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On the enduring and substantial influence of Carl Rogers' not-quite necessary nor sufficient conditions
1Teachers College, Columbia University.
Abstract:
Carl Rogers' 1957 paper (see record 2007-14639-002) is arguably the most successful of his many attempts to clarify and render testable the ideas behind client-centered therapy. While each of the conditions that Rogers postulated has been linked to positive therapeutic outcome, taken together they have never been conclusively proved (nor disproved) to be either necessary or sufficient for positive outcome. Nevertheless, the overriding "take-home" message in this classic paper--that the therapist's attitude and caring presence is critical for therapeutic success--is one that has had virtually unparalleled influence in every segment of the psychotherapeutic community. Clinical and theoretical innovations in the psychoanalytic community serve as examples of the following proposition: that Rogers' concepts, while accepted more than ever by a remarkably wide variety of psychotherapists, remain essentially unacknowledged as originating with him or in the tradition of humanistic and client-centered therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).
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