Counselling, Client-centred Model

The emergence of client-centered therapy in the 1950’s was part of a broader movement in American psychology to create a humanistic alternative to the two theories which at the time dominated the field: Psychoanalysis and Behaviorism (represented by the relative idea’s of Freud and Skinner).  This emerging therapy was to become know as Person-centered counselling or as it has been often referred to as “Rogerian” psychology because so much was pioneered and originated from the work of Carl Rodgers (Mearns & Thorne, 2008). 

Apart from Rogers other central figures in early humanistic psychology deeply influenced person-centered counselling included Abraham Maslow (a massive contributor to humanistic psychology and his inter-relating principles on self-actualisation), Charlotte Buhler (central for her existential-humanistic contributions) and Sydney Jourard (who pioneered the fields of self-disclosure).  These writers shared a vision of psychology that would have a place for the human capacity for creativity, growth and choice and who were influenced by the European tradition of existentialism and phenomenological philosophy, as well as by Eastern Religions such as Buddhism (McLeod, 2009). 

Person-Centered Counselling is based on the main premise of humanistic theory that people have the natural tendency towards growth and development (an actualizing tendency) and will themselves seek to resolve problems in their lives, rather than succumbing to them.  The therapy itself is akin to psychodynamic theory of delving into deeper emotions, focusing on the present not the past as it is in the now that a person is grappling with problems.  It is the recognition and value that an individual places on their own lives to direct their own life.  Rogers starting point is “the tendency of the organism to maintain itself - to assimilate food, to behave defensively in the face of threat, to achieve the goal of self-maintenance even when the usual pathway to that goal is blocked.  We are speaking of the tendency of the organism to move in the direction of maturation as maturation is defined for each species” (Rogers, 1951:488). Rogers believed that for this to occur therapy needs the right climate, which rests not on techniques but on the relationship between the therapist and the client.  

In his personality theory the actualising tendency was Rogers’ only motivational concept.  It described a human being’s basic drive to maintain, develop and enhance their functionality.  In a sense it is a fundamental “life force” that does not abate but constantly urges the person towards development.  The actualising tendency drives the person to make the best they can of their circumstances (Mearns & Thorne, 2008).  As Rogers (1959) put it “when they can accept themselves, they can grow psychologically”.

"If I am truly open to the way life is experienced by another person...if I can take his or her world into mine, then I risk seeing life in his or her way...and of being changed myself, and we all resist change. Since we all resist change, we tend to view the other person's world only in our terms, not in his or hers. Then we analyse and evaluate it.  We do not understand their world. But, when the therapist does understand how it truly feels to be in another person's world, without wanting or trying to analyse or judge it, then the therapist and the client can truly blossom and grow in that climate."

Rogers (1959)