Interview with Carl Rogers On the Use of the Self in Therapy

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Over time, I think that I have become more aware of the fact that in therapy I do use my self.* I recognize that when I am intensely focused on a client, just my presence seems to be healing, and I think this is probably true of any good therapist. I recall once I was working with a schizophrenic man in Wisconsin whom I had dealt with over a period of a year or two and there were many long pauses. The crucial turning point was when he had given up, did not care whether he lived or died, and was going to run away from the institution. And I said, “I realize that you don’t care about yourself, but I want you to know that I care about you, and I care what happens to you.” He broke into sobs for ten or fi fteen minutes. That was the turning point of the therapy. I had responded to his feelings and accepted them, but it was when I came to him as a person and expressed my feelings for him that it really got to him. That interested me, because I am inclined to think that in my writing perhaps I have stressed too much the three basic conditions (congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathic understanding). Perhaps it is something around the edges of those conditions that is really the most important element of therapy-when my self is very clearly, obviously present.