How to Help a Person Grow
The Ins, Outs, and Limitations of Person-Centered Therapy
A therapist not trained in Person-Centered Therapy is like a musician who never learned his scales, basic skills for his profession. But, going to a therapist who only practices Person-Centered Therapy is like listening to a musician practicing scales. It gets pretty tedious and you wonder if it’ll ever go anywhere.
Carl Rogers, who developed Person-Centered Therapy, likened therapy to growing a plant. When you provide the right kind of soil, the right amount of sunlight, and the right amount of water, plants grow themselves.
Rogers said there are three things needed to help people grow: empathy, acceptance, and sincerity.
Empathy
People who’ve been told their thoughts and feelings aren’t important get alienated from their feelings and sloppy in their thinking. When they’re with someone who is eager to understand their point of view, they start to take more responsibility for what they feel and think, because it matters.
Therefore, if you want to help another person be the best they can be, show you understand things from their point of view. Display a little empathy. Paraphrase what has just been said so you can demonstrate empathic understanding. Identify feelings…
