Self Concept In The Person Centered Theory
In the person-centered approach, the self-concept is the ideas and beliefs that we hold about ourselves. As children and adolescents, the self-concept is flexible as they are still figuring out who they are. As they become adults, however, the self-concept becomes more fixed. The self-concept can be heavily changed after bereavement, trauma, abuse or major illness or accidents. Carl Rogers saw three main ways to identify the self: the self-image, the self-worth and the ideal self. Poor self-worth is conditioned by introjected values that they believe they must meet so they can be accepted and loved. The need for positive regard leads to these conditions of worth to rule their behaviour and way of being. They prefer to accept this straitjacket rather than the risk being rejected. For example, Kane decides to study IT as his undergraduate career. During his career, he realises he only chose this to win his dad’s approval who had always told him about how happy it would make him to see him go university to study IT. On the other hand, Kane always wanted to be a footballer. The conditions of worth of his dad have been imposed on him.
In this theory, the organismic valuing process, which is the true self, the one that allows us to choose our goals based on our inner nature, internal rationality and individual decision making. Those who have not been around a supportive and loving environment, have forced on them the conditions of worth as a result of need for positive regard which causes the confusion of the organismic valuing process. This is the loss of trust in the promptings that emanate from the deepest parts of the person’s response to the experience. For example, in the movie Joker, the protagonist mentions that he always must put a happy face and pretend as if he is not depressed to fit in with the crowd. For that reason, he struggles to be his true self as he feels critised when he attempts to be who he really is. His locus of evaluation, the place which one refers to in order to make judgements about themselves, others and the world, is based on other people’s conditions. He is operating from an external locus of evaluation which explains that he has been surrounded by people who have not been acceptant of him, so he is not able to experience his feelings so he can listen to himself and others. His ideal self would have been someone who functions from an internal locus of evaluation, someone that trusts in their instincts and in the process of the decision making through the source of wisdom deep within.
Furthermore, if someone has been raised in an environment where those around them are not judgemental or critical of them but instead loving and supportive, this enables them to develop their self-concept to an extent that they can be in touch with their feelings and experiences. Such people have trust and confidence in their organismic valuing process. In comparison to those lacking the trust and confidence in themselves, they always refer to the judgement and decision making of others. This results in the creation of disturbance. This means that they go from allowing those around them to ‘’rule’’ their life decisions in order to feel approved against what they want for themselves. For example, a Middle Eastern woman has a secret relationship with an English man. She has not been honest about her relationship with her family because they disapprove of anyone that is not within the culture or religion. She knows she loves him, but she cannot be with him because her community would reject her, and she is afraid of that.
Through the person-centred therapy, the client begins to see the introjected values and the lack of confidence and trust in themselves. During this therapy, they become aware of these feelings and they learn to develop their decision making based on their instincts and experiences. This is achieved using the core conditions of empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard. Empathy is the ability to see the client’s world though their frame of reference as if their feelings were our own. Congruence is the openness and genuineness of the counsellor as he/she does not use a professional façade in the interaction with the client but is fully present and transparent. Through congruence the client can trust the counsellor and the counselling process to help him cope with his feelings and reach his/her desired goal. Unconditional positive regard is the acceptance of the client regardless of who they are or what they have done, being able to endure warmth towards the client.
To sum up, the person-centred approach is a counselling process that allows the client to find within themselves the vast resources for development using the core conditions. They have the capacity to grow towards the fulfilment of their unique identities.
