Person-Centered Therapy

Founder

 Carl Rogers

Person-centered therapy philosphy: 

Positive view of people; we have an inclination toward becoming fully functioning. In the context of the therapeutic relationship, the client experiences feelings that were previously denied to awareness. The client moves toward increased awareness, spontaneity, ,trust in self, and inner-directedness. (Gerald Corey)

This video was pretty interesting. It really gives a good overview of this theory. 

The main key concept of Person-centered therapy is human nature. 

The goal for the therapist is to provide a comfortable, non-judgmental environment where the therapist is genuine and has empathy for the clients feeling and thoughts.  So that the client feels comfortable in working on self-actualization. The attitude and being of the therapist is where they can facilitate change in the client,  more than their knowledge, theories, or techniques.

Self-actualization is when a person wants to become everything they can potentially be realistically.

Where you might see Person-centered Therapy

• Group Therapy 
• Therapist facilitates the group but allows the members to share and give each other feedback. 
• They feel that they are not alone and that others have experienced what they have
• Expressive Arts Therapy
• Natalie Rogers (Carl Roger's daughter) believed that you could grow and heal through various non-verbal activities. 
• The clients are allowed to look and search themselves through paint, sculpture, drama, ect.
• Emotion Focused Therapy
• uses Person-centered therapy and some Gestalt therapy techniques (Which I will be blogging about next week by the way) 
• It believed that if we change our emotions then we can change our behavior 

There are no techiniques that can be in stone for Person-centered therapy. The therapist practicing this is not giving advice or direction. They simply are helping a client guide their way through some sort of diemma,  crisis, anxiety they are feeling. It is extremely important and vital to this theory that the relationship between the client and therapist is authentic. The therapist must care and be empathetic. Its is helpful for them to use active listening.

Existential Therapy

Existential therapy is more a way of thinking or an attitude about psychotherapy than a particular style of practicing psychotherapy. It is neither an independent nor separate school of therapy nor is it a clearly defined model with specific techniques. Existential therapy can best be described as a philosophical approach that influences a counselor's therapeutic practice.(Gerald Corey).

Key Concepts:

• View of human nature
• Basing the therapeutic therapy on what it means to be a human and how we behave. It also ask why we behave that way.
• Propitsition 1: The Capacity for Self-awareness
• To expand our self-awareness we expand our consciousness. This step encourages self to see that we have control over our lives even when we have no control over events. Increasing awareness also expands our view of our alternatives, motivations, factors influencing the person, and personal goals.
• Proposistion 2: Freedom and Responsibility
• Existential therapy has 3 values: freedom to become what we allow our selves to, capacity to reflect on the meaning of our choices, capacity to act on choices we make. There are also three things we face as humans. Freedom (We are free to make whatever choice we want), Existential guilt (evading a commitment or becoming what we thought we should), Authenticity (being what we think we should or can be).
• Proposition 3: Striving for Idenity and Relationship to Others
•  The courage to be - to look at being more than just what others expect of you
• The experience of aloneness- to draw strength from being alone. Looking more into our selves. 
• The experience of relatedness - to be apart of relationships and being significant part of them in a healthy way
• Struggling with our identity- To avoid truths about ourselves humans wil base their idenity with one the adopted to avoid being alone with themselves.
• Proposition 4: The Search for Meaning
• The problem of discarding old values-  finding a value system that is based on you now and what might have been imposed on you
• Meaningless - when we might experinece "existential vacuum", where you might not feel there is even a reason to go on. "What's the point?" 
• Creating a meaning - finding what your stand is in what you value. To find meaning in times of suffering
• Proposition 5: Anxiety as a Condition of Living
• Existential anxiety - feelings when we are faced with death, freedom, choice, isolation, and meaningless.
• Normal anxiety - is an appropriate response to an event and can be looked at as an opportunity for growth
• Neurotic anxiety - this is where it is looked at as an unhealthy part of our psychy. When we have anxiety about things that are in our lives that should not produce immobilizing anxiety. 
• Proposition 6: Awareness of Death and Nonbeing
• Using death as motivation to live our life to the fullest. 

On the webpage Models of Abnormality it gives an explanation and example of what Existential theory might look like: 

In existential therapy people are encouraged to accept responsibility for their lives and for their problems. They are helped to recognize their freedom so that they may choose a different course and live with greater meaning. For the most part, existential therapists care more about the goals of therapy than the use of specific techniques; methods vary greatly from clinician to clinician. At the same time, most do place great emphasis on the relationship between therapist and client and try to create an atmosphere of candor, hard work, and shared learning and growth.

Example:

Here is a video of an Existential therapist explaining what he does:

Key figures of Existential Therapy

Viktor Frankl
Rollo May
Irvin Yalom

Techniques and goals for Existential therapy are heavily focuced on the client becoming aware of themselves. To evaluate what the believe, feel, avoid, and to figure out why. The therapist is almost like a coach urging the client to "figure" themselves out. An existential therapist might pull techniques from several other theories while keepin their focus on assisting the client to be "free" and to emphasize that they are ultimately in charge of their own life and behavior. 

Helpful Links
http://mindofreality.wordpress.com/psychology-corner/models-of-abnormality/
http://www.viktorfrankl.org
http://www.goodtherapy.org
http://www.yalom.com/


 

Alderian Therapy

Moving right along to another theory/therapy...

Alderian Therapy: Pays more attention to the subjective experiences of clients than to using techniques. Some techniques include gathering life-history date (family constellation, early recollections, personal priorities), sharing interpretations with clients, offering encouragement, and assisting clients in searching for new possibilities (Gerald Corey)

Key Concepts: 

• View of Human Nature
• Subjective Perception of Reality
• Inuty and patterns of Human Personlaity
• Social Interest and Community Feeling
• Birth Order and Sibling Relationships

Alfred Alder initially worked with Sigmond Freud but came to his own personal conclusion that Freud had too narrow of a view on our development. Alder was the first psychologist in the modern area to look at the family dynamic in therapy using a systematic approach and how we see ourselves in that family.  . He wanted to also encourage and teach parents and family to be able to communicate better and rear children in a healthier way. . Alder set up more then 30 clinics to help these families in Vienna in the 1940's and later after his death his concepts were brought to America in the form of family education centers.

Alder believed in therapy there are four phases to reach a client.

Here is a video to further explain Alfred Alder

Another video about Alfred Alder

The contrast to Alder and Freud are ginormous! 

Looking forward to learning more about him... 

Until next theory, 

Lauren

auntlala25.blogspot.com

Psychoanalytic Theory

Psychoanalytic Theory philosophy is that human beings are basically determined by psychic energy and by early experiences. Unconscious motives and conflicts are central in present behavior. Early development is of critical importance because later personality problems have their roots in repressed childhood conflicts.(Gerald Corey)

Freud believed our personality is divided up into three separate parts.

The ID, which is ruled by pleasure and instinct. It does not think, only wishes and acts.

The Ego, is where our realistic part of our personality comes in to play. It can distinguish what is a good idea or not. It can distinguish between mental images and the external world.

The Superego, it where our moral code lies. It's concerned with what is right and what is wrong. It's the law in our personality. It internalizes feeling so while there is a feeling of pride, it also deals with guilt. It wants to be the perfect or ideal person. 

Some of the Key Concepts:

• View of human nature
• Structure of Personality
• Consciousness and Unconscious
•  Anxiety
• Ego-Defense Mechanisms
• Development of Personality

Freud then divided the years we live in to different development stages. Later on a follower of his branched out and developed his own development stages built upon Freud's.

Here is Freud's take on our development 

 

One of the most interesting or peculiar things about Freud's theory is the Phallic stage where we apparently become sexually attracted to our parent of the opposite sex. Yes I promise this is what he said. It is called Oedipus complex when the son is sexually attracted his mother and Electra complex when the daughter is sexually attracted to her father. Yes. Its true. 

Source

Here is Erikson's take on our personality development stages.

Here are two videos to explain Freud and Erikson. 

 

And just in case you dying to know what Psychoanalytical Therapy looks like where here ya go! :)

Lauren

auntlala25.blogspot.com