How does Client-Centred Therapy work?

When visiting doctors, we often regard them as the ultimate authorities on medical knowledge, despite our limited understanding gained from casual Google searches about various symptoms and possible disorders. The common practice in medicine can be more detrimental than beneficial in the context of psychology. 

Client-centred therapy is essential to level the field between a therapist and client by providing the reigns of the therapy to the client. This form of therapy is meant for anyone to confide in the therapist with the utmost comfort to speak at the same level.

What is Client-Based Therapy? 

Client-based therapy relies on the basis that human beings are motivated to achieve positive outcomes through therapy. This form of therapy treats the client with the utmost respect and believes that the client is the biggest expert in knowing themselves and their life. The psychologist is seen as simply being a facilitator of achieving a positive outcome (Yao & Kabir, 2023).

While conducting client-based therapy, it is essential for therapists to be active listeners and engaged within sessions. They may use positive body language, eye contact and other techniques to communicate this to the client (Cherry, 2023). Since clients are believed to be experts in their own lives, they can choose what they wish to speak about during sessions. This liberty helps the client form a deeper sense of connection with the therapist (Grumman, 2013).

The therapist aids the client in finding solutions to problems instead of telling them what qualifies as right or wrong. This is extremely crucial to comfort the client. Their opinion has value. Unlike conventional medical practice, psychology functions differently since instead of the doctor, the client is the expert (Grumman, 2013).

The clients are also provided with full freedom to choose when to meet the therapist or stop therapy if they feel uncomfortable or believe that they have met the goal of seeking therapy (Grumman, 2013). In client-based therapy, the client is called a “client” not a “patient”. This is an essential distinction to highlight the importance of the person seeking this form of therapy and their autonomy (Cherry, 2023). 

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Who found Client-based therapy? 

Carl R. Rogers, a famous psychotherapist, founded client-based therapy. He practised psychotherapy from 1939 and slowly developed his theory from his experience with adolescents, married couples and even families. Rogers listed a range of different “core conditions” for therapists to follow based on client-based therapy. 

Core Conditions 

The core conditions presented by Rogers are as follows:

• The client holds responsibility for their treatment with the counselor aiding them in achieving their goals.

• The client demonstrates a powerful drive to change for their betterment to function in society independently through therapy.

• A warm, safe and comfortable environment is provided to the client to be able to express themselves however they see fit whether their attitude is contradicting or even absurd.

• The only limits are places on not acting on certain feelings and thoughts such as causing harm or breaking anything. Otherwise, the client is supported through whatever they may feel.

• The therapist should remain completely unbiased no matter how clients may express and present their attitude and eventually the therapist should help accept and validate them.

• The therapist does not offer advice or prompts and acts as a neutral third party when listening to the client. 

What can be treated with Client-Based Therapy? 

Client-based therapy has been shown to help manage the following disorders:

• Experiencing high amounts of stress
• Depression
• Low levels of self-esteem
• Relationship problems in social settings

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• Sexual abuse
• Physical abuse
• Dementia
• Mood disorders
• Negative trains of thought about post-traumatic stress disorder
• Not feeling fulfilled with work and home settings

Take Away

To conclude, while the growing world of psychology in the medical field has a range of different therapy techniques, client-based therapy is an influential form of therapy that extends a range of benefits. Carl Rogers, the psychotherapist who found client-based therapy, made a revolutionary change with his effort. He levelled the power dynamic of a psychologist and their clients.