Social Work Department

Chapter Seven
Person-centered approach
Course: Social work theories and Methods
Faculty of Social Science DS&SW
Degree Program
Abdinasir A. Mohamed Biyo
BSc , MA,JKUAT, MSc
KIU-CC-USA
 Chapter Outline
— Introduction
— Objectives
— Main Content
• Meaning and Description of the Person-centered approach .
• Principles of person centered approach.
• The Goals of person centered approach .
• Necessary and sufficient conditions.
• Conclusion
• Test Questions
• References/Further Readings
 Introduction
— Carl Rogers developed the person centered approach, or therapy, and the

person centered theory of personality from his direct work with clients in a

therapeutic setting. His therapy and theory of personality evolved from the

humanistic school of psychology. Like other humanistic theories, person-

centered theory holds at its core a basic belief in the growth-oriented nature

of human development (DeCarvalho, 1990). Person- centred theory asserts

that humans wish to grow and to discover their true self.

— Environmental forces, and the ensuing psychological responses to

the environmental forces, often disrupt persons from discovering

their true self to the point where their psychological growth can

become stifled. Despite this disruption, the person remains capable

of growth and development and able to undergo personality

change (Ziegler, 2002).

— The person centred approach traces its origins to humanistic

psychology, and humanistic psychology traces its roots back to older

philosophical traditions that emerged in the sixteenth century and

the Renaissance (Crain, 2000). At that time, humans were viewed as

sinful and in need of submitting themselves to the will of God.

Humanism emerged as a criticism of a church-dominated view of

the person as sinful. A strong sense of individualism permeated the

writings of humanistic philosophers of the Renaissance.

— Humans beings, themselves, began to be viewed as good and valued,

and were seen as existing for their own sake and not just for God’s.

— Like the humanistic thinkers of the Renaissance, humanistic

psychology emerged as a reaction to the deterministic and limited

view of humanness that was the hallmark of the two dominant schools
of psychological thought: psychodynamic theory and behaviourism
(Crain, 2000; DeCarvalho, 1990). To early humanists, classical psy-
choanalytic theories focused too narrowly on the role of the
unconscious and erotic motivation in determining behaviour, which
led to a pessimistic and fatalistic view of the human condition.
— This chapter explores Rogers’ theory of personality, the person-

centred approach and the sufficient and necessary conditions to

facilitate change and foster human growth and development.

 Objectives
v At the end of the unit, you should be able to:

— The ability to discover the internal freedom that is imbedded in

each individual, which can be used to make choices about how to

live;

— A recognition that the individual is responsible for her or his life;

— A realization that the individual is capable of making such

important decisions (Rogers, 1961).

 Main Content
q Meaning and description Person centered approach.

— Being person-centered is about focusing care on the needs of individual.

Ensuring that people's preferences, needs and values guide clinical

decisions, and providing care that is respectful of and responsive to them.

— The focus is on the person and what they can do, not their condition or

disability. Support should focus on achieving the person's aspirations and

be tailored to their needs and unique circumstances.

 Principles of Person-Centered Approach.

1. Respecting the individual. It is important to get to know the

patient as a person and recognise their unique qualities. ...

2. Treating people with dignity. ...

3. Understanding their experiences and goals. ...

4. Maintaining confidentiality. ...

5. Giving responsibility. ...

6. Coordinating care.
 The Goals of person centered approach .
1. An individual is open to experience.

2. An individual is able to gain trust in his or her own organism.

3. An individual develops an internal locus of evaluation.

4. An individual engaged in the process of becoming recognizes that

life and the discovery of self is a process and not an end point.
 Necessary and sufficient conditions.

Rogers (1957; 1959) asserts that there are six necessary and

sufficient conditions of the therapeutic process. When present, these

six conditions, irrespective of any other therapeutic technique, milieu

or client characteristic, will foster personality and behavioural

change in clients.

The six necessary and sufficient conditions include the following

1) There is contact between client and therapist;

2) The client is experiencing incongruence;

3) The therapist is congruent in the relationship;

4) The therapist expresses and experiences unconditional positive

regard toward the client;

5) The therapist experiences empathetic understanding of the client

and her or his perception of experiences; and

6) The client perceives, at least minimally, the conditions of

empathy and unconditional positive regard.
 CHAPTER SUMMERY

— Rogers’ person-centred approach, or therapy, was a significant

departure from the then dominant models of practice,

behaviourism and psychodynamic theories (DeCarvalho, 1990).

Rogers (1957; 1959) saw humans as growth oriented and good,

and argued that persons who come to therapy are often in a state

of incongruence between their self and their experiences.

In order to become fully functioning, individuals need to be open

to experiences, develop trust in themselves, develop a sense of self

that is rooted in the person’s own perceptions of self and

experiences, and engage in the process of becoming (Rogers,

1961).
 Reference/Further Readings
— Cottraux, J., Note, I.,Yao, S.N., et al. (2008) Randomized controlled
comparison of cog- nitive behavior therapy with Rogerian supportive
therapy in chronic post-traumatic stress disorder: a 2-year follow-up,
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 77: 101–10.
— Crain, W.C. (2000) Conclusion: humanistic psychology and
development theory, in Theories of Development: Concepts and Applications,
4th edn. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
— DeCarvalho, R.J. (1990) A history of the ‘third force’ in psychology,
Journal of Humanistic Psychology 30(4): 22–44.
— Elliott, R. and Freire, E. (2007) Classical person-centered and
experiential perspectives on Rogers (1957), Psychotherapy:Theory,
Research, Practice,Training, 44: 285–8.
— Farber, B.A. (2007) On the enduring and substantial influence of Carl
Rogers’ not-quite necessary nor sufficient conditions, Psychotherapy:
Theory, Research, Practice,Training, 44: 289–94.
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