Carl Rogers by Ryan Pawloski

          Carl Rogers was an important figure in psychology because of the way he transformed therapy sessions so that they would focus mainly on the person.

Kathy Jo Hall (1997) of Muskingum College writes, Carl Rogers was born in 1902 in Oak Park, Illinois and received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1924 and his M.A. from Columbia University in 1928.  He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1945 as well.  Carl Rogers supported the psychologic school of Humanism which is defined as, “a perspective within psychology that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans” (OpenStax, 2014, p.13). 

            There are many different schools in psychology that focus on the structure or the function of humans.  Hall (1997) states, believers of these schools of thought consisted of psychoanalytic, experimental, and behavioral therapists.  Carl Rogers, on the other hand, believed that these forms of therapy restricted patients from achieving self-realization and self-growth due to their authoritative ways.  He thought that the patients should discover solutions to their problems on their own (Hall, 1997).  His frustrations over authoritative analysis therapists would ultimately create his theory of personality development.  Personality development, also known as client-centered therapy, focused on having the patient take the lead role during sessions because he felt that it was important that patients understood themselves and made their own choices to help solve their problems (Hall, 1997).  OpenStax states, Carl Rogers believed client-centered therapists needed to display three key features to make sure they are effective.  The first one is unconditional positive regard for their patient.  This means that no matter who the patient is, the therapist needs to accept him/her for who they are.  The other two features therapists need to display are genuineness and empathy (2014).  Hall (1997) writes, Carl Rodgers had better results when he let his patient run the course of the session instead of himself.  Carl Rodgers stated, “Unless I had a need to demonstrate my own cleverness and learning, I would do better to rely upon the client for the direction of movement” (Hall, 1997, para. 4).  Personality development gained a lot of success for Carl Rogers authored over a hundred publications explaining the theory.  He was also a recipient of multiple awards from prestigious organizations like the American Psychological Association and the Division of Psychotherapy (Hall, 1997).

            Carl Rogers was a Humanist and gave the world of psychology the theory of personality development.  Personality development’s client-centered therapy would go on to help many patients in desperate need and won Carl Rogers multiple awards from prestigious organizations.  Carl Roger’s gift to psychology was giving people the power during therapy sessions as he believed it should be.

 References

Hall, K. J. (1997, May).  Carl Rogers. Retrieved February 22, 2017, from www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/rogers.htm#Theory

OpenStax College (2014). Psychology. Houston, TX: Rice University.  Retrieved from:

http://cnx.org/content.col11629/latest/>