Learning and Being in Person-Centred Counselling is an important book for any student of counselling and psychotherapy. Each chapter provides the reader with clear explanations of fundamental person centred concepts. Despite being first published more than 20 years ago, this book remains relevant to contemporary person-centred counselling practice. It is highly accessible to students at any level of study and contains numerous practical exercises to help the reader gain a deeper understanding of person-centred theory. I would highly recommend it to counselling and psychotherapy students and to any readers who wish to acquire a comprehensive understanding of person-centred counselling. Importantly, the authors mention that researcher bias may have played a role in the superiority of the other psychotherapies. After controlling for researcher allegiance, the differences in efficacy between non-directive therapy and other psychotherapies disappeared. This was true for all three meta-analyses. One study also notes no significant difference in effect sizes of non-directive supportive therapy versus full person-centered therapy. However, this was only based on two studies. [7] My sense of self arises from my experiences and perceptions, especially from comparing myself with others, and from the opinions and judgements of others as I perceive them. My sense of self is fluid but includes consistent perceptions. I attach values to these perceptions. The organism has one basic tendency and striving – to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism. Human beings have a basic tendency to fulfil their potential, to be positive, forward looking, to grow, improve, and protect their existence. For Rogers, fully functioning people are well-adjusted, well-balanced, and interesting to know. Often such people are high achievers in society.

Central to Rogers’ personality theory is the notion of self or self-concept. This is “the organized, consistent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself.” When this works well, you will develop your understanding of each other as individuals. Over time, trust in the group process reduces fear of failure or exposure, so you can move beyond your comfort zone and try out new ways of learning and being in relationships with others.This may hinder the development of their true self and could contribute to struggles with self-esteem and self-acceptance. The educational situation which most effectively promotes significant learning is one in which (a) threat to the self of the learner is reduced to a minimum and (b) differentiated perception of the field is facilitated” (Rogers, 1951). The instructor should be open to learning from the students and also working to connect the students to the subject matter. Frequent interaction with the students will help achieve this goal. The instructor's acceptance of being a mentor who guides rather than the expert who tells is instrumental to student-centered, nonthreatening, and unforced learning. The best vantage point for understanding behavior is from the internal frame of reference of the individual. A 2021 randomized, non-inferiority trial comparing person-centered therapy with CBT as a therapeutic intervention for depression found that person-centered therapy was not inferior to CBT at six months; however, person-centered therapy may be inferior to CBT at 12 months. The authors suggest that there needs to be continued investment in person-centered therapy to improve short-term outcomes. [9][Level 1]

In the 1960s, person-centered therapy became closely tied to the Human Potential Movement, which believed that all individuals have a natural drive toward self-actualization. In this state, one is able to manifest their full potential. According to Rogers, negative self-perceptions can prevent one from realizing self-actualization. Our long heritage and tradition is now being channelled into the MA Person-Centred Experiential Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice.Our commitment and tradition inexperiential learningmethods is a long-standing cornerstone to our work. We have been developing and refining our provision of the Rogerian small group as a distinct and intense form of experiential learning. We now also usenew technologiesto support the experiential learning of counselling skills.

School of Education

All individuals (organisms) exist in a continually changing world of experience (phenomenal field) of which they are the center. The values attached to experiences, and the values which are part of the self structure, in some instances are values experienced directly by the organism, and in some instances are values introjected or taken over from others, but perceived in a distorted fashion, as if they had been experienced directly. As we go about our everyday life, we build up a picture of ourselves, called the self-concept, from relating to and being with others and by interacting with the world around us. Sometimes we believe other people’s version of reality and we absorb them into our self-concept as though they were our own. Joseph, S. (2010). Therapeutic Approaches in Counselling and Psychotherapy: An introduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave – a general introduction to the field of counselling and psychotherapy for those new to the field and who wish to find out about the different types of therapy

Person-centred experiential psychotherapy and counselling is part of the group of therapies that are based on humanistic-existential psychology. The approach is grounded in the idea that people are motivated within themselves towards achieving an optimal level of positive psychological functioning if the conditions in their life are supportive. Critics claim that the fully functioning person is a product of Western culture. In other cultures, such as Eastern cultures, the achievement of the group is valued more highly than the achievement of any one person. Carl Rogers Quotes Rogers believed that every person could achieve their goal. This means that the person is in touch with the here and now, his or her subjective experiences and feelings, continually growing and changing.

Stage 3

Most of the ways of behaving which are adopted by the organism are those which are consistent with the concept of the self. Most of the time we do things and live our lives in ways which are in keeping with our picture of ourselves. The therapist transparently conveys their feelings and thoughts to genuinely relate to the client. Within the client-therapist relationship, the therapist is genuinely himself. The therapist does not hide behind a professional façade or deceive the client. Therapists may share their emotional reactions with their clients but should not share their personal problems with clients or shift the focus to themselves in any way. Rogers, C. (1959). A Theory of Therapy, Personality and Interpersonal Relationships as Developed in the Client-centered Framework. In (ed.) S. Koch, Psychology: A Study of a Science. Vol. 3: Formulations of the Person and the Social Context. New York: McGraw Hill. His view differs sharply from the psychodynamic and behavioral approaches in that he suggested that clients would be better helped if they were encouraged to focus on their current subjective understanding rather than on some unconscious motive or someone else’s interpretation of the situation. Why Person-Centred Therapy?