I. Nondirective Psychotherapy (1940–1950)

When Rogers articulated the early version of his approach in 1942 in Counseling and Psychotherapy, the approach had a primarily technical emphasis. The therapist’s main task was to reflect and clarify the client’s message and feelings in an accepting manner. Strong emphasis was placed on the therapist’s being nondirective, to distinguish this approach from interpretative (mostly psychoanalytic) and counselor-guided or directive therapies of the time. In a chapter entitled “The Directive Versus the Non-Directive Approach,” Rogers made it clear that “the counselor takes no responsibility for directing the outcome of the process” (p. 115). He contrasted nondirective with directive counseling as follows:

counseling of the directive sort is characterized by many highly specific questions to which specific answers are expected, and by information given by the counselor . . . [while] counseling of the non-directive sort is characterized by a preponderance of client activity. . . . The counselor’s primary techniques are those which help the client more clearly to recognize and understand his feelings, attitudes and reaction patterns, and which encourage the client to talk about them. (1942, p. 124)

In his early stages of developing a “new” approach, a number of his proposals seemed to focus on what Rogers thought the therapist should not do or be. He was adamant in his belief that the therapist should not advise the client, interpret behavior, or attempt to direct or persuade the client to pursue a particular course of action. Rogers objected to these approaches because “they assume that the counselor is the one most competent to decide what are to be the goals of the individual, and what are the values by which the situation is to be judged” (1942, p. 27). Rogers believed that counselor-centered therapy “may serve only to make the counselee more dependent, less able to solve new problems of adjustment” (Kirschenbaum, 1979, p. 116), and more resistant to the counselor.

Rogers goes on to say that the “non-directive point of view places a high value on the right of every individual to be psychologically independent and to maintain his psychological integrity” (1942, p. 127).

Zimring and Raskin (1992) characterized the process of nondirective therapy as follows: “If the therapist accepts, recognizes and clarifies the feelings expressed by the client, there will be movement from negative feelings to positive ones, followed by insight and positive actions that will be initiated by the client” (p. 630).

Rogers made a major shift in emphasis in therapy by focusing on the person of the client rather than on the problem expressed. Another shift was toward the feelings expressed by the client as opposed to the client’s thoughts. The therapist’s attitudes of respect for and belief in the client’s capacity for self-directed growth resulted in the development of a dramatically different kind of relationship with the client, one characterized by disciplined restraint and non-intrusiveness. The therapist as an individual stayed out of the relationship and instead attempted to be a careful, supportive, and understanding listener.