Person-Centered Theory - Term Paper Example

Person Centered Theory who experience emotional problems require counseling so that they can manage to overcome the problems that affect them. The process of counseling works to restore the coping capacity of clients without interfering with their life. The Rogerian approach calls for the entry of a therapist into the phenomenological world of the client. This study will analyze the person centered approach and study the strengths, as well as weaknesses. Further, the study will compare the person centered theory with other theories such as person centered theory, which can be employed in counseling. Person Centered Theory The Rogerian approach calls for the entry of a therapist into the phenomenological world of the client. Once the therapist penetrates the world of the client, he or she should be cautious not to mention any contradictions that the client might be having. Furthermore, the therapist should not suggest points that disagree with the stand point of the client or try to dig any information from the unconscious mind. The therapist should encourage the client to deal with conscious experiences that are immediate, rather than the old experiences. According to Rogers, therapy is a process of removing obstacles and freeing an individual to ensure that normal development and growth takes place and ensure that clients become self directed and independent (Wilkins, 2003). As therapy proceeds, the client manages to move from his own state of being rigid and negative self perception to a flexible fluidity. Person centered therapy requires the therapist to create a climate that promotes growth and maintains congruence in the entire process. Further, the therapist should demonstrate an understanding that is empathetic and positive regards that are unconditional to the client (Mearns & Thorne, 2007). Therapists should maintain their state of congruence, regardless of the prevailing circumstances. It is imperative that therapists comprehend the personal meanings and exact and feelings and give feedback, which is relevant to the world of the client. The relationship between the client and the therapist should remain smooth, and a long time rapport should be created for a successful intervention. The baseline of this approach is the belief that clients can improve their conditions by adopting self respect and self acceptance. This can take place without any designated training or education from the therapist (Mearns & Thorne, 2007). This approach relies on the entire resources, which are housed by the client. Nothing comes from outside the capacities of the client. Person centered theory has several strengths that make it outstanding, and better than other theories (Wilkins, 2003). The first strength of this theory is that it focuses on the current problems and issues that affect the client. Each day has its own issues and piling up can result to unmanageable burden of problems to the client. It is essential that an individual deals with daily issues as they come because some past events are depressing, and they might alter the emotional balance of the client (Mearns & Thorne, 2007). Therefore, this approach does not concern itself with the unconscious mind, but the current issues that affect the client. History is not essential in this approach. The second strength is that the person centered therapy employs the maximum utilization of the client’s resources; this helps the therapist to facilitate the self recovery of the individual. The therapist does not approach the client with an already designed healing structure (Mearns & Thorne, 2007). Instead, the therapist facilitates the client to appreciate and respect his own capabilities, which he utilizes to solve his own problems. This strategy believes that people are courteous and that they could live a perfect life, especially if they when provided with the necessary resources. Problems that face human beings emanate from the environment, and human beings can adapt to the environment so long as they are well equipped with the required inputs. Further, the person centered approach gives the clients an opportunity to strengthen their coping capacity and own up the outcome of the intervention from the therapist. This is essential since the clients manage to withstand any challenges that might emerge as they regain their full composure. Lastly, this approach enables the therapist to see the world as the clients see it and interpret the world same as the clients. This is essential because the therapist sacrifices his superiority and operates at the same level with the client; thus, he comes up with ideas that are workable to the clients (Wilkins, 2003). On the contrary, person centered therapy has several weaknesses that can affect its employment. One of the weaknesses is that the approach is not applicable to clients whose conditions are beyond self control (Mearns & Thorne, 2007). For instance, person centered theory cannot work well with clients suffering from schizophrenic conditions. Therefore, the approach is only applicable to less serious problems. Further, this approach underrates the influence of the unconscious thought to the current issues of a client. There are unconscious experiences that affect an individual’s emotional state, and these unconscious thoughts should be considered in designing an approach to adopt when helping a client (Mearns & Thorne, 2007). Furthermore, this approach places emphasis on the client’s capacity to exploit his own ability to deal with his problems. However, some clients might have serious conditions, which paralyze the ability to cope with life unless they are assisted by a therapist through a comprehensive healing process. To employ the person centered therapy in my interventions, I will establish a contact between the client and myself. I will focus my physical strength and mental attention to the client who requires some intervention. I will ensure that the client is indeed vulnerable and incongruent, thus unable to handle his own problems. Otherwise, if the client is not vulnerable, then the intervention will be a waste of time. I will then begin my intervention and ensure that I am genuine and congruent, and ensure that I perceive the world in the subjective way as the client. I will be keen to ensure that I am present (genuinely) in the association between me and my client. The next step in the application of the person centered theory is to ensure that I portray empathetic understanding of the situation of the client. This empathetic understanding will facilitate me to comprehend the feelings of the client, and give him feedback that is in line with his feelings. I will label and suggest feelings to the client in order to facilitate them to express their own perils, and the likely expressions that they would express to others. Finally, I will facilitate the client to believe and accept the positive regard that is unconditional, as well as the empathy that I offer (Mearns & Thorne, 2007). This will prove the importance of genuineness on my part as a counselor since whenever clients realize that the counselor does not understand or believe in them, then the realization will cripple the success of the intervention. Person centered therapy is different from cognitive-behavioral therapy since the latter does not focus on the ability of the client to adapt to the situation using their own capacities. Instead, cognitive, behavioral therapy concentrates on maladaptive thinking patterns, as well as the underling beliefs with regard to such maladaptive thinking (Wilkins, 2003). This approach helps individuals who hold such beliefs as worthless or that they face a danger and the therapist encourages the clients to perceive such beliefs as unproved allegations, which can be either right or wrong (Mearns & Thorne, 2007). The therapist encourages the client to experiment the beliefs and consider the outcome of such experiments. In most cases, the clients realize that their thoughts and beliefs were mistaken, or based on a single isolated case. Therefore, the clients learn to change their way of thinking, and they adopt upright thought patterns. There are times when counselors encounter feelings of biases as they offer therapy sessions. In most cases, therapists judge clients with their appearances and they might tend to dominate the sessions with their superiority over the client. I happen to fall victim of these biases and the best way to deal with them is to deal with individuals as they are and respect their decisions, without meddling with their own affairs. There is also a tendency to compare one client with the rest and wonder why he is not responding like them. This bias can be dealt with by respecting individuals with their own strengths and weaknesses. References Mearns, D & Thorne, B. (2007). Person-Centred Counselling in Action. New York: SAGE. Wilkins, P. (2003). Person-centred therapy in focus. New York: SAGE. Read More