Journal Article review: Rogers, C.R. (1992). The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change.

Heather Lail

COUN501 Journal Summary 1

Dr . Sosin

5 /20 /09

Rogers , C .R (1992 . The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 60 , 827-832

Carl Rogers developed a theory known as the Rogerian Psychotherapy Person-Centered Therapy or Client Centered Therapy . C .R . Rogers (1957 /1992 ) believed that constructive personality can change in a therapeutic relationship with a therapist /client . Within the article Rogers (1957 /1992 ) introduces and defines six conditions that are necessary to produce therapeutic personality change of the client

. The six conditions as stated by Rogers (1957 /1992 ) include the relationship between the therapist and client , the state of the client , the therapist genuineness in the relationship , unconditional positive regard , empathy and the client 's perception of the therapist

Rogers (1957 /1992 ) is addressing the question of what psychological conditions and to what precision are these conditions sufficient to ensure psychotherapeutic personality change . Resulting for this question are three hypotheses . The first hypothesis states personality change will occur with all six conditions being present in the relationship The second hypothesis states personality change does not occur with at least one or more of the conditions not being present in the relationship . The third hypothesis states personality change will be more distinct the greater the degree conditions two to six are present if all six conditions exist in the relationship

Rogers (1957 /1993 ) states the six conditions is highly useful in other situations in which the focus is aimed at personality change such as training programs , educational institutions , and community agencies Also stated as an implication of this theory is that a variety of therapy techniques are insignificant unless they supplies a channel to fulfill one of the six conditions defined by Rogers ' theory (Rogers 1957 /1996

I believe that the therapeutic relationship plays a big role in the transformation of the client 's behavior . If these 6 conditions are present in a warm and nonjudgmental environment the therapist will be able to help the client achieve personal growth . The clients will start to see themselves in a different light and realize their own self worth which is consistent with personality change . I personally subscribe and implement Rogers Person-centered theory in my work as a substance abuse counselor to produce a client personality change to reduce addictive thoughts and behaviors . I also see where this approach may not be able to work . For instance , some clients I work with arrive at substance abuse treatment involuntarily due to court and they do not want to participate in treatment . I think that in these cases the Rogerian therapy is successful but also requires a longer time to actually get through to the client . Rogers stated that the therapist is not the expert , the therapist allowed the client to free oneself to change . In therapy I feel that the clients have to want to change and need to accept change in to successfully change personality . I personally believe a client centered treatment...