What does “person-centered" mean?

In my practice, I identify myself as a person-centered counselor. I’ve had people ask me what that means on many occasions and I thought it would be good to blog about it as a way of getting the information out to anyone interested in my condensed version. This is not the only theoretical perspective and it is not the only perspective that has research supporting it.

The following is what it means to me to be person-centered. Many people have written books on this material. This is my attempt to distill the research available in a concise manner. My attempt to be concise may leave you with many questions. If so, please discuss it with your counselor, family and friends. You can also feel free to post questions on here but please know that I can’t guarantee anonymity if you do so.

The person-centered approach is a researched theoretical approach to counseling clearly defined by Carl Rogers (Wilkins, 2010; Ellis, 1948; Kearney, 2009). The underlying theme throughout the person-centered theory is that change is always happening. Carl Rogers states “it is our design to self-actualize” and he goes in depth about the process (Rogers, 1942; Rogers, 1951; Rogers, 1957; Rogers, 1975). The key is that it happens whether we want it or not and whether we actively participate in it or not.

~If change is going to happen regardless of our desire, should we participate actively in how and what changes occur?

The person-centered approach to counseling suggests six guiding elements called necessary and sufficient conditions by Carl Rogers (1957:96). Those conditions are:

1. Two persons are in psychological contact.
2. The first, whom we shall term the client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious.
3. The second person, whom we shall term the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship.
4. The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client.
5. The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the client’s internal frame of reference and endeavours to communicate this experience to the client.
6. The communication to the client of the therapist’s empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a minimal degree achieved.

If all these elements are present, there is evidence that significant and positive change will occur in the client (Stiles, Barkham, Twigg, Mellor-Clark & Cooper, 2006). If you are anything like me, you make question what “significant and positive” means. In counseling language, significant is based on statistical significance. This means a person is statistically a number of percentage points more likely to be happy, fulfilled and content if they have a relationship with a counselor as described above. Positive change is a measure of how a person perceives their life before and after a therapeutic relationship that contains the six elements Carl Rogers described. I view this as the more subtle, but not less important, perspective of viewing the world from a half full perspective as apposed to a half empty one.

~Can seeing the world from an optimistic perspective make a person happier?

Yes. There is an entire category of psychology called positive psychology. I’m not going to go in depth with this right now but it is important to know that the research supports the idea that thinking positive matters immensely.

~okay, you gave us the components but now what?

You’ll notice the first thing on the list is the necessity of a relationship. As a professional counselor, I take this to mean I have to be authentic in the relationship. For example, I can’t expect a client to work on the things that brought them in unless I too am willing to be attentive to and work on things in my personal life. It’s a way of life, not just a cool idea.
The second and third components assume that brokenness is part of each and every person and health is also a part of each and every person. If we work with the assumption that we all have brokenness and we all require relationships with others, then the difference between relationships that improve our well being(are healthy) and those that harm our well being(are unhealthy) is simply the judgment to know what information to share and what to withhold for the sake of the other person. In this way, a counselor must be aware of and filter personal influences that may negatively influence the relationship while the client must attempt to be honest with the counselor or risk slow progress or stagnation.

The fourth component of unconditional positive regard is how a person-centered therapist maintains the attitude that “I am in this with you no matter what”. To be in a relationship with someone who is “in it no matter what” builds trust and encourages the growth process. Having unconditional positive regard does not imply taking on every relationship. Sometimes unconditional positive regard means handing off a relationship to a person more capable of working with the person where they are. That’s why I am willing to refer people to other counselors when my skills don’t match up with a client’s needs.

More and more research is being done that shows the importance of empathy in relationships. For our purposes at this time, we won’t go into a lot of depth. However, I think it’s essential to know that empathy is a set of skills that can be learned and improved. There are many techniques that can be taught to even the most rigid or chaotic people that will project the sense of togetherness. I may go into more depth about empathy in another blog.
The final component is all up to the client or the person who wants to improve their life. The ability to receive empathy and unconditional positive regard (trust) takes a willingness to admit areas of weakness and areas of strength. As the relationship grows and points out such areas, clients often feel a desire to avoid the growth because it hurts. Maintaining a positive direction is not easy and can only be encouraged. It is still up to each of us to stay focused on our progress and growth. The pain is part of the process.

The reason I choose to call myself a person-centered counselor is because it fits me and I fit it. I see it as a way of living as much as a theory because it applies to all relationships whether personal or professional. If you are interested in learning more about the details of a person-centered approach, I provide a few resources below. The Wilkins book called Person-centered therapy is one of my favorite because it has historical perspective as well as current research.

Ellis, A. (1948). A critique of the theoretical contributions of non-directive therapy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 4(3), 248-255.

Kearney, J. (2009). Rogerian principles and the writing classroom: A history of intention and (mis)interpretation. Rhetoric Review, 28(2), 167-184. doi:10.1080/07350190902740034

Rogers, C.R. (1942). Counseling and psychotherapy. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.

Rogers, C.R. (1951). Client-centered therapy: Its current practice, implications, and theory. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Rogers, C.R. (1957). The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 21, 95-103.

Rogers, C.R. (1975). Empathic: An unappreciated way of being. The Counseling Psychologist, 5(2), 2-11.

Stiles, W., Barkham, M., Twigg, E., Mellor-Clark, J. & Cooper, M. (2006). Effectiveness of cognitive-bahvioural, person-centered, and psychodynamic therapies as practiced in UK National Health Service settings. Psychological Medicine, 36, 555-566.

Wilkins, P. (2010). Person-centered therapy: 100 key points. New York, NY: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.

Have you ever wondered how others see you?

In the 1950’s Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham created a model of mapping personality awareness called the Johari Window. The idea was to create opportunities for improved awareness and therefore opportunities for personal growth. Like Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham, I believe personal insight is a key piece to becoming who we want to be.

So, what is Johari’s window? The first image below is for all of you who are more visual and the second image will tie it all together. Johari’s Window takes into account the perspective from an individual and from people around that individual. You’ll see it described as “self” and “others”. The second image describes the visibility from the self and from the other. You’ll see that each person can only see part way across the box. For example, we have “blind spots” that others can see but we can’t and we have an “unknown” section that no one can see, including ourselves. The “façade” section is the section that we choose to keep from others and I will refer to it as secrets.

Now it gets interesting. Through insight, I believe we can gain control over the impacts of our blind spots, the unknown, the façade (secrets) and the things we project in the open arena. For example, there are times in our lives when we keep secrets and it’s healthy. There are also times when we keep secrets and it’s unhealthy. Knowing the difference between when it is healthy and when it is unhealthy is very important. I was recently asked what kind of things would fall in the “façade” box that would be healthy. I responded by discussing importance of openly sharing details of previous relationships with a current partner. You may have dated someone in the past that shared too many details about other relationships. It can be annoying, hurtful, or just a waste of time to have all that detail. What matters most is who you are now and therefore some of the details are not necessary and can be kept secret. It’s often best to weigh the benefits and risks of each specific situation. As you might quickly see, there are many risks to keeping secrets. For example, if a man or woman cheats on their partner should they keep it secret? People who cheat on their partners have many things going on that need to be dealt with and it quickly becomes very complex. Therefore, each situation should be dealt with on an individual basis. Your counselor would become a great asset in discussing how and when disclosure should happen or if it shouldn’t happen. Through insight, possibly by use of the Johari’s Window, our actions become more intentional which makes mistakes less likely.

On a side note, I’ve modified Johari’s Window below to show an example of what I think happens as we learn about ourselves and consider other’s perspectives along with our own in making personal changes. Though the process of getting to this point can be long and difficult, notice the reduced risks associated with the long term work. The blind spots shrink, the secrets diminish and the unknown becomes discoverable.

Is there value in going to a counselor? If so, what is it?

Welcome!
I have thought for a long time about what I should post as my first blog. I hope the days, weeks, months and possibly years of posts to come are helpful in providing hope and insightfullness. We all experience difficult times and need voices of strength and wisdom. I hope to be a source of strength and wisdom for people. I won't always get it right but as part of my journey I will attempt to learn from all of my opportunities, whether good or bad.

My first post...
I would be in the wrong profession if I didn’t believe what I do matters. So, my answer is YES. Counseling has value and lots of it. It’s my opinion that most people don’t need consistent and long term counseling. However, almost everyone I know, or have come in contact with, would benefit from having a counseling relationship that they can go to when things in their life are particularly challenging. I can tell you that one of my goals with clients is to get them to a place where they no longer need me. This isn’t to say they won’t need to come back down the road, but I believe I should not be the source of a person’s strength because that strength should, ultimately, come from within them.
As a counselor intern I have noticed that people don’t normally establish counseling relationships when things are going well in their life. Though it makes sense financially and for the sake of time not to see a counselor when our lives are generally healthy, there are two reasons that I believe it is important to establish a relationship when we are in good health.
1) The client will be more selective
2) The counselor will have a chance to know the client
I believe a client in good health is better suited to ending a relationship with a counselor who is not a good match. The question I thought about was, “Do people make more rational decisions when they are in a good place or when they are struggling with things?” I think most people would say they make better decisions when they feel healthy, not necessarily stress free but healthy. In physics there is a great tangible example found in Newton’s first law of motion. It says an object in motion stays in motion until an object of greater force acts upon that object. In people terms, this describes the momentum of the good getting better and the bad getting worse until there is some sort of “shock” to the individual’s path.
Another reason I think a client should seek counseling when they are feeling like things are going well is because it gives the counselor a baseline of what the client views as healthy. I, personally, would love to have a frame of reference of what a client is like when they view themselves as healthy. I can think of several advantages to having this knowledge. For example, it would make it much easier to identify where the client is in the process of healing and growth. It would likely make it hard for a client to fall as deep into things like depression, anxiety, hopelessness, etc. In a literal example, a client would be able to say something like, “You know this isn’t like me. I don’t know why I’m feeling [depressed, anxious, exhausted, scared, nervous, etc.].” The response would likely be a more accurate form of empathy because the counselor would know what is being said to be factual and not a different symptom. Thus the speed of the healing process would be exponentially increased or the depth of the symptoms would be lessened.
With all this said, I believe it’s essential for a person in the middle of life’s struggles to get connected and a counselor is a great connection. It’s my belief that as part of the human specie, we are relational beings and our mental health improves through healthy relationships such as those a client should have with a counselor. So as a concluding statement, I would encourage everyone to find a counselor they can connect well with. Who knows when life’s challenges will get to be too much to deal with alone? Get prepared. Find a good counselor.