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Person-Centered Therapy: A Universal Approach

Stephnie A Schaap-Jones

University of the Rockies

10 March 2014
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Abstract

Different therapies use different principles and techniques to help clients. All therapies seek to

treat dysfunction and help clients become functioning members of society. There are a number

of things that unify these theories, but the basic principles of Person-Centered Therapy can be

applied universally to enhance any type of therapy.

Person-Centered Therapy: A Universal Approach

There are nearly as many different approaches to therapy as there are therapists. Each

theory uses a different set of beliefs regarding how clients should be helped, what causes their

problems and how clients should be treated. Nearly all theories exist on the basis that people

suffer from psychological dysfuntions and seek counseling in order to rectify these dysfunctions

in order to enable the individual to function in society. One of the common therapies is Person-

Centered Therapy, which provides therapists with very basic guidelines for behavior and holds

the truth that the counselor is there only to guide the client to their own decisions.

Person-Centered Therapy

Person-Centered Therapy was established by Carl Rogers in the mid to late 20th Century

(McCarthy & Archer, 2013). Rogers believed that all people possessed a natural tendency to

grow and strive to reach their full potential and that psychological dysfunction was the result of

external forces inhibiting this natural tendency (McCarthy & Archer, 2013). According to

Roger’s theory, a counselor’s ability to express unconditional positive regard, empathetic

understanding and personal congruence are more important than any specific techniques that a

counselor can use and the client-counselor relationship is the actual healing factor (McCarthy &

Archer, 2013).

Unconditional Positive Regard

When a counselor expresses respect and regard for the client’s worth as an individual,

they are expressing unconditional positive regard (McCarthy & Archer, 2013). Even if a

counselor does not agree with the actions of a client, it is important that they do not express

judgment toward the client as a person in order to prevent the client from holding back out of

fear of rejection (McCarthy & Archer, 2013). Basically, the client must feel that, regardless of
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their specific actions, they are considered to be an individual worthy of being part of society and

that they are not seen as a “bad” person. The client must be viewed as more than simply the sum

of their actions. For example, an individual that abuses drugs may be an addict, but they may

also be a mother, a father, a philanthropist, a business owner or a celebrity. A counselor can see

the value in a person without condoning negative behaviors, thoughts or feelings by recognizing

all of the “parts” of the whole person.

Empathetic Understanding

Empathy is the ability to place one’s self into the experience of another in order to

understand the feelings and emotions of the individual who experienced the situation firsthand

(McCarthy & Archer, 2013). Rogers believed that it was not enough to listen to and understand

what a client has experienced; they must be able to share the experience and fully understand the

emotional response to the experience (McCarthy & Archer, 2013). For example, it is not enough

for the counselor to know that a client has recently experienced the loss of a parent. The

counselor must recognize and relate to the likely feelings of loss and emptiness that the client is

feeling. If the counselor has not experienced this loss firsthand, they must reach into their past

for similar experiences such as the loss of a close friend or family member in order to feel and

understand the client’s emotional state.

Congruence

McCarthy & Archer (2013) define congruence as “how authentic and genuine the

counselor is in the relationship.” Rogers believed that it was critical for the counselor to be

genuine and honest about their own thoughts and feelings in order for the client to model this

behavior and express their own thoughts and feelings freely (McCarthy & Archer, 2013). For

example, if a client expresses doubt regarding the counselor’s ability to understand their feelings
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and experiences, it is appropriate for the counselor to admit that they have not experienced those

things and to express their desire to have the client explain it to them so that they can understand.

Congruence is vital to the building of trust between the client and counselor.

Universal Applications

It is easy to see how these three principles from person-centered therapy can be applied

across almost any other therapy technique. Unconditional positive regard, regardless of the

therapy techniques applied, will help to negate a client’s fear of rejection, thus helping the client

to open up to the counselor and express him or herself freely. A counselor’s ability to express

empathy will always contribute to the client’s feeling understood and help the counselor to better

understand the client’s emotional state. Finally, congruence from a counselor will always help to

build trust with a client and provide the client with more openness to help from the counselor.

Unconditional positive regard is something that all people should hold for one another,

not only something that should be displayed by counselors. Regardless of a counselor’s therapy

style or core beliefs, they should always treat clients with respect and regard them as worthy

members of society. To do anything else would make therapy meaningless as a counselor would

not waste time or effort on an individual whom the counselor deemed as unworthy of their

assistance. Even in existential therapy, where counselors believe that individuals are all

basically alone in the world (McCarthy & Archer, 2013), it would be beneficial for the client to

feel accepted as worthy of “being alone” with the rest of the world.

Empathy is another trait that should be expressed more outside of therapy. Empathetic

understanding can only serve to provide the counselor with a better understanding of the client

and the client with a better sense of being understood. Even if a counselor is utilizing a type of

therapy that does not deal directly with emotions and feelings, empathy can help to build a bond
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between the counselor and client and help the client to open up more as a result of feeling

understood. Even in cognitive behavioral therapy, where the central focus is on recognizing and

changing the thoughts and behaviors of the client (McCarthy & Archer, 2013), empathy can help

the client to feel understood, which may help them to be willing to accept help from the

counselor.

Finally, congruence is important in any therapy relationship because it is the foundation

for building trust between the client and counselor. Even in the most clinical setting, a counselor

that exhibits congruence will be easier for a client to trust and open up to. Without trust, a client

will be far less likely to trust the therapy process and far less likely to trust their own decisions

reached during therapy. Particularly in Gestalt therapy, where the client is encouraged to be more

aware of themselves (McCarthy & Archer, 2013), congruence would set a basic example of a

goal to be reached by the client.

Psychological Dysfunction

Existential counseling focuses on what it means to be human and considers psychological

dysfunction to be the result of an individual’s struggles with the basic truths of existence

(McCarthy & Archer, 2013). Existential therapists refer to the problems of clients as “anxieties”

and possess a different opinion than other theories regarding treating psychological dysfunctions

(McCarthy & Archer, 2013), but these “anxieties” are still examples of dysfunction. Regardless

of what existential counselors regard as the cause for dysfunctions, the dysfunctions still exist

and must be corrected. Existentialists do not deny the existence of dysfunctions such as

hallucinations or Schizophrenia, they simply regard the causes as external (McCarthy & Archer,

2013). In spite of the belief in external causes of dysfunction, they must still be treated in order

for the client to function as a productive member of society.

Conclusion

Regardless of their differences, most theories of counseling hold that psychological

dysfunction exists and the role of the counselor is to assist the individual in resolving their

dysfunction in order to exist harmoniously in society. Person-Centered Therapy prescribes that

counselors exhibit unconditional personal regard, empathetic understanding and congruence in

order to form a secure bond with a client. These basic principles can be universally applied to

other types of therapy in order to enhance the benefits of therapy and improve the counselor-

client relationship.
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Reference

McCarthy, C. J., & Archer, J. J. (2013). Theories of counseling and psychotherapy. San Diego,

CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.