Running head: PERSON-CENTERED APPROACH 1

Person-Centered Approach to Meeting Essential Needs

Victoria Schlie

Theories of Counseling
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Person-Centered Approach to Meeting Essential Needs

Assumptions of Human Nature

Assumptions are the basis of human reason and interaction, including therapist-client

interaction. My metaphysical assumptions regarding human nature and the structure of human

personality influence my view of psychological dysfunction, the success of particular counseling

methods in correcting dysfunction, and ultimately, what psychological wellbeing looks like.

My first assumption is that there is a universal set standard of humanness and therefore a

set standard of psychological well being. If self-discovery or congruence in an individual’s

lifestyle and cognitions were sufficient to produce psychological wellbeing (as existentialism and

humanism hold), then the concept of meaning is subjective because it completely depends on

whether one believes his existence has meaning. In this case, psychological wellbeing is

essentially equated to happiness, yet the fact that one can acquire immediate happiness while

hindering long term psychological wellbeing suggests that the two are not interchangeable.

Furthermore, the fact that one can be (periodically) unhappy while psychologically sound

suggests that psychological wellbeing is not based on the individual’s perceptions, but on an

external standard. This assumption rejects subjective self-actualization as the source of well

being and requires understanding and aligning one’s lifestyle and cognitions with the universal

standard in order to reach wellbeing.

My second assumption is that humans possess freewill. This stance seems to be inherent

in the field of counseling psychology because without freewill, there is no possibility of change

or betterment; one’s psychological state is completely a product of a previous series of events if

determinism is true. Accepting that humans freely act and choose between multiple options at
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every decision allows for counselling’s goal: to alter something in the client’s system of living to

help them achieve higher psychological wellbeing.

My third assumption is that human personality is influenced by many intertwining factors

and must be viewed and treated holistically. Personality and psychological state cannot be

reduced to one factor, such as behavior, self-awareness, perceptions, or past experiences.

Personality is influenced by all of them in addition to social relationships, environment, and

design (individuals are designed with different desires, callings, and levels of need). A therapist

also cannot expect to isolate and treat one aspect of a client’s system of living without affecting

other aspects and their impact on personality.

My fourth assumption is that humans are sinful and broken in nature and require external

influences and guidance to increase psychological wellbeing. Although self-actualization and an

intrinsic desire to be better (whether psychologically or in the sense of Adlerian significance and

superiority) do play a role in propelling a client toward wellbeing (as person-centered therapy

holds), they are not sufficient. Individuals require needs to be met over which they have no

control, such as reciprocal human relationships, objective existential meaning, and many aspects

of their environment. If these needs are not adequately met, self-actualization will not tend

toward wellbeing but toward negative psychological outcomes due to inherent human

selfishness. The effectiveness of self-actualization hinges on whether or not external guidance is

present to counter sinful human nature.

Philosophy and Theology

I believe there are four fundamental and necessary relationships that an individual has:

with themselves, others, God, and the environment. Similar to Choice Theory’s five innate
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human needs—survival, freedom, power, love and belonging, and fun (Corey, 2017, p. 314),

—humans have four needs that correspond to the fundamental relationships, with each

relationship being the source of fulfillment. These needs are survival (from environment), power

(from themselves), worth (from God), and community (from others). I consider fun a by-product

of healthy relationships, not a need itself. God created this order to reflect the balance and

exchange of the Trinity and created a being that is not complete and healthy without each part

(relationship) being healthy. Adler’s holistic concept in terms of lifestyle and individual

psychology mirrors the separateness, but extreme intertwining of the four relationships and their

effect on psychology. When healthy, what each relationship gives the individual should overlap

and blend while simultaneously meeting the need that only that relationship can meet. This

prevents humans from being self-sufficient and forces them to admit that their well being

requires something outside of their control, promoting humility and selflessness.

It appears clear that a conducive environment is essential for survival, and that we as free

will agents desire to make autonomous choices. However, the theory that worth (encompassing

unconditional positive regard, value, and purpose) can only be sufficiently satisfied in God, and

is therefore not the purpose of social interaction, is a firmly Christian concept. Although I agree

with Adler that an individual’s psychology cannot be understood without first understanding his

social relationships (because they are so intertwined), I do not agree with his theory that society

is the source of love, truth, and righteousness (Adler, 2014, ch. 2). This is not to say that human

relationships cannot allow us to feel worth (as humans reflect God), but that it cannot satisfy the

need for unconditional worth, as all human relationships will eventually prove fallible and no

human can be completely unconditional at all times. People innately seek

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a relationship with a person from whom I cannot hide… whom I can hurl (blame and

anger), if need be, but one who gives me no cause to, and one who will not be alienated

by the open and honest expression of all my thoughts and feelings… who will always tell

me the truth. (Howard, 1975, p. 247)

God is this person as well as the source of meaningful, objective purpose and identity,

exemplified in Genesis 1:26-28 when He creates man and gives him dominion over the earth.

God has also given us human relationships that satisfy a need which He cannot: physical

presence and shared common experience. I think that humans have a need to share experiences

and thoughts with and be understood by other humans.

Cause of Dysfunction

In identifying the locus of responsibility for psychological complaint or dysfunction, I

agree with Carl Rogers’ Person-Centered Therapy that lack of congruence in a client’s lifestyle

frustrates them, causing complaint, or impairs functioning, causing dysfunction. However,

congruence between an ideal self and an actual self is not the only incongruence that causes

dysfunction (Rogers, 1961, p. 65); incongruence between the actual self (or ideal self) and the

universal standards for humanity primarily cause dysfunction because the individuals needs for

power, worth, survival, or community are not being sufficiently met. If a person’s ideal self and

actual self are congruent, he can still experience dysfunction if both are not finding fulfillment of

his needs in each appropriate source. Congruence involves both understanding one’s own

“internal experience” and honestly reflecting that experience in our behavior and with others

(Davies, 2014, para. 3). In addition to having one or more of the four needs unmet (usually

because the individual is seeking fulfilment in one of the other relationships), having
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incongruence between one’s internal experience and external behavior, or portrayal, can also

lead to complaint or dysfunction.

Therapeutic Relationship and Goals

I believe that Carl Rogers’ was right when he said that if the client has the right

relationships, they will naturally find “the capacity to use that relationship for growth and

change, and personal development will occur” (Rogers, 1961, p. 33). However, while Rogers

was talking about the client-therapist relationship, I think all four essential relationships being

healthy prompts an individual’s natural personal growth. Although the therapist cannot

sufficiently provide the healthy relationships for the client, it should be the therapist’s goal to

help the client find avenues to engage in each relationship and acquire fulfillment of their

essential needs. This requires the therapist to first determine what needs are not being satisfied in

the client’s life or if he is experiencing incongruence, in which case the therapist would aim at

helping the client align his external expression (behavior) with his internal experience. First

gaining congruence is extremely helpful, if not necessary, to building healthy relationships and

finding sufficient fulfillment of needs.

It is necessary for the therapist to give the client unconditional positive regard, not

because it creates sufficient conditions for personal growth (Rogers, 1961, p. 265), but because it

models for the client a healthy relationship and effectively encourages client receptivity to

therapy. When a client perceives a blameless and accepting relationship, he is far more likely to

be open to self-criticism (Frankel, 2012, p. 207) and therefore lead the processes of therapy

himself (the goal of non-directive therapy). I think non-directive or client lead therapy is the

most beneficial form of therapy because the client should not become dependent on the therapist
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for psychological well being, but rather learn how to achieve it on their own. Although directive

therapies do not all encourage client dependence on the therapist, non-directive therapy allows

the client to discover insight for themselves instead of being relayed insight by the therapist,

which allows him to continue his own therapeutic self-discovery process after counseling has

ended. With this said, I think there is (and should be) a place for advice and insight from the

therapist, but that advice should be dispensed when the client has reached a point that he is

seeking for himself outside information and insight; the client must first want the therapist’s

insight or else he will not be receptive. The therapist-client relationship should be a safe,

blameless one in which the client does a vast majority of the talking and can safely engage in

self-criticism.

Methods and Techniques

Following Rogerian Person-Centered Therapy, mirroring the client conveys empathy

while suggesting to him that the therapist understands and does not blame him for his feelings

and thoughts (Frankel, 2012, p. 208). Mirroring involves periodically repeating key terms or

concepts that the client is saying back to him while mimicking his emotional state, showing that

the therapist understands both the words and the feelings of the client (p. 209). This should be

the process of therapy until the client has effectively engaged in self-criticism and has decided

what area of his behavior or relationships he wants to change. Throughout that process, insight

from the therapist should be limited to pointing out possible incongruences and guiding

conversation topics for the client to address.

Once the client has built a strong relationship with the therapist, has engaged in

self-reflection, and has discovered for himself the source of dysfunction, therapy should then
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become change oriented. I think Reality Therapy and the WDEP system serve to outline specific

plans for change and bring about effective results in the client’s lifestyle while maintaining client

directed therapy. The WDEP outline (wants, direction and doing, self-evaluation, and plan)

allows the client to explore what he is doing wrong and what ideals he should choose to work

toward (Lujan, 2015, pp. 20-21), helping meet the need for power while creating a plan to meet

the other needs. Although this process is also client directed, the therapist should remind the

client of necessary congruence, both between actual and ideal self (or quality world in Reality

Therapy) and between plan of action and objective reality (universal standards). As long as his

goal is achievable and will effectively move toward fulfilling his needs, the therapist should

encourage the client in whatever goals he chooses and should not impose goals based insight.

Conclusion

If Roger’s idea of creating conditions sufficient to produce a client’s personal growth is

compared to a greenhouse, then each wall of that greenhouse is one of the essential relationships

God has designed humans to have: with themselves, God, others, and the environment. When all

of these relationships are healthy, they meet the respective needs that only each can meet: power,

worth, community (shared experience), and survival. When these needs are adequately met and

the client has congruence between his internal experience and his behavior, personal growth will

occur. The therapy process should be aimed at allowing the client to discover for himself the

source of dysfunction, what he is doing that is ineffective in meeting his needs, and a plan for

effectively meeting his needs. The process should be mostly non-directive with the therapist

there to give unconditional positive regard and remind the client of limitations and possibilities

while encouraging him to think for himself. The ultimate goal of therapy is for the client to have
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gained the ability to self-evaluate, identify areas of dysfunction, create a logical and attainable

plan for change, and follow through on that plan on his own, even after therapy has ended. This

not only achieves higher psychological wellbeing for the client in the short term, but ensures

greater wellbeing in the future.

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References

Adler, A. and Collin, B. (2014). ​Understanding human nature: The psychology of personality.​

New York: Oneworld Publications.

Corey, G. (2017). ​Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy​, 10​th​ ed. Boston, MA:

Cengage Learning.

Davies, N. (2014). Congruence or criticism? ​Therapy today,​ 25(6), 24-27.

Frankel, M., Rachlin, H., & Yip-Bannicq, M. (2012). How nondirective therapy directs: The

power of empathy in the context of unconditional positive regard. ​Person-centered &

experiential psychotherapies​, 11(3), 205-214.

 
Howard, J. G. (1975). Interpersonal​ ​communication​: ​Biblical insights on the problem and the

solution. ​Journal of psychology and theology,​ 3(4), 243-257.

Lujan, S. K. (2015). Quality counseling: An examination of choice theory and reality therapy.

International Journal of Choice Theory & Reality Therapy, 34(2), 17-23.

Rogers, C. (1961).​ On becoming a person.​ Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.