Outcomes

“Only as the therapist is completely willing that any outcome, any direction, may be chosen – only then does he realize the vital strength of the capacity and potentiality of the individual for constructive action”

(Rogers, 1951, page 49)

It's a little bit hard, sometimes, to know whether Rogers is recommending a methodological attitude, here, or really making a statement about 'acceptable outcomes'. Particularly as he follows up with this slightly gnomic qualification:

"It is as he is willing for death to be the choice, that life is chosen; for neuroticism to be the choice, that a healthy normality is chosen. The more completely he acts upon his central hypothesis, the more convincing is the evidence that the hypothesis is correct."

Maybe it doesn't matter, from a practice point of view - except that there is always an element of incongruence in the 'methodological' position. Surely I must really believe that any outcome is acceptable in order to "completely  ... [act] upon [my] central hypothesis"?

References

Rogers, C. R. (1951). Client-centered therapy : Its current practice, implications and theory Constable.

Autonomy and Relationships

It is in the loneliness of our autonomy that we find the integrity that makes real communication possible.

It is the task of a parent to allow this autonomy to develop by participating in our communication experiments with the same integrity.