Rogerian Therapy Case Study

Carl Rogers was an American-born psychologist best known for his pioneering development of humanistic psychology. Dissatisfied with the therapeutic techniques of the day (the 1960 's), he formulated a new beneficial practice of “client-centered” therapy, later known as Rogerian Therapy. In the 2007 book Communicating ethically: character, duties, consequences, and relationships, William Neher and Paul Sandin write of Rodgers most enduring contribution to the field of communication ethics was Rogers belief that “Unconditional Positive Regard is the most ethical form of dialogue between people” (p.91). Rogers would give his full attention to each patient, not judging but caring, not evaluating but engaging, in the conversation to bring the patient to realize their full potential as a human being.

"In my early professional years, I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?"

When engaged in an I-Thou dialogue one is concerned with the uniqueness of the individual, or summarized as “actively listening and encouraging the feelings and opinions of the other person instead of planning our next response while he or she is speaking” (Neher & Sandin, 2007, p. 90). Rogers believed the client should be the “director of their own lives, and it is the therapists responsibility to provide an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard and empathy towards the client” (Bozarth, 2012). The use of I-Thou communication style, or the non-directivity in his therapy, allowed Rogers clients to deal with the issues they believed to be most important, by allowing the person to cope at their own pace. This form of nondirective dialogue places the therapist as an equal to the client, where no individual holds power over the