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Psychodynamic therapistsare cold and aloof, cognitive-behavioural therapists arenot interested in therelationship and gestalttherapists boss their clientsaround… as with mostorientations in our field,numerous myths andstereotypes also exist aboutthe person-centredapproach1. One of the onesthat I, and many of myperson-centred colleagues,find particularly frustratingis the assumption that thedevelopment of person-centred theory and practicecame to a halt years ago: in1957, to be precise, whenCarl Rogers published hishypotheses regarding the sixnecessary and sufficientconditions for therapeuticpersonality growth (if youthought there were three,that’s another commonmyth!). In fact, over the lasthalf century, and the lastdecade, in particular, theperson-centred world hasbeen awash with newdevelopments in thinkingand practice, and this articlereviews some of the mostinnovative and cutting edgeareas of development.

The Development of aWorld AssociationMuch of this activity can beattributed to theestablishment of the WorldAssociation for Person-Centered and ExperientialPsychotherapy andCounseling in 19972. This

association, which bringstogether person-centred andexperiential therapists fromover 200 nationalorganisation and trainingcentres, has been closelyinvolved in the organisationof triennial (now biennial)International Conferenceson Client-Centered andExperiential Psychotherapyand Counselling (the next ofwhich will be held inNorwich, 20083). These haveacted as key fora for thedevelopment anddissemination of new ideasand practices4. Mostimportantly, perhaps, theWorld Association isresponsible for thepublication of a quarterlyjournal, Person-Centred and ExperientialPsychotherapies5, which‘seeks to create a dialogueamong different parts of theperson-centered andexperiential tradition, tosupport, inform, andchallenge each other and tostimulate their creativityand impact in a broaderprofessional, scientific andpolitical context’ (PCEPmission statement). Withover 2,000 subscribers,PCEP is one of the mostwidely distributed journals in the counsellingand psychotherapy field, and forms essential readingfor person-centredtherapists who want to stayabreast of currentdevelopments, debates andcontroversies.

The ‘tribes’ of person-centred therapyAs the PCEP missionstatement indicates, withinthe person-centred field, it isbecoming increasinglyappropriate to talk ofdifferent ‘parts’ or ‘tribes’ ofthis nation, rather than asingle, unified approach6.This diversification reachesback to the early 1960swhen Eugene Gendlin, oneof Carl Rogers’ key progeny,hypothesised that clientswho were more in touchwith their internalexperiences got more out oftherapy. This led him todevelop a philosophy and apractice known as ‘focusing’,which encourages clients tofocus in on theirimmediately lived felt-senses. Building on thiswork, person-centredpsychotherapists in northAmerica such as LesGreenberg and RobertElliott went on to develop a‘process-experiential’approach to psychotherapy(also known as ‘emotion-focused’ therapy [EFT]),which outlined a range oftherapeutic tasks (such as‘two-chair dialogue’) thatcan be used to help clientsresolve their intrapersonalconflicts7.

Today, across much ofEurope, focusing andprocess-experientialpractices (sometimescollectively referred to as‘experiential’ therapies) are

fully integrated into thework of person-centredpractitioners: hence theunified term ‘person-centredand experientialpsychotherapy’). Within theUK, too, experientialapproaches are gainingground, with theestablishment ofpostgraduate trainings andcourses at the University ofEast Anglia8 and theUniversity of Strathclyde9.

To a great extent, EFT canbe seen as an attempt tobuild on Rogerian, relationalpractices by integratingskills and techniques fromthe field of Gestalt Therapy;and recent years have seenseveral other attempts toincorporate ideas andpractices from otherorientations into a person-centred, relational base. InBelgium, for instance,Germain Lietaer andcolleagues have been

by Mick Cooper

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Person-centred therapy: the growing edgePerson-centred therapy is actualising its potential in creative and

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integrating psychodynamic-interpersonal practices intotheir person-centred/experiential work10;cognitive-behavioural formsof PCT have begun toevolve11; and attempts havealso been made to integrateexistential andphenomenological ways ofworking into a person-centred stance12,13.

Not all therapists within theperson-centred field,however, are interested in,or even sympathetic to,these developments. Formany person-centredpractitioners, the essence ofthe approach is that thetherapist refrains fromdirecting his or her clients inany way, such that theintegration of more directivepractices from otherorientations may beconsidered a betrayal of thevery foundations of person-centred therapy. Today,person-centred therapistswho see the non-directiveprinciple as the touchstoneof their therapeutic worktend to be referred to as‘classical client-centred’therapists, but it would bewrong to assume that thisway of working, in itself, isnot also growing anddeveloping. A recentcollection of chaptersentitled Embracing Non-Directivity14, for instance,critically examined a rangeof issues concerning non-directivity, and challengedreaders to take forward this‘revolutionary’, anti-authoritarian stancetowards therapy andpsychological growth.

In addition, recent yearshave seen several attemptsto extend a more classicalform of person-centredpractice to a range oftherapeutic modalities.Charlie O’Leary15, forinstance, has outlined aperson-centred approach tocouples and family work;

Natalie Rogers16 hasestablished a ‘person-centred expressive artstherapy;’ and Peter Schmid17

has written extensively onthe development of person-centred group work. Inaddition, there have beenseveral attempts to outlineand develop person-centredways of working withparticular client groups,such as children and youngpeople18 and people in crisis19.

Possibly the mostinnovative, exciting andimportant development inthis area, however, has beenthe emergence of a person-centred approach to workingwith severely-impairedindividuals, such as peoplewith psychosis and/orspecial needs, termed ‘Pre-Therapy’20. Pre-Therapy wasdeveloped in the 1970s bythe Gendlin-trainedtherapist Garry Prouty, anduses a range of veryconcrete, sometimes evenword-for-word reflections(for instance, ‘You said thatyou were feeling hungry’,‘You are touching the wall’)to help contact-impairedclients re-connect with theiraffective, physical and socialworld. Case study researchsuggests that Pre-Therapycan be highly effective, andit is increasingly being usedin clinical settings with arange of client groups, suchas people with dementia,geriatric populations andthose on the autisticspectrum.

New theoryAlongside these advances inpractice has come anemergence of new person-centred thinking, much of itdrawing on contemporaryphilosophical andpsychological developments,such as holism,constructivism, processphilosophy, postmodernismand neuroscience21. Whereonce person-centredthinking might have been

considered simplistic, it isnow achieving a depth andcomplexity of analysis thatis not so dissimilar fromsome of its more philosophy-rich counterparts, such aspsychoanalysis andexistential psychotherapy.Furthermore, like both ofthese orientations, oneparticularly importantsource of new thinking forthe person-centred field hasbeen the relational ethics ofthe 20th century Frenchphilosopher, EmmanuelLevinas. Levinas assertsthat human beings have anethical duty to respond tothe ‘call of the Other’, andperson-centred writers, inparticular Peter Schmid22,have used this to re-conceptualise thephilosophical foundation ofperson-centred practice indialogical terms: as anopenness to the Othernessof the Other.

Like many other 20th-century philosophers,

Levinas also emphasised thefundamentally relationalnature of human being, andsuch ‘intersubjective’thinking has been adoptedby a number ofcontemporary person-centred authors as a meansof counterbalancing themore individualisticelements of Rogers’thought23. Eva-MariaBiermann-Ratjen fromGermany, for instance, hasargued that human beingsneed interpersonalengagement, positive regardand empathy from the firstmoments of life; and that afailure to experience such in-depth contact can lead toprofound difficulties later on.Similarly, person-centredwriters like Maureen O’Harahave argued thatpsychological maturity is notonly characterised by amovement towardsautonomy (as Rogers tendedto emphasise), but also bythe development of a‘relational self.’

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For some theorists, thismove from a ‘one-person-centred therapy’ to a ‘two-person-centred therapy’ hasimportant implications forthe practice of person-centred therapy24. Inparticular, if clients have afundamental need to relateto others, and if thiscapacity to relate is a keyelement of psychologicalwellbeing, then it isimportant that the therapistbrings him or herself intothe therapeutic encounter asan active, dynamic, reallyreal human being: someonewho can meet his or herclients at a level of‘relational depth’. Advocatesof such a ‘dialogical’ form ofperson-centred therapy, likeDave Mearns and myself,argue that this is a subtlebut significant shift awayfrom a more classical, non-directive standpoint; with agreater emphasis on thetherapist being transparentin the relationship, aboveand beyond those timeswhen he or she may find itdifficult to empathise with,or accept, his or her clients.

A second area of theoreticaldevelopment within theperson-centred field has alsochallenged Rogers’ tendencyto conceptualise humanbeings in singular, unitaryterms. In this case, however,it is from the entirelyopposite direction. Here,several person-centered andexperiential writers haveargued that a focus on theindividual not only overlooksthe multiplicity of which theindividual is a part, but alsothe multiplicity by which theindividual is constituted. Inother words, what theseauthors have suggested isthat human beings are madeup of multiple elements:‘configurations of self ’, ‘modesof being’, ‘inner persons’,‘subselves’ or ‘voices’23.

Within the psychological andpsychotherapeutic fields,

such a hypothesis is by nomeans new25. The person-centred roots of thesewritings, however, do meanthat they have a uniquecontribution to make to thewider field of self-pluralisticthought and practice.Drawing on Rogers’ conceptof conditional positiveregard, for instance, severalperson-centred authors haveargued that individualsdevelop multiple self-concepts as a means ofaccruing positive regard –and hence positive self-regard – in a variety ofdifferent social contexts.Rogers’ distinction betweenan individual’s self-conceptand their actualexperiencing has also beenused to explain how andwhy multiple selves mayevolve: individuals whoseexperiences simply do not fitin with how they seethemselves (for instance,they see themselves asplacid but experience rage)may temporarily develop an‘alternate self-concept’ (‘me-as-furious’) as a means ofmaintaining someconsistency between ‘self ’and experiences. Person-centred thinking can alsohelp to elucidate some of thepractical implications of aself-pluralistic perspective:in particular, the potentialimportance of empathisingwith, and positivelyregarding, all the differentvoices within an individual’slived-world: a‘multidirectional partiality.’

‘Difficult’ processesClosely related to thesetheoretical developments,recent years have seen anumber of attempts withinPCT to developunderstandings of, and waysof working with,‘psychopathologicalfunctioning’26. Here, one ofthe traditional stumblingblocks for person-centredpractitioners has been areluctance to see clients

through a de-individualising, diagnosticlens; and also to define anyone way of being as anymore ‘pathological’,‘abnormal’ or ‘ill’ than anyother. For this reason, anenormously influentialcontribution to thecontemporary person-centred world has been thework of the Americanperson-centred psychologistMargaret Warner27, who hasre-conceptualised‘psychopathology’ in terms of‘difficult client processes’:ways of processing one’sexperiences that areexperienced as difficult forthe client, the therapist, orboth (but are not ‘wrong’ orinherently pathological).

Warner suggests a range ofdifficult processes thatindividuals may experience;and is particularly knownfor outlining a ‘fragile’processing style, in whichindividuals are not fully ableto ‘hold’ their ownexperiences in attention andconsequently may easily feelviolated, threatened andmisunderstood by others.Building on this work, otherperson-centred theoristshave gone on to suggestadditional ‘difficultprocesses’, such as ‘ego-syntonic’ processing, inwhich individuals strive toprotect themselves fromintimacy throughdetachment and attempts tocontrol others28.

Current researchIt is ironic that, for anorientation that is sofounded on empiricalobservation, the person-centred approach hasdeveloped something of areputation for beingresearch-aversive. This isnot entirely unfounded:person-centred therapistscan be wary of ‘imposing’evaluation tools on theirclients, and of categorisingthem according to pre-

defined diagnosticindicators. A brief scanthrough the NICEguidelines for mental healthand behavioural conditionsalso indicates the scarcity ofcontrolled research onperson-centred andexperiential therapies.Nevertheless, things arebeginning to change, andleading internationalpsychotherapy researcherslike Robert Elliott andJeanne Watson have beenextremely active incompiling, publicising andconducting researchdemonstrating the efficacyof person-centred andexperiential approaches.They have shown, forinstance, that person-centred and experientialtherapy is, overall, just aseffective as othertherapeutic modalities(including CBT); and that itcan help clients with a widerange of psychologicaldifficulties, includinganxiety, depression andhealth-related problems29.Indeed, it is interesting tonote that ‘experientialpsychotherapies’ are one ofjust three ‘major approachesto psychotherapy’ reviewedin the bible of psychotherapyand counselling research,Bergin and Garfield’sHandbook of Psychotherapyand Behavior Change30.

ConclusionThis article reviews some ofthe major developments inthe contemporary person-centred field. There are, ofcourse, many otherdevelopments that couldhave been mentioned – forinstance, Brian Thorne31 andcolleagues’ writings onspirituality, the developmentof person-centred politicalperspectives32, and person-centred work with clientsfrom black and ethnicminority backgrounds33 –but, in this article, I hope tohave conveyed something ofthe vibrancy at the growing

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edges of this field. August2007 sees the publication ofthe first Handbook ofPerson-CentredPsychotherapy andCounselling34 (co-edited byMaureen O’Hara, PeterSchmid, Gill Wyatt andmyself) and, in this book, we hope to have capturedsomething of this spirit ofpassionate, critical inquiry.As the preface to theHandbook summarises:

‘These are exciting times for the field of person-centred counselling andpsychotherapy. Over the last few years, we havewitnessed majordevelopments in ourapproach: an increasing in-depth exploration of itsfoundations and itsunderlying philosophy, arapid diversification – with the emergence of suchforms as ‘classical’,‘dialogical’, and ‘Pre-Therapy’ – and cross-fertilisation with relatedorientations like existentialand experiential therapies.We are witnessing a growingintensity of internationalcollaboration andnetworking through theestablishment of the WorldAssociation of Person-Centered and ExperientialPsychotherapy andCounseling (WAPCEPC) andits journal, Person-Centeredand ExperientialPsychotherapies. Moreover,where once the focus ofperson-centred writings wasprimarily on therapeuticpractice, we are seeing arapidly expanding interestin such fields asanthropology andepistemology, developmentalpsychology, organisationaltransformation, peacestudies, political theory andpsychotherapeutic research,with person-centred writersand therapists at theforefront of many of thesefields. The person-centredapproach to psychotherapy

and counselling,increasingly one of the bestempirically supportedapproaches in the realm oftherapy, today has a depthand enjoys a variety oftheoretical explanatorymodels that would make itthe envy of many othertherapeutic disciplines.’

Mick Cooper is co-editor ofthe forthcoming Handbook ofPerson-CentredPsychotherapy andCounselling (Palgrave,2007). He is Professor ofCounselling at the Universityof Strathclyde and apractising psychotherapistwhose work is influenced by

person-centred, existential,postmodern andinterpersonal approaches.Mick is also author ofExistential Therapies(Sage, 2003) and co-author,with Dave Mearns, ofWorking at Relational Depth in Counselling andPsychotherapy (Sage, 2005).

References1. Cooper M. Person-centred therapy: myth and reality. 2004. Available from www.strath.ac.uk/Departments/counsunit/features/articles.html 2. See www.pce-world.org 3. See www.pce-world.org/idxevents.htm4. Takens R. Resources. In: Cooper M, Schmid P, O’Hara M, Wyatt G. (eds) The handbook of person-centredpsychotherapy and counselling. Basingstoke: Palgrave; 2007. 5. See www.pccs-books.co.uk6. Sanders P. (ed) The tribes of the person-centred nation: an introduction to the schools of therapy related to theperson-centred approach. Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books; 2004.7. Elliott R, Watson JC, Goldman R, Greenberg LS. Learning emotion-focused therapy: the process-experientialapproach to change. Washington DC: American Psychological Association; 2004.8. www.uea.ac.uk/edu/focus.pdf9. www.strathclydecounselling.com10. van Kessel, W., & Lietaer, G. (1998). Interpersonal processes. In L. S. Greenberg, J. C. Watson & G. Lietaer(Eds.), Handbook of Experiential Psychotherapy (pp. 155-177). New York: The Guilford Press.11. Josefowitz N, Myran D. Towards a person-centred cognitive behaviour therapy. Counselling PsychologyQuarterly. 2005; 18(4):329-336.12. Cooper, M. (2003). Between freedom and despair: Existential challenges and contributions to person-centredand experiential therapy. Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies, 2(1), 43-56.13. Worsley, R. (2001). Process Work in Person-Centred Therapy: Phenomenological and Existential Perspectives.Basingstoke: Palgrave.14. Levitt BE. Embracing non-directivity: reassessing person-centred theory and practice in the 21st century.Ross-on-Wye: PCCS books; 2005.15. O’Leary, C. (1999). Counselling Couples and Families: A Person-Centred Approach. London: Sage.16. Rogers, N. (2000). Creative Connection: Expressive Arts as Healing. Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books.17. Schmid, P., & O'Hara, M. (2007). Group therapy and encounter groups. In M. Cooper, P. Schmid, M. O'Hara& G. Wyatt (Eds.), The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling. Basingstoke: Palgrave.18. Behr, M. (2003). Interactive resonance in work with children and adolescents: A theory-based concept ofinterpersonal relationship through play and the use of toys. Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies,2(2), 89-103.19. Carrick, L. (2007). Crisis Intervention. In M. Cooper, P. Schmid, M. O'Hara & G. Wyatt (Eds.), TheHandbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling. Basingstoke: Palgrave.20. Van Werde D, Prouty G. Pre-therapy: empathic contact with individuals at pre-expressive levels of functioning.In: Cooper M, Schmid P, O’Hara M, Wyatt G. (eds) The handbook of person-centered therapy. Basingstoke:Palgrave; 2007.21. See for instance: Greenberg LS, Van Balen R. The theory of experience-centered therapies. In: Greenberg LS,Watson JC, Lietaer G. (eds) Handbook of experiential psychotherapy. New York: The Guilford Press; 1998. And:Tudor, K., & Worrall, M. (2006). Person-Centred Therapy: A Clinical Philosophy. London: Routledge.22. Schmid, P. (2007). The anthropological and ethical foundations of person-centred therapy. In M. Cooper, P.Schmid, M. O'Hara & G. Wyatt (Eds.), The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling.Basingstoke: Palgrave.23. See Cooper M. Person-centered developmental and personality theory. In: Cooper M, Schmid P, O’Hara M,Wyatt G. (eds), The handbook of person-centered therapy. Basingstoke: Palgrave; 2007.24. Mearns D, Cooper M. Working at relational depth in counselling and psychotherapy. London: Sage; 2005.25. Rowan J. Subpersonalities: the people inside us. London: Routledge; 1990.26. Eg, Joseph S, Worsley R. (eds) Psychopathology and the person-centred approach. Ross-on-Wye; PCCS Books;2005.27. Warner M. Client incongruence and psychopathology. In: Cooper M, Schmid P, O’Hara M, Wyatt G. (eds), Thehandbook of person-centered therapy. Basingstoke: Palgrave; 2007.28. Mearns, D., & Thorne, B. (2007). Person-Centred Counselling in Action (3rd ed.). London: Sage.29. Elliott R, Greenberg LS, Lietaer G. Research on experiential therapies. In: Lambert MJ. (ed) Bergin andGarfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behaviour change. 5th edition. Chicago: John Wiley and Sons; 2004.30. Lambert MJ. (ed) Bergin and Garfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behaviour change. 5th edition.Chicago: John Wiley and Sons; 2004.31. Thorne, B. (2005). Love's Embrace: The Autobiography of a Person-Centred Therapist. Ross-on-Wye: PCCSBooks.32. Proctor, G., Cooper, M., Sanders, P., & Malcolm, B. (Eds.). (2006). Politicising the Person-Centred Approach:An Agenda for Social Change. Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books.33. Moodley, R., Lago, C., & Talahite, A. (Eds.). (2004). Carl Rogers Counsels a Black Client. Ross-on-Wye: PCCSBooks.34. Cooper M, O’Hara M, Schmid P, Wyatt G. Handbook of person-centred psychotherapy and counselling.London: Palgrave; 2007.

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