marlier.proThe Three Facilitative Conditions of Client-Centered Therapy:
Congruence, Positive Regard, Empathy
September 16, 2003
The Three Facilitative Conditions of Client-Centered Therapy:
Congruence, Positive Regard, Empathy
After numerous research and surveys, analysis showed that certain behaviors from the therapist would facilitate the patient's progress as part of an humanistic therapy. Finally, it appeared that these behaviors were three: Carl Rogers named them congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy.
Congruence
The congruent therapist freely expresses the feelings and behaviors which flow in him. Rogers said it was the first of the three conditions needed to facilitate a therapeutic change. Synonyms are genuineness, realness, authenticity. It does not mean that the therapist can say anything but that he should not deny his feelings and should be willing to express any persistent feeling he is experiencing during the client-therapist interaction (Rogers & Sanford, 1985). He should avoid the temptation to hide behind a mask of professionalism or even a personal façade (Rogers, 1989).
Unconditional Positive Regard
Rogers maintains that unconditional positive regard for the client is necessary. It is the second behavior necessary to create the atmosphere which makes change possible. The therapeutic move, or change, is likely to happen when the therapist shows a positive, judgment free behavior, accepting of what the client is at that moment. The therapist must be willing to accept the client as a whole rather than conditionally. The unconditional positive regard is then “a liking for the client that is not conditional on the client behaving in a certain way” (Wortman et al ., 1999, p. 541). The therapist shows a deep and genuine caring for his client “uncontaminated by evaluations of his thoughts, feelings, or behaviors.” (Egan, 1975, p. 97).
Empathy
This word was invented in the early 20th century, from the Greek empatheia, “affection, passion”. It's a mean by which seemingly separate entities connect emotionally, even for a short moment, the understanding and entering into another's feelings. It is the behavior of the therapist who understands the client's personal real-life experience as if it were his, and sends it back as an echo. This accepting comprehension allows the therapist to understand and clarify, non only the conscious meanings, but even those which are just under the conscious level. Empathy deals with the emotional state of the individual.
Why this works
The integration of these three behaviors gives a quality atmosphere of respect and trust which will be felt by the client who then will accept more willingly to express and explore himself, and thus progress towards healing. These are necessary and sufficient conditions for this progress. For me this is the sine qua non condition of any therapy, a sheer principle of human respect. But there is one more reason for the success of this method. The therapist repeats the words of the client like an echo, but necessarily with a slightly different wording. It sounds like a paraphrase. Yet it may be enlightening for the client to hear his own idea or feeling expressed in a different way by another person, because the simple fact of rearranging the words, using other words may cast another light on his own confusing thoughts. And it breaks the feeling of going round in circles when one has only oneself to talk to.
Why this can fail–The limitations
Taking the place of the other one is a complicated and dangerous “game”, and even an impossible game. One cannot put oneself in the patient's position and still remain oneself. The image of the other will obviously be distorted because it is seen through the therapist's personality, whatever his honesty and ingenuousness will be. Rogers says that empathy is the understanding of the internal references and emotional components of the other person as if one were this other person. I think no one will ever be another person. One can only come close to that, and try not to identify oneself with the patient, that is begin to feel the emotional states of the other, which can destroy the therapeutic process.
Conclusion
Human warmth without affectivity.
There is never enough human warmth and always too much affectivity. Human warmth is being open to the other without needing him. Affectivity is needing or fearing the other. When human warmth is well differentiated from affectivity, communication is more efficient and serene. It is fundamental to remain distinct from the patient without being distant. Being completely oneself in front of someone who is completely him or herself.
References
Egan, G. (1975). The Skilled Helper: A Model for Systematic Helping and Interpersonal Relating. Monterey:: Brooks/Code Publishing Company.
Rogers, C. R., & Sanford, R. (1985). Client-centered psychotherapy. In H. Kaplan & B. Sadock (Eds.), Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry. Baltimore: Villiams & Wilkins.
Rogers, C. R. (1989). A client-centered/person-centered approach to therapy. In H. Kirschenbaum & V. L. Henderson (Eds.), The Carl Rogers Reader (pp. 135-152). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Wortman, C., Loftus, E., & Weaver, C. (1999). Psychology (5th ed.). Boston: MacGraw-Hill College.
Bibliography
Schmid, P. F. (2003, September 16). The Person-Centered Website. Retrieved September 16, 2003, from http://www.pca-online.net/index-pcanet.htm
(a big web site in eleven languages. Exhaustive bibliography on Carl Rogers.)
Tournebise, T. (2003, September 14). Communication & Psychothérapie. Retrieved September 15, 2003, from http://www.maieusthesie.com/nouveautes/article/empathie.htm
(in French; a few articles on psychotherapy, for professional readers.)
Congruence, Positive Regard, Empathy
September 16, 2003
The Three Facilitative Conditions of Client-Centered Therapy:
Congruence, Positive Regard, Empathy
After numerous research and surveys, analysis showed that certain behaviors from the therapist would facilitate the patient's progress as part of an humanistic therapy. Finally, it appeared that these behaviors were three: Carl Rogers named them congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy.
Congruence
The congruent therapist freely expresses the feelings and behaviors which flow in him. Rogers said it was the first of the three conditions needed to facilitate a therapeutic change. Synonyms are genuineness, realness, authenticity. It does not mean that the therapist can say anything but that he should not deny his feelings and should be willing to express any persistent feeling he is experiencing during the client-therapist interaction (Rogers & Sanford, 1985). He should avoid the temptation to hide behind a mask of professionalism or even a personal façade (Rogers, 1989).
Unconditional Positive Regard
Rogers maintains that unconditional positive regard for the client is necessary. It is the second behavior necessary to create the atmosphere which makes change possible. The therapeutic move, or change, is likely to happen when the therapist shows a positive, judgment free behavior, accepting of what the client is at that moment. The therapist must be willing to accept the client as a whole rather than conditionally. The unconditional positive regard is then “a liking for the client that is not conditional on the client behaving in a certain way” (Wortman et al ., 1999, p. 541). The therapist shows a deep and genuine caring for his client “uncontaminated by evaluations of his thoughts, feelings, or behaviors.” (Egan, 1975, p. 97).
Empathy
This word was invented in the early 20th century, from the Greek empatheia, “affection, passion”. It's a mean by which seemingly separate entities connect emotionally, even for a short moment, the understanding and entering into another's feelings. It is the behavior of the therapist who understands the client's personal real-life experience as if it were his, and sends it back as an echo. This accepting comprehension allows the therapist to understand and clarify, non only the conscious meanings, but even those which are just under the conscious level. Empathy deals with the emotional state of the individual.
Why this works
The integration of these three behaviors gives a quality atmosphere of respect and trust which will be felt by the client who then will accept more willingly to express and explore himself, and thus progress towards healing. These are necessary and sufficient conditions for this progress. For me this is the sine qua non condition of any therapy, a sheer principle of human respect. But there is one more reason for the success of this method. The therapist repeats the words of the client like an echo, but necessarily with a slightly different wording. It sounds like a paraphrase. Yet it may be enlightening for the client to hear his own idea or feeling expressed in a different way by another person, because the simple fact of rearranging the words, using other words may cast another light on his own confusing thoughts. And it breaks the feeling of going round in circles when one has only oneself to talk to.
Why this can fail–The limitations
Taking the place of the other one is a complicated and dangerous “game”, and even an impossible game. One cannot put oneself in the patient's position and still remain oneself. The image of the other will obviously be distorted because it is seen through the therapist's personality, whatever his honesty and ingenuousness will be. Rogers says that empathy is the understanding of the internal references and emotional components of the other person as if one were this other person. I think no one will ever be another person. One can only come close to that, and try not to identify oneself with the patient, that is begin to feel the emotional states of the other, which can destroy the therapeutic process.
Conclusion
Human warmth without affectivity.
There is never enough human warmth and always too much affectivity. Human warmth is being open to the other without needing him. Affectivity is needing or fearing the other. When human warmth is well differentiated from affectivity, communication is more efficient and serene. It is fundamental to remain distinct from the patient without being distant. Being completely oneself in front of someone who is completely him or herself.
References
Egan, G. (1975). The Skilled Helper: A Model for Systematic Helping and Interpersonal Relating. Monterey:: Brooks/Code Publishing Company.
Rogers, C. R., & Sanford, R. (1985). Client-centered psychotherapy. In H. Kaplan & B. Sadock (Eds.), Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry. Baltimore: Villiams & Wilkins.
Rogers, C. R. (1989). A client-centered/person-centered approach to therapy. In H. Kirschenbaum & V. L. Henderson (Eds.), The Carl Rogers Reader (pp. 135-152). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Wortman, C., Loftus, E., & Weaver, C. (1999). Psychology (5th ed.). Boston: MacGraw-Hill College.
Bibliography
Schmid, P. F. (2003, September 16). The Person-Centered Website. Retrieved September 16, 2003, from http://www.pca-online.net/index-pcanet.htm
(a big web site in eleven languages. Exhaustive bibliography on Carl Rogers.)
Tournebise, T. (2003, September 14). Communication & Psychothérapie. Retrieved September 15, 2003, from http://www.maieusthesie.com/nouveautes/article/empathie.htm
(in French; a few articles on psychotherapy, for professional readers.)
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