Rogerian Therapy Similar to Freud, Carl Rogers developed his theory from his ext

Question

Rogerian Therapy

Similar to Freud, Carl Rogers developed his theory from his extensive work with his patients. However, unlike Freud, he believed that people are typically healthy; being mentally healthy is the normal state. Although there are unhealthy people, they are not the norm or what one has to accept and live with throughout one’s life. Furthermore, Rogers believed that each person has one primary motivation—to realize his/her full potential or to be self-actualized. Finally, he posited that neurosis stems from incongruence between one’s real self and one’s ideal self. He applied this to his theory of counseling in the development of three therapeutic criteria that he felt were both necessary and sufficient to help the patient. These three qualities are now the foundation for modern person-centered therapy.

The three qualities that form the foundation of Rogerian therapy are empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard. These will be relatively easy to express for people you naturally like but can be difficult to express for people whom you do not like nor agree with.

Imagine that you are a psychologist working with a population of individuals that tend to be more difficult to work with, such as sex offenders, elderly patients with dementia, or mentally challenged children. Research the concepts of Rogerian therapy and respond to the following questions:

Realistically, do you think it is possible to be congruent and to extend empathy and unconditional positive regard to these clients in a psychotherapeutic context? Why or why not?

How do you think clinicians practicing Rogerian therapy would approach these concepts for these clients?

How might Rogerian therapy be a helpful strategy for these clients?

Is it possible these concepts of Rogerian therapy could hinder treatment?

Explanation / Answer

Carl Ransom Rogers developed a specific way of thinking which help him to develop a new therapy which is called Rogerian therapy. The fundamental concept of this therapy is to develop self-confidence and trust in clients.

As a psychologist, our basic need is to help and support people experiencing mental problems. The mental problems are associated with social conditions so that we need to understand the social situations before implementing the therapy. When we support patients and clients, we develop faith and trust in the client so that they feel comfortable and normal.

Rogerian therapy does not create direct intervention so that it affects social arrangement and individual acceptance. Apply Rogerian approach to people is not an easy task especially for those who are not familiar with us. As a psychologist, our duty is to support and treat people without creating pre-perception or social prejudice so when we meet some people who do not agree with us, we need to create trust and moral support.

Rogerian therapy follows the ethics of social interventions, during the treatment of such kind of people who deviated from normal condition, we need to create empathy because most of the cases handle with pure psychological nature while Rogerian therapy follows the social norms.

In my opinion, the congruent, empathy and unconditional positive regards help us to understand the reason behind deviant behavior so that we can implement such therapy to sex offenders, mentally challenged children and people with dementia. So that we can use the Rogerian therapy in the context of social deviation.

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