How Person-Centered Therapy Can Benefit You
There are many forms of therapy for a client to look into if they want to treat their ills. Today, we will be looking at one such therapy, which is Person-centered therapy or PCT. Alternatively, PCT may be referred to as Rogerian therapy.
What is PCT?
With many of these therapies, you can get a clue as to what they are by looking at the name of them. As you may infer, PCT is client centered therapy rather than the therapist. This lets the client make their conclusions and find their answers to their problems. The therapist sits like a brick in the wall, listening to what the client says, acknowledging them, and not changing the subject or being judgmental towards the client.
So it’s a way for self-discovery. With that said, how is it used? How is it helpful if there is no intervention? We shall explain that and more.
Who PCT can benefit
Person-Centered Therapy techniques can benefit quite a few people, many of whom don’t need to have a mental disorder to reap the benefits. Some people it can benefit include:
People with low self-confidence
In this world, confidence is key. Being confident can land you the relationship of your dreams, get you that promotion you always wanted and makes you feel good, too. The problem is that some people don’t have enough confidence. Maybe they’re not happy with their appearance or certain quirks they have. Perhaps an event in the past killed your confidence, such as rejection or childhood trauma. Either way, with PCT, you can realize why your confidence is so low and find your solutions.
People searching for identity
We always strive for an identity, which makes us feel like we belong to this world. Some people don’t have a strong identity. Maybe they feel like they’d be too much of the same or want a different identity than their peers. No matter what the case may be, PCT can help people find the identity they’ve been longing for.
Self-trust
This goes hand-in-hand with self-confidence. Usually, those who aren’t confident do not trust their own decisions, but even confident people may not trust themselves. Maybe we’re afraid of the risk, or some event in the past has made us feel like we can’t make decisions. PCT can give you more trust in yourself.
Relationship building
Again, this goes hand-in-hand with confidence. However, there is a lot more to a relationship than just confidence, and it doesn’t have to be romantic. For people who can’t keep friendships, relationships, or family, you should take PCT to figure out why. Is it the people you go after? Is it yourself? Is it a little of both? That will depend on the situation, but you can learn how to build a relationship by sitting down and figuring it out.
Grief
You’ve lost a loved one, and it’s natural for you to feel heartbroken by the event, and it takes a while to heal. Especially if that person was close to you, such as a friend, parent, or child. In fact, sometimes loss never fully heals. However, when grief is getting in the way of living a normal life, it’s time for some PCT. You’ll be able to find a solution that may not heal you entirely but let you move on with your life. That’s what your loved one would have wanted.
Depression and anxiety
Depression and anxiety are complicated conditions that require numerous forms of therapy, and PCT is one route you can take. Sometimes, you can find your ways to cope whenever an episode happens. You should take other forms of therapy as well, including medication and other types of counseling. It’s just one step out of many, as depression and anxiety are complicated disorders.
Stress
Stress is a natural response to tough events in your life, and some stress can be good for you? However, too much stress can make your life worse. This, in turn, makes you more stressed, and it’s a horrible cycle. PCT can help you find ways to reduce your stress when it’s crunch time.
Abuse
Abuse is hard for you to recover from. Your abuser is always in the back of your mind, and when you have an episode, it can be horrifying. PCT can help you heal by letting you create your solutions, usually centered around stopping that abuser from ruining your life any further.
Families
With PCT, the therapist can work with an individual, but they can also work with a group. For dysfunctional families, PCT can help the family find their ways of handling their problems.
There are other mental health disorders that PCT can help treat as well. If your condition isn’t listed here, talk to a therapist and see if PCT is the right pathway for you to take.
How a session goes
Sometimes, you need someone who will listen to you. Someone who won’t judge you harshly, and yet someone who won’t ignore you. You want someone who will absorb your words and observe. Someone who will carefully push you in the right direction without throwing you in the pool.
The client is the main speaker at a PCT session. They’ll tell the therapist how they feel, and the therapist may try to ask what the client means by those words. When you hear your own words, you may realize you’re not clear enough and try to clarify. You’ll keep having to clarify, and soon your thoughts will come out.
It’s quite a simple yet effective technique. Sometimes, we have a hard time figuring out what we want, and by having someone constantly tell you to clarify, you’ll keep digging until you can articulate the words well.
History and principles
Carol Rogers, a psychologist, realized that everyone has their view of the world and will be different. The person should be trusted on their words and their ability to manage anything that life throws their way.
Rogers had good faith in believing that people could solve their problems on their own and change themselves. That was the main principle in PCT. There are certainly people who will struggle more to find themselves than others, and it will depend on the individual, but for the most part, people can find their solutions when they’re talking to someone who will be there to listen.
The principles of PCT also include:
Empathy
Being empathetic is one of the main attractions of PCT. This involves the therapists listening to their clients and accepting their feelings for what they are. They can put themselves in the clients’ shoes, even if they may not agree with their mindset.
No authority
Some people see therapists as authority figures. PCT aims for the therapist to be humble and be an ordinary person to talk to. By not acting like someone superior to you, this makes the clients more comfortable to talk, and they’ll talk to the therapist like they would to a friend.
Positivity
No matter what, the therapists need not judge what the client says and instead give the client some courage to make decisions on their own, rather than tell them that their opinions are wrong. This positivity can rub off and make the client feel more confident and ready to perform their solutions.
Effectiveness
PCT is a highly effective form of therapy, but it requires a lot of client participation. Clients who aren’t social, have difficulty speaking, or don’t have the motivation to apply the solutions to their lives may not find much help in PCT. You don’t need to be charismatic for PCT to work, but you need to have some motivation to express your emotions. Once you talk about yourself, however, you may find that the words tumble out. Even with little input, a therapist is good at what they do, and their job is to extract every emotion out of you that they can.
You also want to find a good, highly rated therapist too. Therapists who are not empathetic and will constantly insert their opinion while you’re trying to talk are not good at PCT. You’ll need to find a therapist who is also highly educated.
Seek help!
PCT may not be for everyone, but it can be a highly effective way to find your solutions and apply them to your lives. It benefits you by teaching you how to benefit yourself. Sometimes, all it takes is one person listening for you to do enough soul searching to find what you want in your life.
If you’re interested in PCT, talk to a counselor today. You can find one who is ready to listen, and once you start talking, you’ll soon start changing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main goal of person-centered therapy?
Person-centered therapy, also known as client-centered therapy, has some very specific goals. A general answer would be:
- It is aimed at enabling clients to discover and harness their potential for continuous personal growth and development. It also intends to help clients manage and eventually overcome emotions that cause them distress and discomfort. This will increase the client's competence, confidence, and ability to manage their behavioral and emotional responses.
To be more specific, there are four main goals that person-centered therapy aims to achieve. These are:
- Increasing the client’s openness to experience
- Helping them learn to trust themselves
- Helping clients develop accurate self-evaluation skills
- Fostering their will to grow
What are person-centered therapy techniques?
Person-centered therapy is a client-centered therapy that involves the intentional use of specific techniques to achieve its objectives. It is rooted in Rogerian therapy. These techniques help individuals discover their power and realize that though the therapist controls the session's flow, the client is the one in control, the one doing all the work.
This helps guide the clients in the direction of self-actualization. Using these techniques, a client-centered therapist will create an environment where the client can discover their competence.
The techniques used in person-centered therapy include:
- Non-directive approach:
Person-centered therapy, unlike other types of Rogerian therapy, lets the client take charge of the session. The idea behind this is that the client is the only one who knows the details of their own lives; they are, in a sense, the masters of their own lives; in line with the principles of Rogerian therapy, the therapist functions as a collaborator rather than the master of the session. This helps the client realize their potential to become a fully-functional individual, with the strength to overcome daunting obstacles. This is reflected in all forms of Rogerian therapy.
- Positive regard:
Person-centered therapy is pointless if the therapist doesn’t hold the client in positive regard. Clients can easily pick up on how their therapist views them. It isn’t uncommon for clients to view themselves through the perspective of their therapist. If their therapist doesn’t hold them in positive regard, it will be difficult for the client to view themselves positively. By expressing confidence in the client, the therapist allows the client to express confidence in themselves. This is at the core of the person-centered approach.
- Congruence:
Congruence is a necessary part of the person-centered approach. It aims to help the client fully flesh out their ideal self, and at the same, it helps them understand and accept their present self. By differentiating these two versions of themselves, the ideal and the real, they can create a balance that psychologists refer to as congruence. By shifting from incongruence to congruence, the client can establish the conditions for success and aim more clearly at their ideal self. The result of this is self-actualization. This is the aim of Rogerian therapy.
- Empathy:
Empathy helps the therapist and client refrain from judgement. This is important because therapists must be genuine in their interaction with the client. Since this is a person-centered therapy type, the therapist must help the client feel empathy for themselves; this will be hard if the therapist doesn’t first show empathy. If the therapist is judgmental, both the therapist and client will be unable to flesh out the client's true personality, and congruence will be unachievable. Without empathy, the treatment cannot truly be client-centered.
What are the main principles of the person-centered approach?
Rogerian therapy is known for its optimistic perspective. This is noticeable when studying the principles of the person-centered approach. The four main principles that guide person-centered approach are:
- Self-actualization
- Unconditional positive regard
- Congruence
- Empathy
Self actualization: this is perhaps the most important principle of person-centered therapy. The whole point of person-centered therapy is establishing the client as an authority over their own life by realizing their competence. This is why the client must control their growth and take full credit for their eventual success.
If the client feels like they would be powerless without their therapist, it can lead to a dangerous dependence while leaving the client defenseless and incompetent. This defeats the purpose since Rogerian therapy aims at creating independent individuals. For person-centered therapy to be truly successful, the client must feel confident in their ability to overcome the emotional hurdles of their condition. This is why self-actualization is necessary. It is important to find a therapist who will foster self-actualization.
Unconditional positive regard: This is necessary for a person-centered approach. Unconditional positive regard is the therapist’s way of communicating their confidence in the client. It is common for clients to lack confidence in their self-worth and abilities. By expressing positive regard in every situation, the therapist helps build the client's confidence, paving the way for self-actualization. This is an important factor to consider when you want to find a therapist.
Congruence: Congruence involves creating a balance between the client’s ideal self and their real self. Everyone has an ideal self they would like to become, and people judge themselves by the difference between their present self and ideal self. By helping the client realize the difference between the two, the client becomes empowered by this knowledge. This is why positive regard is so important in Rogerian therapy. A person-centered approach is impossible without congruence.
There are two ways people can react to the gap between their present and ideal. The first and most common is discouragement. Discouragement occurs because the person is daunted by the gap and lacks confidence in bridging the said gap.
If positive regard is a consistent factor in person-centered therapy, the second reaction will occur, and that is encouragement. Confidence backed with knowledge is the element needed to make progress. An encouraged client will be enthusiastic about the new journey they have to embark on. Congruence is an important factor to consider when you want to find a therapist.
Empathy: Empathy is necessary for successful client-centered therapy. The therapist has to feel empathy for the client so that the client can feel empathy for themselves. It is often the case that people healing from a condition will judge themselves harshly, more harshly than they’d judge another person. By using a person-centered approach to establish empathy, the client can hold themselves in more positive regard. In short, a client-centered therapist must express confidence in the client’s abilities.
What is person-centered therapy used to treat?
Person-centered therapy, also known as client-centered therapy, is commonly used to treat individuals with:
- Phobias
- Phobias
- Panic disorders
- Eating disorders
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Personality disorders
- Mood disorders
- Schizophrenia
- Substance abuse
- Low self-esteem etc.
Because of the nature of person-centered therapy, it can be used to treat a wide range of disorders. Most disorders are manageable, but it is very difficult for them to be managed without help due to mental disorders' emotional nature. Through person-centered therapy, the client can achieve self-actualization and become more competent at managing their emotional and behavioral patterns. It is important to find a therapist who can apply this approach effectively.
How long is the person-centered approach?
A person-centered approach is often used for short-term treatment. The goal is to help the client get on their feet as quickly and effectively as possible. Though it can be used as a long-term treatment, this is not encouraged because it can cause the client to become dependent on their therapeutic relationship with the therapist. That would defeat the point of person-centered therapy. Be sure to find a therapist who uses a short-term approach.
What are the weaknesses of person-centered therapy?
Client-centered therapy, though seemingly perfect, has some disadvantages. They include:
- The success of it depends wholly on the therapist obeying the principles and applying the techniques. If the therapist is not dedicated to their job, the treatment might have the opposite effect.
- Person-centered therapy is too optimistic and simple
- It might not be ideal for a client who is in a crisis
- The client needs to be introspective and willing to do some internal sorting
- The techniques are vague and might be applied wrongly
- Rather than self-confidence, it might breed arrogance in the client, if applied wrongly
Who benefits from person-centered therapy?
Person-centered therapy is beneficial for individuals who are experiencing the following conditions:
- Mood disorders
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Eating disorders
- Substance abuse and addiction
- Schizophrenia
- Phobias
- Panic disorders etc.
Person-centered therapy helps clients to:
- Trust themselves more
- Strive towards competence and self-fulfillment
- Discover meaning and purpose
- Increase their self-esteem
- Manage their emotions effectively
- Become optimistic about the future
- Develop a therapeutic relationship with their self and environment
These benefits can only be gotten if you find a competent therapist.
How many sessions is person-centered therapy?
What are the two basic assumption of person-centered therapy?
Is person-centered therapy good for depression?
Why is it called person-centered therapy?
Why person-centered is important?
What is person-centered technique?
How is person-centered therapy applied?
What are the benefits of person-centered therapy?
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