Client-centered therapy: description of technique, basic principles and techniques

September 12, 2018
Psychotherapy
Valentina Buravleva

Initially, this approach to therapy was called non-directive. Over time, it received the name client-centered. This type of therapy was best described in the works of Carl Rogers.

Formation of the approach

Rogers, the author of numerous books, a professor of psychology, and the founder of client-centered therapy, at a certain point in time felt dissatisfaction with the principles that were used in therapy in his time. He decided to start developing his own approach. Traditional methods that were focused on diagnostics have practically ceased to justify themselves. The emerging ideas of client-centered therapy by Carl Rogers, to his surprise, did not become a repetition of previous concepts in psychology. They laid the foundation for a new theory. The experience of teaching, scientific and psychotherapeutic work allowed us to lay a solid foundation for the Rogerian concept.

Story

In his 1951 book Client-Focused Therapy, American psychologist and psychotherapist Carl Rogers (1902–1987) proposed an idea that radically changed the understanding of psychotherapy: the client, not the therapist, is his own expert.

The book was criticized by psychotherapists of various directions, who saw Rogers' position as a threat to traditional directive methods. But his next book, “The Becoming of Man” (1961), became a bestseller. For his work, based on the seemingly extremely simple ideas of humanism, Carl Rogers was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Rogers' philosophy of client-centered therapy in brief

In the psychology of that time, it was generally accepted that by internal nature a person is distinguished by irrationality, a low level of socialization, and also a desire for destruction. From the perspective of Rogers' theory, people, on the contrary, are socialized and optimistic.

If in some cases antisocial experiences appear during therapy (anger, irritation, hostility), then in reality they are a natural reaction to frustration in meeting the needs for love, protection, happiness, etc. Therefore, there is no point in trying to control negative reactions; it is necessary to pay attention to ensuring that a person has the opportunity to receive enough love, attention, positive experiences that will balance each other. For example, the need for companionship can balance out aggressiveness.

Engage with the problem using verbal and nonverbal cues

This is done using special questions (verbal methods), as well as through a tonal lowering of the voice (non-verbal methods). For example, the therapist says the phrase: “I feel that you had a hard time in this situation (lowering voice tone).” Tonal changes seem to invite the client to “fall” down and begin to tell more about the problem. At the same time, the psychotherapist’s reaction may not be so pronounced. The psychologist must feel whether the client has a desire to talk about this problem, and how long he will be able to do this.

Why you shouldn’t formulate questions instead of the client

The psychotherapist accompanies a person not in his immersion in the problem itself, but in the depths of his emotional experiences, which are currently relevant. Many clients cannot correctly formulate their own problem, so it often turns out to be pointless to ask them to do this. Formulating a question can also be dangerous because it directs the flow of the conversation and also introduces the client back into the problem. If instead of the person asking for help, you begin to make assumptions about his feelings or try to formulate the problem, then the therapist will guide him, which can negatively affect the client’s openness. The latter may become blocked and stop talking about his experiences.

For example, a teenage girl complains that she has no friends at school. The therapist may say, “You feel very lonely,” “What do you think is causing this?”, “How often does this happen?” Such questions force you to think about the circumstances in an intellectual way, and the client stops talking about his feelings.

The main principle of client-centered therapy is to be with the client during the process. And therefore, the therapist should ask questions not for himself, but for the person asking. They must help him go further into the depths of his feelings.

Main features

K. Rogers himself and his colleague R. Sanford (1985) pointed out the following main features of client-centered therapy:

the hypothesis that certain attitudes of the psychotherapist form necessary and sufficient conditions for therapeutic effectiveness;
the main emphasis is on the phenomenological world of the client (hence the definition of psychotherapy as “client-centered”);
the therapeutic process is focused on changes in experiences, on achieving the ability to live more fully in the moment;
attention to a greater extent to the processes of personality change, rather than to a static structure;
the hypothesis that the same principles of psychotherapy can be applied to all people, regardless of what clinical category they belong to - to persons suffering from psychosis, neurotics or mentally healthy people;
interest in philosophical problems arising from the practice of psychotherapy.

The psychologist's views have changed somewhat over time, but the key ideas have remained unchanged. The basic idea of personal contact between client and psychotherapist became increasingly emphasized by Rogers over time.

The concept of “client” (a person receiving certain services, in this case psychological) instead of the more “medical” one - “patient”, was also proposed to be used by Rogers. Thus, a person who turned to a psychologist for help is also responsible for the changes that occur to him; in addition, she is not the object of diagnosis and medical treatment. The emphasis in this case is on helping the client. It manifests itself in the adjustment and stimulation of self-development and self-realization.

Correct “mirroring” technique

This method of client-centered therapy allows you to remain “close” to the client throughout the entire session. For example, a client who comes to an appointment may say something like this: “Last night I saw my mother in a dream. While I was driving to you, I constantly thought only about her. I'm so tired of all this. I have problems at home, at work, and with children...”

An inexperienced professional working in client-centered psychotherapy may give the following answers, but they will be incorrect:

“I see that you have many serious problems.” This reaction of the therapist is, in fact, directive, since it forces the client to talk only about problems. But the client has the right to choose what to talk about.
“You’ve said a lot, tell me something more.” This response has the nature of pressure.
“Are there things besides these that bring you joy?” Such a response demonstrates emotional “deafness” towards the client. The person who turns seems to hear: “Why are you all talking about the bad and the bad. Let's talk about good things."
“I also had a similar experience, I understand you.” This answer is not intended to help the client solve the problem.

The following response from a therapist who conducts a session in line with client-centered psychotherapy would be successful: “Yes, a lot is happening to you now...” After this, the therapist waits in silence for some time. The applicant himself decides what he should talk about and whether he needs further help.

Psychotherapy techniques

Client-centered therapy is provided in individual and group forms. The therapeutic interview is an individual session in which the therapist and the client meet. The group form is represented by meeting groups. It should be especially emphasized that the techniques of the client-centered approach are not a way of acting (action), but a way of being with the client, therefore they cannot be considered separately from the necessary and sufficient conditions for therapeutic change. The Rogerian therapist is responsible only for his work, and it is the client's choice to change or not to change.

A consultation in this psychotherapy looks like this: the therapist and client sit opposite each other (often at a slight angle). Contact with the client is established within the first five minutes. If this does not happen, then, as a rule, the client is blocked. The therapist accompanies the client in his own experiences. This therapy is client-centered, not problem-centered. Therefore, there is no need to pull (push) the client into his problem. The client himself can choose the subject of conversation. Pushing to discuss a secret problem can be carried out both by direct questions and by non-verbal means (for example, tonal lowering of the voice: “I feel that it is difficult for you (lowering tone).” In this case, the content of the therapist’s reaction may be indifferent to the client’s problem. It is important for the therapist to show the client The therapist must feel whether the client wants to talk about his problem and how long he can do this, and take this into account.

Some clients are unable to articulate their own problem in a psychotherapy session. The formulation of the problem or the client’s deep feelings for him, firstly, guides the client, and secondly, “drags” the client into the problem and does not take into account the client’s readiness to enter into the problem on his own. The formulation of the problem or the client’s deep feelings for him leads to the fact that the therapist goes ahead of the client, gets ahead of him, and sets the process.

In order to bring about constructive changes in the client's personality, Carl Rogers proposed six therapeutic conditions:

The patient and the psychotherapist must be in psychological contact. Rogers postulated that positive change will not occur in the patient's personality if there is no relationship between him and the psychotherapist.
The patient is in a state of inadequacy, vulnerable and anxious. This is explained by Rogers as a discrepancy between a person's actual experience and his self-concept in this experience.
The psychotherapist is harmonious or integrated. This means that the therapist must warmly and sincerely meet the person and create a positive atmosphere in their relationship. The therapist must be open to all the person's experiences.
The therapist experiences positive attention towards the client. He does not evaluate his experiences and feelings; he praises the constructive changes that occur with the client. He treats him with warmth and respect. Therapy sessions should take place in a calm atmosphere. The client must be confident that he is understood and accepted.
The psychotherapist experiences an empathic understanding of the client's internal frame of reference and seeks to convey this to the client. The therapist must feel empathy for the client, which indicates that the therapist feels the inner world of experiences as if they were his experiences and feelings.
The psychotherapist's empathetic understanding and unconditional positive attention must be transferred to the client. This suggests that the client should also relate to the psychotherapist, because it is he who is responsible for his personal growth, and the psychotherapist only contributes to this growth.

At first, Rogers emphasized the “reflective technique” - the psychotherapist reflects the client’s experiences, which allows him to realize his internal experience, the inconsistency of experience with the self-concept, and the distortion of the self-concept. This is the so-called psychosomatic resonance. Psychosomatic resonance is a psychosomatic response in the therapist’s body to the processes and reactions occurring in the client’s bodily sphere during psychotherapy. In recent years, Rogers's work has increasingly featured metaphor and intuition.

The following techniques are used in client-centered therapy:

“Selection technique” - the psychotherapist allows the client to choose the direction of the conversation to discuss the problem, choosing a neutral remark in response to the client’s first phrase. Thus, the client himself chooses whether to change whether he solves his problems or not.
“Repetition technique” - the therapist repeats the client’s last remark and what was said. After the repeated remark there is a pause, encouraging the client to continue the story. This way the client understands that the therapist listens and understands him.
A rather interesting technique is the “metaphor”, which can be used either as a one-time therapeutic technique or continuously used throughout therapy. She helps the client to immerse himself in his own symbolic layer of his own consciousness, as well as to abstract from the material world and express some of his desires (for example, aggressive ones) in a foreign language form.
Another important technique is “empathic responses.” An empathic response is the therapist’s verbalization of the client’s light and self-awareness. Empathic responses allow the client to feel that the therapist understands his condition and feelings.

Repeat method

Another technique used in C. Rogers' client-centered psychotherapy is repetition. In this case, the psychologist simply repeats what the client said: “You dreamed of your mother today, and you were thinking about her the whole time you were getting to the appointment...” Then there should be a pause.

But if the client talks too much during the session, then the repetition technique may not work. In this case, it will simply take the client out of the process of immersion in his own feelings and experiences. In this case, a generalization technique would be more appropriate. The first option above is a classic example of generalization.

Results of psychotherapy

The client's changes are in the direction of increasing the differentiation of reactions and the spontaneity of experiencing feelings. As a result of psychotherapy, the following changes occur:

openness to experience increases;
experiences get worse;
trust in one’s own manifestations, in oneself increases;
an internal locus of assessment is formed;
readiness to enter into the “process of life” increases;
knowledge about oneself deepens in the process of experiencing.

There is always a significant risk associated with accepting your experience and experiences.

Only a small part of the personality is ego-identified, or ego-syntonic, that is, it belongs to the sphere of the Ego. Some personal manifestations (traits, experiences) are not ego-syntonic and form the spheres of “not-I” and “symptoms”. A very important personality quality is the willingness to be in the process of development. Rogers himself emphasized that this means the ability to abandon fixed goals and expectations, the willingness to abandon one's own definitions of life, which can limit self-development. The personality structure according to this therapy looks like this: at the center of the symptoms are “I” and “not-I”, as two equal parts of the personality.

The result of personality development and the most effective psychotherapy is a “fully functioning personality.” Conceptually, this concept means complete congruence, the ability to overcome the obstacles and difficulties of life, and to realize oneself creatively. As a result of a twenty-five-year research program, it was revealed that such a personality is characterized by a positive self-concept, effective social functioning and the body’s readiness to respond to any external influences. It is clear that the psychotherapeutic process moves the client toward the characteristics of a “fully functioning personality.” But the client has the right to stop therapy at any time and get as much out of it as he can. Therefore, one of the most important conditions for a client’s change in therapy is his readiness for this change.

Real psychotherapeutic practice is associated with the fact that client-centered therapists act differently and introduce their own characteristics and personally significant theoretical constructs into the psychotherapeutic process. Thus, in the actual psychotherapeutic process, a number of psychotherapists facilitate the “child” in the client. The idea of a “fully functioning personality” can be interpreted as the idea of a “child” in the sense of naturalness, naturalness of feelings, life and manifestations. It is the free expression of love, sadness, passion, sadness, anxiety, anger, etc. A person who is “closed” to the experience and expression of anger is largely “closed” to the experience and expression of love. In this sense, the "fully functioning personality" is close to Wilhelm Reich's "genital character". But the client may not accept this interpretation of a “fully functioning person,” as may the therapist.

Some therapists understand a “fully functioning personality” as “spiritual development,” that is, they place the emphasis not on life, naturalness, naturalness, but, on the contrary, on rationality, forgiveness, peace, and the like. In a word, behind the real process of psychotherapeutic interaction, it is difficult to talk about abstract mechanisms and standards for psychotherapeutic change in the client within the framework of a client-centered approach.

There is evidence of the use of Rogers therapy by some psychoanalysts as a palliative, symptomatic remedy; moreover, it is prescribed only for actual (and not infantile) and shallow neuroses and gives only a short-term effect. This is difficult to agree with, since Rogers' therapy is focused on the personality, not the symptom. In this therapy, the client progresses as much as he is willing to do so, so the effect can be permanent, palliative or completely absent, however, as with other types of therapy.

Metaphor method

Another effective technique used in client-centered therapy. Metaphor can be used both one-time and as a sustainable image that accompanies the entire therapeutic process. If it corresponds to the client’s experience, this technique helps him enter that layer of the unconscious that is filled with symbols, which allows him to escape from the objective world. Indeed, in the latter case there may be significant restrictions on the way of expressing feelings.

For example, a man who turned to a specialist for help began to hate his wife. The reason is that she gained excess weight and became ugly. Internally, he wishes her death, but cannot express this desire out loud, since it causes a strong feeling of guilt. Rogers' client-centered therapy technique called "Metaphor" can be used by the psychologist in this case. The therapist builds an image: “Once upon a time, the prince of a small kingdom planted a delicate, beautiful tree with beautiful flowers under his window. Every morning and evening he enjoyed its fragrance and watered it. However, at some point in time, the tree began to grow very quickly and began to block the light, which almost no longer penetrated the window. The prince's bedroom became cold and uncomfortable. It's hard to believe, but this was the same tree that he once fell in love with. Now he hated it. And the prince has already begun to make plans on how to destroy this tree, cut it down...”

This metaphor allows you to discuss your aggressive feelings without feeling guilty. This makes the client more open.

Integrative approach

In the modern world, many psychotherapists do not adhere to any one school, using different techniques depending on the situation, if this helps to progress in working with the problem. This is called an integrative approach. As one practitioner noted: “Therapy for me is something like soup. Depending on how much of each ingredient you use, the flavor and aroma will change.”

This approach is quite reasonable. In the end, schools of psychotherapy speak in different words about the same phenomena and, most likely, sooner or later they will come to a single concept - as has already happened, for example, with psychiatry.

Stages

As a result of many interview studies, conclusions were drawn about how the entire therapy process occurs. It has been revealed that in this case there is a movement from stagnation to process. Scientists have identified seven stages of therapy:

At the first stage, the client feels a reluctance to express himself. Communication occurs only on general topics. At this stage, people usually do not turn to a psychologist for help - they are most often brought by relatives.
At the second stage, feelings appear, but the client does not take responsibility for what is happening in his life. Life's contradictions are not recognized. There is practically no differentiation of personal meanings.
Then weakening begins, gradual self-expression. A person expresses past experiences - usually negative.
Accepting what was expressed in the previous stage allows one to move on to the next stage. A person begins to feel responsible for the problems that exist in his life.
At the fifth stage, feelings are expressed completely freely, but surprise and fear are often present. A person defines his feelings more accurately.
The sixth stage is the most dramatic. The client experiences his feelings in their entirety. The problem ceases to be an object for him.
At this stage, the person seeking help continues to move forward independently, without the help of a psychotherapist. However, the stage can be discussed at an appointment with a psychologist.

§ 3. C. Rogers' client-centered approach

American psychologist K. Rogers in his book “Client-Centered Therapy: Contemporary Practice, Meaning and Theory” substantiated a fundamentally new non-directive approach to working with a client.
According to the views of K. Rogers, the individual interacts with reality, guided by the innate tendency of the organism to develop its capabilities, ensuring its complication and preservation. A person has all the necessary competence to solve problems that arise before him and direct his behavior appropriately. However, this ability can only develop in a context of social values in which the individual is empowered to make positive connections.

Basic concepts of a client-centered approach

“Field of experience”, “self”, “I”-real, “I”-ideal, “tendency towards self-actualization”.

The field of experience is what is potentially accessible to consciousness, the perceived part of the inner world (the words used, symbols that reflect reality). The field of experience is a “map” of the territory that is reality. Thus, what is conscious is of great importance, since a person perceives external reality through his inner world, through his field of experience, which can limit his perception of reality (the external world).

“Self” is the central concept in K. Rogers’ concept. “Self” is an integrity that includes bodily (at the level of the organism) and symbolic, spiritual (at the level of consciousness) experience. According to Rogers, when all experiences are assimilated into the "self" and become part of its structure, there is a tendency to diminish what can be called self-consciousness. Behavior becomes more spontaneous, the expression of relationships less guarded, as the “self” accepts these relationships and the behavior itself as part of itself. Thus, “self” is a system of internal relations, phenomenologically connected with the external world and revealed to a person in his “I”.

“I”-real is a system of ideas about oneself, which is formed on the basis of a person’s experience of communication with others and their behavior towards him and changes in accordance with the situations that arise in front of him and his own actions in them.

“I”-ideal is the idea of oneself as an ideal, of what a person would like to become as a result of realizing his capabilities.

The “I”-real strives to get closer to the “I”-ideal. The degree of differentiation between the “I”-real and the “I”-ideal determines the degree of discomfort of the individual and personal growth. If the degree of difference is small, then it acts as the engine of personal growth. According to K. Rogers, accepting yourself for who you really are is a sign of mental health. A high degree of difference, when the ideal “I” expresses heightened pride and increased ambition, can cause a neurotic breakdown.

According to K. Rogers, a person, on the one hand, strives to bring as many of his external experiences as possible into line with his real “I”, and on the other hand, he tries to bring his self-image closer to those deep experiences that make up his ideal “I”. ” and corresponds to what he would like to be. Thus, the real “I” may never achieve correspondence to the ideal “I” either because, under the pressure of external circumstances, a person is forced to deny himself certain life experiences, or because he imposes such feelings, values or attitudes on himself , which only distance his real “I” from the ideal “I”. Anxiety and disruption of psychological adaptation can be the result of a discrepancy between the real “I” and life experience, on the one hand, and between the real “I” and the ideal image that a person has about himself, on the other hand.

The tendency towards self-actualization, one of the fundamental aspects of human nature, is understood as a movement towards more realistic functioning.

Psychological growth is dynamic. It can be hampered by conditional values that represent denial, willful ignorance, and avoidance of some aspect of the self in order to obtain a reward for oneself. Conditional values are often formed in childhood as a result of upbringing, when the child, supporting himself with the probability of maternal love and recognition, acts against his own interests. Thus, conditional values are unique filters that generate incongruity, i.e. the gap between the “self” and the idea of the “self”, the denial of certain aspects of oneself. A vicious circle is created: each experience of incongruity between the “self” and reality leads to increased vulnerability, strengthening of internal defenses, cutting off experience and creating new reasons for incongruity. When these defenses fail, anxiety occurs.

Corrective influences should be aimed at destroying conventional values, revising them and abandoning them.

The psychologist, according to K. Rogers, should concentrate on the subjective, or phenomenological, experience of the client. K. Rogers believed that a person has a tendency towards self-actualization, which contributes to health and growth. The psychologist acts as an assistant in removing emotional blocks or obstacles to growth and promotes greater maturity of the client (with the removal of obstacles, the forces of growth are released and the path is opened for self-development and self-improvement).

K. Rogers placed the client’s personality as such at the center of his work, dissociating himself from medical terminology such as “psychotic”, “neurotic”. He abandoned the then traditional psychotechniques such as “interpretation,” “suggestion,” and “teaching,” arguing that such an approach was focused primarily on the psychologist himself.

Based on this position, we can consider those concepts in K. Rogers’ approach that relate to the process of correctional work itself: “empathy”, “care”, “congruence”, “psychological climate”.

Empathy is a special attitude of a psychologist towards a client, in which the latter is perceived and interpreted not through the prism of instrumental concepts, but directly through a positive personal attitude and acceptance of the client’s phenomenological world.

Caring - a traditional term of existentialism - in Rogers' concept has a pronounced connotation of unconditional acceptance of the client as he is, and precisely sympathetic acceptance with an expressed willingness to respond to the client's current state and with the perspective of seeing the client's personal potential.

Congruence offends the following essential signs of a psychologist’s behavior:

— correspondence between feelings and the content of statements;

— spontaneity of behavior;

- lack of isolation;

— instrumentality of concepts;

- sincerity and being as the psychologist is.

Psychological climate is one of the key concepts, since it concentrates relationships, professional (personal) skills, properties and is considered as the main condition for positive growth (change) of the individual in psychocorrection. For Rogers, the psychological climate includes the entire gamut of experiences (from the most painful to the most sublime), the authentic expression of which creates the opportunity for personal growth. According to K. Rogers, psychological climate is not a panacea and does not solve everything, but it “applies to everyone.”

The goal of the correction is to develop in the client greater self-esteem and the ability to take the actions necessary to bring his “real self” into line with his personal experience and deep feelings. From the very beginning, attention is concentrated not on a person’s problems, but on himself, on his “I”, therefore the task that is posed and solved within the framework of the interaction between a psychologist and a client is assistance in personal growth and development, thanks to which a person solves his own problems. Problems. A secondary task is to create an appropriate psychological climate and appropriate relationships.

K. Rogers put forward four conditions necessary to maintain an atmosphere conducive to such a process:

1. First of all, it is important that the psychologist maintain an unsuccessful positive attitude towards the feelings expressed by the client, even if they run counter to his own attitudes. The client must feel that he is perceived as an independent, significant person who is free to speak and act without fear of judgment.

2. Empathy. The psychologist tries to see the world through the client's eyes and experience events in the same way as the client experiences them.

3. Authenticity. The psychologist must prove it by abandoning the mask of a professional or some other camouflage that could destroy the atmosphere of the client’s evolutions that underlies this method.

4. Finally, the psychologist should refrain from interpreting the client's messages or suggesting solutions to his problems. He only needs to listen and simply serve as a mirror, reflecting the client’s thoughts and emotions and formulating them in a new way. Such reflection leads the client to study his inner experiences, more realistic self-perception and understanding of how other people perceive him. According to Rogers, it is through the development of a realistic self-image that a person acquires the ability to solve the problems that he encounters.

When the above conditions are created and met, it is possible to carry out the process of psychocorrection, which proceeds in the following direction:

- the client is increasingly free to express his feelings, which is carried out both through verbal and motor channels;

- the feelings expressed by the client are increasingly related to the “I” and less and less often remain faceless;

- the client increasingly differentiates and recognizes the objects of his feelings and perceptions (including the environment, surrounding people, his own “I”, experiences and relationships between them);

- the client's expressed feelings increasingly relate to the discrepancy between some of his experiences and his “Self-concept”, and the client begins to recognize the threat of such discrepancy;

- the client is aware of the experience of feelings in relation to which in the past there were refusals or distortions;

- The client’s “self-concept” is reorganized in such a way as to assimilate previously distorted and suppressed experiences;

- as the “I-concept” is reorganized, defenses are weakened and experiences that were previously too threatening to be recognized are included in it;

— the client develops the ability to experience unconditional positive regard from the psychologist without any sense of threat;

- the client feels more and more clearly unconditional positive self-esteem;

- the source of self-image is increasingly one’s own feelings;

- the client is less likely to react to the experience based on assessments,

given by significant others.

This correction process is characterized by the following:

— the main emphasis is on emotional aspects, feelings, and not on intellectual judgments, thoughts, assessments;

— correctional work is carried out according to the “here and now” principle;

— preference is given to the initiative of the client, who is the main one in the interaction and strives for self-development, and the psychologist only directs this desire in the right direction. The client himself determines the changes he needs and makes them himself.

Psychologist's position. The basic requirement is to give up trying to play any role; To be youreself. The main professional responsibility of a psychologist is to create an appropriate psychological climate in which the client himself would give up defense mechanisms. At the same time, the most difficult thing is to be real in communication with the client, to show respect, care, acceptance and understanding of the client.

K. Rogers points out the necessary conditions for a successful correction process, which relate to the personality of the psychologist and are quite independent of the private characteristics of the client himself - this is the so-called “K. Rogers triad”:

> congruence in relationships with the client;

> unconditional positive assessment towards the client;

> empathic perception of the client.

Congruence, or authenticity, refers to the need for the psychologist to correctly symbolize his own experience. Experience refers to both unconscious events and phenomena represented in consciousness and relating to a specific moment, and not to some totality of past experience. Openness to experience means that every stimulus (internal or external) is not distorted by defense mechanisms. Shape, color, sound from the environment or traces of memory from the past - all this is quite accessible to consciousness. Awareness is a symbolic representation of some part of experience.

When self-experience (i.e., information about the impact of sensory or other events at a given moment) is symbolized correctly and incorporated into the self-concept, then a state of self-experience congruence arises. In a personality open to experience, the “I-concept” is symbolized in consciousness in a way that is completely congruent with experience. If a psychologist experiences a threat or discomfort in a relationship, but is only aware of acceptance and understanding, then he will not be congruent in these relationships and the correction will not be complete. A psychologist does not always have to be a congruent person; it is enough that each time in a direct relationship with a particular client he would be completely and completely himself, with all his inherent experiences of a given moment, correctly symbolized and integrated.

A positive assessment of a client implies cordiality, affection, respect, sympathy, acceptance, etc. Of course, to evaluate another positively means to evaluate him positively, regardless of how certain actions make him feel. Actions can be assessed in different ways, but the client’s acceptance and recognition do not depend on them. The psychologist appreciates the client’s personality as a whole, equally feels and shows an unconditional positive assessment of both those experiences that the client himself is afraid or ashamed of, and those with which the client is pleased or satisfied.

Empathic perception of the client means the perception of the subjective world (encompassing the entire complex of sensations, perceptions and memories of the client available to consciousness at the moment), perception with inherent emotional components and meanings, as if the perceiver were that other person. This means - to feel the pain or pleasure of another the way he himself feels it, and in the same way as he does, to relate to the reasons that gave rise to them, but at the same time not for a minute forget that this is “if” (when this condition is lost, the state of empathy becomes a state of identification).

Requirements and expectations from the client. In Rogers's account there are certain propositional premises concerning the client. The client is expected to arrive at the appointment feeling helpless, behaving incongruently, expecting help, and being quite closed off. As relationships are established, in the process of changing their state, worldview and forming a different attitude towards oneself, their growth occurs, i.e. they become more mature.

Technicians

In the works of K. Rogers, seven stages of the correction process are identified, knowledge and full use of which can be attributed to the methodological side of the approach:

1. Blocked internal communication (there are no “I-messages”) or messages of personal meanings, the presence of problems is denied, there is no desire for change.

2. The stage of self-expression, when the client begins to reveal his feelings, problems, with all his limitations and consequences, in an atmosphere of acceptance.

3-4. Development of the process of self-disclosure and self-acceptance by the client in all its complexity, inconsistency, limitations and incompleteness.

5. Formation of an attitude towards your phenomenological world as your own, i.e. Alienation from one’s “I” is overcome and, as a result, the need to be oneself increases.

6. Development of congruence, self-acceptance and responsibility, establishment of free internal communication. The behavior and self-perceptions of the “I” become organic, spontaneous, and all personal experience is integrated into a single whole.

7. Personal changes, openness to oneself and the world. The psychologist is already becoming unnecessary, since the main goal of psychocorrectional work has been achieved. The client is in a state of congruence with himself and the world, open to new experiences, there is a realistic balance between the “real” “I” and the “ideal” “I”.

The main components of Rogerian psychotechnics: establishing congruence, verbalization, reflection of emotions.

We discussed the first component above. Let's look at the other two.

1. Verbalization. The technique involves the psychologist retelling the client’s message. In this case, it is necessary to use your own words, avoiding interpreting the message or introducing your own vision of the client’s problems. The purpose of such paraphrasing is to highlight the most significant, “sharp corners” in the client’s statement. The client also receives confirmation that he is not only listened to, but also heard.

2. Reflection of emotions. The essence of the technique is for the psychologist to name those emotions that the client displays while talking about himself and the events of his life. For example:

Psychologist: Is it true that when you talked about your childhood, you felt sad?

Client: Yes, but also annoyance.

Psychologist: Did I understand you correctly that when you talked about your dog, you felt tenderness and pride?

Client: Absolutely right.

The correction process can be considered complete when the client experiences the following relatively permanent changes:

- becomes more congruent, open to experience, resorts less to defenses and, as a result, is more realistic, objective, and extensional in perception;

- solves your problems more effectively;

- psychological adaptability improves. approaching the optimal one, vulnerability decreases;

— the perception of one’s “ideal self” becomes more accessible and realistic;

- due to an increase in congruence, anxiety, as well as physiological and mental stress, decreases;

- the degree of positive self-esteem increases;

- perceives assessment and choice as localized within oneself, trusts oneself;

- becomes more realistic, perceives others more correctly, and others perceive the client’s behavior as more socially mature;

- various changes in behavior occur as the proportion of experience assimilated into the “I-structure” increases and the proportion of behavior that can be “appropriated” as belonging to the “I” increases;

- behavior becomes more creative, more adaptive in relation to each new situation and to each newly emerging problem and, in addition, represents a more complete manifestation of the expression of his own intentions and assessments.

K. Roger's concept has found wide application in conflict management, in working with teenagers at school and in a psychiatric clinic. However, there are also limitations that were known to the creator of this concept. Thus, there is a danger of providing psychological assistance to a client without ensuring the conditions for his personal growth, i.e. a euphoria sets in that has no real basis. There is also a danger for the psychologist of over-identification with the client's personality and experiences. The question remains unresolved about the duration of the psychocorrectional effect and what problems the transition from psychocorrectional relationships to the realities of everyday life can create for the client.

Relationship with the therapist

The main principles of Rogers' client-centered therapy, on which communication with the client is based, are as follows:

Adoption. The therapist accepts the client as he is, along with his good and bad sides. His attitude towards the client is positive.
Congruence. The therapist's line of behavior is consistent. He himself is a holistic and integrated personality. He understands and is aware of his own experience.
Understanding. It means that the therapist experiences an accurate vision of the client’s world and experiences empathy.
A message of acceptance and understanding. There is no point in accepting and understanding if the person asking for help does not perceive it. Therefore, all this must be communicated to the client.
Relationships that bring positive results. The relationship with the therapist is not a “support” for the client. But they must be safe, devoid of any threats.

Client-centered therapy is a well-established method used both among people with relatively simple problems and among patients in psychiatric clinics. The empathy and warmth that accompany therapeutic sessions have a good effect - and this conclusion has been made by more than one psychotherapist over many years of practice.

Empathy in Rogers' Work

When the therapist is inaccurate, the client responds: “No, that's not true” (other milder or harsher analogies are possible). Again, if there are a lot of “no”s, the client does not feel understood. At the same time, even if the therapist's empathic responses are not very accurate, the client may experience an amazing sense of co-presence. What is important is not so much the accuracy of the client's understanding in itself, but rather the therapist's interest in the client's world. Empathy is a process in which the therapist becomes closer and closer to the client's thoughts and feelings. Accurate empathy is the ideal.

When addressing the client, certain significant experiences are repeatedly emphasized. If the therapist specifically answers them (addresses them), then the therapeutic contact has taken place. For example, one woman told a psychotherapist that her 13-year-old daughter met a man who was two years older than her daughter and was registered with the juvenile police. The woman is afraid for her daughter and does not want her to learn from her own mistakes in life (fear was expressed in this moment). She is also afraid that she will lose contact with her daughter if she does not allow her to be friends with the boy. In this case, the following therapeutic response is possible: “Yes, it is very difficult to learn from your own mistakes.” When the therapist's empathic response is successful, the client begins to say things completely different from what he had prepared in advance, and often, to his own surprise, reveals his deepest feelings in the therapeutic conversation. Rogers wrote that client-centered therapy views the client's perceptual field as the basis for understanding the client, and that immersion in the client's inner world provides significant benefits. The client's behavior can be better understood as emerging from his perceptual world. The world perceived by the client is his true reality. Empathy is “entering into the personal perceptual world of another and experiencing it deeply.” It involves sensitivity to the constantly changing sensory impressions of another, which smoothly flow into one another - to fear, or anger, or tenderness, or embarrassment, or whatever he or she is experiencing. Empathy means living temporarily in the life of another, moving gently through it without judgment; empathy means feeling meanings of which he or she is barely aware...” . In the above example, the woman began to talk about herself, about her shortcomings in life that prevent her from being with her loved one, as if she had forgotten about the original request.

Rogers's empathy has the following characteristics: First, the empathic process maintains its own position as an empath, maintaining a psychological distance between him and the empathized, or, in other words, the lack of identification between the experiences of the empathized and the empath in empathy (which, in fact, distinguishes this process from phenotypically similar identification process). Secondly, the presence in empathy of empathy (whatever the sign of the empath’s experience), and not just an emotionally positive attitude (sympathy) of the empath towards the empathizer. Thirdly, this is a dynamic process, not a static state. Empathy means experiencing the client’s world as if it were the therapist’s own world, but always without losing that “as if.”

Regarding what characteristics of the client should the therapist show empathy? It is obvious that some thoughts, emotions and behavior directly stem from a person's problems, and some stem from the healthy part of the personality. Empathy for the individual as a whole is a condition for liberation from defense mechanisms (distortion and denial of experience), and empathy for healthy aspects is a mechanism for supporting the constructive principles of the individual.