L1 - The client centered approach Flashcards
(16 cards)
The client centered approach focuses on
Common underlying factors that affect treatment outcomes
Historical framework: 3 prominent frameworks before Roger’s theory’s birth
- psychoanalysis
- influence of unconscious urges
- relationship as repetition (counter) transference - resistance
- interpretation - behaviorism
(passive ways of seeing the client)
- behavior
- environmental influences - humanistic approach
(humanistic approach is where Rogers started his work)
- subjective experience
- person in their totality: “client/person-centered”
- the individual as active
Self actualization tendency of humans is one of the main focuses of CCT, list the three factors of self actualization
Self actualization directs a person to grow towards an optimal personal ideal
- Growth
- allowing capacities to develop - Integration/adaptation
- integrating new skills/knowledge - Human being as active organism
- e.g., children set out to explore their environment and adapt to their limitations –> they are innately active in learning about their environment
Roger’s theory: congruence vs incongruence
Congruence: fully functioning person
- different pieces of self fit together
- healthy growth and integration
- fully lived-through experience
Incongruence: internal / external patterns of conflicts or tension
- this is where suffering / presenting problems start
- not psychopathology in Roger’s theory but incongruence instead
The therapeutic relationship in Roger’s theory is the idea that
The relationship is the ONLY vehicle we have for establishing a breeding ground and for providing the means to change
Three conditions of Roger’s theory
A) Congruence
A.1 Genuinness
A.2 Transparency
B) Unconditional positive regard
C) Empathy
Congruence: genuinness
Therapist doesn’t deny themselves the feelings being experienced and is willing to express them if they persist
Therapist is in contact with the here-and-now (interactional) experience
Therapist listens through the third ear (hearing and seeing the physical, emotions, images)
implications of genuinness (congruence) for our work
- intervision and supervision
- (group-)therapy
- self-care, mindfulness, mildness
- don’t try to be superhuman
Genuinness: transparency
- Personal presence
- Appearance (uitstraling) <-> blank slate or
facade - Unaffected (natural)
- Consistency in verbal and non-verbal behavior
- Presence – as opposed to shallowness,
automatic pilot
Congruence (transparency) (HOW)
- Self-disclosure: “This touches me!”
- Self-disclosure (if in client’s best interest)
- Own feelings regarding what client brings into
the therapeutic alliance - Directness
- Situation Clarification
- Disciplined spontaneity:
- In moderation
- In digestible portions
- As long as it is to the client’s benefit
- Always within the context of empathy,
acceptance and positive regard!
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Unconditional positive regard , climate factors
climate factors refer to the emotional and psychological atmosphere that a therapist creates in their relationship with the client
Do’s:
- non-judgemental acceptance
- suspending opinion, evaluation, criticism
Underlying:
- seeing the pain/suffering, seeking the struggling human underneath the behavior
- shared basis of vulnerability
–> does not per se mean approval of or agreement with the behavior
Difficult:
- seeing psychopathology as “the best possible adjustment”: what does the behavior mean?
- recognizing/acknowledging and guarding one’s own limits/boundaries
Empathy consists of two main types
Attitude: being empathetic is to perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain AS IF one were the person
- about having empathy
Process: Entering the private perceptual world of the other and becoming thoroughly at home in it. Being sensitive, staying ATTUNED TO THE CHANGES IN THE CLIENT AND YOURSELF.
- about applying the empathy
–> empathy is cognitive, affective and also physical (via nonverbal empathy, like nonverbal ME)
Generally, empathy in a clinical setting is
- Putting own frame of
reference aside and
using it when
necessary - Creating space,
resonating, validating - Adress elements that
move you or are (non-
verbally) expressed
vividly (= AAE / CO) - Can also non-verbally
expressed. - Dare to interrupt
- Tentative and curious: “as if …”?
- The “ignorant/naive therapist”:
- “Is that right?
- “Could that be possible?”
- “What is that like for you?”
- Adapt to language use
- Welcome the correction!
- Dare to use silences (but stay in contact)
Effect of empathy on client
- improves contact and alliance
- contact - holding
- acknowledging and validating the right to exist
- (self) acceptance increases - invitation to further exploration
- more direct and accurate feeling experience
- revealing/discovering new aspects of experience
- improved emotion regulation
Empathy in the book is facilitated by
- Reflection of Feeling, Paraphrasing
- Advanced Accurate Empathy, Confrontation
- Directness, Thinking Aloud
- Positive Relabelling
Aims:
* Conveying regard
* Relational depth
* Interpreting
* Checking
* Structuring
interaction between core conditions
- Authenticity as basis for empathy
- From empathy assessing if transparency is
relevant. - Being more empathic through unconditional
positive regard - …
