Case Study Gloria

The purpose of this assignment is to review the case study of the therapeutic session of Dr Carl Rogers and his client, Gloria. I will give a brief account of the presenting problem and some theory of Person Centred Therapy to enable me to observe and analyse the techniques used as a strategy to self actualisation. Using transcripts, I will identify some of these skills and observe how effective they were by observing Gloria. I will discuss my opinion of the counselling session and evaluate Dr Rogers’ strengths and weaknesses. In closing I will provide my thoughts as to how he could have improved the therapy.
Initially, Gloria, a recently divorced woman, presented a problem with regards to "having men to the house” and “making love” with them. She admits that she has lied to her nine year old daughter, Pammy, about having sex since the divorce but that she is not comfortable with this deceit. She “so badly” wants her daughter to accept and trust her. Specifically, Gloria wanted to know if she should be truthful with her daughter or if such honesty could cause her daughter emotional harm. Her wish is that she can feel comfortable with herself even if it is against her own morals and upbringing. In the course of the session she comes to the conclusion that she would like to work on accepting herself. Towards the end she suddenly changes direction and discloses how nice it is to talk to him and that wants his approval. She displays transference when she wishes that she could be so open with her own father and is using him, Dr Rogers, as a substitute. Although he does not respond to the statement, he does verbalise his closeness to her in this moment, meaning the “here and now”.
Whilst reading the short vignette about the session, I visualised myself sitting with Gloria and feeling her conflicts. I felt that I could relate to Gloria. Given the times that the therapy took place, I respected Gloria’s honesty and her acceptance of her libido as natural. I saw her as