As experiences occur in the life of an individual, they are either a) symbolized, perceived and organized into some relationship to the self, b) ignored because there is no relationship to the self-structure, c) denied symbolization or given a distorted symbolization because the experience is inconsistent with the structure of the self. There are several things we can do with our everyday experience: we can see that it is relevant to ourselves or we can ignore it because it is irrelevant; or if we experience something that doesn’t fit with our picture of ourselves we can either pretend it didn’t happen or change our picture of it, so that it does fit. Critics claim that the fully functioning person is a product of Western culture. In other cultures, such as Eastern cultures, the achievement of the group is valued more highly than the achievement of any one person. Carl Rogers Quotes

Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was a humanistic psychologist best known for his views on the therapeutic relationship and his theories of personality and self-actualization. The organism reacts to the field as it is experienced and perceived. This perceptual field is, for the individual, ‘reality’. We see ourselves as the centre of our ‘reality’; that is, our ever- changing world around us. We experience ourselves as the centre of our world, and we can only ‘know’ our own perceptions. If the six conditions are present, then – by default, according to Rogers’ theory – therapy will take place. The next Rogerian core condition is unconditional positive regard. Rogers believed that for people to grow and fulfill their potential it is important that they are valued as themselves. Any experience which is inconsistent with the organization of the structure of the self may be perceived as a threat, and the more of these perceptions there are, the more rigidly the self structure is organized to maintain itself.

Stage 2

Cooper, M, O'Hara, M, Schmid, PF, and Bohart, A (2013). The Handbook of Person-Centred and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counselling. Palgrave: Houndmills – an up to date reference to many of the key authors and ideas in the field of person-centred experiential psychotherapy and counselling The best vantage point from which to understand behaviour is from the internal frame of reference of the individual himself. To understand the behaviour of a person, we must look at the world from their point of view.

Psychological adjustment exists when the concept of the self is such that all the sensory and visceral experiences of the organism are, or may be, assimilated on a symbolic level into a consistent relationship with the concept of self. Over the years, many people have criticised person-centred therapy, asking ‘’How is it possible for a therapist to offer those conditions consistently in the therapy room?"Rogers offered a group of nineteen hypothetical statements which, together constitute his person-centred theory of personality dynamics and behaviour . ‘A theory of personality and Behaviour’ can be found in Rogers (1951, pp. 481-533). Rogers makes the following statement: “Thistheory is basically phenomenological in character, and relies heavily on the concept of the self as an explanatoryconstruct. It pictures the end-point of personality development as being a basic congruence between the phenomenal field of experience and the conceptual structure of the self - a situation which, if achieved, would represent freedom from internal strain and anxiety, and freedom from potential strain; which would represent the maximum in realistically oriented adaptation; which would mean the establishment of an individualised valuesystem having considerable identity with the value system of any other equally well-adapted member of the human race.”(p. 532)

Trust feelings: feeling, instincts, and gut-reactions are paid attention to and trusted. People’s own decisions are the right ones, and we should trust ourselves to make the right choices. How we think about ourselves and our feelings of self-worth are of fundamental importance to psychological health and the likelihood that we can achieve goals and ambitions in life and self-actualization. It includes all the goals, values, and traits a person deems ideal or desirable. It’s their vision of “who I want to be.”

Stage 6

Unlike person-centred therapy, psychoanalysis relied on the therapist being a blank slate, distancing themselves from the client, and not getting involved on a personal level. It is an approach to helping that was originally developed by the psychologist Carl Rogers and has been informed by more recent and contemporary theoretical developments.