Chapter 5: Person-Centered Therapy

Person-centered therapy was founded by Carl Rogers. At the center of this theory stands the philosophy that humans are inherently good, and human behavior is the result of the need to grow and develop with other humans. This is similar to a humans motivation as they strive to grow to their full potential in positive ways as a way to maximize their whole being (organism). This theory has 6 constructs; Experience, which is everything going on internally for an individual and/or a process of receiving whats happening around and inside an individual. Organismic valuing process is the evaluation and measurement process used to determine if an event contributes or detracts form growth. Self is a label for some of the experiences of an individual, self-concept being all experiences recognized on me and ideal self being what the person would like to be. The self-actualizing tendency is the inclination of growth and maximization of the elf. It is also said that humans have a need for positive regard and self-regard, in other words value feelings of love from others and have need for a positive value of themselves. The last construct is conditions of worth, this too refers to the humans need to feel loved, this need will lead individuals to go to great lengths to acquire it, eve denying parts of themselves they may perceive to be unliked by significant others.

This theory may apply in the future to student who study abroad. When in a foreign culture, a foreign land it is not out of the question for in congruence to occur as culture shock, specifically the frustration or rage stage. The view a student would have of themselves may not coordinate with the experiences occurring in the new culture and both are highly influence d by the culture each respectively. As according to rogers helping students through this culture shock would be a mater of assisting them back into congruence. Bringing the student sense of self aligned with his/her experiences.