Carl Roger’s and Person-Centred Change.
Dr Carl Rogers was an American psychologist and a Founder of Humanistic Psychology. He is recognised as one of the most important psychologists of all time.
Person-centred psychotherapy is built on the belief that if we provide the right relationship then people makes changes in their lives. This relationship is critical to helping people change. It is the relationship between both the therapist and the individual that allows change to follow. The relationship is the catalyst for the individual’s growth. The Rogerian approach has core conditions:
Empathic Understanding – having an honest desire to understand the world from the other person’s point of view.
Congruence – This is a state where our thoughts, feelings and actions are aligned. If we want to help another person through a relationship, we need to be congruent (genuine) ourselves.
Unconditional positive regard – a pledge to accept the other person fully as a unique individual, regardless of their thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Usually, the things that we need to process psychologically are the things that are causing us shame. These things can lead to depression, anxiety, lower wellbeing and unsatisfying relationships. In a relationship with unconditional positive regard the relationship is a trusting one where you feel you can express yourself, without the fear of judgment and the other person unconditionally accepts you.
Yalom’s Existential Approach.
Irvin Yalom defined the four “givens” or ultimate concerns of life to be death, meaning, isolation and freedom and these have formed the cornerstone of contemporary existential therapy. There are often conflicts which flow from an individual’s confrontations with certain fundamental concerns. This is a method of psychotherapy that allows clients to face their concerns directly and enable them to move towards living a more free and authentic existence.
Mindfulness in therapy.
This is the idea of learning to be fully present and engaged in the moment and involves being fully aware of your thoughts and feelings without judgement and distraction. This includes maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of bodily sensations and surrounding environment and letting everything in through a gentle consciousness of the present moment.
Narrative Therapy.
This type of therapy is a form of psychotherapy that aims to help individuals identify their values and skills associated with them. It gives the individual the knowledge of their capability to live their values so that they can efficiently confront current and potential problems. Through this therapy individuals can identify alternative stories, widen their self-view and challenge unhealthy and old beliefs. This therapy is a dialogue in which the therapist and the individual converse to learn about the story and the effects of the problem.
Solution Focused Therapy (SFT).
This is an approach that empowers individuals to own their abilities in solving life’s problems. SFT allows for a goal-oriented focus to problem-solving. This type of therapy is short-term and emphasises what is possible and what is changeable. A client must want to change and identify their own goals and strengths to solve and overcome their problems.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT).
Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective with a range of presenting problems including anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders, marital problems, alcohol and drug problems and severe mental illness. Research has shown that CBT can lead to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life.
CBT is based on several core principles and involves efforts to change thinking patterns. Psychological problems are based, in part, on unhelpful or flawed ways of thinking. These problems are also based, in part, on learned patterns of unhelpful behaviour and people that have problems can learn much better ways of coping with them. The focus is on moving forward to develop more effective ways of coping with life.