Carl Rogers, Personality Theorists
Carl Rogers is one of the most famous American psychologists and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology. He was born in the 8th of January 1902 in Illinois and died on February 4th, 1987 of a heart attack. Rogers received his Ph. D in psychotherapy in 1931 from the University of Colombia. He is regarded as a significant pioneer of psychotherapy research and received an award for his contributions in 1956 from the American Psychological Association. He is credited for his theory of Personality development therapy that came to be referred to as the client- centered therapy (Wachtel, 2007).
Throughout his career, he dedicated his works to humanistic psychology and began his work when he engaged with abused children. Rogers attempted to go against the world of psychotherapy by claiming that psychoanalytic, behavioral and experimental therapists were preventing people from ever reaching self-growth and self-realization as a result of their authoritative analysis. He claimed that therapists should allow their clients to discover a solution for themselves. Rogers's efforts in analyzing the theory of personality through book publication and lectures drew a lot of attention and had many supporters and critics who agreed and disagreed with the theory of personality development.
[...] (2011). Making Room for Dynamics in Evidence- Based Practice: The Role of Psychodynamic Theory in Client-Centered Approaches. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 210-223. Wachtel, P. L. (2007). Carl Rogers And The Larger Context Of Therapeutic Thought . Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 279-284. [...]
[...] In addition, he assumes that people are innately capable and resourceful, and they can know what has resulted to their state of unhappiness. By taking part in the therapeutic relationship, the client capacities of self-healing get activated and empowered. Clients get to know their growth potential that is in them together with spontaneity, wholeness and inner directedness (Rogers, 1985). The whole change depends on the client. The Client-centered theory has been put into practice in interpretive communication in the phenomenological tradition that asserts that communication is an experience of self and others through use of dialogue (Rogers, 1999). [...]
[...] The results of the client-centered theory indicate that individuals who have gone through it and particularly the approach by Rogers maintain stable changes for longer periods of time. They show change substantially as opposed to people who are not treated. The client-centered is considered a viable therapeutic approach and Rodger developed concepts and methods that therapists can apply when dealing with a client. The therapy continues to be practiced since it is the most influential today particularly in the United States. The therapy led to the creation of the World Association for Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counseling in the late 1990's. [...]
[...] (1985). Client-centered therapy. Phoenix, AZ: Milton H. Erickson Foundation. Rogers, C. R. (1999). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications, and theory. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. Rozas, L. W., & Grady, M. [...]
[...] The client-centered theory maximizes on listening and active hearing, feelings reflection and clarifications. Participation of the therapist should be fully evident when dealing with the client (Rogers, 1985). There are various actions that become irrelevant to determine directivity or non-directivity as far as the client-centered theory is concerned. A therapist might analyze a dream, interpret and further discuss the transference. The problem has to have relation with the extent that these interactions pass the facilitative conditions. Rogers claims that these actions are unnecessary and worthless. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
