Consideration of the applicability of person-centered therapy to culturally varying clients, focusing on the actualizing tendency and self-actualization – from East Asian perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe applicability of the Person-centered Approach to psychotherapy (i.e. PCA) toward culturally varying clients is often claimed to be limited, as it has developed based on Rogers’ ideas that are often accused of being culturally biased. In particular, Rogers’ concept of self-actualization with its emphasis on personal autonomy and independence has been subject to the criticism that it reflects Western individualistic cultural emphases on the view of the independent self while disregarding the view of the interdependent self that is prevalent in non-Western collectivistic cultures.This article explores Rogers’ concept of self-actualization, evaluating the applicability of the PCA toward both Western and non-Western cultural contexts. Arguing for its applicability to culturally varying clients, it suggests that organismic potentialities of individuals involve the tendencies toward both independence and interdependence that may be manifested by the actualizing tendency in different ways, influenced by different cultures. Therefore, although what clients aim to achieve in terms of self-actualization may be different, therapists need to focus on what is universal in relation to self-actualization, that is, the actualizing tendency that is the motivation for therapeutic change. It also explores what focusing on the client’s actualizing tendency would mean and involve in multicultural counseling.