Carl Rogers, Control Freak

Read Carl Rogers, Control Freak to Discover—

• How To Use the Rogerian Method
• How To Save the Work of Carl Rogers
• How To Save Counseling’s Greatest Technique
• How To Use Roger’s Technique

The Work of Carl Rogers

• This book is about the work of Carl Rogers, not the life of Carl Rogers.
• The personal problems Carl Rogers had with alcohol and his marriage have nothing to do with his counseling method.
• This short book focuses on the method of counseling that Rogers invented.
• The messenger is not the message.
• The distinction means that if Carl Rogers’s method is to be evaluated, then it should be evaluated separately from his life.
• Was Rogers a wounded healer? Perhaps so.

Methods Are Not Theories

• Method and technique are not to be confused with counseling theory.
• A counseling theory is a set of guiding principles that structure the course of counseling.
• A method or technique is a strategy for eliciting a response from a client.
• Counseling theories, therefore, provide general directions for achieving specific goals, while methods or techniques are particular strategies for promoting a change or curative response from a client.

Greatest Counseling Method

• Carl Rogers gave the counseling world its most effective, efficient, and advanced method.
• Unfortunately, Rogers feared to face the true nature of his method and buried it under false philosophy and theory that diametrically opposed it.
• Rogers’ betrayal of his method has led to a corruption of his method, causing it to be diluted, at best, and in many cases lost.
• We must separate the theory of Carl Rogers from the method of Carl Rogers to resurrect and preserve his superior method.

Save the Rogerian Method

• Rogers was a unique genius who provided the counseling world with its best method, and both he and his theory are rightly honored and valued.
• His theory is simply humanism and self-actualization applied to counseling; something others have done both before and after Rogers.
• Rogers was an idealist, and most of his expounded ideals are noble and helpful.
• For instance, Rogers wanted teachers to be facilitators and resource persons for the discovery process, rather than merely a series of audio recordings.

Reexamine the Method

• Both the method and theory of Rogers are valuable in their own right.
• Please re-experience the Rogerian Method in light of this book.
• If we could present the method as our own or something new, we would; but that would be a lie.
• Save counseling’s greatest method for future generations.
• Let us increase the odds that more than a lucky few can find a counselor proficient in the Rogerian Method.

Practice the Method Like Rogers

• If you wish to debate Rogers’ theories, then you are missing the point: The Rogerian Method works wonders and needs to be salvaged and seen for what it is, separate from all theory and philosophy.
• Those who continue to banter about philosophies after reading this book are likely those incapable of performing the method.
• You can have any theoretical orientation and still use the Rogerian Method effectively, as long as you understand the method for what it is.
• Putting the method into a new context will free it for future exploration.
• Once the method is free and alive again, then you can make up any philosophies or theories as desired.
• The method will have been saved.