Summary
Contents
Subject index
Person-Centred Therapy in Focus provides a much-needed exploration of the criticisms levelled against one of the most widespread forms of therapeutic practice. Characterized by its critics as theoretically `light', culturally biased and limited in application, until now the person-centred approach has had comparatively little written in its defence. Paul Wilkins provides a rigorous and systematic response to the critics, drawing not only on the work of Carl Rogers, but also of those central to more recent developments in theory and practice (including Goff Barrett-Lennard, Dave Mearns, Jerold Bozarth, Germain Leitauer and Brian Thorne). It traces the epistemological foundations of person-centred therapy and places the approach in its social and political context. Examining the central tenets of the approach, each chapter sets out concisely the criticisms and then counters these with arguments from the person-centred perspective. Chapters cover debates in relation to: - the model of the person - self-actualization - the core conditions - non-directivity - resistance to psychopathology - reflection, and - boundary issues. Person-Centred Therapy in Focus fulfills two important purposes: firstly to answer the criticisms of those who have attacked the person-centred approach and secondly to cultivate a greater critical awareness and understanding within the approach itself. As such it makes a significant contribution to the person-centred literature and provides an excellent resource for use in training.
Reflection: A Simple Technique of Little Effect?
Reflection: A Simple Technique of Little Effect?
It is not only the theory of person-centred therapy which is subject to criticism – so too are some of the practices of the approach. For some people, the absence of technique, and what is seen as a reliance on ‘reflecting back’, suggest that person-centred therapy is so simple that not only can anyone do it but it is unlikely to have any effect. Indeed, in the beginning stages, this is often the attitude of the students I train in the practice of counselling skills. They can see little or no point in ‘parroting’ the words they have heard from the person to whom they are listening when all too obviously some ...
- Loading...