Who is Carl Rogers, the Unconditional Positive Regard Guy

Carl Rogers theorized that paying attention to the way people think about themselves, the world where they live, and the choices they face is an effective way to help people face their difficulties.

He believed we each have the potential to create a meaningful life. He also believed that many approaches to therapy were focused on technique or theory instead of the client. In fact, Carl Rogers said that referring to people as "patients" assumed illness and inhibited the therapist's ability to recognize the humanness in others.

He said a therapist needs to be "congruent, empathetic, and respectful." These three qualities are essential to therapy.

This focus on the relationship the therapist has with the client was fresh and an improvement over the other approaches used in therapy that "modified" people's behavior or "analyzed" patient's unconscious minds.

Carl Rogers approach began with the assumption people need the opportunity to be the unique individuals they are and if given that and the resources they need, the human potential in each of them would lead to "wellness."

The challenge for most people when applying Rogers' approach is found in using those three qualities when relating to those who are distinctly different from themselves.

As a therapist, Carl Rogers was admired because he possessed and used those three qualities in his relationships with others.

As a humanistic psychologist, Carl Rogers encouraged others to self-actualize. He did so by recognizing and relating to them in ways that demonstrated to them that they may be a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, a mother or a father, an employee or an employer, but that they also had qualities that transcended those roles. For example, a person who is creative could sing, dance, write, paint, or sculpt while the role or roles that the person filled did not involve those forms of experiencing him or her self in the world.

He believed that people need to be "open to experience" and that the extent that a person was open to new experience, the person had capacity to create and change themselves and their lives. Carl Rogers new that people need the "freedom to become" and develop a sense of "organismic trust."

If given this opportunity in the form of "congruent, empathetic, and respectful" relationship, then the person would be treated with "unconditional positive regard" which would lead to the person becoming a "fully functioning human being."

In other words, Carl Rogers believed people know what's good for themselves and that if they are given the opportunity, they will choose actions that lead to them becoming fully functioning. He also believed that people can learn from their experiences and mistakes.

Carl Rogers lived in a way that demonstrated his belief in the innate goodness of human beings.