Carl Rogers

Research papers on Carl Rogers are common when required to write on a famous psychologist. In your psychology research paper, discuss Carl Rogers client-centered theory and apply it to a rehabilitation setting. You will want to demonstrate in the research paper how the theory works in real life to benefit patients in need of therapy.

Rogers' First Works

In 1942, psychotherapist Carl Rogers published one his first works on a new type of therapy, which he called the Client-Centered Theory of restoring people to full function. He maintained that people move toward maintaining and enhancing themselves. Thus, client-centered therapy was designed to help people achieve this goal. Rogers' client-centered theory is one based on attitudes. It holds that the therapist must treat the client in therapy with unconditional positive regard and empathetic understanding. It does not diagnose disorders or recommend treatments; rather, it is a theory that commands the therapist to listen fully and come to an understanding of the client's emotional needs.

Rogers and Client Centered Theory

Client-centered theory and therapy are "non-directive," meaning that the client is "in charge" during sessions and keeps control over both the content and the pace of the therapy. Rogers' theory, therefore, is the opposite of most theory-therapy-based counseling practices, in which the professional therapist asks the questions, offers treatments, and diagnoses the client's emotional ailment. Client-centered theory and its attendant therapy has the following characteristics:

• Holistic in approach
• Allows the client direct his or her own therapy
• Includes the therapist playing an important supportive role
• It is a non-threatening environment
• Full of open communications