The_Person_Centred_Model_of_Counselling

Critically appraise the key concepts and principles of the theory and practice of the person centred approach including its validity and relevance in current society. Demonstrate how this model will be personally applied to improve practice. In this essay I am going to talk about key figures in the development of person centred counselling, its relevance in today’s society, and the main key concepts that form the backbone of the person centred approach. I am also going to give my opinions on its effectiveness and how it has changed my outlook. An American called Carl Rogers was the main person involved in developing person-centred therapy in the late 1920s.He initially followed the Freudian views at that time, but soon began to think that there was a better way. In his earlier years Rogers referred to it as non-directive therapy, this was to separate his new ways from other therapeutic approaches around at that time. He then developed this into client centred therapy in the 1940-50s, as he became more aware that the client was at the centre of the healing process,“ a self- directed process facilitated moving by another”.(Rogers) In person centred therapy it is the client who decides which direction to take, in terms of what they would like to discuss, the therapist is only there to help the client work through their issues by asking informal questions that help them to look more closely at themselves and their decisions. By doing this the client can identify their own way of moving forward. “The central truth for Rogers was that the client knows best. It is the client who knows what hurts and where the pain lies and it is the client who, in the final analysis, will discover a way forward.” D Mearns & B Thorne p1 (2007) Although Rogers was the main developer of this theory, he did have a lot of outside influences from people he worked with, such as Nathaniel Raskin and Eugene Gendlin. These were people that he gathered around him as a team, they all talked and discussed new ideas and ways in which to enhance and develop non-directive therapy. He was also influenced by other leading theorists such as Stanley Standal, who developed unconditional positive regard. Otto Rank had a major impact on Rogers, as it was he who began to question Freud’s concentration on the past, dreams and need to analyse everything in depth. Rank believed that by doing this it led the patient/client, away from the here and now and he also argued that it was `always easier to talk about the past because it was not the present`. Abraham Maslow was a big influence to Carl Rogers as he created a visual aid to explaining the actualising process. He drew a pyramid explaining the hierarchy of needs, it started off at a wide base with the basic physiological needs at the bottom (food, water, shelter), progressing up to safety needs (employment, family, health), then comes love and belonging (friendship, family), then the next level is esteem (confidence and achievement), and the final level is self-actualisation (acceptance of facts and lack of prejudices. These were part of the cornerstone of the person centred approach. Rogers believed that people were inherently good, though sometimes circumstances or influences from others or more importantly, significant others may distort or alter our behaviour, we are all striving to reach our full potential. This is known as self-actualising. “Self-actualising does not necessarily result in the most optimal functioning of the person. We are all self- actualising simply because we all have a self to maintain, and this self is likely to be less than ideal because its development has taken place in an environment that is unlikely to have been ideal. In other words, the development of the self takes place through interaction with the environment which includes, perhaps most importantly of all, significant other people with whom we need to form relationships”. T Merry p25 (2008) I am a person who does believe this philosophy and even when people say they cannot accept this because of such people as serial killers, or people like Adolf Hitler, who many people debate had a perfectly “normal” upbringing, I would argue that there was possibly some event that moulded them into the person they became and that if some sort of intervention had happened at that specific time to help them work through that difficult time, maybe they would of turned out to be a totally different person. Rogers developed the person-centred approach from his experience of being a client and of also being a counsellor. At the time there were two main types of counselling, Psychoanalysis and behaviourists. Firstly Psychoanalysis, the main developer of this technique was a man called Sigmund Freud, he had a very analytical approach. This was because he believed that our behaviour is controlled by primitive urges and that they originate from childhood fixations. Freud also said that human beings had a dark side and that we seemed to have no control over this side of ourselves. Psychoanalysts also believe that a person who comes to them, needs fixing in some way, that the person is weak or broken and they believe in order to do this, the patient/client needs to be assessed then diagnosed, as to the specific problem, and then a strategy must be built to resolve the patient/clients problem. Second were the behaviourists, they believed that people are just organisms that learn from others and are not responsible for their own behaviour. They believed that a person must be taught to think or behave correctly. Rogers did not think that either of these fitted his way of thinking, he believed as I do that we all are deep down good people and so he developed the person centred approach. His approach was a complete contrast to most other types of therapy. Instead of the word patient, the word client would be used. This was to try to make the client feel that the relationship was a more equal one. In most other forms of therapy the therapist is a more authoritative figure who was seen to be all knowledgeable and was there to direct and to give advice to his “patients”. I strongly believe that a client that feels they are being treated as a person in their own right and that their thoughts, opinions and personal values are just as important to the therapist as they are to themselves, will feel more at ease to explore their personal issues and that they will also be more likely to divulge more intimate details of their lives, thus increasing the chances of a real therapeutic change. In my opinion, a person being treated as a “patient” and being made to feel inferior by a therapist, this will lead them to feel the need to seek advice whenever they get to a stage in their lives that becomes tough, rather than the “client” that is encouraged to find their own answers, that feels accepted for being themselves, this person is more likely to work through this tough time and draw upon their inner feelings and is less likely to seek advice and opinions of others in order to evaluate their lives. This process is one of becoming autonomous, which is self-governing and more independent. The conditions which Rogers believed are essential to the therapeutic relationship relied mainly on the therapists attitudes, beliefs and way of being. He believed that by the therapist being genuine/ real and open, empathic/seeing things through their clients eyes or trying to imagine how it feels to be in their clients world, accepting of the client/ respecting the client and their wishes no matter what race, colour, religion, gender or personal values they may have. He called these the core conditions, congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy. Congruence. This is matching how we look and feel on the outside to the inner feelings and thoughts we have on the inside. It is also referred as being `real` (Rogers 1980) or `authentic` (Rogers 1970). It is a very hard thing to do and requires a high self- esteem and strength to achieve. Even after all of the courses I have attended I still find that that sometimes I am unable to convey how I feel, it is also difficult to show how we are feeling sometimes because of not wanting to hurt or offend a person. Knowing how to phrase something as to not offend is just as hard as being genuine itself. I realise that by being congruent and real with a client it should develop a trusting relationship and help them to feel really accepted and heard. “The counsellor who is congruent conveys the message that it is not only permissible but desirable to be oneself. She also presents herself as transparent to the client and thus refuses to encourage an image of herself as superior or expert.” D Mearns & B Thorne p17 (2007) Unconditional Positive regard. This the counsellors valuing of all people no matter what the clients views, opinions, beliefs or anything that the client may present in the therapeutic relationship. Even if something a client is doing is perceived as wrong or not as we would like, it is their choice and the counsellor must respect this. Maybe in time as they are shown all the conditions they may change their views, but that would be because they have chosen to do so, not because we have directed them towards these things. By offering unconditional positive regard, the client may feel accepted for once; this could be a major thing for them as possibly they do not get this total acceptance anywhere else. Just by this one condition being present it could have a massive impact on their personal life outside of the therapeutic relationship. “The client feels that the counsellor values him consistently throughout their relationship, despite the fact that he may not value himself and even if the counsellor does not like or approve of all the clients behaviour. It is possible to accept the client as a person of worthwhile still not liking some of the things he does.” D Mearns &B Thorne p96 (2007) Empathy. This is seeing something through a client’s eyes, looking at things from a client’s form frame of reference or stepping into the clients’ shoes. Carl Rogers said that “empathy is to sense the client’s private world as if it were your own, but without losing the `as if` quality”. These empathic feelings must be conveyed toward the client so that they know they are being truly heard, as well as these they should feel that even if the counsellor does not fully understand how they feel, that the counsellor is striving to grasp how they are feeling. This in itself may make them feel valued. There is no way that the feeling of empathy can be manufactured and give the client the same feeling of being in an equal relationship, by this I mean that unless a counsellor is genuine in there empathic responses, the client will know this and it will be a waste of time. “A helper cannot communicate an understanding of a client’s world without getting in contact with that world. Therefore, a great deal of the discussion on empathy centres on the kind of attending, Observing, and listening-the kind of “being with”-needed to develop an understanding of clients and their worlds.” G Egan p123 (1990) These three `core conditions` form part of the `necessary and sufficient conditions for constructive personality change`. The other conditions are for the two people to be in psychological contact, the first whom shall be termed the client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious, the second who shall be termed the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship. Rogers proposed that if all these conditions were present within a therapeutic relationship, then this would enable a client to develop towards becoming a fully functioning person. I agree with the fact that by showing all these conditions towards a person it would move them towards becoming more self-actualised. By all these conditions being present it would show the client a full picture of being heard, accepted, valued and of some importance in a relationship, by this person being part of such a healthy relationship, must in my eyes always have a positive effect on any individual to some extent. I feel that in today’s society, where families seem to be more disjointed, and family values have changed for the worse, this type of counselling is becoming more in need. A lot of families nowadays do not spend enough time together and therefore do not have the opportunity to talk and express their feelings, as I was growing up we had regular large family meals with aunties uncles and grandparents. It was a great time for all of the generations to pass on some great stories and for the whole family to bond as a group. At home we had to sit around the dining table every night for tea, this gave plenty of opportunities to talk about issues or just generally hold a conversation. In today’s society this seems to have been lost and by giving someone this opportunity in the therapeutic relationship, is a great thing to be able to offer. I feel now more than ever people are judged by the clothes they wear, the way they talk, or how intelligent they seem. I think that to give the time and effort to listen fully to an individual and not judge can make a person grow and develop into a better person who values themselves and therefore will treat other people in a better way too. The only thing that I personally feel frustrated at is the fact a counsellor using the P.C model has to never direct, or steer a client. Sometimes I am sure that a client will present certain issues were having the knowledge of another counselling technique would come in handy, by this I mean if someone was just getting totally frustrated at never being given any sort of advice or any possible solution and became totally disheartened at never being able to move on. Being trained in another technique to call upon or use alongside would be, I think a great tool to have. As I have not covered any other techniques in any depth, I am at a loss as to go into any details at this stage. “Being a counsellor is no task for the faint-hearted and it has sometimes been suggested that those who embrace the person centred orientation are letting themselves in for a particularly rigorous discipline. There is certainly much to support this point of view. In contrast to many other approaches the person-centred counsellor cannot seek refuge in her diagnostic skill or in the application of a clutch of therapeutic techniques” D Mearns & B Thorne p43 (2007) Even though I have only limited knowledge on other counselling approaches, I feel I have a greater knowledge on people and understand the great differences between individuals on a whole. In this case it leads me to think that because of this, it would logically lead me into thinking that not just one approach will work for everyone. At this stage I am relying on mostly what I read and in doing this I have found more arguments that back up my story, this may mean I am not seeing the full picture I know. “No single theory to date seems adequate for all people. Therefore, the counsellor is forced to fashion an appropriate combination of theories and techniques to try and `fit` each client. Furthermore, though most advocates of particular approaches stress the need to adapt to client differences, they do not indicate how to adapt to any particular individual”. W Dryden p53 (1995) I do believe that all of these conditions are a must in all counselling approaches if they are to succeed in promoting a positive change in a client. The self-concept is a major part of the person centred approach to counselling. This is made up by the parts of a person, e.g. such as a person may see themselves as, a strong individual, that can get angry and never gets upset. So when this person does get into a situation where they feel hurt, they may show anger instead. This usually happens through relationships with others. A child that is only shown love when he or she does not cry or when they hurt themselves is told that `big boys do not cry`, may grow up to think that this is the right way to behave, this is where a parent imposes `conditions of worth` upon them. When there are no imposed conditions of worth as a child they will be free to express and rely upon their own inner feelings. If no imposed conditions of worth are placed upon a person would become shaped by their own thoughts and feelings rather than significant others. Someone who is given the time and the right atmosphere to explore these conditions, and even encouraged by a qualified counsellor, may be able to break free from any imposed conditions and come more into line with there true self and their own inner feelings. I always felt that my father was very supportive in everything that I did, but I always felt that he disapproved of me unless I gave 110% in what I did. Therefore now I feel unless I am trying my absolute best I am letting people down. This to me is a good thing as it spurs me on to achieve the best I can do, but I also admit that it sometimes makes me feel as though I put too much pressure on myself. I now realise this and try to not pressure myself as much and when I realise that I am doing this I take a break. I realise that I am no doing myself any good by getting so worked up. This is one of the things I have learned through the progress of this course. Another condition of worth I have is to not complain and to just get on with it, even when I do not feel well, or feel that what I am being told to do is not 100% right. I learned this from my father who always worked hard even through quite bad illness, he never openly complained and always seemed to carry on. When I ever asked him or questioned why he behaved this way he used to say things like `no one else will pay the bills for me` or `what is the use in complaining I am still going to have to do it anyway`. For years I felt that this is how I had to be and always just kept on going, but when I injured my back and found doing my manual job getting continually harder and harder, it started getting to me and eventually when I could not carry on I broke down. I did not know what to do or how to cope. I was totally lost for months and it was not until I found a physiotherapist, who not only helped me with my physical problems, but also helped to give me the confidence to look at new avenues and tell me it was ok to feel as I did. He also taught me that I was stuck in a vicious circle of pain and depression. Eventually I began to feel better and decided to start at college, studying a counselling course, which in turn led me onto this degree course. I know what a massive effect having a neutral person to listen to me and not judge me had on me as a person, I feel that above all that was the thing that set me on the path I am on now. This is why this I think that the person centred model is so effective. “The person-centred theory of the self-concept suggests that the person possesses not only a concept or definition of self `as I am now`, but also a sense of self `as I would ideally like to be`, the `ideal self` represents another aspect of the consistent them in Rogers work concerning the human capacity to strive to fulfilment and greater integration. One of the aims of person-centred is to enable the person to move in the direction of his self-defined ideals” J Mcleod p96 (1998) Having not done any skills practice over the beginning of this course and also not having the opportunity to use any of the practical parts of the person centred approach, I am at a loss do describe how I will apply it to improve my own practice. I can only hypothetically say how it has given me a greater feeling of how we can make a difference to a person’s life just by being non-judgemental and accepting them for who they are. I know now that a simple thing such as a discerning look or comment can have such a dramatic negative impact on someone, and I will be very aware of such things when I do get the chance to practice the skills that I have learned. I have learned that in previous counselling courses I have been to eager to try and `fix` people, to try to help them solve their problems. I know now that it is down to them to come to a conclusion, whatever they are experiencing and to empower them into a possible solution. In this essay I have explained who was involved in developing the person centred approach, how it may be used and in what circumstances it can be used. I have explained that it is a difficult discipline to master and how effective it can be in the right hands. I have explained its relevance in today’s society and explained some of the effects it has had on my thoughts and feelings. Bibliography Merry T, Learning and Being in Person-Centred Counselling, 2nd edition (2008) PCCS Books Ltd Herefordshire Egan Gerard, The Skilled Helper, 4th edition (1990) Brooks/Cole Publishing Company, California Mearnes D & Thorne B, Person-Centred Counselling in Action, 3rd edition (2008) Sage Publications, California Mcleod J, An introduction To Counselling, 2nd edition (1998) Open University Press, Buckingham Dryden W, Key Issues For Counselling In Action (1995) Sage Publications, London