mairi mcmenamin person centred counselling page

Person Centred Counselling

Person Centered Therapy (PCT), also known as client-centered therapy, was developed by the humanist psychologist Carl Rogers in the 1940’s and 1950’s. His approach was to focus on the relationship with the client.

He developed this by providing an environment to promote growth and supporting the client to reach a better understanding of themselves.

Roger's theory is based on the principle of "Six core conditions" being present in the relationship between client and therapist to effect therapeutic change.

The Six Core Conditions

Psychological Contactmore information
- 1
- Psychological Contact
- The therapist and client are in psychological contact. This means that the focus is on the relationship between the therapist and client.
Unconditional Positive Regard more information
- 2
- Unconditional Positive Regard
- the therapist accepts the client unconditionally, without judgement, disapproval or approval.
Client Incongruencemore information
- 3
- Client Incongruence
- Incongruence exists between the clients experience and awareness leaving them vulnerable and anxious.
Therapist Empathymore information
- 4
- Therapist Empathy
- The Therapists offers empathy to the client: that is the therapist is able to communicate an understanding of how the client experiences the world.
Client Incongruencemore information
- 5
- Therapists Congruence
- The therapist is congruent (genuine) within the relationship.
Experience Empathymore information
- 6
- Experience Empathy
- The client is able to experience empathy from the therapist and this allows the client to view their experience from their own reality.