Developmental psychology.pdf

Therapy 461
merit, using somewhat different words. In the following session, a 28-year-old man,
like G., considers himself an outcast. He feels that no one wants his company:
Person: "No, I just ain't no good to anybody, never was, and never will be.'
Counselor: "Feeling that now, hm? That you're just no good to yourself, no
good to anybody. . . ."
Person: "Yeah" (muttering in low, discouraged voice). "That's what this
guy I went to town with just the other day told me."
Counselor: "This guy that you went to town with really told you that you
were no good? Is that what you're saying? Did I get that right?"
(Rogers, 1967).
Note how the therapist twice has simply restated the person's expression,
making no effort at interpreting the feeling or analyzing the problem. The counselor's
purpose is to show that he understands and accepts the person's reaction.
Similarly, the counselor may use clarification of feelings, in which the person's
feelings are expressed in a somewhat clearer form. As the depressed man describes his
feelings of worthlessness, he begins to weep quietly. The counselor remarks on this
weeping, and the man replies rather defiantly:
Person: "I don't care though."
Counselor: "You tell yourself you don't care at all, but somehow I guess
some part of you cares because some part of you weeps over it" (Rogers,
1967).
The counselor also uses brief vocalizations as a sign of active listening, uttering
almost inaudibly "umm-hmm" and "m-hm," to indicate that all is understood and that
he is thinking with the person.* This approach was evident in the following session,
when the young man returned:
Person: "I wish it more'n anything else I've ever wished around here."
Counselor: "M-hm, m-hm. m-hm. I guess you've wished for lots of things
but boy . . ."
* * *
Person: "I ain't no good tp anybody, or I ain't no good for nothin', so what's
the use of living?"
Counselor: "M-hm . . ." (Rogers, 1967).
We can assume that similar procedures would be used in person-centered therapy
with G. The counselor, deciding that the young man had the best potential for
solving his own problems, would create an atmosphere in which this potential would
be released. Interpretation would not be used, for that would suggest that G. did not
have the capacity to find his own solutions. Instead, G. would be helped to express his
concerns about sweating, the loss of his fiance, the damage to his career, and so forth.
Then he would struggle with these problems himself.
Working with a fully accepting counselor, G would be able to consider his
experiences more completely, especially the rejection by his fiance. Eventually, he would
be able to regard his loss with greater awareness, without feeling so personally damaged,
and without regarding it as something shameful against which he had to defend
himself.
"This past summer I worked for
one of the telephone hot-line
services that have been set up
around the country in an attempt to
help people who call with their
problems. We did help people with
severe problems by referring them
to the appropriate agency. More
often the caller just wanted to talk
over a problem. The direction of the
call was always determined by the
caller. Silences were welcomed
rather than being broken as rapidly
as possible. Our reactions took the
form of simply trying to understand
the person's thoughts and ideas.
We had a high percentage of
second- and third-time callers.
Influence of the Person-Centered Approach The person-centered approach has
contributed detailed investigations of the helping process. Rogers and his colleagues
were among the first to conduct large-scale investigations of counseling and therapy,
using audiorecordings and rating scales for assessing various aspects of interview
behavior. Obtained with the person's permission, these records have stimulated a wide
range of theoretical and research developments.