Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy

1. Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy Psych422 Chapter7: Person-centered Therapy

2. Questions? • What key concepts do you know in terms of person-center therapy? • Do you believe most clients have the capacity to understand and resolve their own problems without directive intervention by the therapist? Why or why not?

3. Person-Centered Therapy(A reaction against the directive and psychoanalytic approaches) • Challenges: • The assumption that “the counselor knows best” • The validity of advice, suggestion, persuasion, teaching, diagnosis, and interpretation • The belief that clients cannot understand and resolve their own problems without direct help • The focus on problems over persons

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

5. Six Conditions(necessary and sufficient for personality changes to occur) 1. Two persons are in psychological contact 2. The first, the client, is experiencing incongruency 3. The second person, the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship 4. The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard or real caring for the client 5. The therapist experiences empathy for the client’s internal frame of reference and endeavors to communicate this to the client 6. The communication to the client is, to a minimal degree, achieved

6. View of Human Nature • Person as innately striving toward becoming fully functioning. • Therapist’s attitudes and belief in the inner resources of the clients • Client self-healing capacities • Clients as primary change agent • Clients actualize their potential for growth, spontaneity, and inner-directedness

7. Therapeutic Goals • helping a person become a fully functioning person • Clients have the capacity to define their goals • an openness to experience • A trust in themselves • An internal source of evaluation • A willingness to continue growing

8. Therapist’s function and Role • Function: to be present and accessible to clients, to focus on immediate experience, to be real in the relationship with clients • Through the therapist’s attitude of genuine caring, respect, acceptance, and understanding, clients become less defensive and more open to their experience and facilitate the personal growth

9. Therapist’s Function and Role • Role: Therapist’s attitude and belief in the inner resources of the client, not in techniques, facilitate personal change in the client • Use of self as an instrument of change • Focuses on the quality of the therapeutic relationship • Serves as a model of a human being struggling toward greater realness • Is genuine, integrated, and authentic • Can openly express feelings and attitudes that are present in the relationship with the client

10. Client’s Experience in Therapy • Incongruence: discrepancy between self-perception and experience in realityanxietymotivation to help • As clients feel understood and accepted, their defensiveness is less necessary and they become more open to their experiences • Therapeutic relationship activate clients’ self-healing capacities

11. Relationship Between Therapist and Client • Emphasizes the attitudes and personal characteristics of the therapist and the quality of therapeutic relationship. • Therapist listening in an accepting way to their clients, they learn how to listenacceptingly to themselves.

12. Relationship Between Therapist and Client • Congruence - genuineness or realness • Unconditional positive regard- acceptance and caring, but not approval of all behavior • Accurate empathic understanding – an ability to deeply grasp the client’s subjective world • Helper attitudes are more important than knowledge

13. Therapeutic techniques and procedures • It is not technique-oriented • A misunderstanding---this approach is simply to restate what the client just said or the technique of reflection of feelings (It is incorrect). • The therapeutic relationship is the primary agent of growth in the client • Therapist’s presence: being completely engaged in the relationship with clients. • The best source of knowledge about the client is the individual client

14. Questions • What are the basic concepts of this theory that you might consider incorporating into your personal style of counseling?

15. Areas of Application • individual counseling, group counseling, education, human relations training….. • A variety of problems: anxiety, crisis intervention, interpersonal difficulties, depression, personality disorder…..

16. From a multicultural perspective • Contributions • Has reached more than 30 counties and has been translated to 12 languages • Reduction of racial and political tensions… • Limitations • Some people need more structure, coping skills, directedness • Some may focus on family or societal expectations instead of internal evaluation • May be unfamiliar with people in different cultures

17. Summary and Evaluation • Contributions • Active role of responsibility of client • Inner and subjective experience • Relationship-centered • Focus on therapist’s attitudes • Focus on empathy, being present, and respecting the clients’ values • Value multicultural context

18. Summary and Evaluation • Limitations • Discount the significance of the past • Misunderstanding the basic concept: e.g., reflection feelings.