Final Paper
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Abstract
Present-day counselors can choose from a variety of therapeutic strategies to meet the needs of clients. The focus of the present work is the analysis of person-centered therapy and its practice applications. The paper describes the key concepts of the therapy and its goals. The role of the counselor is evaluated and discussed. Relationship issues inherent in the use of Rogerian theory are considered. Information on the most relevant therapeutic techniques is included. The utility of person-centered therapy in addressing …show more content…
If Rogerian therapy treats every client as being inherently rational and ambitious to pursue self-actualization and growth, then its key therapeutic goal is to assist clients in uncovering their self-actualization potential to the fullest. Unfortunately, such vision of therapeutic goals in person-centered therapy is extremely general and particularly vague. What the client needs is positive attitude and specificity on the side of the counselor, who knows what the client needs and how these needs can be satisfied. Thus, one of the therapeutic goals will be to see the client as the center of the therapeutic process and see the client beyond the problem he/she is trying to present. The task looks challenging, but it fits the philosophic vision of person-centered therapy that places the person to the center of the therapeutic process rather than the problem presented by that person (Corey, 2013). In many respects, person-centered therapy does not tell anything new about counselors' effectiveness: in all therapies, theories, and practice models, an effective counselor is that who can be authentic and sincere with the client (Corey, …show more content…
Bohart (2012) is right: a counselor can readily practice person-centered therapy by bringing together and using diverse techniques and procedures from other therapeutic modalities. Otherwise, person-centered therapy has the potential to turn into a dogma. In the words of Carl Rogers, "as the clinician's emotional security becomes tied up with dogma, he also becomes defensive, unable to see new and contradictory evidence" (Kirschenbaum, 2012, p. 17). In other words, the use of person-centered therapy necessitates the process of borrowing from other theories and practices, to ensure its effectiveness and higher level of responsiveness to the