Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers is best known for his contributions to therapy. Dr. Rogers felt that clients look to therapists for guidance, and will find it even when the therapist is not trying to guide. Carl Rogers' theory on guidance was focused on a person's "true self". Dr. Rogers said that in order for people to know their true selves, they had to focus on their self-concept. This consisted of a set of beliefs about behaviors, thoughts, and feelings that could be more or less conflicting with the person's real behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. A person whose self-concept was drastically different from their true self would constantly run into situations in which their behavior surprised or upset them. Rogers said that self-concept was influenced by society. Society disapproves of a wide range of behaviors, and many people choose to ignore those behaviors inside themselves. Rogers would listen non-judgmentally to the patient's statements and would reflect back so that the patient would accept his or her true self. He named his therapy, client-centered therapy. He felt that the client was the one who should say what is wrong, find the way to improve, and determine the conclusion of the therapy.

Dr. Rogers assisted people in taking responsibility for themselves. He believed that the experience of being understood and valued gives us the freedom to grow. Dr. Rogers sees the human being as: "capable of evaluating the outer and inner situation, understanding themself in its context, making constructive choices as to the next steps in life, and acting on those choices" (1977, p15).

Dr. Rogers described his therapy as "supportive, not reconstructive". He felt that the therapist should fulfill three requirements in order to be effective. The first condition is congruence. This is the fit between an individual's feelings and their outer display. The congruent person is genuine and real, and the non-congruent person hides behind a faÐ*ade. Dr. Rogers thought that a person should express their relentless feelings, regardless if they were positive or negative. The second requirement is respect or "unconditioned positive regard". He believed that the way to guide was to create a warm and trusting atmosphere for the client. This would help them explore, and solve their own problems. A feeling of trust let the clients ignore images of being judged, and become who they really are. The last requirement is empathy. Rogers always listened to the person putting aside his own views and values. He listened to them with no prejudices. Being empathetic meant listening and being nonjudgmental. The therapist must also try to avoid interpreting and diagnosing. The therapist must accept everything at face value.

Rogers claimed that these requirements are necessary for the client's improvement. He felt that "each client has within him or herself the vast resources for self-understanding, for altering his or her self-concept, attitudes, and self-directed behavior--and that these resources can be tapped by providing a definable climate of facilitative attitudes" (Rogers, 2002). If the therapist does not show these qualities, the client's improvement will be minimal.

The person-centered approach has had impact on domains outside of therapy such