CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE COUNSELING

Description

This is a transcription of informal remarks made by Rogers to initiate discussion among a group of counselors and counselor trainees at a workshop directed by Natalie Rogers.(ed) I think that one of the things that really differentiates the Person-Centered or Client-Centered Approach from other kinds of therapy is that there’s much more trust in the basic trustworthiness of the human organism. I’ve come to realize more and more that there’s a sharp difference. In orthodox psychoanalysis the core personality needs to be tamed — it’s wild, destructive, needs to be socialized. In a lot of religions, persons are conceived in sin and they’re born evil. And only by the grace of God can they be saved and so forth. I understand that many, many people believe that people are essentially evil.