CONTENT: The politics of the helping professions; the new family and the old; The revolution in marriage and partnerships; Power or persons: Two trends in education; The politics of administration; The person-centered approach and the oppressed; Resolving intercultural tensions: A beginning; A person-centered workshop: Its planning and fruition; The power of the powerless; Without jealousy; A political base: The actualizing tendency; The emerging person: Spearhead of the quiet revolution.
Carl Rogers coined the term, 'The Basic Encounter Group' to identify encounter groups that operated on the principles of the person-centered approach. It is the contention that the person-centered Basic Encounter Group is quite unique and, in fact, offers a different paradigm for group therapy. Indeed, the application of the premises of the person-centered approach in group therapy requires a re-examination of many of the usual presuppositions about group function. This includes presuppositions about leader target population, size of group, establishment of goals and ground rules, and facilitator behavior.
Active Listening is a short 1957 work by Drs. Carl R. Rogers and Richard E. Farson, two influential American psychologists. The work brings the counselling technique of active listening to the layperson, demonstrating how it can be applied to interactions between an employee and employer. Carl R. Rogers (1902-1987) was one of the pioneers of the "client-centered" approach to psychotherapy. He is considered one of the founding fathers of modern psychotherapy research and is widely regarded among others in the field as the most influential psychotherapist of all time - viewed even more highly than Sigmund Freud. Dr. Rogers served as a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago, where he set up the university's counselling and research clinic, the Industrial Relations Center. He wrote many books on psychotherapy, and in later years, travelled the world to bring his theories to areas of great political and social strife like Northern Ireland, South Africa, and Brazil. Richard E. Farson (1926-2017) had already completed his bachelor's and master's degrees when he met Dr. Rogers in 1949. Dr. Rogers invited Farson to continue his studies with him at the University of Chicago. Farson became Dr. Rogers' research assistant while he completed his Ph.D. in psychology and began counselling at the Industrial Relations Center. Dr. Farson held leadership positions in a number of research institutions. He co-founded the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute, where he served as president and CEO. He was later appointed as the founding dean of the California Institute of the Arts School of Design and served as president of the Esalen Institute. Drs. Rogers and Farson collaborated on many projects, including 1957's Active Listening. They also led a 16-hour group therapy session that was recorded and released as a film called Journey Into Self. The film won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Documentary. Active Listening describes a method of communication used in counselling and conflict resolution. Rather than serving as a passive participant in a conversation, active listeners take a functional role in helping the speaker to work out their issues. As the speaker shares, the listener repeats back what they've heard in their own words. This both confirms that they've heard the speaker and verifies that they understand. Unlike the way many of us instinctively communicate - trying to get another to see things from our own perspective - active listening requires that we see things from the speaker's perspective. The listener must address not only the meaning of the words, but also the feeling behind them, in order to make the speaker truly feel heard. These feelings can be conveyed through words, tone, volume, body language, and even breathing. This method is not without risks. It can be tempting to lose your sense of self in the practice of sensing the feelings of another person. As Drs. Rogers and Farson put it, "It takes a great deal of inner security and courage to be able to risk one's self in understanding another." In contrast to many psychological texts, Active Listening is written for the non-clinician or psychologist. In plain, everyday language, the book explains both the concepts of active listening and how they can be applied to the workplace. Employers who engage in active listening, the book argues, can help employees to become more cooperative, less argumentative, and clearer in their own communication. While the book is written in the context of the employee/employer relationship, the technique can be applied to all relationships in our lives. The concept is still highly influential, and Drs. Rogers and Farson's ideas about client-centered psychology are used in clinical practice today.
"Rogers, founder of the humanistic psychology movement and father of client-centered therapy ... traces his professional development from the sixties to the eighties and ends with a person-centered prophecy in which [he] calls for a more humane future."--Back cover.
TABLE OF CONTENTS: Toward a Modern Approach to Values: the Valuing Process in the Mature Person. The Interpersonal Relationship: The Core of Guidance. Subverbal Communication and Therapist Expressivity: Trends in Clinet-Centered Therapy with Schizophrenics. A Client-Centered Approach to Schizophrenia: First Approximation. Some Learnings from a Study of Psychotherapy with Schizophrenics. The Natural Depth in Man. The End: A Commencement.
Presenting the non-directive and related points of view in counselling and therapy, Rogers gives a clear exposition of procedures by which individuals who are being counselled may be assisted in achieving for themselves new and more effective personality adjustments.
As founder of the person-centred approach, Carl Rogers (1902-1987) is arguably the most influential psychologist and psychotherapist of the 20th century. This book provides unique insights into his life and a clear explanation of his major theoretical ideas. This Third Edition is co-authored by Brian Thorne and Pete Sanders, leading person-centred practitioners and bestselling authors. Pete Sanders contributes a new chapter on "The Ongoing Influence of Carl Rogers", covering topics such as research, the emerging tribes in person-centred tradition, and its interaction with the medical profession. Brian Thorne draws on his experience of having known and worked with Rogers to beautifully describe the way in which Rogers worked with clients and from that, to draw out the practical implications of what is, in effect, a functional philosophy of human growth and relationships. In the twenty years since the first edition of Carl Rogers appeared, the book has continued to provide an accessible introduction for all practitioners and students of the person-centred approach.
