"Experience is, for me, the highest authority. The touchstone of validity is my own experience. No other person's ideas, and none of my own ideas, are as authoritative as my experience. It is to experience that I must return again and again, to discover a closer approximation to truth as it is in the process of becoming in me." -Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person
DEVELOPED THEORIES - THERAPIES Person-Centered; Humanistic; Client-Centered; Student-Centered
TIMELINE 1902 - Carl Rogers was born in Oak Park, Illinois. 1919 - Enrolled at University of Wisconsin. 1924 - Graduated from University of Wisconsin and enrolled at Union Theological Seminary. 1926 - Transferred to Columbia. 1931- Earned Ph.D. from Columbia. 1940 - Began teaching at University of Ohio. 1946 - Elected president of American Psychological Association (APA). 1951 - Published Client-centered Therapy. 1961 - Published On Becoming A Person.
Rogers seems frequently misunderstood by critics who have (sometimes ignorantly, sometimes arrogantly, sometimes naively) read a few soundbites and decided he was a product of his time. There's a lot of wisdom here and what he says is actually a little more complex than commonly understood with many applications for society and practice today. It's also an incredibly accessible piece of writing which is probably partially the cause of misunderstanding by some but which academic writing should be should it fulfill it's intended purpose of being educative for ALL.
I feel like I did with all Carl Rogers' books, but now more full. But not like an ending either. His work is so closely related to how I want to live that I feel more like myself, and more engaged with accepting others.
“If it is implicit that the counselor or some third person is responsible for the student’s being present in the counseling situation, then suggestion or advice are almost the only avenues of approach open. If the client himself accepts responsibility for bringing himself, he also accepts the responsibility for working upon his problems” (65).
“If I accept the other person as something fixed, already diagnosed and classified, already shaped by his past, then I am doing my part to confirm this limited hypothesis. If I accept him as a process of becoming, then I am doing what I can to confirm or make real his potentialities” (124).
A selection of his writings, didn't come across anything much new to me. The introductions to each section by the editor were informative and interesting. Some nuggets included in the book and a good read as an overview, especially for someone joining the caring person or counseling
Četla jsem česky vydaný výbor z díla pod názvem "Teorie a terapie osobnosti". Oproti jiným Rogersovým knihám spíše hutnější, odbornější čtivo plně odpovídající názvu knihy.
I'm inspired by the very human approach Rogers advocates for psychological therapy, education, and society. He would rather have people come together as equals in a co-learning process of growth, than engage in the defeating practice of a hierarchical relationship in which "truth" is transmitted from superior to inferior. This book brings together a variety of essays, book excerpts, and lectures which help survey his work and thought.
Interestingly, only that, like all collections of articles and essays, has the problem of being repetitive. However, the clinical cases are well defined and offer excellent support to the theoretical part.
Interessante, soltanto che, come tutte le raccolte di articoli e saggi, ha il problema di essere ripetitivo. Comunque i casi clinici sono ben delineati e offrono un ottimo sostegno alla parte teorica.
I really wanted to read more than just bits and pieces of this book, but perhaps I will be more successful on a second attempt. What I did read I found pretty fascinating stuff.