Person-Centered Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

In the 1940s Carl Rogers was well on his way to revolutionizing the state of traditional, directive psychotherapy and pioneering what would soon become the person-centered approach. Although Rogers strayed from the psychological mainstream’s view that therapists drive their clients recovery through such mediums as advice, direction, teaching and interpretation he still believed that the therapist’s role was crucial, and it was their attributes that paved the way to increased awareness and self-directed change.

Roger’s initially developed nondirective counseling, which stressed nondirective methods such as reflecting and clarifying client’s communications in hopes of helping clients gain insight and increase awareness of their feelings and thoughts. However, in the early 1950’s Roger’s renamed his approach client-centered therapy, to place greater emphasis on the client rather than on the non-directive methods he employed (Corey, 2009). Roger’s stressed the importance on the client’s phenomenological world, their resources, and their self-actualizing tendency. He believed that client’s held the answers and simply needed to trust themselves and their ability to move forward. Next, Roger’s developed what he is perhaps best known for, the necessary and sufficient conditions of therapy. Roger’s believed that if a therapist communicated attitudes of (1) congruence, (2) unconditional positive regard, and (3) accurate empathic understanding, clients will begin to trust themselves, identify the objects that are blocking their growth and ultimately move towards fulfillment or self-actualization. In the 1980s Roger’s theory becam...

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...nrealistic or catastrophic thinking, by employing a cognitive behavioral approach, I hope to help them see where their thinking has gone awry and how modifying it can change their feelings and behaviors. I’m especially drawn to the techniques that cognitive behavioral therapy employs, such as the use of Socratic dialogue. For example, if one of my students claims that all his teachers are out to get him I can challenge this belief by asking him what evidence he has for this. Since adolescents don’t usually think through their beliefs and are quick to jump to conclusions, engaging in a Socratic dialogue will enable them to stop and critically examine their beliefs and what support, if any, they have for them. I also believe that the cognitive behavioral approach will work well in a school’s tight schedule, since the techniques can be utilized quickly.

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