In the early 1990s, someone conducted a survey of 800 clinical and counseling psychologists. It was found that among the psychologists who are considered to be the most influential in contemporary psychological counseling and treatment, Carl Rogers ranked first. Indeed, Rogers and his pioneering "patient-centered therapy" enjoy a special reputation in the history of contemporary psychological counseling and development. Although in recent years, patient-centered therapy as a separate school is no longer as famous and has as many followers as it was a few years ago, some of its important ideas, such as humanistic tendencies, emphasis on the counseling-visitor relationship, self-concept, etc., have been absorbed by most new counseling systems and have become the common wealth of the entire psychology discipline.
Earlier we talked about
other views on people
Rogers believes that people are basically honest, kind and trustworthy. These traits are innate, while some "evil" traits are the result of defenses rather than inherent in nature. Moreover, he believes that everyone can make their own decisions and everyone has a tendency towards self-actualization. If there is a suitable environment, a person will have the ability to guide himself, adjust his behavior, and control his actions, thereby achieving good subjective choices and adaptation. This is also one of the key points of person-centered therapy’s view of people.
Self-concept and psychotherapy
In the book "Client-Centered Therapy", Rogers first tried to form a theoretical model to explain the following questions:
1. On what principles does the individual act?
2. What circumstances lead to the formation of mental disorder ?
3. What measures can make mental disorders better?
Rogers' theory of self-concept of personality can already answer the first two questions. The third question concerns client-centered or person-centered therapy.
The theoretical premise of self-concept is that people have an innate tendency to realize themselves. This realized tendency must not only maintain itself physically and psychologically, but also continuously grow and develop itself. The theory about self-concept distinguishes between self and self-concept. Self-concept is people's subjective perception and understanding of themselves. When the realization tendency of self and self-concept are consistent, people reach an ideal state, that is, they achieve self-realization. When self-experience conflicts with self-concept, fear arises when the self-concept is threatened, and the person denies and distorts his or her own experiences through defense mechanisms. Anxiety arises when the inconsistency between experience and self may be realized and perceived. Once the defense mechanism is out of control, the individual will develop psychological disorders.
The inconsistency between self-concept and self-experience mainly stems from the fact that self-concept is affected by external cultural factors, and individuals internalize other people's values as their own value standards. However, person-centered therapy believes in the powerful driving force of the tendency of realization contained in individuals, in the positive power of growth, in people's ability to adjust and control themselves, and in people's ability to discover problems in their self-concept. They will evaluate the role of self-experience in self-realization and constantly adapt their self-concept to new experiences. Based on this understanding, Rogers proposed client-centered therapy, which is a treatment method in which the client takes the lead and the role of the counselor takes a back seat. In therapy, the counselor is more about creating an atmosphere and environment that helps the client understand himself and reduce his anxiety when facing conflicts between self-concept and self-experience.
Next, let’s talk about the self-concept theory in patient-centered therapy in detail.
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