Evaluate the Claim That Person-Centred Therapy Offers the Therapist All That He/She Will Need to Treat Clients

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This essay has asked me to look at Person-Centred Therapy and evaluate if this approach can treat a client alone. I will first look at what Person-Centred approach is, and then consider its advantages and disadvantages. I can then answer the question, whether I think it offers the therapist all that he/she will need to treat clients.

Carl Rogers developed this approach through years of working as a psychotherapist. He believed people continually strive to become a person and this never stops. This is on the same wave length as Abraham Maslow, who developed the hierarchy of needs in which we all strive for self actualisation. 'I wish to point to two related tendencies which have acquired more and more importance in my thinking as the years have gone by. One of these is an actualizing tendency, a characteristic of organic life. One is a formative tendency in the universe as a whole. Taken together, they are the foundation blocks of the person-centred approach. ' (Carl Rogers, a way of being) As a Person-Centred counsellor, your role is to encourage the client to become aware of their feelings without giving any advice. The approach has three core conditions. The first is empathy, feeling what the client is feeling. The second is congruence, being genuine. And the third is unconditional positive regard, giving the client warmth and being non judgemental regardless of their behaviour. A therapist using all of these core conditions should help the client relax and express their inner feelings. The therapist is there to listen, paraphrase and clarify what the client says. ‘Through this process, the clients self actualisation develops and they can realise that they have less need to be defensive and subservient. They can look forward to meeting people because their self image is stronger and not bound by the image they have nurtured since childhood.’ (http://www.elementsuk.com/libraryofarticles/thepcato.pdf)

‘Rogers believed that emotional distress stemmed from not living ‘authentically’. By this he meant that individuals were not being themselves and were struggling to be something they were not.’ (Class notes)
He also believed we blame others for all our problems instead of taking responsibility for our own responses and actions. If we do not own our problems we cannot control them. In the Rogerian model emotional wellbeing relies on honesty about ourselves and our problems, authenticity and taking responsibility of ourselves. The key lies in encouraging the client to reach a state of ‘normality’. For example; communication and awareness of others, self awareness, co-operation with others and development of an open personality. Quite often the inclusion of these could be all that is needed.

There are many advantages to this approach. As the client is the focus, and they are essentially untangling their own problems, any solutions they come up with are more likely to be suited to them. After all they know themselves better than the therapist knows them. And if they have come up with this solution themselves, which is suited to them, they are more likely to follow it than if the therapist suggested it. We all do this in our day to day lives when we feel confident in ourselves, where we shop, what car we buy. We may listen to recommendations but ultimately we act on our own decisions. The environment the therapist creates should allow the client to feel confident enough in themselves to think of a solution and be confident enough to carry it out.

A great advantage of Person-Centred Therapy is the lasting effect it has on the person. The fact that you yourself untangled your problems, that you thought of a solution and acted upon it without any ‘help’ brings feelings of huge satisfaction, self esteem and self confidence. This in turn will let the client find their own solutions for future problems. The approach helps educate the client for the future as well as treat them for the current problem.

The three core conditions of a Person-Centred approach, congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard, all create a safe environment for the client, this means they are able to talk about things they might not normally feel able to do. This can help aid the clients treatment, as if they did not feel they could talk about anything they may not truly get to the real root of the problem. They may solve a surface problem and then need to come back sooner because they haven’t really solved the problem.

‘Another even more basic part of the rationale for this focus on the ‘reality’ of the client is that often there is no other way that therapy can meaningfully proceed (’http://counsellingresource.com/lib/therapy/types/person-centred/)

Carl Rogers believed psychological disorders were developed because the client received only conditional approval from significant people in their lives, especially their parents. So if a child receives unconditional approval from their parents they will be aware of their own true feelings and will not become an adult with a psychological disorder. When a person who has a psychological disorder such as anxiety goes to a Person-Centred therapist, they will receive unconditional positive regard, empathy and congruence. They can get what they want from the therapist and feel safe enough to explore their own feelings and find a way to give themselves unconditional approval.

An example of when Person-Centred therapy will be a good approach to use is if somebody was hit as a child and was now smacking their own children, they felt bad but couldn’t stop. The therapist must first make clear the ethical guidelines they follow so the client knows when they may be reported. The client explains how their father used to hit them regularly. And they talk about now if their child does something wrong they smack them as punishment. They already feel bad about the situation, as they have come to therapy. As the therapist shows no judgement and remains warm towards them, they feel able to explore their past, how they felt then and how they feel now about it. The therapist can listen, paraphrase and clarify so the client can hear it back. By remembering and talking about it they are able to put themselves in their child’s shoes and think of other ways they can discipline without smacking. The client finds their own problems and solutions because they felt safe and un-judged.

There are many disadvantages and documented criticisms of the Person-Centred approach. One main one being that the three core conditions can clash and cause conflict. You will not always agree with the clients behaviour, you may be horrified, it may be something huge like a awful crime they committed or the fact that they don’t cover their mouth when sneezing therefore spreading their germs to you. If you’re disgusted by a person’s behaviour could you be congruent, to do this you need to tell them you are disgusted. If you tell them is that being warm and non judgemental? If you do not tell them you would not be being genuine. Rogers would recommend always being genuine because if you are not the therapy wouldn’t work anyway. It may also be the case, when it comes to personal habits and behaviours that this is the root of the problem and being honest and bringing it up could help. As long as it is discussed in the right way.

Each and every therapist will have their own beliefs, opinions and morals. If a therapist is being neutral with a client does this mean they are giving up or putting aside their own belief system? Everybody has a different belief system, so without laying our own morals aside it cannot be possible to be congruent to everybody.

If the only things needed to be a Person-Centred therapist is congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard, then does that mean that as a client you could choose any person centred therapist. Or does the therapist’s background come into it. For example, a Christian client who is strong about their faith, whose problems could come back to their religion, would they feel as comfortable confiding to a therapist who follows their own religion strongly. Even if the therapist is giving all three core conditions will the client truly feel at ease, and able to discuss their religious views comfortably.

‘A frequent criticism of the person-centred approach is that delivering the core conditions is what all good therapists do anyway, before they move on to applying their expertise and doing the real work of making clients better.’ (http://person-centred.co.uk/index.htm) Many critiques believe that the Person-Centred approach is not enough to work alone when treating a client. Other techniques need to be employed to move the progress along, ways of encouraging the client to talk, helping them to realise how they feel and in some cases making suggestions to them aiding their treatment.

Usually when a client decides to go to counselling they are looking for answers, advice or a guide in the right direction. A counsellor who does none of these is not fulfilling the needs of the client. They may feel disappointed or let down. The cost of the sessions and getting no input and the client is doing all the work could make people upset or angry. They may not continue to the end of therapy as they are not getting any help or answers from the therapist. This goes back to the previous criticism that the Person-Centred approach is not enough to work on its own.

An example of when Person-Centred counselling may not be the best approach to use is if a person has come to the therapist because they couldn’t stop eating junk food, they want to lose weight but can’t get to the bottom of their compulsive eating. They had tried many diets but they couldn’t stick to them for more than a week. They wanted to lose weight quickly, they wanted answers to why they are having a problem and they expect you to solve this and they can start losing weight as soon as possible. The Person-Centred approach would not give them what they want, advice and quick results. The client does not want to work for results they want them handed on plate. A therapist offering this model would probably not keep the clients attention for long enough to get anywhere with them.

From the research I have done I have been able to come to my own conclusion to whether I believe Person-Centred Therapy offers the therapist all that he/she needs to treat the client. I think that as a therapist it is good to be able to deliver the three core conditions to all clients, however I don’t think it is possible to do this. It would give the therapist lots of stress thinking they have to be ‘perfect’. The client can pick up on this and the atmosphere will not be warm and genuine. A therapist would have to do some intense self exploration and training to deliver the core conditions well. And the fact the conditions can clash I believe it would be better to offer them to the best of your ability without compromising your own beliefs or morals. You shouldn’t compromise yourself for your clients.

A great benefit of the Person-Centred approach is the education and learning curve the client gets by coming up with their own solutions, leading themselves out of their problem. If all clients did this it would be fantastic but it is unrealistic in today’s busy world that everybody would have the time or patience to do this. My views on this would be to encourage self exploration but to perhaps use other approaches to guide them in the right direction.

The Person-Centred model is one that has been around for many years and has plenty of success stories, but I think the success lies in being able to tell if the client is suited to that kind of therapy. Clients who have a strong urge towards exploring themselves and their feelings would benefit. Also if they are willing to take responsibility for their own actions they would be suited to a Person-Centred approach. If a counsellor perceives a client to be eager for answers, extensive advice, wanting a diagnosis for their problems they would not find this style of counselling helpful.

The research I found on Carl Rogers response for clients with psychological disorders did make sense for disorders such as anxiety and eating disorders, if the client was well suited to this therapy it would work. However the deeper more complicated psychological disorders like personality disorders and autism etc, I do not see how these can be treated or thought of in the same sense. If this was the case would there not be more people being treated. So Person-Centred counselling can be helpful in some cases of psychological disorders but not all of them.

If not everybody suits only one type of counselling then I believe Person-Centred counselling does not give the therapist all that they will need to treat a client. They may not read the clients situation right, and try treating them when it’s the wrong approach to use. Clients often put a face on for the first few sessions, if the therapist miss-reads them, and the client puts all their hopes into the treatment which turns out to not be right for them it can be very de-motivating and upsetting. However if the therapist had a range of different techniques they could use they could decide over the sessions which would be more appropriate to employ. They could chop and change to suit the clients needs.

References http://www.elementsuk.com/libraryofarticles/thepcato.pdf Class Notes

http://counsellingresource.com/lib/therapy/types/person-centred/

http://person-centred.co.uk/index.htm

References: http://www.elementsuk.com/libraryofarticles/thepcato.pdf Class Notes http://counsellingresource.com/lib/therapy/types/person-centred/ http://person-centred.co.uk/index.htm