OBJECTIVES:

•To define what is Person Centered Theory.

•Understand the Client-Centered Therapy.
•To know the implication of the theory to social work practice.
 CARL R. ROGERS
• Born on January 8, 1902 – (Died on February 4, 1987), at Oak Park, Illinois
• American Humanistic Psychologist
• One of the founding fathers of Psychotherapy
• Known for his own unique approach to understanding personality and human
relationships.
• Rogers served as director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in
Rochester, New York. From 1935 to 1940 he lectured at the University of Rochester
and wrote The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child (1939),
 ROGERS’ HUMANISTIC VIEW
• Rogers believed that our behavior is not a reaction to unconscious
conflicts but rather a response to our immediate conscious
experiences of self and environment (Rogers, 1951).
(Emphasis known as Phenomenology)
• It focuses our attention on the present instead of the past
• Rogers believed that the forces that directs our behavior are within
our own view of self and if it is not distorted or blocked by our
environment, they are believed to direct us towards self actualization.
• During his early years, his approach was variously termed “client-
centered,” “person-centered,” “student-centered,” “group-centered,” and
“person to person.”
• We use the label client-centered in reference to rogers’s therapy and the
more inclusive term person-centered to refer to rogerian
personality theory.
 PERSON CENTERED THEORY
• The central concept of the theory is the Self - as an organized, consistent set of perceptions of
and beliefs about oneself (Rogers, 1959).
• The self has two facets which are the Self Concept and Internal Entity.
• Roger theorized that in the beginning children cannot distinguish between themselves and their
environment but as they interact with their world they begin to distinguish between the “me” and
the “not me” where in the self-concept is developed in response to our life experiences.
• There is a need to maintain that self-concept to help us understand our relationship to the world
around us.
• We must be flexible and adaptive of our self concept.
 NEEDS TO BE MET:
• SELF-CONSISTENCY- Absence of conflicts among self perceptions.
• CONGRUENCE- Consistency between self perceptions and experiences.
• UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD- Acceptance, love, and sympathy from others.
If not met it would lead to:
Goal: Achieve Self-Actualization and -Extreme Anxiety
-Temporary disorganization of self
become Fully Functioning Persons. concept.
CLIENT-CENTERED PSYCHOTHERAPY
• The client-centered approach holds that in order for vulnerable or anxious people to
grow psychologically, they must come into contact with a therapist who is congruent and
whom they perceive as providing an atmosphere of unconditional acceptance and
accurate empathy.
• First, an anxious or vulnerable client must come into contact with a congruent therapist
who also possesses empathy and unconditional positive regard for that client.
• Next, the client must perceive these characteristics in the therapist. Finally, the contact
between client and therapist must be of some duration.
COUNSELOR CONGRUENCE

• CONGRUENCE EXISTS WHEN A PERSON’S ORGANISMIC EXPERIENCES ARE

MATCHED BY AN AWARENESS OF THEM AND BY AN ABILITY AND
WILLINGNESS TO OPENLY EXPRESS THESE FEELINGS (ROGERS, 1980).
UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD

• POSITIVE REGARD
IS THE NEED TO BE LIKED, PRIZED, OR ACCEPTED BY
ANOTHER PERSON. WHEN THIS NEED EXISTS WITHOUT ANY
CONDITIONS OR QUALIFICATIONS, UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD
OCCURS (ROGERS, 1980).
EMPATHIC LISTENING
• EMPATHY EXISTS WHEN THERAPISTS ACCURATELY SENSE THE FEELINGS
OF THEIR CLIENTS AND ARE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE THESE
PERCEPTIONS SO THAT CLIENTS KNOW THAT ANOTHER PERSON HAS
ENTERED THEIR WORLD OF FEELINGS WITHOUT PREJUDICE,
PROJECTION, OR EVALUATION.
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
• PEOPLE ARE TRUSTWORTHY AND HAVE VAST POTENTIALS FOR
UNDERSTANDING THEMSELVES.
• PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF SOLVING THEIR OWN PROBLEM.
• LOCATE POWER IN THE PERSON NOT IN THE THERAPIST.
• PEOPLE ARE NOT SIMPLY HELPED BY ADVICE.
• CLIENT IS THE PRIMARY VEHICLE FOR INNER GROWTH AND
CONSTRUCTIVE CHANGE.
IMPLICATION TO SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE
• The theory would serve as a guiding principle in our practice in
understanding and relating with our clients, it will help us to come up
with a better understanding and to formulate proper interventions that
would easily promote client-worker relationship to achieve successful
helping process.
• The therapy methods would also be essential in our practice to easily
address and treat the “problems in living” of the person.
REFERENCES
• Passer, M. W., &Amp; smith, R. E. (2007). Humanistic phenomenological perspective: Carl Rogers Theory of
Self. In psychology: the science of mind and behavior (second ed., Pp. 439-441). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

• Badillo, M. (2010). Carl Rogers: Person Centered Theory - UB Michelle Badillo. Sites,Google.Com.
https://sites.google.com/site/ubmichellebadillo/theories-of-personality/carl-rogers-person-centered-theory

• Pinnacle of Man. (2017, November 13). Humanistic Psychology with Carl Rogers (Person Centered) [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6fidphMX38

• Humanistic Perspectives on Personality | Boundless Psychology. (n.d.). Lumen Boundless Psychology.

Retrieved December 9, 2020, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-
psychology/chapter/humanistic-perspectives-on-
personality/#:%7E:text=Carl%20Rogers%20was%20an%20influential,tendency%20in%20shaping%20huma
n%20personalities.&text=Human%20beings%20develop%20an%20ideal,conditional%20status%20of%20po
sitive%20regard.