Case Study 19 – Carl Rogers

Case Study 19 – Carl Rogers 1. How did Katharine’s self-concept differ from her ideal self before her experience with her support group? What does this imply about her mental health, according to Rogers’ theory? a. Katharine’s ideal self is a woman who is self-sufficient, an entrepreneur, and a mother as well as wife. Prior to attending her support group, Katharine’s life lacked any positive self-regard. She had been living as a ‘kept’ woman at her husband’s insistence for many years and no longer felt she was capable of reanimating her independence. The seriousness of her neurosis is displayed clearly when she skips her 10th reunion due to fear of judgment of and pity for her lack of accomplishments. There is much incongruity weighing Katharine down.

2. How could Rogers’ theory explain the cause of any difference in Katharine’s selves? b. Based on the positive quality of life aimed for by teenage Katharine, I feel it stands to reason she was brought up with an abundance of positive regard. She recalls her then ambitious intentions for her adult life, even stating she “had always thought she would be one of those women who had it all”. Using Rogers’ theory of positive self-regard as well as his theory of conditions of worth, we can understand how the years of her marriage brought about an steady increase of incongruity for Katharine. Having been forbid to earn her own money or even further her education, Katharine soon consciously forgot these were tangible desires which, when coupled with the conditional positive regard shown by her husband, left her only her once much desired marriage to express herself with and grow by.

3. How did Katharine’s self-concept differ from her ideal self after her experience with her support group? What does this imply about her mental health, according to Rogers’ theory? c. In the wake of her positive therapy group experience, Katharine was able to grow beyond the conditional