What is Person Centred Therapy

Person Centred Therapy rests on one idea. A person can be encouraged and helped when the therapist builds a trustworthy and unique relationship. Holding a strong belief in the client’s capacity and potential, the Therapist trusts that he can deal well with his own personal issues.

Support and guidance help the process of self-fulfilment along. Never does the focus sit on the problem. That is the point. It sits on the person, on their own pace, and on what they choose to bring to each session.

In the therapy, nobody is challenged or given direction by the Therapist. People express themselves in any way they choose. What the approach holds is that the answer to the client’s questions already lies within himself, and that it will not be found in any external factor, however convincing that factor may look.

Role of Therapist

Therapists take a positive and non-judgmental role. Emotional and psychological forces, they firmly believe, flow from a person’s own experiences and choices, and not from any flaw in character. So the behaviour and choices of people are never judged.

Nothing here is graded. Because no single behaviour is considered to be the best one, the choices and experiences of people are not compared with anyone else’s. Clients are encouraged to talk about their problems in a non-judgmental environment.

History of Person-Centred Therapy

Carl Rogers, the American psychologist, developed the approach in 1950.

Sessions provide an open and safe space to discuss what is troubling you. Therapists of this approach are taught to respond to the experiences of clients in one specific way, and that response is what separates this therapy from advice-giving. It works because of the basic principles.

Essential Components of Person-Centred Therapy

It grew out of the humanistic approach. The client and the Therapist practise it together, as equals. The values a therapist aims to reflect during the therapy are listed below:

Congruence

Therapists interact naturally with the client. These Therapists show no facade and no accomplishment. That creates an open environment, which encourages clients to speak up about their problems and build realistic relationships with the person sitting opposite them. Trust matters here.

A friendly and honest environment lets the Therapist build a trustworthy relationship with the client. That relationship carries real weight. Where trust exists, the work tends to yield effective results.

Unconditional Positive Regard

The Therapist holds the client in what the term “unconditional positive regard” describes. It means the client is accepted exactly as they are. Nobody judges them, and therapists give them unconditional attention and care.

A friendly atmosphere encourages self acceptance. It gives a valuable and safe environment for communication with the client.

Empathetic Understanding

To understand the client, the Therapist puts himself in his shoes. Rather than correct them or hurry them along, they show empathy towards the client in order to validate and acknowledge their feelings and emotions. That builds a good connection with the therapist, and supports good Mental health, because feeling understood is where change begins.

Two Assumptions of Person-Centred Therapy

Two assumptions sit under Person Centred Therapy. Both are simple to state, and both are demanding to live by. Simple to state.

Human beings are continuously striving for a better future and development and are trustworthy
Man is free by nature and should deal with matters independently without any external influence and domination.

Issues that can be addressed with Person-Centred

Various issues of life can be addressed with the help of Person Centred Therapy. Listed here are the main ones.

How many Sessions needed

Bereavement
Relationship issues
Work-related issues
Anger Management
Depression
Self-development transgender issues
Infertility
Issues around cancer
Sexuality
Confidence and Self-Esteem

Techniques Used in Person-Centred Therapy

Several techniques are used in Person Centred Therapy. They help people feel better about their problems, and deal with those problems effectively, at a pace that suits the person using them. They are listed below:

1. The client can set clear boundaries

Clients can set their therapy to their own ease and pace. They can decide freely about the number of sessions. Clients can choose the topics they want to exclude from the conversation, and no one will push them further than they wish to go.

2. The client is aware of his problems

He has a fair idea about his problems, and he knows the best way to solve them. A Therapist need not explain that to him. Identifying the problems clearly is the work.

3. Facilitate as a good learner

Another technique is to act as a good listener, listening attentively and without interrupting. After that the Therapist can explain their thinking about what the client is trying to say. This has two benefits: it helps you understand the client’s perspective, and it lets him understand his own view point constructively, which is not the same thing at all.

4. Elimination of the word Judgemental

Many people fear that they are unable to meet the desired standards. At times they need plain assurance that they are capable, and that they will face no rejection here.

5. Let them make their own decision

Advice is not needed in this kind of therapy. In most cases clients are not ready to take charge, so caution is to be practised. Clients need constant reminders that they have to make these decisions themselves, and that they must not let other people decide on their behalf. Therapists can still guide, and discuss the consequences of the options in front of them.

6. Focus on Client Conversation

Most of the time, clients are not able to express their feelings. Clients cannot deliver their exact thoughts, and they cannot communicate their issues in a neat package. So focus on what they are saying. Say less, hear more. These issues will come clear.

7. Be Real

Therapists must be real while dealing with the client. That honesty helps clients to discuss things freely with you.

8. Readiness to Accept Negative Emotions

Clients often have negative feelings about themselves and the people around them. Accept this negativity with open arms. Do not get offended by it.

9. Go Slow

Most of the time, pauses during the session are highly recommended. They assist in reflecting. Feelings are not debated. Then the direction of the conversation can be determined and redirected, rather than followed blindly.

Benefits of Person-Centred Therapy

Several benefits of the therapy are listed below:

Therapists can help clients realize the facilities available for them to solve their issues by taking the initiative by themselves. Confidence is given to the clients that they can solve their issues effectively. Hence, they are treated as experts.
Clients will not be judged upon their problems and a relationship of trust is built to support them in their difficult times. This support eventually leads to enhancing their self-confidence to discover their weaknesses and deal with them effectively
.Therapy focuses on the present rather than events that happened in the past. Clients are encouraged to think emotionally and psychologically in the present moment.
Therapy helps to inculcate many attributes in the client that help them in their lifetime, and they are capable of identifying and solving their issues confidently.
Therapy encourages honesty, authenticity, self-awareness, self-trust, and self-fulfilment.
There is less formality in the therapy, and it is not as structured as some of the other therapies.
Therapy gives the liberty to the client to move in the therapy according to their own pace.

Contemporary Branches of Person-Centred Therapy

Different other therapies have been developed from Rogerian principles and are successfully being applied by therapists.

Child-Centred Play Therapy	Virginia Axline and Garry Landreth,	The focus of the therapy is on inner growth and Healing.
Focusing-oriented psychotherapy	Eugene Gendlin	Awareness to their bodily Senses
Emotion-focused therapy	Leslie Greenberg	Person-Centred Principles
Dialogical/relational	Martin Buber’s “I-Thou” concept	Client is seen as infinitely foreign
Creative person-centered approaches	Arts, movement, music, and other creative modalities	Self-discovery and spontaneous expression

Person-centered Training And Supervision

Training

Clients are trained that

They have a built-in capacity for development. Sessions are highly flexible and self-directed.
The focus is on learning through experiments to enhance personal development and skill enhancement.
Feedback is based on assisting in developing Empathy, capacity, and listening skills.

Supervision

The prime role of the Therapist is of facilitator rather than authority.

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