Chapter 10 Rogers: Person-Centered Theory 303explicitly sexual and scatological. The second case can be illustrated by a man
who, because his self-concept is no longer a gestalt or unified whole, begins to
behave in a confused, inconsistent, and totally unpredictable manner. In both cases,
behavior is still consistent with the self-concept, but the self-concept has been
broken and thus the behavior appears bizarre and confusing.
Although Rogers was even more tentative than usual when he first put forth
his views of disorganized behavior in 1959, he made no important revisions in this
portion of his theory. He never wavered in his disdain for using diagnostic labels
to describe people. Traditional classifications such as those found in the Diagnos-
tic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) (American
Psychiatric Association, 2013) have never been part of the vocabulary of person-
centered theory. In fact, Rogers always remained uncomfortable with the terms
“neurotic” and “psychotic,” preferring instead to speak of “defensive” and “disor-
ganized” behaviors, terms that more accurately convey the idea that psychological
maladjustment is on a continuum from the slightest discrepancy between self and
experience to the most incongruent.
Psychotherapy
Client-centered therapy is deceptively simple in statement but decidedly difficult
in practice. Briefly, the client-centered approach holds that in order for vulnerable
or anxious people to grow psychologically, they must come into contact with a
therapist who is congruent and whom they perceive as providing an atmosphere
of unconditional acceptance and accurate empathy. But therein lies the difficulty.
The qualities of congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathic under-
standing are not easy for a counselor to attain.
Like person-centered theory, the client-centered counseling approach can be
stated in an if-then fashion. If the conditions of therapist congruence, unconditional
positive regard, and empathic listening are present in a client-counselor relation-
ship, then the process of therapy will transpire. If the process of therapy takes
place, then certain outcomes can be predicted. Rogerian therapy, therefore, can be
viewed in terms of conditions, process, and outcomes.
Conditions
Rogers (1959) postulated that in order for therapeutic growth to take place, the
following conditions are necessary and sufficient. First, an anxious or vulnerable
client must come into contact with a congruent therapist who also possesses empa-
thy and unconditional positive regard for that client. Next, the client must perceive
these characteristics in the therapist. Finally, the contact between client and thera-
pist must be of some duration.
The significance of the Rogerian hypothesis is revolutionary. With nearly any
psychotherapy, the first and third conditions are present; that is, the client, or patient,
is motivated by some sort of tension to seek help, and the relationship between the
client and the therapist will last for some period of time. Client- centered therapy is
unique in its insistence that the conditions of counselor congruence, unconditional