Client-Centered Therapy
What form of therapy is one that is person-centered? Do the counselor and client work equally for the client’s mental health? How long does therapy last? Let us learn more about the therapeutic approach and process of person-centered therapy or client-centered therapy.
One of the primary goals of this therapy is to provide clients with an opportunity to explore and clarify some issues that affect their well-being. This person centered approach recognizes that each person has unique experiences, thoughts, and emotions. By creating a safe and accepting space, the counselor encourages clients to openly express themselves and share their concerns including their thoughts and feelings.
Client-Centered Therapy By Carl R.
Client-centered therapy follows the necessary and sufficient conditions of talk therapy in psychology. It is known as Rogerian therapy or the Rogerian psychotherapy approach developed by Carl Rogers in the 1940s. The therapy by Rogers is rooted in the principle that a therapeutic relationship is achieved when only the client’s point reins during this Rogerian therapy session and the therapist acts only as a guide.
Professional Strategies To Achieve A Successful Treatment Approach?
A client-centered therapist is one who listens to the client’s thoughts and feelings, client experiences, emotional experiences, and problems. The therapist supports them and shows them unconditional positive regard. Through the use of unconditional positive regard in this psychotherapy, he lets the client or therapy person to explain his side of the story, whether it be about personal abuse, anxiety disorders, or any negative emotions he is going through. The therapist shows an empathetic understanding of the client’s feelings and experiences. When you accept the other person’s ideas and allow him to express his own feelings in his own words, it promotes personal growth – Carl Rogers believed in this person-centered theory which bloomed person centered therapy.
A person-centered therapist follows the theory and aims to encourage clients to develop self-direction behavior and come up with their own solutions and a positive self-concept. He shows them unconditional positive regard to encourage positive change and personal growth. According to Jerry Kennard, Ph.D., a Chartered Psychologist, “During client-centered therapy, the opportunity for self-awareness and clarification of issues that can offer a greater sense of mental health will be then explored mostly through client perception. The therapist-client relationship is established through empathy, understanding, and mutual positive feelings. And since it is a person-centered form of therapy, the client perceives his problems as the real focus of attention.”
Extensive research on psychotherapy has proved that non-directive therapy or client-centered therapy is the only outpatient program that can be used in combination with other types of therapy such as cognitive therapy, humanistic therapy, family therapy, and other therapies that can achieve highly positive outcomes. Even a licensed, trained counselor and counseling humanistic psychology expert agree with this.
This is how relevant person-centered therapy is for mental health and personal growth with a consistent set of clear boundaries. It is a non-judgmental and non-authoritative approach.
Methods Used By Professionals
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- Emotional Ventilation – The therapist lets the individual vent out their anger, rage, or grief and accept negative emotions. This therapeutic process is good to be used in the early phases of patients with eating disorders or those with low self-esteem, as they usually feel better after allowing all their rapid emotions to clear out. The therapist and client work by allowing the client to vent, in his own words, his emotions and seek out his thoughts so that the client recognizes a better self-understanding, self-acceptance, and self-discovery of the why and how of his feelings and reactions.
- Active Listening – Rogers believed that “we think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real empathic understanding. Yet listening, of this very special kind, is one of most potent forces for change.” One of the essential requisites of person-centered therapy is actively listening to the patient. The feeling of being heard begins the healing process. Many problems seem unbearable until it is shared with someone. The therapist can become the client’s friend and empathically listen without judging – that is how they form trusting and harmonious therapeutic interpersonal relationships in the treatment.
- Client Awareness – The techniques in discussing the problems and educating the client about their life situation help gain their insight and acceptance. Person-centered therapy ensures the person stays calm and accepts with positivity.
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- Suggestion with Helpful Guidance – For clients with low self-esteem and confidence, the person-centered therapist constantly reminds them of their positive sides and achievements. The person-centered therapist needs to be very alert in providing their guidance in a correct manner so that they may prove valuable.
Clients who are overwhelmed with their problems should be helped out by person-centered therapists by diverting their attention from the depressive and negative thoughts running in their minds to the pursuit of some activity or interest. In short, encourage them with some mind-refreshing hobbies.
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- Making Use of Social Support – Often being in a depressive situation, people start losing all social ties and embrace this self-isolation resulting in more serious anxiety and depression. This treatment encourages them to renew their intimate bonds, which provides them with their social and emotional conditional support. This treatment can be done either in individual or group therapy.
Doing More Pleasurable Activities – Depressed people often become so engrossed in fear, grief, and past mistakes that they fail to explore the present happiness around them. It provides aid in letting them do so. Therapists advise (or insist) the clients to do things they love to do. That may be going out with friends, playing or listening to music; any pleasurable activity can work.