Carl Rogers was an American psychologist who became unhappy with the results of psychoanalyst and behavioural schools and later went on to develop the person centred approach in the 1940’s to 1950’s. Carl believed in Abraham Maslow's theory although he said that all Individuals are unique and given the right environment we all have an innate ability to reach our full potential. (Actualizing tendency).
Carl Rogers believed that the organismic self is what we are born with, how we really are as a person and what we want to do in life, In Rogers theory he split it up into three areas, Self-image (The way we and others see ourselves), Self-esteem (How much we value ourselves) and the ideal self (How we wish we was like), as we get older our organismic self-starts to diminish as we develop what Carl called the self-concept, this is influence by socialisation, family, teachers, etc. It is formed through past experience, other people’s views, beliefs and positive regard, this is where we begin to behave, think and feel in ways that we think will be valued by others or how others see us. (Example – A man will not cry because they “think” that others will see this as a weakness and they will not be a “real man”.)
Carl believed that the organismic self is in conflict with the concept of self and this is where we start to feel lost as a person.
Carl believed that people feel that they need to be thought of in a positive way, loved and treated with warmth by others.
He thought of Positive regard as the cause, this is how people treat us for our thoughts, feelings and actions. Carl split this into 2 areas.
Unconditional positive regard – This is where we are accepted and loved for who we are as people no matter what we do, think, say or feel and it is never taken away from us.
Example - Brian has always wanted to become an electrician but his parents want him to become a doctor, Brian chooses to study as an electrician as his parents want him to do what will make him happy and they will be proud of him no matter what he chooses to do.
Conditional positive regard – This is where we are only accepted If we behave, act and feel in the way that others want us too, It is taken away if we disobey towards these.
Proposed by Carl Rogers, person-centered therapy is a humanistic approach that sole focus is on the client, with the center of therapeutic change being on the clients’ world (Halbur & Halbur, 2015). “Carl Rogers proposed that therapy could be simpler, warmer, and more optimistic than that carried out by behavioral or psychodynamic psychologist” (McLeod, 2015, para. 1). Rogers view was that therapeutic change could occur if only a few conditions were met, with emphasis having been placed on the therapist understanding and caring for the client; instead of focusing on diagnosis, advice, and persuasion. The core components towards human behavior with the person-centered approach being that of genuineness, acceptance, and empathy (Sharf, 2016).
The self represents the coherent whole resulting from the union of an individual's consciousness and unconsciousness. It is formed through a process referred to as 'individuation', within which the diverse aspects of personality are merged. Jung often depicted the self as a square, mandala, or circle.
Anil Ananthaswamy describes the self as the role the brain plays in our notions of self and existence. That our sense of self is layered, pulling information from
...e of how others could perceive us, and modify our behaviour accordingly. we can only ever imagine what others think of us , even if they tell us how they feel. The I and the ME
...ary manner which does not perfectly correlate with our beliefs and desires, but which none the less allows beliefs and desires to fulfill the same causal roles in producing behavior. [BACK UP]
...sire for authenticity and in another point it talks about the desire for wholeness. Theses two "desires" as Rogers calls them are important to me in regards to what I am looking for and the way I am hoping to help my clients see themselves.
While Freud took a psychoanalytic perspective, psychologists Abraham Maslow and Carl Rodgers saw a humanistic perspective on personality. Maslow believed that motive of personality was that human intentions formed a hierarchy of needs. This meant that when basic needs were fulfilled, people would strive toward a state of self-peace and tranquility, knowing that their basic needs were met. Rodgers believed similarly to Maslow. He believed that people were essentially good. He believed that extending a positive and open environment to another person led to unconditional positive regard, which is an attitude of complete acceptance towards a person.
This involves listening and accepting without resistance. This style is characterized by suppressed emotional levels, a high ...
...s s/he compares the being's sufferings and helplessness to the self-induced tragedies of Victor and Walton.
the desire to be right ie we look to others - whom we believe to be
John F. Crosby in his work, The Selfhood of the Human Person, attempts to provide an advancement in the understanding of the human person. Persons are conscious beings who think and know they are thinking. He claims persons are not merely replaceable objects, but characters who cannot be substituted or owned. Crosby describes personhood as standing in yourself, being an end to yourself, and being anchored in yourself. A feature of personhood is that persons can be conscious of everything in the universe while the universe acts on them. Additionally, personhood means persons exist for their own sake and not for the sake of others. However, persons who are centered in themselves often give of themselves. Persons are incommunicable unlike any other piece of creation. A quality of the incommunicability of persons is action. Aquinas explains person are not acted on but act through themselves.
Reflecting on the Person-Centered Therapy, it is similar to the Existential Therapy because it focuses on the client/therapist relationship, where the therapist needs to be totally genuine, empathetic and non-judgmental toward their clients in order to gain the client’s trust. I like the fact that the Person-Centered Therapy views the client as their best authority on their own experience, and being fully capable of fulfilling their own potential for growth. I also like the fact that the therapist is non-directive, does not give advice and there is no specific technique involved. Person Centered Therapy can basically develop their own technique as their relationship develop with the client.
(Zucconi, 2011). Rogers departed from viewing clients as a “patient” to avoid putting the stigma of a label on them or classifying them. Rogers was of the opinion that such terms or labels influenced a person’s identity and their behaviors causing them to feel the need to live up to the classification that was put on them. (Zucconi, 2011). Rogers was the first therapist to develop a complete therapeutic paradigm that was centered on the entirety or whole person and their potentialities. (Zucconi,
A self is some sort of inner being or principle, essential to, but not identical with, the person as whole. It is that in a person that thinks and feels. The self is usually conceived in philosophy as that which one refer to with the word “I”. It is that part or aspects of a person that accounts for personal identity through time. In spite of all the ways one can change with time, the self is invariably same through time. A self is what is supposed to account for the fact that an individual is same person today as he/she was at the age of five, given that all his characteristics have changed over time. For instance, compared to his childhood, this individual is stronger, taller, and smarter; he has different aspirations and dreams, different thoughts and fears, his interests and activities are remarkably different. Yet, he is still the same ...