THE ROUGH GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGYtherapy. Rogers was influenced in part by the work of Abraham Maslow
(1908–70), the founder of humanistic psychology – so-called because of
its emphasis on each person’s individuality and capacity for goodness.
In anticipation of the Positive Psychology movement that emerged at
the end of the twentieth century, Maslow studied high achievers and
creative geniuses, with the aim of finding out how we can all realize our
true potential.
Today most psychologists refer to people undergoing therapy as
clients, rather than patients or analysands, a convention started by
Rogers which helps reduce stigma and promotes greater equality
between the therapist and client. Following the humanistic tradition,
the Rogerian therapist plays a passive, listening role and the emphasis
is on providing an empathic ear. Clients are viewed with so-called
unconditional positive regard, which means caring for and respecting
them irrespective of what they say and do. Rogers challenged the
notion of the therapist as “expert”, and argued instead that therapy was
about providing a safe environment for clients to work through their
problems in the way they feel is best. The Rogerian approach underlies
modern-day “counselling”, in which a client talks through their prob-
lems with a receptive stranger.
BEHAVIOURAL AND COGNITIVE APPROACHES
Behavioural therapy is based on the idea that many mental problems,
particularly phobias, are learned and can therefore be unlearned. Behav-
ioural therapy is rooted in the learning theories of Ivan Pavlov, John
Watson and B.F. Skinner (see p.14). The “mother of behavioural therapy”,
Mary Cover Jones, is said to have been inspired by hearing Watson talk
about his research with Little Albert (see p.110). Jones’s most famous
work is her treatment of a three-year-old called Peter, who had a fear of
rabbits. By consistently presenting Peter with a rabbit and at the same
time offering him his favourite candy, Jones was able to get Peter to
unlearn his fear.
Another way fears can be unlearned is through gradual exposure to
incrementally increasing intensities of the fear-inducing situation.
For example, imagine that a client has developed a fear of crossing
bridges. The therapist might begin by teaching relaxation techniques
while standing near or on a small footbridge over a gentle stream.
As the client’s confidence increases, the sessions could graduate to
progressively larger, busier and more challenging bridges. A related