Reflection On Person Centered Therapy

Jason’s treatment should primarily focus on helping him find meaning in life (Rogers, 1965; Prochaska & Norcross, 2013). In order to do so, research suggests that counseling should embrace Rogers’ necessary and sufficient core conditions for therapeutic change (Gurman, 1977; Kirschenbaum & Jourdan, 2005). Gurman and Razin (1977), in particular, argue that empathy, warmth, and genuineness are positively correlated with favorable therapeutic change. This may seem like common sense, however, researchers such as Bergin and Suinn (1975) and Mitchell, Bozarth, and Krauft (1977) suggest that Rogers’ core conditions are either irrelevant or are detrimental to the therapeutic process. Even so, Patterson (1984) points out that these studies have several

As mentioned, the therapist’s role is to be a mirror to the client, reflecting and restating what the client has said, and slightly spinning their interventions to dig deeper into what the client is really saying. In this sense, person-centered therapy meshes most with my personality traits as I often play a supportive role with the significant others in my life. For me, it’s comfortable to be the emotional safety-net that others need. In my opinion, in order for people to learn from their mistakes and to change their behavior, they themselves have to come to the realization that a change is needed without someone forcing this realization upon them. By reflecting feelings and restating information, clients are led to this realization by thinking about the ways in which their thoughts and feelings are expressed out

Because clients lead the therapeutic process, the session has the potential to turn into rumination in which the client talks about the aspects of an issue over and over in order to justify their feelings or behavior. Furthermore, as clients explore a particular issue they often lack direction as what causes the issue or how to go about solving it. In a framework that prohibits judgement on behalf of the therapist, this can be an issue as clients engage in destructive behaviors. In the case of Jason, for example, even if he comes to the realization that his bulimic habits are the result of the conditions of thinness and beauty that he has internalized from his family and society, he may still choose to engage in these behaviors because the therapy sessions have produced enough guidance and challenges for him to do so (Rogers, 1965). Because of this, I do think that person-centered therapists should take the initiative to get the client back on track when they start to ruminate and analytical insight skills to help the client become consciously aware of how certain behaviors might be detrimental to their mental