Ch. 7 Person-Centered Therapy Key Terms

Vocabulary flashcards for Chapter 7 on Person-Centered Therapy, covering key terms and their definitions.

Accurate empathic understanding

The act of perceiving accurately the internal frame of reference of another; the ability to grasp the person’s subjective world without losing one’s own identity.

Actualizing tendency

A growth force within us; a directional process of striving toward self-regulation, selfdetermination, realization, fulfillment, perfection, and inner freedom; the basis on which people can be trusted to identify and resolve their own problems in a therapeutic relationship.

Congruence

The state in which self-experiences are accurately symbolized in the self-concept. As applied to the therapist, congruence is matching one’s inner experiencing with external expressions; congruence is a quality of realness or genuineness of the therapist.

Creative Connection®

A process developed by Natalie Rogers whereby a client or group member is invited to access inner feelings through an uninterrupted sequence of movement, sound, visual art, and journal writing.

Emotion-focused therapy (EFT)

Entails the practice of therapy being informed by understanding the role of emotion in psychotherapeutic change. Strategies used in EFT are aimed at strengthening the self, regulating affect, and creating new meaning.

Empathy

A deep and subjective understanding of the client with the client.

Expressive arts therapy

An approach that makes use of various arts—such as movement, drawing, painting, sculpting, music, and improvisation—in a supportive setting for the purpose of growth and healing.

Hierarchy of Needs

We are able to strive toward self-actualization only after these four basic needs are met: physiological, safety, love, and esteem.

Humanistic psychology

A movement, often referred to as the “third force,” that emphasizes freedom, choice, values, growth, self-actualization, becoming, spontaneity, creativity, play, humor, peak experiences, and psychological health.

Immediacy

Addressing what is going on between the client and therapist right now.

Motivational Interviewing (MI)

A humanistic, client-centered, psychosocial, directive counseling approach that was developed by William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick in the early 1980s.

Person-centered expressive arts therapy

Pioneered by Natalie Rogers, it extends person-centered theory by helping individuals access their feelings through creative expressions. (Same as expressive arts therapy.)

Positive psychology

A movement that has come into prominence, which shares many concepts on the healthy side of human existence with the humanistic approach.

Presence

The ability to “be with” someone fully in the present moment; being engaged and absorbed in the relationship with the client.

Self-actualization

The central theme of the work of Abraham Maslow. His theory of self-actualization is postulated on a hierarchy of needs as a source of motivation.

Stages of Change

People are assumed to progress through a series of five identifiable stages of motivation and readiness to change in the counseling process. They include the precontemplation stage, the contemplation stage, the preparation stage, the action stage, and the maintenance stage.