Theories of personality: Carl Rogers

Person-centered theory

The idea that people are inherently motivated toward achieving positive psychological functioning. The client is believed to be the expert in their life and leads the general direction of therapy

Formative tendency

to evolve from simpler to more complex forms

Actualization tendency

to move toward completion or fulfillment of potentials. This process involves the entire person (physiologically, with maintenance, and enhancement)

Self concept

aspects of your being and your experiences that are perceived in awareness

(not always accurate)

Ideal self

ones view of self as one wishes to be

Incongruence

the gap between the ideal self and the self concept (leads to an unhealthy personality)

Ignored denied

first level of awareness

Accurately symbolized

second level of awareness

Distorted

third level of awareness

Conditions of worth

people are only worthy of love and belonging if they meet certain external demands

Vulnerable people

inherently insecure and make decisions in life baed on their vulnerability status

Defensiveness

the protection of the self-concept against anxiety and threat by denial or distortion of experiences (a form of protection)

Disorganization

When the incongruence between a persons perceived self and their experiences are obvious and can’t be denied their behavior becomes disorganized/ psychotic (when defense mechanisms fail)

Introjected

values you adopt from those around you

Anxiety

a state of uneasiness or tension whose cause is unknown

Threat

an awareness that our self is no longer whole and congruent

Counselor congruence

the first stage of therapeutic growth (transparency of experience and expression)

Unconditional positive regard

the second stage of therapeutic growth (appreciating the other as the whole of who they are)

Empathetic listening

the third stage of therapeutic growth (the ability to reflect someone else’s inner experiences and thoughts)

Reflective responses

I want to be understood by my therapist

Unwillingness to communicate

the first process of therapeutic change

Clients become slightly less rigid, they fail to recognize their own feelings

the second process of therapeutic change

Clients start to talk more about themselves

the third process of therapeutic change

Clients begin to talk about deep feelings but not ones presently felt

the fourth process of therapeutic change

Clients begin expressing feelings in the present, making new discoveries about themselves

the fifth process of therapeutic change

Clients begin expressing dramatic growth  and movement toward self-actualizing which is irreversible 

the sixth process of therapeutic change

Navigating the world outside of therapy and using the tools used to maintain self actualization 

the seventh process of therapeutic change