1. Carl Rogers Born in suburb of Chicago (Oak Park) in 1902 Strict, controlling, religious parents Childhood spent in solitary pursuits 2 years at the Union Theological Seminary Ph.D clinical psychology from Columbia University Teachers College in 1931

2. Rogers’ Client-Centered Therapy: Assumptions about Human Nature l Internal Frame of Reference l Person’s behavior - understood from this frame of reference l Human beings are innately good. l Need for unconditional positive regard from others. l Humans are purposive & goal- directed.

3. Rogers’ Client-Centered Therapy: Assumptions about Human Nature l Core of human life resides in SELF- EXPERIENCE l Value of life is in PRESENT l Basic Human Need - Deep Human Relationship l “Internal Rationalities” - people do the best possible thing if conditions are present

4. Development of Personality Self-Concept: picture or image people have of themselves. Self-Experience: all that is occurring within the organism that is potentially available to awareness. Ideal-Self: the self-concept the person would like to possess. Incongruence: the difference between the self-concept and the self- experience. Actualizing Tendency: “the inherent tendency of the organism to develop all its capacities in ways that serve to maintain or enhance the organism..” (Rogers, 1961)

5. Case Example Person Smith Self-Concept “How I see me” Self-Concept “How I see me” Self-Experience “How I really am” Self-Experience “How I really am” Joyful Insecure Lonely Honest Trustworthy Smart Lonely Angry Fearful Smart Manipulative Compulsive Incongruence

6. Psychopathology : l No dividing line between normality and psychopathology. l Avoid diagnostic labels: “..such categories as pseudoscientific efforts to glorify the therapist’s expertise and depict the client as a dependent object..” (Rogers, 1951) l Defense: responding to experiences that threaten the self-concept (distortion, denial) l Neurosis: Powerful conditions of worth in self-concept. Incongruent with totality of experience. l Psychosis: Person is badly hurt by life, needs corrective influence of a deep interpersonal relationship.

7. Case Example: Therapy Begins Person Smith Self-Concept “How I see me” Self-Concept “How I see me” Self-Experience “How I really am” Self-Experience “How I really am” Lonely Angry Fearful Smart Manipulative Compulsive Joyful Insecure Lonely Honest Trustworthy Smart Moving toward Congruency

8. Therapeutic Procedures l No Couch l No use of interpretation l No investigation of client’s past l No dream analysis l Client must perceive three characteristics in the therapist: Genuine: therapist in touch with his/her own personal experience Empathic: attuned to the client’s feelings and beliefs Unconditional positive regard: Non- judgmental, non-possessive respect and caring for client’s self-concept and feelings

9. Mechanism of Change l Abandon the defensive facades that protect incongruent self-concept. l Accept anxiety-provoking aspects of self-experience. l Move from incongruence to congruence. l Establishing a constructive interpersonal relationship with therapist.

10. Criticisms l Completely optimist and simplistic view of human nature. l Three therapeutic conditions are necessary but insufficient. l Implies therapist must be congruent. l Diagnosis is also important. l Avoids confrontation--therapy needs to be confrontational.

11. Research l Conducted on three characteristics: genuineness, empathy, and unconditional positive regard. l Some studies found these related to constructive change in therapy, other studies have found no relationship (Epstein, 1980) l Self-concept has also been studied. Research supports notion that therapy is usually related to increased self-acceptance (Wylie, 1984)