COUNSELLING &
PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC
INTERVENTIONS
MODULE V
17-APR-2025
CONTENTS
Person-Centered Therapy
Theoretical Concepts
Assessment
Case Conceptualization
The Necessary & Sufficient Conditions
Goals
Interventions
THEORETICAL CONCEPTS
Humanism
Rogers
• Believed People are strong & capable
• Trusted their ability to
Handle their difficulties
Grow & develop
Realize their potential
• Goal of Treatment
To affirm & empower people so that they have enough trust &
confidence in themselves to make use of their inner resources
Human Potential & Actualization
An important aspect of the human potential is people's natural
inclination toward actualization, expansion, growth, & health
universal yet unique
Rogers’ Analogy (1980)
Rogers believed that people also need the right conditions to enable
them to evolve in holistic and unified ways
Therapist provides these necessary conditions
Conditions of Worth
Rogers (1961) – children's self-concepts are shaped through
interactions with important people in their lives & the messages they
receive from those people
Self-image & growth in children may be impaired if they receive
conditions of worth – judgmental & critical messages that they are
only worthwhile & lovable if they think, feel, & act in ways that meet
the needs of others
Negative environments make it difficult for children to feel free &
powerful
Children in Negative Environments
Typically Internalize the Criticism they
Receive
Devalue, Inhibit Aspects of
Themselves They Perceive as
Unworthy
Creates Inner Conflicts & Curtails
Natural Tendency Towards Growth
Children are more likely to become actualizing & fully functioning
adults, when they receive unconditional positive regard – the
message that they are special and wonderful just because of who
they are, not because of their importance to another or the children's
specific behaviors or characteristics
Case – Conditions of Worth
The Fully Functional Person
Rogers (1959) – the following personality dimensions are
characteristic of the fully functioning person:
• Openness to experience
• Living with a sense of meaning & purpose
• Trust and congruence in self
• Unconditional positive self-regard
• Internal locus of evaluation
• Being fully aware in the moment
• Living creatively
ASSESSMENT
Rogers (1951) – psychological diagnosis as usually understood is
unnecessary for psychotherapy and may actually be detrimental to
the therapeutic process
Assessment & diagnostic procedures are seen as potentially
detrimental to the process of therapy – for both, the client & the
therapist
Rogers – inherent power imbalance linked to assessment &
diagnosis
May use assessment & diagnosis:
For professional communication purposes
When client requests it
When its relevant to use a reference external to the client
When conducting research
PERSON-CENTERED CASE CONCEPTUALIZATION
Experience & Communication of Self
Are problems perceived as internal or external (caused by
others, circumstance, etc.)?
Is the self or other discussed as the agent of story?
Does client take clear responsibility for situation?
Does client frequently describe self as victim of others or life?
Recognition of Feelings
Whether clients can identify a range of emotions when they
discuss the concerns they bring to counselling?
Can they identify feelings of anger, hurt, joy, or fear?
Expression of Feelings
Are feelings readily recognized, owned, and experienced?
Present Moment Experiencing
Is the client able to experience full range of feelings as they
are happening in the present moment?
Personal Constructs & Facades
Is the client able to recognize and go beyond roles?
Is identity rigid or tentatively held?
Complexity & Contradictions
Are internal contradictions owned and explored?
Is client able to fully engage the complexity of identity and
life?
Perception of Problems & Responsibility
Is client able to question socially imposed “shoulds” and
“oughts”?
Can client balance desire to please others and desire to be
authentic?
Is client able to accept others and modify expectations of
others to be more realistic?
Is client able to trust self as process (rather than a stable
object)?
NECESSARY & SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS
Psychological Contact
Incongruence
Congruence & Genuineness
Unconditional Positive Regard
Case – Unconditional Positive Regard
Empathy
Perception of Empathy & Acceptance
GOALS
The goals of therapy come from the client, and not from the
therapist
Rogers – the goal of therapy is not merely to solve problems
A central goal of person-centered counselling is to facilitate
people's trust & their ability to be in the present moment
The goal is to assist clients in achieving a greater degree of
independence & integration so they can better cope with
problems as they identify them
Goal should be to move in a self-directed manner – being less
concerned about pleasing others & meeting the expectations of
others
Clients become more realistic in their perceptions better at
problem solving & less defensive with others
The therapist helps develop a therapeutic atmosphere that can
increase positive self-regard so that the client can become more
fully functioning
Additional treatment goals include:
Promoting Self-Awareness
Empowerment
Optimism
Responsibility
Congruence
Autonomy
STRATEGIES
The heart of person-centered counselling is the therapeutic
relationship, clinicians rarely use techniques
All interventions in person-centered treatment should:
Promote the therapeutic relationship
Enhance the client's awareness & empowerment
Promote & deepen communication
Reflect the clinician's caring & interest
Reflecting
Paraphrasing
Clinician Self-Disclosure
Summarizing
Clarifying
Concreteness
Confrontation
Immediacy
Focusing
