If you ask several people to name a famous psychotherapist, most would probably mention Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung, but one of the most influential psychotherapists of the 20th century was Carl Rogers.
In the 1940s, Rogers developed an innovative approach to psychotherapy called “person-centered therapy,” a therapeutic technique in which therapists use empathy, reflective listening, and deep acceptance to help clients find their own path to self-actualization, rather than interpreting behavior or exploring unconscious impulses.
How Carl Rogers changed psychotherapy
At the time Rogers developed his theory, the basic approach to psychotherapy was very authoritarian, says psychotherapist Dominic Cirincione, a friend and colleague of Rogers’ in the ’60s and ’70s. “Freud interpreted the dream and then told you about yourself. Jung was a bit more open-minded and helped people explore dreams more, but it was still very interpretivist.”
and, Stimulus response approach. In this behavioral therapy, people were treated as machines to be manipulated. According to Cirincione, all of these approaches are built primarily on the medical model: the patient is sick and needs to be “cured,” and the therapist is the person who cures them.
Rogers rebelled against all of this. Influenced by Abraham Maslow, Viktor Frankl, and Rollo May, he believed people could create their own meaning in their lives, and that their health would improve if they spoke from within, rather than having their lives interpreted by outside experts, explains Cirincione.
Listening more than talking is key to Rogers’ approach. When Cirincione began researching human-centered approaches, he realized that people talk. in Patients don’t listen to each other, they listen to each other. Patients don’t actually listen; they just wait for the other person to finish speaking, he says. “Patients don’t listen to each other, but the need to be heard is so important as human beings. Learning to really listen to each other is a great undertaking for us as therapists and as human beings.”
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Rogers’ views on person-centered therapy
Rogers’ Book Becoming human: Psychotherapy from the therapist’s perspective, Published in 1961, It detailed Karl’s philosophy and approach, inspiring a generation of therapists. The time was right for this message: in the 1960s, people were questioning authority and seeking new ways to understand themselves and the world. “The cultural revolution that was happening at the time was a perfect fit for what Karl wanted to communicate,” says Cirincione.
In 1968, Rogers, Cirincione, Anthony “Tony” Rose, and a few like-minded friends Human Research Centeris an active organization that hosts events, conferences and workshops for people for whom a human-centred approach plays an important role in their personal and professional lives.
Rogers therapy has been popular for many years and remains popular today. However, current payment models in the United States make it difficult for therapists to use this therapy. This type of therapy takes time, and most insurance companies will only pay for a few sessions. Instead of psychotherapy, people turn to prescription medications such as antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications. Still, many therapists use this therapy for patients who can afford it out of pocket when insurance no longer pays. Some therapists have implemented sliding fee scales to make this therapy available to more people.
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Carrying on the Legacy of Carl Rogers
In the last decades of his life, Rogers used his methods to address political oppression and social conflict. He traveled to Africa, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Brazil and the Soviet Union to help people learn to communicate better and bring about social change.
Rogers passed away in 1987, but work continues to extend this approach beyond the couch. Tony Rose, a psychotherapist and one of the founders of the Center for Human Studies, has spent the past 40 years applying human-centered principles to support indigenous community-based conservation of important ecosystems and biomes around the world. He applies what he calls “inclusive positivity” to ecosystems and species as well as individuals.
Person-centered therapy was radical in the 1940s, but by the 1960s the idea had become outdated. Now, in the 21st century, person-centered therapy is becoming radical again as we expand our concept of the human beyond the individual to the whole of nature.
read more: What can you do with a psychology degree?
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Avery Hart is a freelance science journalist. In addition to contributing to Discover, she writes regularly for both print and online publications, including National Geographic, Science News Explorers, Medscape, and WebMD. She is the author of Bullet With Your Name on It: What You Will Probably Die From and What You Can Do About It (Clerisy Press 2007) and several books for young readers. Avery pursued journalism during college, writing for her school newspaper and editing a student nonfiction magazine. She writes about all areas of science, but is particularly interested in neuroscience, the science of consciousness, and AI; interests she developed while earning a degree in philosophy.
