Person-Centered Therapy Theory

Over a span of fifty years, therapists have begun to accept different approaches to physiological healing then those used previously. This change in psychology can be attributed to Carl Rogers and his belief that there is more to the treatment process then the dictatorial approach that was being used during his era. Through the duration of 4 stages in Roger’s development evolved the revolutionary belief of the Person-Centered approach.
Implemented by counselors during the sixties and seventies as a section of the “Third Force”, combined with existential and gestalt therapy, as an alternative to psychoanalytic and behavioral approaches (Corey, 2005). Person-Centered Therapy was not a completed therapeutic theoretical process, it was presented as a process which Rogers hoped would be used as a principle that was in a constant state of evolving. Rogers considered these principles a necessity, required to gain a good therapist – client relationship which was a main element of the product of the therapeutic process. These principles best outlined by Roger’s (1956) as, two people in psychological contact. The first can be described as the client, is in a condition of incongruence, feeling exposed and restless. The second person would be the therapist. The therapist is harmonious or involved in the connection with the individual.
The therapist experiences unrestricted constructive concern for the client. The therapist can also have a compassionate grasp of the client’s inner state