In a modern world full of stress and pressure factors, the psychological health of a person suffers greatly. Hereditary and acquired diseases are exacerbated. Psychologists and psychiatrists are developing new methods and concepts for both correcting the emotional state of a person and for treating serious problems in this area. One of the most popular methods of influencing a patient is client-centered therapy. Let's look at its basic principles.
Definition
Client-centered therapy is a special form of counseling and treatment in psychology, based on the concept that, by asking for help from a specialist in this profile, the patient himself is able to find a solution to his problem.
That is, in this actively used technique, the person himself is a kind of consultant for himself, and the therapist only creates the necessary conditions for understanding the problem and its effective solution. This is exactly what the founder of client-centered therapy thinks. His theory was further supported by many practicing psychologists.
History of creation
The founder of client-centered therapy is considered Carl Rogers - a famous American scientist. With his many years of work and work with patients, he managed to create an effective and popular system of psychotherapy, which, by its fame, can concede, perhaps, only to Freud's theory.
It was Rogers in 1940 who came up with the theory that a psychologist needs to focus his attention not only on the patient’s problem, but also on his emotional state. He also proposed changing the painfully perceived definition of "patient" to a more loyal and correct "client." This is how Rogers' client-centered therapy came into being.
Theory concept
This theory of therapeutic effect was built around the basic definition that each of us has in our minds all the necessary resources and forces to understand and solve our own problems. Also a very important basis of this theory is that we all have a certain positive essence that opens and functions if we create the necessary conditions for it. This is precisely the work of the psychologist.
Operating principle
Client-centered therapy is aimed at a person’s independent solution of his problems, through his own psycho-emotional resources and the specialist’s feasible help. However, one should not assume that in this theory the psychologist plays a secondary role, on the contrary, he is a kind of vehicle, an indicator of the right direction.
So, for the successful course of client-centered therapy, the "six conditions" formulated by Rogers must be observed, which should be considered separately.
The client and the specialist must be in psychological contact
This means that two people involved in client-centered therapy are required to emotionally affect each other. This item is incredibly important, but it is frightening, and not only for the client, but also for the specialist.
This contact should always be in the present tense, even if it affects the past or the future.
The client is characterized by a state of incongruency
This means that the patient intentionally distorts or changes the image of himself and his emotional experiences so as not to spoil the positive impression of his personality. Such behavior in sessions with a psychologist is a fairly common occurrence, because it is very difficult to reveal to a stranger, even a specialist.
Therefore, client-centered therapy takes place only if the person himself recognizes his incongruence.
The specialist must be congruent
In the methods of client-centered therapy, this item plays a very important role. The psychologist must be clearly aware of his own emotional response to the patient's experiences and in an adjusted form use it in the process of the session.
Moreover, sincerity plays an important role in this. The specialist should not be hypocritical and demonstrative. You need to be yourself with the patient.
That is why it is so important to apply the client’s experiences on yourself, because without your own understanding of the problem it is impossible to help another person deal with it. According to client-centered therapy, a specialist cannot advance a patient beyond his own congruency.
The specialist has respect for the client
This item is the main condition for the existence of this therapy. Respect for the client should be built on an unconditional faith in its internal potential resources. The client feels confidence and begins to release his positive essence, directing it to solve the problem.
This principle in client-centered therapy does not exist as a position of unconditional approval, non-interference, but as acceptance and understanding of the client’s internal experiences and acceptance that they take place and are generated by a certain source.
The specialist perceives the customer experience system
The key effect of this condition is based on the empathic perception of all internal emotions of the client. Moreover, it should be of such strength and intensity, as if the therapist himself is this person.
Moreover, this empathy must go beyond the scope of the client’s existing awareness, it should be on the border of perception of the sensory-unconscious. Thus, this theory does not apply to humanistic client-centered therapy, which is a kind of friendly interaction, it is a check functional position. It is such therapy that can have an effect pushing the client to introspection and self-understanding.
The client perceives the unconditional understanding and positive attitude of the therapist
Naturally, in order for a positive empathic influence to have a definite effect on the dynamics of a patient, it must be perceived to a greater or lesser extent. Even a minimal sense of sensory experience and understanding can have an effect.
This is a kind of precondition for this type of therapy, along with all of the above. Indeed, without perceiving the empathic data of a specialist, which will be transmitted to the client through therapeutic contact, such sessions will not have the desired result.
Practical application
Existing client-centered therapy is based on the realization that the basis for personality change is a psychological attitude that leaves all other aspects of exposure in the background. However, a misinterpretation of the principles of work on this technique can lead to incompetence on the part of the specialist.
The work of a psychologist, although it should have empathic interaction and respect, but nevertheless it needs to maintain constructiveness and focus on results. The purpose of this type of work on the part of the specialist should be to, together with the client, realize the existence of the denied problem, find its source and solve it using various methods.
The use of client-centered therapy in practice is not possible without special diagnosis and, of course, without the special skills of the therapist.
Directions
In addition to the client-centered therapy founded by Rogers, which is fundamental, there are several other areas related to it, in which many modern specialists successfully work.
Among them, the following practical areas can be distinguished:
- Experimental. The founder of client-centered therapy of this type is O. Gendlin. The essence of this direction is that for an effective therapeutic effect, a special level of experience is necessary for the client, which must be called up.
- Focus oriented. This direction is focused on a certain focus of the client’s attention on the fact that he is the one who is able to independently overcome existing difficulties.
- Procedural and experimental. It is a kind of specific method aimed at finding existing experiences and working out their problematic issues.
- Targeted. This area is actively used in modern practice by many experts. It is developed on the basis of client-centered therapy to work with a special type of clients suffering from psychosomatic disorders to a greater or lesser extent. This direction has shown good results in the treatment of cases that are almost unadjustable. The main difficulty in working with these clients who have unhealthy psychosomatics lies precisely in their unwillingness to interact with a specialist, in the weak ability of self-examination and self-understanding, in the absence of motivation to cure.
Research
Of course, before recognizing this theory of client-centered therapy as really effective, a huge amount of practical research was carried out.
So, this type of interaction between the patient and the therapist has shown high positive results. For example, scientists found that people who had undergone client-centered therapy experienced a significant decrease in their dependence on the values and expectations of other people and a greater dependence on their own experience.
Also, patients noted that communication with people around them ceased to bring discomfort, in the process of dialogue interaction there was greater satisfaction than before the implementation of the therapeutic intervention. Work with specialists significantly increased the positive perception of oneself, understanding of one's own actions and actions.
Also, a combination of many studies has shown that therapy works more successfully if the specialist approaches the patient’s problem with sincere warmth and participation.
This approach of client-centered therapy is actively used in modern practice in various areas of social life of a society. For example, in the field of education, family and business relations, in the resolution of racial and political conflicts. It is very popular at the present time and is unlikely to have competitive analogues in the near future.