Client-Centered Therapy
one must be clear on what one is changing
David M. Erekson and
Michael J. Lambert
Brigham Young University, U.S.A.
Developed in the 1940s by the American
psychologist Carl Rogers (1902–87), client-
centered psychotherapy (often referred to
as person-centered psychotherapy) repre-
sented a stark departure from traditional
psychoanalytic treatment, conceiving the
role of therapist as less detached and formal,
and instead as more genuine and empathic.
According to client-centered principles, if the
therapist is successful in creating an optimal
client-centered therapy environment, the client
learns to play an active role in his or her recov-
ery, and to take responsibility for making the
discoveries and decisions that will allow for
the greatest degree of growth and progress.
As the approach gained traction in the 1960s,
client-centered therapy became associated
with the human potential movement. This
movement, dating back to the beginning of
the 1900s, reflected an altered perspective of
human nature. Previous psychological theories
viewed human beings as inherently selfish (for
example, Freud’s theory focused on sexual and
aggressive tendencies as the primary forces
driving human behavior), whereas the human
potential movement defined human nature as
inherently good. From its perspective, human
behavior is motivated by an inherent drive
to achieve one’s fullest potential. This combi-
nation of an empathically engaged therapist
and a client-directed therapeutic process rep-
resented a radical change in psychotherapy
and its surrounding theories of personality,
psychopathology, and change.
Personality Development
Most well-defined psychotherapies are based
on a clear conception of the structure and
The Encyclopedia of Clinical Psychology, First Edition. Edited by Robin L. Cautin and Scott O. Lilienfeld.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
DOI: 10.1002/9781118625392.wbecp073
development of the human personality (as
before one can clearly describe the change
itself). Rogers conceptualized the structure of
the human personality through the concept
of the “phenomenal field,” or a unification
of conscious and unconscious processes that
creates the unique experience of each individ-
ual. The conscious portion of the phenomenal
field is composed of cognitions, judgments,
consciousness, and sensation and perception.
The unconscious portion is composed of feel-
ings, expression of physiological and biological
processes, and meanings of which individuals
are not consciously aware (Rychlak, 1981).
Of particular importance in Rogers’s
framework is the unconscious portion of
the phenomenal field, or the organismic
self. Although individuals are generally well
acquainted with their conscious thoughts,
they may be unfamiliar with bodily reactions
and meanings as made manifest in emotion.
Though these meanings are often not in con-
scious awareness, they contain important
information about how we are interacting
with our environment and who we essentially
“are” (Rogers, 1980). In addition to simply
experiencing emotions, individuals are con-
stantly in a process of making sense of these
emotions. Within client-centered theory emo-
tions are seen as informing individuals of
an important need, value, or goal that may
be advanced or harmed in any given situa-
tion. In client-centered theory the emphasis
is clearly on emotions, which are seen as the
foundation of the construction of the self and
a determinant of self-organization.
Overlaying this personality structure is the
assumed tendency toward self-actualization.
This term refers to the inclination of all human
beings to move forward, grow, and reach
their fullest potential. Rogers described the
self-actualizing tendency as “the substratum of
all motivation” and “a tendency toward fulfill-
2 CLIENT-CENTERED THERAPY
ment, toward actualization, involving not only
the maintenance but also the enhancement
of the organism” (Rogers, 1980, p. 123). From
the Rogerian point of view, individuals can be
trusted by others and can trust themselves, as
they are inclined towards “constructive ful-
fillment of . . . inherent possibilities” (Rogers,
1980, p. 117). This self-actualizing tendency is
rooted in the organismic self and is manifest in
emotions and unconscious meanings. Rather
than these leading toward negative outcomes,
however, the concept of self-actualization
focuses on human strengths, and posits that
when humans move toward the organismic
self (and therefore towards actualization) they
tend to be prosocial, showing concern for
others, and to behave in honest, dependable,
and constructive ways.
Psychopathology
In addition to organismic cues regarding
who one is and who one might become is
the conscious self-concept that also strives
towards actualization, but which may or may
not be consistent with the organismic self
(Rychlak, 1981). The self-concept is a col-
lection of conscious meanings regarding the
self, gleaned from biological processes and
feedback from the environment (including
culture and relationships). Incongruence
between the organismic self and the conscious
self-concept is theorized to be the root of
psychopathology. For example, a person may
experience a self-concept that includes the
importance of pursuing academia. This may
have been formed by parents who stressed
the importance of education and a cultural
environment that celebrated educated peo-
ple more than uneducated people. This same
individual may experience an organismic
need to pursue a career that is far from an
academic life. The incompatibility between the
organismic self and the conscious self-concept
is an example of incongruence, and causes
distress in an individual. Not only, then, does
an individual possess a tendency to move
towards self-actualization, but also a need to
move towards congruence for psychological
well-being. This can be simply described as a
person’s need to find consistency between the
experience of who one is and who one feels
one should be.
Theory of Change
In order to help individuals move toward
self-actualization and congruence, Rogers
outlined the tenets of client-centered psy-
chotherapy. He described this intervention
succinctly as the “necessary and sufficient”
conditions for positive personality change,
suggesting that therapy requires an engage-
ment between two individuals (condition 1),
with one meeting Rogers’s definition of psy-
chopathology (i.e., being incongruent, anxious,
or vulnerable; condition 2) and the other being
relatively genuine and congruent (condition 3).
It then requires unconditional positive regard,
where the therapist is nonjudgmental (condi-
tion 4); empathy, where the therapist is able to
enter the phenomenological experience of the
client (condition 5); and sufficient communi-
cation of these traits to the client (condition
6). Person-centered therapy does not include
specific techniques, then, but rather expects
that if these conditions are present, then “the
process of constructive personality change will
follow” (Rogers, 1961, p. 96).
Constructive personality change was
described by Rogers as shifting away from
facades, “oughts,” meeting expectations,
and pleasing others, and shifting toward
self-direction, being a process, being complex,
openness to experience, acceptance of others,
and trust of self.
• Away from facades. Rogers describes this
movement with a quote from Kierkegaard,
where one shifts from the despair of being
“another than himself,” to “be[ing] that
self which one truly is” (as cited in Rogers,
1961, p. 110). Though clients may not be
aware of what they are shifting towards,
they are distinctly turning from that which
they are not.
• Away from “oughts”. A client will move
away from the internalized values of others

and what one ought to be like, including
meanings surrounding who one should be
and how one should feel. The loosening of
“oughts” leads to an acceptance of how one
actually is and how one actually feels.
• Away from expectations. Rogers (1961) dis-
cusses this as shifting away from cultural
expectations and conformity. It is move-
ment away from fulfilling the expectations
of others (both in an interpersonal and a
larger cultural sense).
• Away from pleasing others. A client will
shift away from acting according to the
opinions of others and begin to define what
they do not wish to do or be. An example of
this may be not wanting to take a job that
one’s parents believe is the best job to take;
the client begins to recognize that personal
choices based on pleasing others is a less
satisfying way of being.
• Toward self-direction. A client will shift
towards autonomy, or moving towards
goals that he or she chooses rather than
goals set by external influences. This
implies accepting the responsibility of
freedom and the responsibility of conse-
quences.
• Toward being a process. This is described by
Rogers as a “process of becoming,” where
the person is “in flux, and seem[s] more
content to continue in this flowing current”
and where the “striving for conclusions
and end states seems to diminish” (Rogers,
1961, pp. 171–172). The person becomes
more willing to be a fluid process rather
than a fixed entity.
• Toward being complex. A client will begin
to be “all of oneself in each moment”
(Rogers, 1961, p. 172), which implies an
acceptance of complicated and seemingly
contradictory emotions and cognitions as
part of the richness of being. It is shifting
from having to be either “this” or “that,”
towards allowing oneself to be complex.
• Toward openness to experience. A client will
become more aware of and open to both
their inner and their external experience.
This includes moving towards “living in
CLIENT-CENTERED THERAPY 3
an open, friendly, close relationship” with
one’s emotions (Rogers, 1961, p. 173).
When considering the person-centered
theory of personality structure, this means
being aware of and open to the conscious
self and the organismic self.
• Toward acceptance of others. As the client
becomes more accepting of their own expe-
rience, they become more accepting of the
experience of others. This can be character-
ized as a nonjudgmental acceptance of what
is, both in the self and in others.
• Toward trust of self. A client shifts towards
trusting and valuing the process and com-
plexity that is the self (or the full phenom-
enal field). This trust results in choices that
lead towards the actualized, or congruent,
self.
It is clear that there is overlap both in what
the client is theorized to move away from and
what he or she is moving towards. Generally, it
seems that clients move away from rigidity and
certainty towards fluidity and ambiguity; they
move from being remote from their experience
to being close to it; and they move away from
being guided by external frameworks and
towards being guided by inner experiences.
The client becomes more integrated in their
phenomenal field (experiencing external influ-
ences, cognitions, and emotions) and uses this
broadened experience to make choices that
are congruent with the organismic self; they
move from valuing others’ opinions and needs
to an inner frame of reference where they
make contact with and are able to verbalize
their feelings, which become a highly valued
guiding force in directing future actions.
Research Support
Research providing empirical support for
client-centered theory of psychopathology has
been somewhat sparse, as the emphasis of the
modality has primarily been on “the fully func-
tioning person” rather than pathways to pathol-
ogy (Rogers, 1961). Recent evidence for the
theory has been garnered, however, through
4 CLIENT-CENTERED THERAPY
examination of parallel literatures, includ-
ing positive psychology’s self-determination
theory and neuroscience. Experimental inves-
tigations in the self-determination theory
literature support the innate actualizing ten-
dency and its association with psychological
well-being (Patterson & Stephen, 2007). Addi-
tionally, it appears that changes in specific brain
functions are consistent with the importance
of empathic understanding, unconditional
positive regard, and congruence in human
functioning (Lux, 2010) but that these are not
limited to specific predictions that emanate
from Rogers’s theory. Further research is
needed in order to clarify the validity of
client-centered theory with regards to evidence
for an inner actualizing tendency.
The efficacy and effectiveness of psychother-
apy in general and of client-centered therapy
in particular, has been studied for decades.
There is compelling empirical evidence that
most psychotherapy decreases symptom dis-
tress and increases well-being more than
placebo controls or no treatment (Lambert,
2013). Specifically, humanistic–experiential
therapies, a subset of client-centered ther-
apy, have been found to work better than
placebo controls and as effectively as most
other psychotherapies. The effectiveness of
humanistic psychotherapies in treating spe-
cific diagnostic categories has been evidenced
for depression and relationship and inter-
personal difficulties, and in chronic medical
conditions and substance misuse; equivo-
cal support was found with respect to the
treatment of psychosis and anxiety (Elliot,
Greenberg, Watson, Timulak, & Freire, 2013).
With regard to helping individuals suffering
with specific anxiety-based disorders (such
as obsessive–compulsive disorder) it appears
that client-centered therapy is less effective
than behavioral and cognitive behavioral
treatments. More systematic research exam-
ining the efficacy of client-centered therapy
specifically would be valuable in increasing
understanding of its differential functioning
across psychopathologies, and its relation to
other efficacious treatments.
Broad meta-analyses of empirical stud-
ies have tended not to support a specific
psychotherapy or a specific component of psy-
chotherapy as more efficacious than another
(Ahn & Wampold, 2001). These findings have
been somewhat controversial (e.g., Hrób-
jartsson & Gotzsche, 2007), but have spurred
common factors research, which examines
the effects of factors common to all psy-
chotherapies. Common factors, including
placebo effects, have been estimated to explain
as much as 45% of the change that occurs
in psychotherapy (with 40% attributed to
extra-therapeutic change, and 15% to specific
techniques). Advocates of client-centered the-
ory invoke common factors as supporting the
client-centered position as these factors are
largely composed of therapeutic relationship
variables (Lambert & Barley, 2001). A recent
meta-analysis supports the suggestion that
common factors account for a much larger
portion of change in psychotherapy than do
specific techniques (Cuiijpers et al., 2012). In
a recent review (Norcross & Lambert, 2011),
the common factors of therapeutic alliance,
empathy, and goal consensus were deemed
“demonstrably effective.” Other such fac-
tors, including positive regard, genuineness,
congruence, and quality of relational interpre-
tations were listed as “promising and probably
effective.” But some researchers are not con-
vinced that the therapeutic alliance causes
change and suggest positive change precedes
ratings of a positive alliance (e.g., DeRubeis,
Brotman, & Gibbons, 2005).
Clinical Practice
The impact of Carl Rogers and client-centered
therapy on psychotherapy practice has been
broad and lasting (see, for example, the World
Association of Person-Centered & Experiential
Psychotherapies). Client-centered psychother-
apy, which is based on the notion that human
nature is inherently good, offers an alternative
to traditional therapies, allowing the client
to guide therapy. It presumes that that as
clients come closer to “the self which [they]

truly [are],” they will move towards prosocial
self-actualization. Rogers posited that as the
unconscious organismic self (made up of biol-
ogy, emotion, and unconscious interpretations)
becomes more congruent with the conscious
self-concept (made up of internalized values
and conscious understandings of who one is
and who one should be), the person expe-
riences less anxiety and depression, but also
experiences greater psychological well-being
and likelihood of fulfilling their human
potential. This form of treatment has been pro-
vided to children and adults, as well as to highly
dysfunctional individuals and persons who are
having difficulties with decision making and
in life crisis. It has been delivered as both
group and individual treatment. Unlike some
psychotherapies that are highly structured
with a set number of sessions, client-centered
treatment sees the end of treatment as collab-
oratively negotiated by the therapist and client
and of indeterminate length.
Although the therapeutic conditions of
client-centered therapy have not been widely
accepted as sufficient for positive therapeutic
change, they are widely regarded as impor-
tant components of effective psychotherapy
(e.g., Norcross & Lambert, 2011).
SEE ALSO: Child and Adolescent Psychotherapies;
Common (Nonspecific) Factors in Psychotherapy;
Counseling Psychology; Dodo Bird Verdict in Psy-
chotherapy; Humanistic/Existential/Phenomeno-
logical Psychotherapy; Rogers, Carl R. (1902–87);
Therapeutic/Working Alliance
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Further Reading
Cain, D. J., & Seeman, J. (Eds.). (2001). Humanistic
psychotherapies: Handbook of research and
practice. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.