Week 10

Person-centred Counselling Theory by numbers (Part Ttwo)

You will be invited to:

• Consider some key features of Carl Roger’s Person-centred theory.

The Nineteen Propositions

Carl Rogers Theory of Personality

(1951)

Rogers, C.R. (1951:483-522). Client-Centred Therapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Merry,Tony (2002, chapter 3) Learning and Being in Person-centred Counselling. 2nd Edition Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books.

Rogers’ Nineteen Propositions

“An elegant theory of personality which is entirely consistent with Rogers’ theory of how and under what circumstances people change, and why certain qualities of relationship promote that change”

Merry, Tony.(2002:34) Learning and Being in Person-centred Counselling. 2nd Edition. Ross-on Wye: PCCS Books

Tony Merry

Some key ideas and concepts

PhenomenologyActualizing tendencySelf-conceptOrganismic experiencingIntrojectsConditions of worthActualizing self concept

“Potential Self” or “Organismic Self”

• Congruent with experience – all experience available to awareness.

The emerging self-concept

• Something which we define as “I or me”

• Who we are• Beliefs and values• Likes and dislikes• Goals and Ideals• Characteristics• Abilities and weaknesess• Past, present and future

self• Real me/ideal me

More like this…

• A definite structure, but fluid – able to change over time.

Conditioned Self

• The human infant has two basic needs; one for positive regard from significant others and one for positive self regard – love and self esteem.

Conditions of Worth and IntrojectsSometimes we have to behave in certain ways in order to

have the approval of others. These are called conditions of worth.

E.g. “If you eat all your vegetables, daddy will be pleased with you”. Or: “if you tidy up your room, mummy will be very happy.

Without the approval of others, we may not feel good about ourselves and so we conform.

You may hate tidying your room and hate vegetables – and yet come to see yourself as someone who loves vegetables and is naturally tidy – these beliefs are called introjects.

Some common values which arise from conditions of worth

• Children should be seen and not heard• Big boys don’t cry• Girls are not as important as boys• It is wrong to be angry• There are always people worse off than yourself• Keep yourself to yourself…

• Can you think of any COW’s which have impacted on your life? Where do they come from?

Internal and external locus of evaluation

• If a lot of expectations (conditions of worth) are present, then it is easy to lose our ability to place value on our own experiences.

• We tend to rely on the opinions or judgements of other’s or the way in which they see us. This is called having “an external locus of evaluation”

• Conversely, if we are allowed to make our own decisions and are shown unconditional love, then we are more able to trust our own experiences and valuing – to have an internal locus of evaluation.

The impact of conditions of worth

• No conditions of worth

• Results in an Authentic self – all experiences can be admitted into the self concept without distortion or denial

• Movement towards the fully functioning person

• Conditions of worth

• Experiences which don’t fit with the self concept are denied or distorted

• Excluding experiences from the self concept leads to in-authenticity, incongruence, worry, sadness.

What can be done?

• In the right circumstances (a relationship based on the core conditions), then conditions of worth can be recognised, challenged and dissolved.

• The client can then be more fully open to experiences, live more authentically and move towards fully functioning.