PERSON-CENTERED THEORY

Presented by

JEAN MARIE VIANNEY NIZEYIMANA

(PSI/77/JV/20)
MARCELLIN WINDKOUNI OUEDRAOGO
(PSI/82/MO/20)
JULIAN KASIYA (PSI/SB/7/JK/19)

LECTURER
REV. FR. DR. JOYZY PIUS ENGUNJOBI
 CONTENTS

• I The Theory

• II Applying to client

• III How the theory applies (The

appropriateness of the theory)
 Background History of the Theory

• Freud’s psychoanalysis and other

school of thought were pre-eminent.

• In 1929, there was a crisis. The stock

market crashed, propelling the nation
and its citizens an era that was then
termed “the great depression” (a severe
worldwide economic depression that
took place mostly during the 1930s,
beginning in the USA)
Background History of the Theory

• Carl Rogers, an American professor of

psychology at the University of Ohio, born
in 1902 and dead in 1997 came with the
new concept.

• He was the fourth child of the six children

with loving, caring and religious parents.

• He was an agriculturist, became interested

in Religious Ministry, but later studied
Clinical Psychology, got PhD.
Background History of the Theory

• The main book of Rogers is

Counselling and psychotherapy. In
this book, he formulated the theory in
the form of nondirective
psychotherapy. The theory has been
developed later in the path of person-
centered and client-centered.
Gladding (2004)
 Background History of the Theory

 His early work was influenced by

psychoanalytic concepts, but gradually his view
changed as he realized “that it is the client who
knows what hurts, what directions to go, what
problems are crucial, what experiences have
been buried” (Rogers, 1961, pp. 11–12).

 His focus was on the client’s

taking responsibility for himself.
 Key concepts of the theory
• Person-centered theory belongs to the
humanistic approach which focuses on the
individual person and his potentialities;
human beings are capable of making
changes for themselves
• Unconditional positive regard for the client:
the positive aspect of the human nature is
higlithed. It means that people are essentially
good, characteristically positive, forward
moving
Key concepts of the theory
• Phenomenological perspective according
to Garrett J&S, (Mars 2013): “The
individual experiences and perceives own
world and reacts in an individual way.
Person-centred therapy focuses on the
individual’s own experience informing how
treatment will work”

• Self-actualisation: people tend to realise

themselves in different domain of their
lives. It’s a kind of instinct.
Key concepts of the theory

• The fully functioning person: The fully

functioning person is an individual
who has ideal emotional health.
Generally, the fully functioning
person will be opened to experience,
lives with a sense of meaning and
purpose
 Therapeutic process

• This part shows the difference with the traditional

approaches
• The congruence or genuiness shows that the
therapist is in accordance with what he is saying
and what he is doing
• Unconditional positive regard and acceptance:
Here, the therapist should have a non judgmental
regard on his client. It doesn’t mean that the
therapist agrees with the client, but only to consider
the client doing his best to demonstrate his life and
to open his heart.
 Therapeutic process

• Empathy: it is a skill used in person

centered therapy to show
understanding of the clients’ feelings
• Nondirectiveness: according to
Garrett & Mars, (2013), it refers to
allowing the client to take an active
part in the therapy session without
the therapist giving advice or
implementing strategies or activities.
 Therapeutic process

• Other techniques that are used in

person-centered therapy are:
reflection of feelings, opened
questions, paraphrasing and
encouragers
 Applications of the philosophy
of person-centered therapy
• The person-centered approach can be
applied to working with individuals, groups
and families (Corey, 2005). The person-
centered approach has been successful in
treating problems including anxiety,
disorders, alcoholism, psychosomatic
problems, agoraphobia, interpersonal
difficulties, depression, and personality
disorders (Bozrath, Zimring & Tausch, as
cited in Corey, 2005).
 Applications of the philosophy of
person-centered therapy

• It could also be used in counselling

people with unwanted pregnancy,
illness or loss of a loved one. When
compared with other therapies such
as goal-focused therapies, person-
centred therapy has been shown to
be as effective as them (Corey,
2005).
 Applications of the philosophy
of person-centered therapy

• The Role of Assessment

According to Corvey G. (2009), the assessment is
necessary in person centered-therapy. But it should
be a self-assessment. The role of the counsellor is
to help the person to assess himself or herself.
Because of the principles of this theory, the
collaborative aspect should be involved.
Applications of the philosophy
of person-centered therapy

Reflection of Feelings
• Here is an example of feeling
reflecting
• Client: “I didn’t know what to do, I
was so confused and angry”.
• Counsellor: “So you are feeling
confused and angry”.
 II Applying to client

• Noella is a person who has

developed a fear of people. Any time
she has to meet people she used to
run away because of fear. She used
to hide herself so that she might not
be seen. She decided to meet a
counselor in order to be helped. She
was 25 years old when she decieded
to see a counsellor.
 Identification of
issues/problems
• In fact, in her childhood Noella
experienced live, such an attack in her
family. Her parents, specially her mother
hid her under the bed when thieves came
to still in their house. Since that moment,
that fear of people started developing in
her until it became a serious issue

• How to apply the theory of person-

centered?
 Description of techniques
• Unconditional positive Regard: Receive Noella
positively like worthy human being. A regard that
values the human person. The counsellor should
manage the disposition in the room. Avoid to fix
the client.
• A Genuineness: The client should get the feeling
that the counselor is a person you can trust.
• Empatic Understanding: Empathic listening will
help the counselor to have empathic answer. For
instance, the counsellor can ask the question to
know if there has been lost of life or injuries to be
able to express his empathy.
Description of Techniques
• Paraphrasing: I paraphrase what she says
for understanding well what she shares.
the voice of the counsellor should be
adapted to the fear situation. Avoid raising
the voice
• Open-question: these questions should
help the client to open up more to other
details, that would allow the counselor to
identify the social, political and family
situation. Opening questions are more
suitable. Avoid intimidating the client by
questions difficult to answer
 Spiritual Components
to the Problem
• In spiritual aspect, the spiritual director has
to listen deeper than the counsellor in order
to check where God is in her life; check the
movements and the feelings in her life in this
experience and beyond
• The spiritual director should know Noella’s
expectations and the will of God
• Noella is wounded. The spiritual director
should look for her self-esteem and her
feelings son the thiefs.
 Spiritual Components
to the Problem
• To be opened to the grace of God, the
spiritual director should help her to get a good
self-esteem. And then, the forgiveness of the
thieves. Here, she needs encouragements
because the matter of forgiveness is hard.
• Forgiveness: The spiritual director, aware of
the value of forgiveness in social and
religious life should help her become aware of
the need to forgive. First, she has to forgive
herself to accept herself
 Cultural Component
to the Problem
• There are universal truths in life. Uncivil
behavior is common to all cultures and all
societies. Among these uncivil behaviors, we
have theft and banditry
• Culturally, we have to explore the beliefs of her
area in order to be respectful of the values of
the clients. It is very essential attitudes and
skills in counselling culturally diverse clients in
accordance with Corey (2009) though.In this
way, the psychological issues depend on the
prohibitions and permits of culture
 Strengths
• The link between counselling and therapy

• This theory is applicable to a wide range of

human problems

• The theory generated a great deal of

research and set the initial standard for
doing research on counselling variables.
 Strengths

• The approach focuses on the open and

accepting relationship established by
counsellors and clients. Therapeutic process is
relationship-centered (not technique-centered)

• Mastering listenning skills: active listenning is

not just listenning. It is listenning in such a way
as to let the client know that you understand
what is being said
• Positive view of human nature
 Weaknesses

• Few instructions for counsellors on how to establish

relationships with clients
• Depends on bright, insightful and hard-working of the
client
• Approach ignores diagnosis, the unconscious, and
innately generated sexual and aggressive drives.
Many critics think it is overly optimistic
• The approach deals only with surface issues and
does not challenge the client to explore deeper areas
 END

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