Person-Centred Approach - Research Proposal Example

Person-Centred Approach 2008 Person-Centred Approach Person-Centred Approach (PCT) also referred to as Client-Centred Approach, non-directive, humanistic or Rogerian Therapy, is a specific approach to counselling and psychotherapy that is used to treat various psychological problems. The approach places specific emphasis on the client’s own responsibility for the treatment process on the client, with the therapist taking a relatively passive non-directive role. Modern forms of PCT employ a broad range of methods and techniques and incorporate features of several other approaches including psychoanalysis, behavioural and cognitive therapies and other. However, the key point is the assumption that the person already has the solution to virtually any problem: the therapist’s task is to guide the client toward that solution (McMillan, 2004). Developed in the 1930s by Carl Rogers, person-centred therapy partially evolved from the psychoanalytic theories that had dominated the psychological science in the beginning of 20th century. However, the new approach also departed substantially from the classical psychoanalysis. Thus, Rogers did not accept the detached role of the therapist conducting the therapy; the emphasis on maintaining a supportive environment, coupled with the need to establish closer personal relationship between the therapist and client were other innovative features of the new approach. Even Roger’s use of the term ‘client’ pursued the goal to eliminate the traditional perception of the highly hierarchical patient-doctor relationship: in PCT, it was precisely the client, not therapist who determined the overall direction of treatment, while the therapist guided the client with the help of questions (Bruno, 1977). These basic principles of PCT are similar to those that shape the core of the original psychological theory of Carl Roger. Rogers’ humanistic theory developed as an offshoot of his method of client-centred (later called person-centred) therapy. The fundamental of personality is psychological reality, the subjective experience according to which the reality is interpreted by human beings, and any person is an integrate unity that can never be divided into separate part: Rogers’ view of human behaviour is ‘exquisitely rational’. Humanistic perspectives actively criticized psychoanalytic theory for portraying people as being directed only by their unconscious wishes and irrational forces. They also did not support the behaviourist school because the latter viewed people as biological robots “…who are mechanically programmed by the conditioning force of external stimuli” (Vander Zanden, 1993: 45). James Bugental (1964) summarized the core principles of humanistic psychology as follows: 1. Human beings cannot be reduced to components. 2. Human beings have in them a uniquely human context. 3. Human consciousness includes an awareness of oneself in the context of other people. 4. Human beings have choices and responsibilities. 5. Human beings are intentional and seek meaning, value and creativity (p.24). In modern PCT, these principles stand for a holistic approach to human personality with the human condition treated as one integrate unity, something more than a mere sum of physical, social, and psychological characteristics. Rogers believes that each individual has the ‘field of experience’ which comprises the whole range of experiences, both conscious and unconscious, available at the given moment. During the process of personality development, one portion of this field separates and transforms into the individual’s ‘self’. The construct of ‘self’ is the core of Rogers’ theory. The ‘self’ can be described as: “the organized, consistent, conceptual gestalt composed of perceptions of the characteristics of the ‘I’ or ‘me’ and the perceptions of the relationships of the ‘I’ or ‘me’ to others and to various aspects of life, together with the values attached to these perceptions” (Rogers, 1959: 192). The self-concept remains relatively stable in any situations. Theoretically, an individual may develop optimally and avoid negative outcomes if he experiences only ‘unconditional positive regard’ (Rogers, 1959: 225). The needs for positive regard from others and positive self-regard would match persons evaluation and there would be congruence between self and experience, with full psychological adjustment as a result. This ideal human condition is embodied in the ‘fully functioning person’ that lives existentially, trusts her organism, expresses feelings freely, and acts independently. The ‘maladjusted person’ – defensive, feeling manipulated, and conforming – is the polar opposite of the fully functioning individual feels manipulated rather than free, and is conforming rather than creative. Rogers believes that for majority of people therapy is the only hope for change and development toward the fully functioning mode (Rogers, 1959). The main point for criticism is Rogers’ belief in positive potential of human nature: many accuse Rogers of disguising the negative sides of human’s nature (Walker, 2001). Emphasis on the actualizing tendency is another distinct feature of the humanistic school and modern PCT. Rogers (1959) believes that the actualizing tendency is observed in every human being and can be effectively used in counselling: “Practice, theory and research make it clear that the person-entered approach is built on a basic trust in the person . . . (It) depends on the actualizing tendency present in every living organism’s tendency to grow, to develop, to realize its full potential. This way of being trusts the constructive directional flow of the human being toward a more complex and complete development. It is this directional flow that we aim to release” (p.198). The self-concept and the actualizing tendency form the underpinning of the person-centered approach foundation block in individual therapy. Consequently, a therapist who adheres to the humanistic principles employs many ideas and instruments in some or other way associated with the actualizing tendency. These ideas include equal relationship between the therapist and client; trust in client’s potential to cope with the problem; understanding of client’s own responsibility for the outcomes of counselling, and therapist’s involvement in the process of treatment. Correct and timely implementation of these principles help turn therapy into the process of progress toward actualisation and perfection of the hidden potential and capabilities the client (Rogers, 1961). Bozarth (1998) identifies the following basic assumptions the therapist must consider while conducting PCT: (1) A client has one major motivating force which is the actualizing tendency. (2) The therapist has only one essential guideline which is to embody the attitudinal quality of genuineness and to experience ‘empathic understanding’ from the client’s internal frame of reference and to experience unconditional positive regard towards the client. (3) The client’s perception of the therapist’s empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard stimulates and promotes the actualizing tendency of the client (Bozarth, 1998: 43). These assumptions form the core underpinning of Rogers’ PCT that can be defined as follows: “…to trust in the client’s own way of going about dealing with his problems and his life” (Brodley, 1988: 59). Evidently, this core principle, as well as the other key assumptions of PCT and humanistic psychology suggests that the most specific feature of Rogers’ approach is the belief that the most essential factor in successful therapy is not the therapist’s training or professional skills, but rather the overall attitude to the client. The days when Rogers described his PCT such approach was non-traditional and innovative to say the least (McMillan, 2004). For example, the major task of the therapist whom provides psychoanalytic theory was to make repressed unconscious conflicts conscious for the patient to start dealing with them. Clearly, this process required very good professional skills and took much time (Frager & Fadiman, 2000). Almost similar therapist’s training and skills requirement are present in virtually any popular therapy including Motivational Enhancement Therapy that seeks to produce behavioural change suing a set of motivational interviewing principles to reinforce motivation and build a plan for targeted change (Miller, 1996); Cognitive-Behavioural therapy that focuses on functional analysis of the problem and identification of cognitions associated with it (Carroll, 1998); Family Systems and Community Therapy (FST) that require comprehensive analysis of patient’s social context (Nichols & Schwartz, 1998), and other. Such flexibility, coupled with the absence of any proved constraints regarding the length of PCT intervention substantially broaden the scope of the therapy’s application. Theoretically, PCT can be conducted successfully even by a non-professional who adheres to the basic philosophic principles of Rogers’ approach. Furthermore, the version of PCT originally developed by Rogers was not intended for a specific age or population group or any specific sort of problems. PCT can be effectively used for treatment of various forms of depression, substance abuse, anxiety, cognitive dysfunction, and even severe personality disorders including schizophrenia (Walker, 2001). Absence of strict requirements regarding the frequency or length of PCT treatment is another major advantage that contributes to the amazing flexibility of this approach. In fact, the philosophy underlying PCT brings the issue of scheduling to the client himself, not the therapist, and if, for example, the client decides to continue or stop therapy the therapist should adhere to the decision. During my work as a mentor during the last two years of school I had a perfect opportunity to apply the basic principles of PCT in helping younger students with organisation problems to improve their performance. In each case I set goals achievable for my ‘client’ at that moment and proceeded with discussing the problems that negatively affected the client’s performance. In doing so I really felt dedicated to follow the direction and pace chosen by my clients instead of focusing on strict planning, finding correct solutions, analyzing social contexts and functional aspects of the clients. The outcomes of this non-professional intervention were surprisingly noticeable and stable: the majority of students I worked with improved their performance and the change was stable over long periods of time. They moved in the correct direction of self-actualisation and self-acceptance instead of continuing to suffer from problems that largely reflected their self-defeating attitudes and/or excessively strict thinking patterns. Evidently, the assumptions underlying of Roger’s PCT (and subsequently humanistic psychology) differ substantially from the principles psychoanalysis, behaviourism, cognitive psychology and other popular schools rely upon. Behaviourism did not distinguish between humans and animals while the humanistic approach avoided biologisation and primitivisation of human behaviour highlighting uniqueness of the human condition. The psychoanalytic school founded by Sigmund Freud emphasized the process of constant struggle between conscious and unconscious (i.e. between social norms and the instinctual drives associated with sex and inborn aggression) and neglected the positive potential of human (Vander Zanden, 1993). The key problem with the humanistic approach, however, is Roger’s tendency to overemphasize conscious experience and underestimate the power of unconscious (Nietzel, Benstein, Milich, 1994). Besides, some scholars claim that clinical applicability of his PCT may be limited to those groups of the population that have sufficient intellectual and cultural backgrounds which ensure their ‘compatibility’ with this therapy (Nietzel, Benstein, Milich, 1994). However, despite the criticism effectiveness of the major PCT principles can hardly be questioned as well as the fact that it fits the conceptual framework of modern psychology. Although modern psychological thought tends to integrate the best features of different schools, the influence of humanistic psychology is perhaps the strongest in it. The main concern of humanists is to help people achieve freedom and self-fulfilment, realize their positive potential, and though humanistic psychology fails to provide a flawless research-oriented approach, it shows the way of thinking and lifestyle for people to live contented life and feel happy. As a result, all modern theories of human development rely to some or other extent of the concepts suggested by Rogers. Positive psychology that is becoming increasingly popular in Western psychology is largely based on the ideas of Rogers and his followers. References Bozarth, J. (1998). Person-Centred Theraphy: a Revolutionary Paradigm. PCCS Books Brodley, B. (1988). Untitled article. Renaissance, 5(3-4), 1-2. Bruno, Frank J. (1977). Client-Centered Counseling: Becoming a Person. In Human Adjustment and Personal Growth: Seven Pathways, John Wiley & Sons, 362-370. Bugental, J.F.T (1964). The Third Force in Psychology. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 19-25 Carroll, K. (1998). A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach: Treating Cocaine Addiction. Rockville: National Institute on Drug Abuse. Frager, R. & Fadiman, J. (2000). Personality and Personal Growth. Longman. Rogers, C. (1959). “A Theory of therapy, personality, and interpersonal relationships as developed in the client-centered framework” in: Koch, Sigmund (ed.), Psychology. A study of science. Vol. III. Formulations of the Person and the Social Context. New York: McGraw Hill, pp. 184-256 Rogers, C. (1961). On Becoming a Person: A Therapists View of Psychotherapy. London: Constable McMillan M. 2004 The Person Centred Approach to Therapeutic Change London:Sage Miller, W. R. (1996). Motivational interviewing: research, practice and puzzles. Addictive Behaviors 61(6): 835-842. Nichols, M. P. & Schwartz, R. C. (1998). Family Therapy: Concepts and Methods, 4th edition. Allyn & Bacon Nietzel, B.M., Bernstein, D.A., Milich R. (1994). Introduction to clinical psychology (4th ed.) N.J.: Prentice Hall Inc Vander-Zanden, J. W. & Wilfrid, J. (1993). Human development, 5th edition. McGraw-Hill Inc Walker, M. T. (2001). ‘Practical Applications of the Rogerian Perspective in Postmodern Psychotherapy’. Journal of Systemic Therapies 20, 2: 41-57. Read More