If the six conditions are present, then – by default, according to Rogers’ theory – therapy will take place. Psychological maladjustment exists when the organism denies to awareness significant sensory and visceral experiences, which consequently are not symbolized and organised into the gestalt of the self-structure. When this situation exists, there is a basic or potential psychological tension. When we experience something that doesn’t fit with our picture of ourselves and we cannot fit it in with that picture, we feel tense, anxious, frightened or confused. Congruence is also called genuineness. Congruence is the most important attribute in counseling, according to Rogers. This means that, unlike the psychodynamic therapist who generally maintains a “blank screen” and reveals little of their own personality in therapy, the Rogerian is keen to allow the client to experience them as they really are.

The environment a person is exposed to and interacts with can either frustrate or assist this natural destiny. If it is oppressive, it will frustrate; if it is favorable, it will assist. Rogers describes an individual who is actualizing as a fully functioning person. The main determinant of whether we will become self-actualized is childhood experience. The Fully Functioning Person The organism has one basic tendency and striving – to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism (Rogers, 1951, p. 487).

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Rogers, C. (1959). A theory of therapy, personality and interpersonal relationships as developed in the client-centered framework. In (ed.) S. Koch, Psychology: A study of a science. Vol. 3: Formulations of the person and the social context. New York: McGraw Hill. Corey, G. (1991). Invited commentary on macrostrategies for delivery of mental health counseling services. We’re all human beings, and sometimes our ‘volume control’ on the core conditions can turn up and down. Rogers, C. R., Stevens, B., Gendlin, E. T., Shlien, J. M., & Van Dusen, W. (1967). Person to person: The problem of being human: A new trend in psychology. Lafayette, CA: Real People Press.

When I am connected to my authentic being, I am able to be open to my actual experience – its immediacy and totality – and to integrate this into the world. The state of empathy, or being empathic, is to perceive the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person, but without ever losing the “as if” condition. Thus it means to sense the hurt or the pleasure of another as he senses it and to perceive the causes thereof as he perceives them, but without ever losing the recognition that it is as if I were hurt or pleased and so forth. If this “as if” quality is lost, then the state is one of identification” (p. 210-211). Conclusion Person-centered therapy can be used in various settings, including individual, group, and family therapy, or as part of play therapy with young children. There are no set guidelines on the length or frequency of person-centered therapy, but it may be used for short-term or long-term treatment. Person-centered therapy may be a good choice for patients who are not suitable for other forms of therapy, such ascognitive-behavioral therapy (CBPT)or psychoanalysis, which require homework assignments and the ability to tolerate high levels of distress that may occur when elucidating unconscious processes. [6]Under certain conditions, involving primarily complete absence of threat to the self structure, experiences which are inconsistent with it may be perceived and examined, and the structure of self revised to assimilate and include such experiences. This means that self-actualization occurs when a person’s “ideal self” (i.e., who they would like to be) is congruent with their actual behavior (self-image). There is an almost total absence of techniques in Rogerian psychotherapy due to the unique character of each counseling relationship. However, the quality of the relationship between the client and therapist is of utmost importance. A person enters person-centered therapy in a state of incongruence. It is the role of the therapists to reverse this situation. Rogers (1959) called his therapeutic approach client-centered or person-centered therapy because of the focus on the person’s subjective view of the world.