Carl RogersClient Centered Therapy

Informative

Worth reading

Sooooooo good. I read "On becoming a person" and "A way of being" first and was steeling myself up to read this giant of a book after already being on a bit of a carl rogers overload... But this is THE TEXT for person centred counselling.. so I had to tackle it sooner or later.Can I just say that this is soooooooooooooo gooooooooooood. The tone is totally different from the other two books and I've just been gobbling it up page after page after page. It is more structured than the other two, and is a bit more of an instructional text. It explains things clearly and simply and I really just enjoyed reading it.

As a CBT therapist I was recommended this book by another CBT therapist and I can see why. Has a wonderful psychological depth that is told in often intertwining factual and fictional terms to illustrate larger points or the overall themes of chapters or sub chapters. An exploration of the elements human nature that people are naturally given to different points of view, even based upon the exact same stimuli. It's this part of truly understanding the self that is necessary to understand what is going on in front of us or in our own heads. This is explicated into varying contexts of client work, be it adult, child or group. A very useful book for the therapist, student or if you're just interested in either therapy or some rationalisations of the human mind.

I am a counselling student and this was on my reading list for my CPCAB L4 course. Easy to read and understand. This is an informative text that i will refer too often during the completion of my studies.

If you’re new to Rogers I would probably recommend starting with “On Becoming a Person” - this expands on concepts within his 1959 Paper and gives more client insight and overview but touches little on the propositions of personality theory and necessary and sufficient conditions

Personally, I found this the "easiest" of Dr Rogers' own works to read - however, bear in mind that other people respond quite differently! Many apparently find this more 'academic' approach harder to digest than his less "theoretical" works, but on the other hand this is still very easy to read and powerful in its approach.I'm not going to go through it line-by-line, but there a series of fantastic chapters outlining the depth of PCT in the genuine, clear, and positive language which we're all used to with Dr Rogers' writing. It sets out the conceptual basis of PCT, and also provides a helpful historical review of how Rogers' work started to develop. This is also where he lays out the "6 core conditions" and outlines his own theory of personality development and therapeutic change.I think a *casual* reader would probably prefer to start with his other work, but anyone learning about or working in PCT itself really needs to read and understand this psychological classic.