carl Rogers is without a doubt one of the great figures of 20th century psychology. His contributions go beyond the creation of client-centered psychotherapy (also known as Counseling), a humanistic model of intervention and conception of the human being, but he also provided all clinical psychologists with the foundations of how psychotherapy should be. relationship between the patient and his psychologist in his famous Rogerian attitudes, the basis of what we currently call Therapeutic Alliance, a factor that research has already indicated as key for psychotherapy to be effective. Throughout his career he held important positions as a researcher, psychotherapist and reference in the world of psychology, such as the presidency of the APA, chairs and teaching positions at different universities (Ohio, Chicago, Wisconsin-Madison or the Institute of Sciences of the Behavior of the West) and was also a reference and required for other areas such as education, with important institutions such as the CIA (in the Human Ecology Fund, which carried out studies on the person for the intelligence agency) or as a mediator in conflicts from Northern Ireland, South Africa, the United States or Brazil.
This American psychologist was born in a small town in Illinois, and at an early age he began to observe (we could say listen, which was what he knew how to do better than anyone) nature on the farm that his father bought. One day, observing the potatoes accumulated in a warehouse, in which light only entered through a small skylight attached to the roof, he was able to contemplate something that was revealing to Rogers: Being deprived of something basic for their needs, potatoes, They put down roots that grew upward, seeking the light they needed to survive.
How could a potato, such a biologically primary being, have such an innate capacity for adaptation and development? Observing other more complex life forms, Rogers understood that all life forms strive for growth and fulfillment, so why did humans sometimes become sick or blocked in their problems?
This idea would be one of the bases of his conception of the human being, and of his way of understanding the work of the psychologist not as a “teacher” or “technician” who teaches his patient but as a human being open to experience and contact with his patient, postulates that he presented in his legendary conference on December 11, 1940 at the University of Minnesota in which he created high expectations and controversy by laying out the foundations of what would later be called non-directive or client-centered psychotherapy. , and by opening, together with Maslow or Fritz Perls, what would be called the Third Way or Humanism, a paradigm within psychotherapy with a more optimistic vision of the human being and based on non-directivity.
Rogerian theory shows a conception of the human being based on a few principles, with which, despite its apparent simplicity, it manages to explain the nature of the human being:
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Update Trend: Human beings naturally tend towards growth and development. People are capable of self-directing their behavior towards what they need and desire at all times as long as they are able to fully and unconditionally accept themselves.
Congruence between the Real Self – Ideal Self: The people who most manage to launch this tendency and get closer to self-realization are those who manage to have a greater level of adjustment between their own reality and the ideal vision that they force themselves to be. Accepting each person’s own truth allows us to move towards what we want to achieve and gives us stability. On the other hand, forcing ourselves to be an unreal and idealized, rigid image of ourselves prevents us from observing our own reality and gets us stuck in wasting our efforts. in trying to move towards something we are not.
Freedom: The human being is something more than the sum of the conditioning and a mechanistic vision of the individual that behavioral modification therapies proposed, and he is not a slave to those conflicts that occur in his unconscious, and which, therefore, he is not capable of controlling. . Above all, the human being has the ability to choose where he wants to project his life by listening to himself and his own subjectivity..
It is based on this conception that Rogers develops client-centered psychotherapy, a model of psychotherapy, which is based on non-directivity (the human being is capable of self-directing his behavior, and therefore, does not need to be directed by others). , in being focused on the client (it is the psychologist and his methodology that adapt to the client, and this is the expert in himself and not the other way around), and in creating conditions through the attitudes of the therapist and in the establishment of the relational bond between the psychotherapist and his patient, which favors this innate tendency of the human being to grow.
Attitudes of the client-centered therapy therapist
Unconditional Acceptance: Human beings try not to look at the aspects of their nature that are harmful or threatening (due to learning history, but fundamentally, out of fear of being rejected or judged by others), if in the therapeutic relationship the patient can feel accepted unconditionally and not judged by your psychologist, you can begin to look at these aspects, and therefore, choose what you decide to do with them and self-direct your behavior to achieve these objectives and solve your problems on your own. Only through the experience of being accepted by another fully, can a person feel worthy of being accepted, which allows him to begin to look at his own reality and, accepting it as it is, begin to be able to change it if he wishes. Furthermore, you will stop wasting your energy on those conflicts and behaviors that you engage in to be closer to your “Ideal Self” that simply seeks to be your best version, the most “acceptable” or “lovable” for others, but that, for itself, not unconditionally (I am only accepted to the extent that I do what others perceive as good).
Empathy: This ability, capable of putting oneself in the other’s shoes, and not only that, but also trying to understand their reality as the other perceives it (with their belief systems, way of understanding life, values…), allows the psychologist point out to the patient through the empathic reflection (behavioral operationalization of empathy) what happens to him and experiences, his truth above his cognitive ruminations and social and idealized obligations, which makes it easier for the patient to be able to “see” himself in that mirror to understand himself. in addition.
Authenticity: The therapeutic relationship must shed the security role of the psychologist to become an encounter between human beings and human beings.. Only if the psychologist is genuine and authentic, his unconditional acceptance and empathy will be of value to the patient, who otherwise will experience it as something forced and placed in the “role” played by the therapist, so such validation would be It also conditions (in this case the role of psychologist). Rogers also states that if the psychologist is authentic, he can show the patient a way to accept himself, a learning by modeling through the psychologist’s own acceptance of himself, which is evident in authenticity when the therapist can show his emotions and own sorrows. and glories.
With all this, patients can have an encounter where, by being accepted, they can perceive themselves as acceptable, and, therefore, begin to look at the part of themselves that they avoid, and by understanding and knowing it, they can react to it and freely choose what they want. do. This process is facilitated by the empathy of the psychologist who reflects and shows the truth and the real self he perceives of the other, always as a suggestion and not as an imposed interpretation.
Finally, the psychologist’s authenticity gives validity and legitimacy to this acceptance and shows the patient a way for self-acceptance.
Rogers, who few know about his great role as a researcher and academic and who contributed notable technical advances in research, such as being the first psychologist to record and analyze hundreds of hours of his own psychotherapies to see the patterns and forms that followed, he was able to verify that the patients who carried out his type of psychotherapy evolved towards growth and development in the senses that they decided and that they presented a change in their personality that went through different phases:
- Changes in Self-Concept: The client acquires a higher degree of positive regard for himself, thanks to the integration of previously rejected experiences. The therapist’s unconditional positive consideration has favored this integration; Empathy has helped to recognize one’s own feelings and the therapist’s congruence has served to introject this attitude.
- Change in the Locus of Evaluation: There is a shift from the consideration of other people’s values to the assumption of one’s own. The increased confidence that is encouraged through therapy promotes self-direction and the perception that your behavior is under your control.
- Change in the Relationship with Others: The perception and assessment of others becomes more tolerant and realistic.
- Change in Defenses and Way of Experiencing: The client becomes more open, congruent and less defensive regarding their experience. Decreases your vulnerability to threat thanks to greater congruence and flexibility.
- Changes in Personality Maturity and Organization: The person becomes more objective and realistic in their perceptions, more capable of solving their problems and tolerating frustration. The demands of his ideal self are more in line with his possibilities. His behavior becomes more creative and adapted.
References:
- Barceló, T. (2013). Basic Rogerian attitudes in the helping relationship interview. Miscellaneous Quotes. Journal of Human and Social Sciences, 70(136), 123-160.
- Carl Rogers (1997). Client-centered psychotherapy. Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica Editions.