PERSON-CENTERED THEORY

PERSON-CENTERED THEORY

Carl Rogers (1902 - 1987)

"A major spokesperson for humanistic psychology, led a life that reflected the ideas he developed for half a century.  He showed a questioning stance, a deep openness to change, and the courage to forge into unknown territory both as a person and as a professional.  During the last 15 years of his life, Rogers applied the person-centered approach to world peace by training policymakers, leaders, and groups in conflict" (Gerald & Corey, 2013).

KEY CONCEPTS:

“The client has the potential to become aware of problems and the means to resolve them.  Faith is placed in the client’s capacity for self-direction.  Mental health is a congruence of ideal self and real self.  Maladjustment is the result of a discrepancy between what one wants to be and what one is.  In therapy attention is given to the present moment and on experiencing and expressing feelings” (Gerald & Corey, 2013).

GOALS OF THEORY:

“To provide a safe climate conductive to clients’ self-exploration, so that they can recognize blocks to growth and can experience aspects of self that were formerly denied or distorted.  To enable them to move toward openness, greater trust in self, willingness to be a process, and increased spontaneity and aliveness.  To find meaning in life and to experience life fully.  To become more self-directed” (Gerald & Corey, 2013).

TECHNIQUES USED:

“Clients are able to explore a wider range of beliefs and feelings.  They can express their fears, anxiety, guilt, shame, hatred, anger, and other emotions that they had deemed too negative to accept and incorporate into their self-structure.  With therapy, people distort less and move to a greater acceptance and integration of conflicting and confusing feelings.  They increasing discover aspects within themselves that had been kept hidden.  As clients feel understood and accepted, they become less defensive and become more open to their experience.  Because they feel safer and are less vulnerable, they become more realistic, perceive others with greater accuracy, and become better able to understand and accept others.  Individuals in therapy come to appreciate themselves more as they are, and their behavior shows more flexibility and creativity” (Gerald & Corey, 2013).

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PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

KEY CONCEPTS:
"Refers to the definition and dynamics of personality development which underlie and guide psychanalytic and psychotherapy."




PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH THE THEORY:
Sigmund Freud

GOALS OF THE THEORY:
"To explore repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts, in order to free psychic energy for mature love and work."

"Focuses on repression and unconscious forces and includes the concepts of infantile sexuality, resistance, transference, and division of the psyche into the id, ego, and superego."

TECHNIQUES USED:
"Free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference."

Reference:  wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalytic_theory

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ADLERIAN THEORY

ADLERIAN THEORY

KEY CONCEPTS:
"Thinking, feeling, emotion, and behavior can only be understood as subordinated to the individual's style of life, or consistent pattern of dealing with life.  The individual is not internally divided or the battleground of conflicting forces.  Each aspect of the personality points in the same direction" (Gerald & Corey, 2013).

PEOPLE ASSOCIATED WITH THEORY:
Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GOAL(S) OF THE THEORY:
"Collaborative arrangement between the client and the counselor.  In general, the therapeutic process includes forming a relationship based on mutual respect; a holistic psychological investigation or lifestyle assessment; and disclosing mistaken goals and faulty assumptions within the person's style of living. (Gerald and Corey, 2013)"

TECHNIQUES USED:
"Favor the growth model of personality rather than the medical model.  Clients explore private logic, the concepts about self, others, and life that constitute the philosophy on which an individual's lifestyle is based."
 

Phase 1 - Establish the Relationship
Phase 2 - Explore the Individual's Psychological Dynamics
Phase 3 - Encourage Self-Understanding and Insight
Phase 4 - Reorientation and Reeducation

 

(Gerald & Corey, 2013)

 

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EXISTENTIAL THEORY

EXISTENTIAL THEORY

Viktor Frank (1905 - 1997):

Frank "believed that the essence of being human lies in searching for meaning and purpose.  Love is the highest goal to which humans can aspire and that our salvation is through love" (Gerald & Corey, 2013).

Rollo May (1909 - 1994):

May "studied with Alfred Adler after graduating from Oberlin College in 1930.  He studied the works of Soren Kierkegaard, which was the catalyst for his recognizing the existential dimensions of anxiety.  Existential theologian Paul Tillich was May's greatest personal influence.  Rollo May was one of the main proponents of humanistic approaches to psychotherapy, and he was the principal American spokesperson of European existential theory as it is applied to psychotherapy" (Gerald & Corey, 2013).

Irvin Yalom (1931 - ):

Yalom is a "major figure in the field of group psychotherapy.  His pioneering work, Existential Psychotherapy, written in 1980, is a classic and authoritative textbook on existential therapy.  He developed an existential approach to psychotherapy that addresses four 'givens of existence' or ultimate human concerns: freedom and responsibility, existential isolation, meaninglessness, and death" (Gerald & Corey, 2013).





KEY CONCEPTS:
"The basic dimensions of the human condition according to the existential approach, include the following:

1. the capacity for self-awareness;
2. freedom and responsibility;
3. creating one's identity and establishing meaningful relationships with others;
4. the search for meaning, purpose, values, and goals;
5. anxiety as a condition of living;
6. awareness of death and non-being

• Freedom, choice, and responsibility constitute the foundation of self awareness.
• A characteristic existential them is that people are free to choose among alternatives and therefore play a large role in shaping their own destiny.
• People are concerned about preserving their uniqueness and centeredness, yet at the same time they have an interest in going outside themselves to relate to other beings and to nature.
• A distinctly human characteristic is the struggle for a sense of significance and purpose in life.
• Anxiety arises from one's personal strivings to survive and to maintain and assert one's being, and the feelings anxiety generates are an inevitable aspect of the human condition.
• The existentialist does not view death negatively but holds that awareness of death as a basic human condition gives significance to living" (Gerald & Corey, 2013).

GOALS OF THEORY:
"Invitation to clients to recognize the ways in which they are not living fully authentic lives and to make choices that will lead to their becoming of what they are capable of being.  An aim of therapy is to assist clients in moving toward authenticity and learning to recognize when they are deceiving themselves.  Increased awareness is the central goal of existential theory, which allows clients to discover that alternative possibilities exist where none were recognized before.  Clients come to realize that they are able to make changes in their way of being in the world" (Gerald & Corey, 2013).


TECHNIQUES USED:
"The existential approach   is unlike most other therapies in that it is not technique-oriented.  Therapists may incorporate many techniques from other models, these interventions are made within the context of striving to understand the subjective world of the client.  Diagnosis, testing, and external measurements are not deemed important.  Issues addressed are freedom and responsibility, isolation and relationships, meaning and meaninglessness, living and dying (Gerald & Corey, 2013).




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