Research indicates that, the greater the degree of caring, prizing, accepting, and valuing the client, in a non-possessive way, the greater the chance that therapy will be successful (Corey, 1986).
Psychology, during the formative years of education talks about the pillars in psychotherapy essential to building a secure space for the client. These include the many skills and attributes that play an important role in establishing a therapeutic alliance. However, according to Rogers (1977), there are three characteristics of the therapist that are an essential part of the therapeutic relationship – Congruence, Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR) and Accurate Empathic Understanding.
Congruence
A state in which an individual’s Ideal self and Actual experience are consistent. Simply put, a match between one’s psychological attributes and behaviour. As an important characteristic in therapy, essentially from the humanistic school of thought, Rogers described therapist’s congruence as having a real, open, integrated and an authentic regard for the client.
By this he means that the therapist within the relationship is freely and deeply herself/ himself, with her/ his actual experiences accurately represented by her/ his awareness of herself/ himself, a term also associated with the professional’s Genuineness within the therapeutic alliance.
Read More: Therapeutic Alliance in Therapy
For understanding congruence, and further practising it, one needs to realise that genuineness here does not imply unbound self disclosure on the therapist’s part, which might in-fact if not displayed keeping in mind the client’s needs and goals in therapy, might cause detrimental effects to the client’s well-being. But instead as a practicing psychotherapist, one needs to be cognisant of one’s own needs, possessing the knowledge and expertise to be able to use her/his genuineness on a continuum basis rather than acting on an extreme degree to “be real”.
As Berne writes- If the therapist plays the role of a therapist, he would not get very far with perceptive patients. He has to be a therapist.
Unconditional Positive Regard
An attitude of caring, acceptance, and prizing that a therapist expresses towards the client. As the name suggests Unconditional Positive Regard implies that the therapist would accept the client, without judgement and with all of her/his inhibitions, patterns, and personal dispositions, irrespective of always having to approve or agree with them on a personal level, calling for an unbiased stance in therapy. Hence, it is considered conducive to the client’s self-awareness, self-worth, and personality growth.
Many argue however upon the reliability(?) of the “unconditional” aspect of the therapist’s role in addressing concerns within therapy, and whether it is, in fact possible at all to completely keep the preconceived notions at bay?
The answer lies within the understanding of one’s role as a compassionate and reasonable individual, who with years of training is prepared to understand how one of the key goals in therapy, irrespective of the approach, is to ensure the well being of the client. It may not always be important to agree with the way your client thinks or feels to be able to deconstruct an unhealthy thought or behavioural pattern. However, not to discount the human tendency of having preconceived notions to simplify one’s understanding, the idea here is to recognise the need to create and build a positive and accepting environment for the client.
As it is according to Carl Rogers, a universal human need, essential to healthy development.
Accurate Empathetic Understanding
This refers to the therapist’s ability to understand sensitively and accurately, but not sympathetically, the client’s experience and feelings. Empathy is commonly understood as the ability to be able to “put yourself in another’s shoes” and not merely feel concern or compassion from the awareness of distress. An empathetic understanding calls for a vicarious experience of the individual’s feelings, perceptions and thoughts, which in therapy can be a path to comprehension of the client’s cognitions, affects, motivations, or behaviors.
Presenting an empathetic approach is as essential in the early stages of therapy for initiating a trusting bond, as it is during the unfolding of the patient’s concerns throughout the course of therapy. In therapy, clients often look for the comfort exhibited by the therapist in the form of uninterrupted listening, validating feelings, and providing a shift in perspective, all of which stem from the need to actively work towards the client’s well-being. This marks Empathetic Understanding as not only a vital contributor for the client’s benefit but also serves as the beacon for the therapist to be able to work in harmony with the client.
In my experience, as a professional there isn’t any one specific skill that one needs to master in order to be a Good Therapist, but be open to the possibility of working with individuals who might come from different backgrounds having different needs, and before adjusting to a particular approach with a particular client, one must be well-versed with what we call the pillars in psychotherapy.
