Table of ContentsCarl Rogers Biography and InfluencesBeliefs About Human NatureWhy People Have ProblemsRole of the CounselorRole of the ClientTherapeutic GoalsWorks CitedDr. Barbara LoFrisco, a professor at the University of South Florida, once said, "If you understand why something is important, not only will you be more motivated to understand it, but you will also be able to place your new knowledge into their appropriate context. » (LoFrisco, 2013). Think of theories as a set of frameworks for integrating competent and effective counseling. They give advisors a way to hypothesize and improve understanding of a problem. Learning about different theories provides inexperienced counselors with a guide or direction to help clients. Without them, advisors would have no objectives to test. By applying theory, we can draw on the experiences of others who have come before us (Whitehead, 1916). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay I intend to give a brief overview of two of my favorite theorists: Carl Rogers and Albert Ellis. First, I wish to inform the reader about each of the two theorists through research into their: biography, influences, beliefs, conceptual understanding of people's problems, descriptions of counselor and client roles, how they construct therapeutic goals, and some considerations on multiculturalism. Next, I will highlight some major points of each of the two theories, discuss the similarities and differences by comparing the two. Finally, I will express my personal reaction to the two theories and to all of the applied research. As these two amazing theorists have influenced counseling over the years, I hope to persuade the reader to have a greater understanding and appreciation of the theories. Carl Rogers Biography and Influences Carl Rogers (1902-1987) is one of the most respected and influential psychologists and counselors. of all time. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois, into a family of five boys and one girl. His parents maintained a religious home for their children and prevented them from being influenced by society. Rogers was sensitive as a child and feelings were not expressed much in his household. Rogers therefore expressed his feelings and imagination through school papers and childhood games. Rogers developed a passion for nature and a deep understanding of the scientific method as a teenager on their farm in Glen Ellen, Illinois. Because of his love for the farm and his family heritage, he became a farmer. Then, after beginning his college career, he had a religious encounter and changed his major to prepare him for ministry. After another religious encounter, he felt motivated to pursue studies in New York at the liberal Union Theological Seminary. After graduating, he married Helen Elliott, his childhood companion (all biographical details in this section come from Kirschenbaum, 1979, Kirschenbaum, 2004, and Rogers, 1967). While studying there, he was also taking psychology courses at Teachers College, Columbia University. . He quickly became more influenced by his captivation with psychology. He began working on a doctorate in clinical psychology and dropped out of seminary. He and Helen had two children, and while he worked on his thesis, he had to continue working to support the family. He moved to Rochester, New York and became director of thedepartment of childhood studies and then directed the Rochester Guidance Center. He was greatly influenced by many of the students he worked with in counseling. Before leaving his twelve-year stay in Rochester, Rogers published his first book, The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child (1939). Rogers' next move was to Ohio State University as a full-time professor. His students later influenced him in writing his second book about his own views on counseling and psychotherapy; Counseling and psychotherapy: newer concepts in practice (1942). Through the popularity of this book, Rogers gave new meaning to client work. Instead of seeing a customer as sick, he allowed people to see customers as responsible beings. He also presented the “non-directive approach”, based on active listening. Rogers was the first psychotherapist to publish sessions. After four years, he decided to move to Chicago. From 1945 to 1957, Rogers ran a counseling clinic and also taught psychology at the University of Chicago. During these years, he began calling his research the “client-centered approach.” During his time in Chicago, he faced a challenge that all advisors fear. He lost sight of his own self-awareness because of the relationship with a schizophrenic client. He received counseling himself for about a year. In 1951, Rogers wrote the third book: Client-Centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications, and Theory. After a huge technological advancement in audiovisual recording and scientific research into therapeutic approach, Rogers received the "Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award" from the American Psychological Association in 1956. While the children were grown and out of the house , Rogers' next move took him to the University of Wisconsin. He and Helen traveled and visited their children and grandchildren in their free time. In 1961, Rogers' best-known book was published: Becoming a Person: A Therapist's Perspective on Psychotherapy. He worked with ET Gendlin, DJ Kiesler and CB Truax in a huge and expensive research project on schizophrenia in clients that was extremely frustrating due to authorship disputes. It was finally published in 1967. Due to Rogers' annoyance with the project and other influences. , Roger moved to La Jolla, California in 1963. Rogers spent the next twenty-five years at the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute. Ten years after moving to California, Rogers and his colleagues designed the Study Center in which he spent the next fifteen years of his life. During this period he also wrote his books, some of the most popular include, but are not limited to: Freedom to Learn: A Vision of What Education Could Become (1969), Becoming Partners: Marriage and Its alternatives (1972), Man and the Science of Man (Rogers & Coulson, 1968) and Carl Rogers on Encounter Groups (1970). During the 1970s and 1980s, he continued to work on his person-centered approach and even went so far as to internationalize. He and his colleagues have traveled around the world delivering workshops. He was recognized by now-Jimmy Carter and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in his later years. His wife Helen died in 1979, so for the rest of his life Roger traveled, wrote and started the Car Rogers Peace project. In 1987, Roger died at his home in La Jolla, California from a hip injury. During his life he wrote fifteen books and more than 200 articles. He has influenced millions of people around the world through his methods and theories. Some criticsof Rogers believe that his methods are unconscious or unrealistic. However, it is undeniable that Rogers has had an impact on our consulting world through his philosophy. Beliefs About Human Nature As a humanistic psychologist, Carl Rogers built on Abraham Maslow's theory with the idea that for a person to grow internally, they would need an atmosphere that allowed them to feeling authenticity, acceptance and empathy. A tree will only grow if it has water and sunlight, the same goes for the growth of an individual. Without surrounding needs, healthy relationships and personalities will not have the opportunity to develop properly. Roger firmly believed that every individual was capable of achieving their desires and goals throughout their life. When a person desires a particular goal, it creates self-actualization. “The organism has a fundamental tendency and strives to actualize, maintain and improve the organism which experiences it” (Rogers, 1951, p. 487). One of the most significant ideas that Rogers brought to psychology is the understanding that people must respond to many factors before reaching their highest level of satisfaction. Humans are thought to have only one primary motive: the tendency to self-actualize (Rogers, 1959). This means that an individual always strives to achieve the highest level of “human being”. People will develop in different ways depending on their personality. Everyone seeks to be creative and good, that's what Rogers believed. Self-actualization occurs when the “ideal self” is consistent with a person’s “self-image.” He believes that the main factor in self-realization is the experience a person had in childhood. In order to become a fully functioning human being, Rogers linked five characteristics that a person needs: openness to experience, existential living, feelings of confidence, creativity, and fulfilled life (McLeod, 2014). In addition to working to become a fully functioning human being, Rogers also expressed the idea of ​​self-concept. Rogers describes this as “the organized and coherent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself” (Rogers, 1959). A person's inner personality is influenced by their own life experiences and how they interpret those experiences, as well as the evaluation of others. Rogers believes that people perceive themselves based on their own self-esteem and the way they think. , behaves and feels affects the self-image that is represented. As children, Rogers (1951) considered two basic needs to be most important: self-esteem and positive respect from other beings. A person who has high self-confidence and has faced many challenges by accepting failures and sadness while being open to individuals is considered to have self-esteem. Congruence will occur in someone's life if their ideal self and self-image are consistent and when the ideal self and self-image are not consistent, it is called incongruence. Rogers believed that congruence must be present before a person can achieve self-realization. Rogers has strived to help his clients achieve this goal through his practice of person-centered therapy, which will be discussed in more detail in the following sections. Why people have problems Rogers believed that the main reason a person has problems is due to the communication they have with their inner feelings. In other words, “unconscious, repressed or denied desires have created distortions in the way they communicate to others. Thus, they suffer both in themselves and in theirinterpersonal relationships” (Rogers and Roethlisberger, 1991). The main barrier to communicating with customers is the individual's “tendency to evaluate”. Human beings seek personal growth and development but do not know how to achieve it. Through Carl Rogers' theory, it addresses feelings of distress and increases self-esteem and openness to all experiences related to distress. Role of the Counselor In Carl Rogers' article, A Counseling Approach to Human Problems (1956), he expressed his strategy for helping a "troubled and confused person" by asking the question "How can I provide a relationship that this person can use for their own personal development? According to Rogers, the first requirement that a counselor must obtain in session is authenticity of character. The more authentic and real the advisor is, the more helpful he or she will be to the client. For a counselor to be completely authentic, they must be aware of their own feelings and express those feelings openly with their clients. “Only by providing the authentic reality that is within me can the other person successfully seek the reality that is within him” (Rogers, 1956). Second, a counselor must provide genuine “acceptance and appreciation” to the client. This will create a more productive relationship with the customer. Finally, Rogers found that the more a counselor can understand a client's feelings and identify with their thoughts, the more a deeper bond of empathy exists. Once the three conditions were established in session, Rogers' hypothesis was that the client would be able to discover their own capacity to benefit from the relationship to create growth within themselves. The most important element of this series of steps is for the client to explore feelings that have been excluded from self-awareness. Allowing the client to transcend through their own self-awareness will allow them to make connections between experiences and emotions. With this understanding in place, the client should be able to create acceptance and growth from within. This should allow the client to change the way they perceive themselves. Finally, the client is able to implement the new attitudes and awarenesses he has discovered. Rogers expressed his enthusiasm for his research and discoveries using a therapeutic relationship to create more meaningful connections in life. Not only did he believe this was true in a counseling session, but he believed it was possible in every relationship in life. If a person knew how to create a functioning therapeutic relationship, the relationship would strengthen and produce a healthy, happy connection. The Role of the Client Carl Rogers (1961) stated the following: It is the client who knows what hurts, in which direction to go, what issues are crucial, what experiences have been buried deep. I began to think that unless I needed to demonstrate my own intelligence and learning, I would be better off deferring to the client for direction of movement in the process. (p. 11-12) Since it is the client who has the problems, Carl Rogers believed that the client should be responsible for all goals, desires, and outcomes. The client must be challenged to become master of their own thoughts. Clients must work to build trust within the body and learn the skills needed to live an authentic life. One of the most important skills the client must learn is active listening. Once a person is able to listen to others productively, they must then begin to learn to listen to their own personal thoughts and feelings and understand why these feelings have arisen and how to accept change and.