‘Person-centred’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life

Sue Wiggins, a PhD student in counselling and psychotherapy, sent along some details about her current research. Can you help her understand what clients find helpful in therapy?

Our relationships are very important to us. They have a big effect on our happiness. But what makes for a good relationship? I give you my ideas (based on those of Carl Rogers) and ask for yours.

What are the key ingredients in therapy that works in difficult situations? Fact and reason? Or a therapist willing to be with the client in the darkest places where we humans have to admit that we don’t know what the point is, and that we cannot fix it?

One of Carl Rogers’ most important contributions to counselling theory and practice was to give up the idea of having goals, and be open to following whatever direction the client might uncover, wherever it might lead. What about Item 4, then: “It is important to discuss your goals with you. What brought you here? What do you hope to achieve?”

How actively useful are boundaries in the therapeutic relationship? They are obviously a part of the ‘real world’ in which both client and therapists live, organising and managing their money and time. But in some humanistic, relationship-based schools of therapy, they seem to bring out a certain contradiction…