy , since it required the therapist to follow the client’s lead and not direct discussion. It was a concept that turned upside-down established notions of therapeutic practice of the time, such as psychoanalysis and behaviorism.

During person-centered therapy, a therapist acts as a compassionate facilitator, listening without judgment and acknowledging the client’s experience without shifting the conversation in another direction. The therapist is there to encourage and support the client without interrupting or interfering with their process of self-discovery, as they uncover what hurts and what is needed to repair it .

When It's Used
What to Expect
How It Works
What to Look for in a Person-Centered Therapist

Person-centered therapists work with individuals or groups, and both adults and adolescents; the therapy can be long-term or short-term. The approach can benefit people who seek to gain more self-confidence , a stronger sense of identity or authenticity , greater success in establishing interpersonal relationships, and more trust in their own decisions. The approach, alone or in combination with other types of therapy, can help those dealing with anxiety and depression as well as grief or other difficult circumstances, such as abuse, breakups, professional anxiety, or family stressors.

Since the client must take initiative in person-centered therapy, those who are more motivated are likely to be more successful.

Person-centered therapy is talk therapy in which the client does most of the talking. The therapist will not actively direct conversation in sessions, or judge or interpret what you say, but they may restate your words in an effort to fully understand your thoughts and feelings (and to help you do the same). When you hear your own words repeated back to you in this way, you may then wish to self-edit and clarify your meaning. This can actually happen several times until you decide that you have expressed exactly what you are thinking and how you feel.

There may be moments of silence in person-centered therapy, to allow your thoughts to sink in. This client-focused process is intended to facilitate self-discovery and self-acceptance and provide a means of healing and positive growth.

Person-centered therapy, as envisioned by Rogers, was a movement away from the therapist’s traditional role as an expert and leader , and toward a process that allowed clients to use their own understanding of their experiences as a platform for healing.

The success of person-centered therapy generally relies on three conditions:

Unconditional positive regard, which means therapists must be empathetic and non-judgmental as they accept the client’s words and convey feelings of understanding, trust, and confidence that encourage clients to feel valued and to make their own (better) decisions and choices.
Empathetic understanding, which means therapists completely understand and accept their clients’ thoughts and feelings, in a way that can help reshape an individual’s sense of their experiences.
Congruence, or genuineness, which means therapists carry no air of authority or superiority but instead present a true and accessible self that clients can see is honest and transparent.

When therapy is working well, clients experience themselves as better understood in their sessions, which often leads them to feel better understood in other areas of their lives as well. Research supports this idea: Studies have found that when clients perceive these three qualities to be present in their therapists—and particularly when they recognize the professional’s unconditional positive regard for them—they are more likely to report achieving positive outcomes; in other words, the relationship established between client and therapist is itself therapeutic

A person-focused professional should have the ability to remain calm in sessions, even if a client expresses negative thoughts about the therapist. A trained therapist should allow a client to verbalize that they are frustrated or disappointed by them and help the individual discover what insights can be gained by exploring those feelings.

Client-focused therapy, Rogers wrote, “aims directly toward the greater independence…of the individual rather than hoping that such results will accrue if the counselor assists in solving the problem.” In other words, the goal is to help clients become their own therapists.

Therapists still play an important role. They must be actively and engaged and responsive, and create an environment in which a client can progress toward solutions, by establishing trust, helping the individual find clarity in their statements through repetition, listening closely for new layers of understanding, and expressing nonjudgmental empathy.

In some cases, a therapist may bring others into a client’s sessions , such as parents or partners, for semi-guided discussions in which they may model for loved one ways to listen to, and better empathize with and understand, what the client is feeling or experiencing.

Some people may struggle with the lack of structure in typical person-focused therapy; individuals experiencing higher levels of stress or anxiety may need more direction from a therapist and may make more progress with a different therapeutic approach. Similarly, since a person-focused therapist may not focus on diagnosing a client, and may not strictly direct sessions, those with symptoms of certain personality disorders may not achieve change with this approach.

When a therapist becomes convinced that a client cannot make further progress with this person-focused therapy, they may recommend that the individual accept a referral to a different professional who may have different training or expertise.

There is no formal certification required to be able to practice person-centered therapy; licensed mental health professionals from a range of disciplines who have training and experience in the approach can use it in therapy. In addition to finding someone with relevant background and relevant experience, look for a therapist or counselor who is especially empathetic and with whom you feel comfortable discussing personal issues.

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Applying an Integrated Approach to a Case Example: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Person Centered Therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and Person-Centered Therapy (PCT) have been shown to bring about positive changes in therapy. CBT and PCT, like all single-theory approaches, have limitations. Literature suggests that when the change-producing techniques of CBT and PCT are combined and applied, counseling is more effective (Josefowitz & Myran, 2005; Tursi & Cochran, 2006). In this paper, CBT and PCT are reviewed and then integrated into one approach. A case example is then presented and hypothetical helping sessions are described to demonstrate how the various techniques of the approaches can come together to create positive changes in therapy. A discussion follows that suggests future research and identifies additional resources.

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Goldenberg and Goldenberg describe several empirically validated theoretical approaches to family therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one such approach, with abundant research supporting its efficacy for couples in conflict. Research has demonstrated the efficacy of Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy (CBFT) in treating youth with mood and anxiety disorders, showing a high rate of sustained long-term success in the treatment of pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder. Although critics denigrate the cognitive-behavioral approach for its tendency to employ a Eurocentric view, CBFT is flexible enough to accommodate clients of various cultural backgrounds, particularly in cultures where family cohesiveness and interdependence are highly valued, such as African American, Middle Eastern, and East Indian cultures. CBFT also integrates effectively with other theoretical approaches for those counselors who favor using an eclectic approach in family therapy. Principles and techniques of CBFT are easily integrated with Scriptural principles applicable to Christian counseling.

Giovanni M Ruggiero , Rawezh Ibrahim

ABC-DEF framework is at the core of rational emotive behavior therapy. It is a highly flexible framework and has proven to be applicable to many emotional disorders. We cannot take for granted, however, that this framework can be used successfully with all clients, particularly with those suffering from severe disorders or personality disorders. In fact, the difficulties of these clients in recognizing, naming and reflecting upon states of mind, their dysregulated emotions and self-defeating behavior, and their difficulty in establishing a strong working alliance with a therapist may hamper the correct implementation of the ABC-DEF framework and the disputing of their irrational beliefs. This paper aims to describe in

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Although mindfulness has become a mainstream methodology in mental health treatment, it is a relatively new approach with adolescents, and perhaps especially youth with sexual behavior problems. Nevertheless, clinical experience and several empirical studies are available to show the effectiveness of a systematic mindfulness-based methodology for treating adolescents who engage in sexual and physical aggression. In this article, the authors first explore the elements of mindfulness that are inherent in traditional cognitive-btehavioral Therapy (CBT) and then review how mindfulness has been systematically incorporated into several “third wave” cognitive-behavioral therapies – ACT, DBT, MBCT, and MDT – each of which have been applied with adolescents. While it can be argued that mindfulness is a “common” therapeutic factor across approaches, mindfulness can also be considered to be, and applied as, a primary modality to enhance the effectiveness of most therapies with adolescents who engage in problem behaviors, including sexual offending. The key, however, is making modifications to accommodate the unique developmental needs of adolescents. A case example is presented to demonstrate the clinical application of mindfulness with an adolescent victim and perpetrator of sexual abuse.

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Person-Centred Approach to Counselling

The person-centred approach to counselling.

The person-centred approach to counselling belongs to the humanistic school of therapy, and was devised by Carl Rogers , an American psychologist.

In the 1950s, Rogers proposed a form of therapy that focused on the clients' experience of themselve s, as opposed to the counsellor being an expert and telling them what to do, or what was wrong with them.

Click Here for a podcast on Carl Ransom Rogers, founder of the person-centered approach to counselling.

Carl Ransom Rogers founded the person-centered approach to counselling, which focused on the clients' experience of themselves.

The therapy relies on the quality of the relationship between the counsellor and the client. This is sometimes called a ‘ way of being ’, with the counsellor demonstrating what is known as the core conditions , which form the basis of the relationship.

The Key Features of the Person-Centered Approach

The core conditions.

Empathy (the counsellor trying to understand the client’s point of view)
Congruence (the counsellor being a genuine person)
Unconditional positive regard (the counsellor being non-judgemental)

Person-centred therapy harnesses the client's natural self-healing process. Given the right relationship with the therapist, clients can decide what they want to do with their lives.

To this end, person-centred therapy is a personal growth model also known as non-directive therapy. The client is not taught the model of therapy or asked to undertake homework.

The Key Concepts and Principles of Person-Centred Counselling

The Six Conditions for Therapeutic Change . Although the 'Core Conditions' are well-known, there are three 'Hidden Conditions'.
The Seven Stages of Process . How clients start to emotionally grow through the process of therapy.
The 19 Propositions . Rogers' theory of personality based on the philosophy of Phenomenology .
Locus of Evaluation . How as humans we sometimes trust others' judgments over our own experience.
The Organismic Self . Who we are and wish to become.
Conditions of Worth . How conditional love and approval impact our view of ourselves and others.
Introjected Values . How living to other people's view of self can stop us from becoming the person we wish to be.
Configurations of Self . A new idea in the Person-Centred Approach developed by the well-known therapist and writer Dave Mearns .
Recent Developments in Person-Centred Therapy . Such as Fragile Process by Margaret Warner

Carl Rogers believed that all individuals have the power to live to their own organismic valuing process .

This basically means trusting your own judgement and living your life in line with your own values, rather than with the values of others.

Click to learn about Carl Rogers' core conditions .

Click to see other contributors to the person-centred theory .

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Person-Centered Theory

Carl Rogers – Humanistic Theory

Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an influential American psychologist, writer and contributor to educational theory.

With his contribution to psychotherapy research, Rogers is widely acknowledged as one of the main contributors (along with Abraham Maslow and Otto Rank) to what is known as the 'Humanistic' School of Psychology or the ' Third Force in Psychology ', a phrase coined by Abraham Maslow .

The person-centred approach to counselling belongs to the humanistic school of therapy

Honoured for his work in 1956 by the American Psychological Association for his groundbreaking research, with the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions, Rogers also gained an award in 1972 from the APA for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Psychology.

In later life, Rogers was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with differing groups in places such as South Africa and Northern Ireland.

Rogers produced a valuable body of work which includes theories such as:

introjected values
conditions of worth
frame of reference
the seven stages of process
the 19 propositions

One of the other terms Rogers 'coined' was the 'organismic self ', a reference to how an individual uses their thoughts and feelings to develop an emotional picture of who they are. He named this process ' the internal locus of evaluation '.

Humanistic School of Psychology
Biography of Carl Rogers

IMAGES

Carl Rogers Person-Centered Therapy Case Study Example
Person Centered Therapy Case Conceptualization
Person centered therapy case study examples and comprehensive overview
Person centred counselling case study examples
Person centered approach in counselling
Person Centered Therapy: How It Works and What to Expect

COMMENTS

Person-Centered Therapy Case Study: Examples and Analysis
Case Study 1: Overcoming Social Anxiety. In this case study, we explore how person-centered therapy helped Sarah, a young woman struggling with severe social anxiety, regain her confidence and navigate social interactions. Through the establishment of a strong therapeutic alliance, her therapist cultivated a safe space for Sarah to explore her ...
Person-Centered Therapy Case Study: Examples and Analysis
10.07.2022. Person-centered therapy, also known as client-centered therapy or Rogerian therapy, is a form of psychotherapy developed by prominent American psychologist Carl Rogers throughout the 1940s to the 1980s. This type of therapy is a humanistic approach and was seen as revolutionary as most psychotherapies before its emergence was based ...
Trust, acceptance, and power: a person-centered client case study
The process of gaining consent from the client and the agency to use therapeutic material for an anonymized case study posed the question of considering ethical issues that are related to power dynamics wherein trust and acceptance were fundamental in prioritizing clients' safety.
Trust, acceptance, and power: A person-centered client case study
The Person-Centered Journal, 7 (1), 28- 39 . This case study examines the author's therapeutic experience with one client presenting with anxiety, whilst working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this work shows the interrelation between theory, practice, and research in the author's counseling psychology training with ...
Trust, acceptance, and power: a person-centered client case study
Abstract. This case study examines the author's therapeutic experience with one client presenting with anxiety, whilst working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this work ...
10 Person-Centered Therapy Techniques & Interventions [+PDF]
Another notable characteristic of person- or client-centered therapy is the use of the term "client" rather than "patient." Therapists who practice this type of approach see the client and therapist as a team of equal partners rather than an expert and a patient (McLeod, 2015). ... You'll find a great case study example here: https ...
Person-Centered Therapy: The Case of Tommy
The person-centered therapeutic process incorporates the concepts of meaning, values, freedom, tragedy, personal responsibility, human potential, spirituality, and self-actualization into its holistic approach to human existence (Aanstoos, Serlin, & Greening, 2000 ). Recognizing the applicability of the client-centered approach, Rogers and his ...
Counselling Case Study: Working with Grief
The key concepts of Person Centred Therapy applied in this session were: The creation of a non-directive and growth-promoting climate wherein the client feels nurtured and respected. A congruent and empathic approach by the counsellor that emphasises and promotes self worth and empowerment encouraging clients to find answers that are congruent ...
THE CASE OF MARIA: A PERSON-CENTERED APPROACH
THE CASE OF MARIA: A PERSON-CENTERED APPROACH. The use of a client case study to view person-centered theory raises several problems. To begin with, the standard case study concept suggests that a collection of historical factors will be used to describe and diagnose an illness. However, person-centered theory places more emphasis on clients ...
A Case Demonstrating Person Centred Therapy
Session Content. "C" has decided to use a person-centred approach with Michael. "C" believes that Michael has the resources to come to his own decision about his life. Because of the rapport that already exists between "C" and Michael, "C" suspects that Michael may look to him to acknowledge his right to choose his own path.
Person-Centered Therapy: What It Is and How It Works
Summary. Person-centered therapy, also called client-centered therapy, is a form of psychotherapy that places emphasis on the client over the therapist. It empowers the client to take control of their mental health without judgment and helps improve the client's self-awareness. An open and trusting relationship between client and therapist is ...
Client Assessment and Formulation with Person Centered Approach
This paper is comprised of a case study on success of using psychotherapy for "Laura1" a client who experi-ences emotional disruption and executive difficulties. The primary approach of the issues of the client has been Person Centered Therapy, although some other problem-solving techniques such as pluralistic frame-work was also used.
Person-Centered Therapy (Rogerian Therapy)
Person-centered therapy, also referred to as non-directive, client-centered, or Rogerian therapy, was pioneered by Carl Rogers in the early 1940s. This form of psychotherapy is grounded in the idea that people are inherently motivated toward achieving positive psychological functioning. The client is believed to be the expert in their life and leads the general direction of therapy, while the ...
Person-Centered Therapy (Rogerian Therapy)
A person enters person-centered therapy in a state of incongruence. It is the role of the therapists to reverse this situation. 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. One major difference between humanistic counselors and other ...
Case Conceptualization: Person Centered Therapy
Abstract. Person-centered therapy is a kind of treatment that gives clients an opportunity to figure out how their deeds and thoughts affect their health. The therapy is client-oriented. Therefore, clients assume the responsibility for their treatment course under the guidance of therapists. Get a custom coursework on Case Conceptualization ...
Person-Centered Therapy
Person-Centered Therapy. Person-centered therapy, also known as Rogerian therapy or client-based therapy, employs a non-authoritative approach that allows clients to take more of a lead in ...
Person-Centered Therapy: Why This May Be Right For You
Person-centered therapy is a unique type of talk therapy developed by Carl Rogers. In this approach, therapists don't guide the sessions, offer advice, or judge what you decide to share.
(DOC) Applying an Integrated Approach to a Case Example: Cognitive
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and Person-Centered Therapy (PCT) have been shown to bring about positive changes in therapy. CBT and PCT, like all single-theory approaches, have limitations. ... The case study demonstrated how the use of an integrated CBT and PCT can be used to bring about positive changes in therapy. Tursi and Cochran ...
Person-Centered Approach, Positive Psychology, and Relational Helping
Person-centred therapy: A revolutionary paradigm. Ross-on-Wye, England: PCCS Books. ... (Eds.), Person-centered practice: Case studies in positive psychology (pp. 218-223). Ross-on-Wye, England: PCCS Books. Google Scholar. King M., Sibbald B., Ward E., Bower P., Lloyd M., Gabbay M., Byford S. (2000). Randomised controlled trail of non-directive ...
Person-Centred Approach to Counselling • Counselling Tutor
The Person-Centred Approach to Counselling. The person-centred approach to counselling belongs to the humanistic school of therapy, and was devised by Carl Rogers, an American psychologist. In the 1950s, Rogers proposed a form of therapy that focused on the clients' experience of themselve s, as opposed to the counsellor being an expert and ...
A Fictional Case Study Involving Person-Centred Therapy and
This fictional case study explores various components of person-centred therapy and transpersonal psychotherapy as applied to the conceptualization of a bulimia nervosa case study and psychotherapeutic treatment. The strengths and limitations of these theories in the conceptualization and treatment of bulimia nervosa are discussed. résumé
Person Centred Counselling Case Study Example
Intervention. During the session, Dr Berenson, a therapist using a humanistic approach, attempts to help Rose deal with this problem. The person-centred counselling approach used, also known as client-centered, places much of the responsibility for the treatment process on the client, with the therapist taking a nondirective role (Egan, 2007).
Client-Centered Therapy for Depression
Your doctor may recommend client-centered therapy if you have depression. It may also help you cope with other conditions or situations, such as: stress. anxiety. low self-esteem. interpersonal ...

Person-Centered Therapy Case Study: Examples and Analysis

Introduction

Understanding Person-Centered Therapy

Case Study Examples

Case Study 2: Healing from Trauma

Case Study 3: Enhancing Self-Esteem

Analysis of Person-Centered Therapy

Client-Centered Approach

Empowering Self-Awareness and Growth

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Person-Centered Therapy Case Study: Examples and Analysis

What Is Person-Centered Therapy?

10 Person-Centered Therapy Techniques & Interventions [+PDF]

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The Rogerian Approach to Psychotherapy

Carl Rogers on Person-Centered Therapy video

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1. Set clear boundaries

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5. Don’t make decisions for your clients

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9. How you speak can be more important than what you say

10. I may not be the best person to help

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Counselling Case Study: Working with Grief

Application of Person-Centered Counselling

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A Case Demonstrating Person Centred Therapy

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