Rogerian Therapy: Person-Centered Therapy (PCT)

Person-centered Therapy (Rogerian Therapy)
Person-centered therapy (PCT) was developed by Carl Rogers in the 1940s. PCT therapy deviate from the traditional model of the therapist as expert and moved instead toward a nondirective, empathic approach that empowers and motivates the client in the therapeutic process. Rogers believed that every human is capable of finding solution of their problem if rightly directed toward that path.
PCT identifies that each person has the capacity and desire for personal growth and change. Rogers called it “actualizing tendency”. According to Rogers, “Individuals have within themselves vast resources for self-understanding and for altering their self-concepts, basic attitudes, and self-directed behavior; these

The therapist avoids directing the course of therapy by following the client’s lead whenever possible. Instead, the therapist offers support, guidance, and structure so that the client can discover personalized solutions within themselves.
Rogers identified six key factors that stimulate growth within an individual. He suggested that when these conditions are met, the person will move toward a constructive fulfillment of potential. According to Rogerian theory, the six factors necessary for growth are:
1. Therapist-Client Psychological Contact: This first condition simply states that a relationship between therapist and client must exist in order for the client to achieve positive personal change. The following five factors are characteristics of the therapist-client relationship, and they may vary by degree.
2. Client Incongruence or Vulnerability: A discrepancy between the client’s self-image and actual experience leaves him or her vulnerable to fears and anxieties. The client is often unaware of the

One major difference between humanistic counselors and other therapists is that they refer to those in therapy as “clients”, not “patients”. This is because they see the therapist and client as equal partners rather than as an expert treating a patient.
Unlike other therapies the client is responsible for improving his or her life, not the therapist. This is a deliberate change from both psychoanalysis and behavioral therapies where the patient is diagnosed and treated by a doctor. Instead, the client consciously and rationally decides for themselves what is wrong and what should be done about it. The therapist is more of a friend or counselor who listens and encourages on an equal level.
One reason why Rogers (1951) rejected interpretation was that he believed that, although symptoms did arise from past experience, it was more useful for the client to focus on the present and future than on the past. Rather than just liberating clients from their past, as psychodynamic therapists aim to do, Rogerians hope to help their clients to achieve personal growth and eventually to self