The “humanistic movement in psychology – focus on the free will of the individual and the democratic relationship between client and therapist was emerging as a reaction to theories espousing philosophical determinism” (Samstag, 2007, p. 295). Rogers’ theories were “somewhat in line with stance of his contemporaries in the interpersonal school, including Harry Stack Sullivan, Clara Thompson, Eric Fromm and Frieda Fromm-Reichman, identified the self as being made up of the reflected appraisals of others” (Samstag, 2007, p. 296). During this era, Hans Strupp and Lester Luborsky were “examining similar features of treatment process, therapist characteristics, and the role of technique vs. relationship factors in effecting outcome’ (Samstag, 2007, p. 296). Rogers client-centred approach to therapy was in stark contrast to “Freudian psychoanalysis where man was understood as being controlled by unconscious forces that operated outside of awareness” (Samstag, 2007, p. 295) and “Skinner’s radical behaviourism which sought to understand human behaviour as a function of reinforcing consequences in the environment” (Samstag, 2007, p. …show more content…
30). Although Rogers theory and approach received considerable criticism, “his emphasis on the client as arbiter of their own subjective experience and the importance he placed on recording sessions for hypothesis testing were radical, anti-authoritarian ideas that remain significant and enduring contributions to the field of psychotherapy” (Samstag, 2007, p. 298).
Rogers published many journal articles and the following books: The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child (1939), Counseling and Psychotherapy (1942), Client-Centered Therapy (1951), On Becoming a Person (1961), The Therapeutic Relationship and Its Impact (1967), Freedom to Learn (1969), Carl Rogers on Encounter Groups (1970), Becoming Partners (1972), Carl Rogers on Personal Power (1977) (deCarvalho,