Unit on Client-Centered Therapy

Slide 1: Person-centered Therapy

Slide 2: Humanistic worldview

• People are basically good and will actualize in the absence of interference.
• Society, rather than restraining negative forces, leads people astray.
• Society does this by providing conditional positive regard.
• People are experts about themselves.  As a result, therapy is generally insight-oriented and nondirective.

Slide 3: The necessary & sufficient conditions of therapy

• Seen as necessary for positive outcomes in therapy
• Seen as all that is necessary for positive outcomes in therapy
• The foundation for all (or most) therapies
• May be emphasized to greater or lesser degrees
• Other therapies build on these ideas or add other techniques

Slide 4: The necessary & sufficient conditions of therapy

• Unconditional positive regard
• Genuineness
• Accurate communication of empathy

Slide 5: Unconditional positive regard

• Unconditional acceptance of a person, regardless of their behavior
Carl Rogers: When you criticize me, I intuitively dig in to defend myself.  However, when you accept me like I am, I suddenly am willing to change

Slide 6: Unconditional positive regard

• Unconditional acceptance of a person, regardless of their behavior
• What might this mean for work with a person who had done the “unforgivable”?
• Many people believe that they have done something shameful and will not be forgiven...
• How would you see unconditional positive regard in therapy?

Slide 7: Unconditional positive regard

• Communicating a non-evaluative attitude
• Giving quality attention to person’s concerns and feelings
• Cultivating the person’s resources, believing in the person’s potential & capability for action

Slide 8: Genuineness

• The ability to be “real,” un-fake, and unforced
• Generally a therapist’s attitude (although we also think about a client’s ability to be genuine)
• Why might this be important in therapy?
• How would you see genuineness in therapy?

Slide 9: Egan described genuineness as:

• Not hiding behind a role
• Spontaneous, yet tactful
• Not rule or technique bound
• Not impulsive or inhibited
• Nondefensive; can “hear” negative feedback
• Shares facial expressions rather than hiding
• Consistency in thought, feeling, and behavior
• Consistency in value statements and behavior
• Shares self: both verbally and nonverbally

Page by jms
URL= http://psy1.clarion.edu/jms/cptcctxpp.html

Last modified September 19, 2001.