PERSON CENTRERED THEORY

Approach Humanistic
The approach originated with Carl Rogers. Born in 1902 and died in 1997. He was born in New
York as the 4th born in a family of six and grew up in a warm family with strict religion
standards. His parents were Protestants. He grew up a loner and pursued school interest instead is
where he began to question the religion he was taught from 1928-1929.
Carl Rogers was working at rockesters. He was helping parents and their children understand
behavior. He was working in a department of prevention of harassment. Rogers started to get
dissatisfied with the approach that emphasized on advice giving, teaching suggestions, cohesion,
diagnosis, inter-operational analysis etc. He felt the above approaches were not respectful to
clients. In 1940, he started a non-directive and psychoanalytic approach. Carl Rogers approach
emphasize on the importance of people self-concept which consist on the way they perceive or
how they define themselves.
Basic Assumptions
i. People are entirely good and trustworthy
ii. People have vast potential for understanding themselves and resolving their own
problems
iii. People are capable of self-direction for growth, if they are involved in a growth
relationship.
The key concept
View of Human Nature
Rogers believe that, if you go to the core of a person you will get good person, rational,
trustworthy, a person who has resource and potential to make himself or herself better. He
viewed human beings as plants. If natured well, they thrive, therefore the counselor should
provide nurturance which the clients require to self-actualize.
Human has a capacity to develop in positive and constructive manner. If a climate of trust and
respect is established, they can move from maladjusted to psychological health. People are self-
understanding and self-directing. Rogers refused to focus on sick person of human nature, but
rather he wanted to see people as resourceful, good and trustworthy.
Organismic Self-Real-Self
The “Me” untainted “I” when a child is born, they are real organismic self. When they interact
with the world, the organismic self is replaced partly by the self-concept. The organismic self-
provide the individual with trustworthy messages. The organismic valuing process involves a
continuous weighing of experiences so that a person comes out with values that help him/her
attain the actualization needs. When children are growing up, they lead towards love, security
and more away from pain, hunger and discomfort. They are true to themselves and every time
they try to meet their needs.
Self-Concept
The self is perceived as the “I” or “Me” which the child grow and develop and as they interact
with the world, they develop the self-concept which includes both the perceptions negative and
positive values which are both attached to this self-perceptions. We can the self-concept
influenced by others.
Experience and Experiencing
We may not be aware of what is happening to us at any given one moment until we are drawn to
that experience. The total range of experience Rogers calls it experiential perceptual or
phenomenal world.
Perception and Awareness
When an experience is perceived it is actually in our conscious awareness. Perceiving is
becoming aware of our experience and stimuli. Rogers viewed all perceptions as a transaction of
nature saying that this is a construction of the past and predication of the high functioning people
will embrace their experience while low functioning people deny their experience.
Conditions of Worthy
A need for positive regards from others is a learned need developed from infancy. Such values
are based on others evaluation rather than evaluations of individual organismic value process are
all conditions of worth. The condition of worth in their eyes are those of significant of others is
conditioned upon winning approval; this restricts their behavior because they behave in ways
which they are sure to be acceptable to others. They are victims of conditions of worth, living to
please others and forgetting themselves. Therefore we need to value people unconditionally.
Locus of Evaluation
This is when people relay on external authority for guidance. This is what Carl Rogers call locus
of evaluation. People, who have learnt to trust, obey in decision making in awareness and
articulation on present thought and feeling. Carl Rogers refers to them as having an internal locus
of evaluation.
Actualizing Tendency
It is an active process representing the inherent tendency of an organism to develop in the
direction of maintaining, enhancing and reproducing itself. Actualization tendency is usually
positive people have tendency to guide provided the environment is conducive.
Function and Role of Therapist
From the P.C. perspective the therapist is without a role but rather provide therapeutic
environment to enable the client to grow.
The Goals of Therapy
1. It is working on integrating the self-concept and the organismic self. Help the client talk
to self
2. Move the clients from past to the present
3. Talk of here and now
4. Help the client talk of the reality rather than facts
5. Help the client experience and allow creativity
6. Help the client to take responsibilities of decision and choices.
7. Help the client to have unconditional self-regard that will lead to self-acceptance
8. Therapist-client relationship
Rogers emphasizes on the equality therapist is not an expert. The relationship is equal. The
process of change depends largely on this equal relationship. When the client perceives that there
is worth communication, they will return develop self when they experience realness of the
therapist they also drop unrealness presence and they also become real with themselves.
How clients acquire psychological disturbances
a) When we lack trust to our self.
b) When the self-concept does not give the aspect of the real self
c) When we remain dependent on others throughout.
Technique
There are no integral techniques in PC but the core conditions are assumed to be the technique in
addition to active listening and personal disclosure.
Contributions
 It emphasizes on warm relationship. It emphasis on the core conditions
 It has made significant contribution in the field of human relation and practice
multicultural settings
 Easy to comprehend
 The theory is good in group, work place and family
 It emphasis on area of growth
 Good in crisis management
 Good in loss/grief
Limitations
 It has no technique hence limited
 The non-defectiveness limits one to move the client
 It is not applicable in all situations. Some issues require past experience or behavior
modification
 Some therapist may not have to accept some of the assumptions of the therapy
 It is difficult to translate the core conditions in actual practice in certain culture.