can, in the absence of threat, begin to grow as a
person.
Exhibiting these qualities with someone the
therapist finds pleasing and in tune with his or
her own background and values is relatively easy.
The true test of the therapist’s unconditional
positive regard comes with clients whose beha-
viors and attitudes really challenge the therapist’s
beliefs. The bigot, the unmotivated or lazy, or
the client who describes an incestuous experience
with his niece can force a real test of the
therapist’s tolerance and acceptance. But just as
every citizen is entitled to vote, so is every client
worthy of unconditional positive regard, accord-
ing to Rogers.
Congruence. At first glance,congruence—orgenu-
ineness, as it is sometimes called—would seem to
contradict the qualities of empathy and positive
regard. Congruent therapists are those who express
the behaviors, feelings, or attitudes that the client
stimulates in them. One does not smile if one is
angry. If the client’s remarks are upsetting, the
therapist does not hide behind a mask of calm
(Rogers, 1961). Rogers believed that in the long
run clients would respond favorably to this hon-
esty and congruence, knowing that here was a real
person dedicated to their welfare. This can be
most reassuring and can stimulate a sense of per-
sonal worth and a desire to come to grips with
one’slatentpotential.
Attitude Versus Technique. In many ways, the
core of client-centered therapy seems to reside
more in stated values and attitudes toward people
than in any specific methods. To that extent, client-
centered therapy is a state of mind rather than a set
of techniques. The client-centered therapist seeks
to become nondirective by relinquishing any pro-
cedures that point to the therapist as an expert who
will diagnose the client’s ills and recommend the
proper measures for their alleviation.
In fact, client-centered therapists will argue
that such“prescriptions”are unnecessary because
the release of clients’resources or potential will
resolve the problems in question. Given therapist
congruence, unconditional positive regard, and
accurate empathic understanding, clients will dis-
cover their own capacity for growth and self-
direction. In contrast to the psychoanalysts, Rogers
saw people not as destructive but as possessed of a
constructive force reaching toward health and self-
fulfillment. In addition, the Rogerians forgo an
emphasis on the past in favor of an awareness of
current experience. For the interpretations of the
activist psychoanalytic therapist they substitute the
quiet, listening therapist whose caring facilitates
the client’s own discovery of inner strength and
valid personal experience.
There are also distinct differences between client-
centered therapy and the behavioral approaches
(discussed in the following chapter). Rogerians
declare that inner experiences are the paramount
data and that to ignore those experiences is to ignore
the basic data of the human being. Whereas behav-
ioral approaches sometimes seem to focus on manip-
ulating or controlling the environment to effect
change, the client-centered therapist relies on change
that emanates from within—a release of inner
potential.The Therapeutic Process
It almost seems easier to describe client-centered
therapy in terms of what doesnottake place. A
long series of“don’ts”includes giving information
or advice, using reassurance or persuasion, asking
questions, offering interpretations, and making
criticisms. Perhaps the major activities of the thera-
pist are the recognition and clarification of the
feelings associated with the client’s statements. For
example, Greenberg et al. (1994) reports that
approximately 75% of all client-centered therapists’
responses were“reflections”of what the client had
said. Comments are also made that convey to the
client the therapist’s total and unconditional accep-
tance. Occasionally, the therapist will find it neces-
sary to explain the respective roles of the client and
the therapist. Calledstructuring, this too includes the
element of acceptance.
Typically, neither reassurance nor interpreta-
tion is used. It is assumed that the recognition ofPSYCHOTHERAPY: PHENOMENOLOGICAL AND HUMANISTIC-EXISTENTIAL PERSPECTIVES 375