1. Person-centred Counselling Theory by numbers (Part Ttwo)
Week 10
Person-centred Counselling Theory by numbers (Part Ttwo)

2. You will be invited to:
Consider some key features of Carl Roger’s Person-centred theory.

3. The Nineteen Propositions
Carl Rogers Theory of Personality
(1951)
Rogers, C.R. (1951: ). Client-Centred Therapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Merry,Tony (2002, chapter 3) Learning and Being in Person-centred
Counselling. 2nd Edition Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books.

4. Rogers’ Nineteen Propositions
“An elegant theory of personality which is entirely consistent with Rogers’ theory of how and under what circumstances people change, and why certain qualities of relationship promote that change”
Merry, Tony.(2002:34) Learning and Being in Person-centred Counselling. 2nd Edition. Ross-on Wye: PCCS Books
Tony Merry

5. Some key ideas and concepts
Phenomenology
Actualizing tendency
Self-concept
Organismic experiencing
Introjects
Conditions of worth
Actualizing self concept

6. “Potential Self” or “Organismic Self”
Congruent with experience – all experience available to awareness.

7. The emerging self-concept
Something which we define as “I or me”
Who we are
Beliefs and values
Likes and dislikes
Goals and Ideals
Characteristics
Abilities and weaknesess
Past, present and future self
Real me/ideal me

8. More like this…
A definite structure, but fluid – able to change over time.

9. Conditioned Self
The human infant has two basic needs; one for positive regard from significant others and one for positive self regard – love and self esteem.

10. Conditions of Worth and Introjects
Sometimes we have to behave in certain ways in order to have the approval of others. These are called conditions of worth.
E.g. “If you eat all your vegetables, daddy will be pleased with you”. Or: “if you tidy up your room, mummy will be very happy.
Without the approval of others, we may not feel good about ourselves and so we conform.
You may hate tidying your room and hate vegetables – and yet come to see yourself as someone who loves vegetables and is naturally tidy – these beliefs are called introjects.

11. Some common values which arise from conditions of worth
Children should be seen and not heard
Big boys don’t cry
Girls are not as important as boys
It is wrong to be angry
There are always people worse off than yourself
Keep yourself to yourself…
Can you think of any COW’s which have impacted on your life? Where do they come from?

12. Internal and external locus of evaluation
If a lot of expectations (conditions of worth) are present, then it is easy to lose our ability to place value on our own experiences.
We tend to rely on the opinions or judgements of other’s or the way in which they see us. This is called having “an external locus of evaluation”
Conversely, if we are allowed to make our own decisions and are shown unconditional love, then we are more able to trust our own experiences and valuing – to have an internal locus of evaluation.

13. The impact of conditions of worth
No conditions of worth
Results in an Authentic self – all experiences can be admitted into the self concept without distortion or denial
Movement towards the fully functioning person
Conditions of worth
Experiences which don’t fit with the self concept are denied or distorted
Excluding experiences from the self concept leads to in-authenticity, incongruence, worry, sadness.

14. What can be done?
In the right circumstances (a relationship based on the core conditions), then conditions of worth can be recognised, challenged and dissolved.
The client can then be more fully open to experiences, live more authentically and move towards fully functioning.