A radical departure from Freud happened in the USA around the time of the Second World War with the development of the theories of Carl Rogers (1902-1987). Rogers had more in common with Jung and Reich than Freud in his insistence that people basically strived towards goodness rather than away from animal desires. But his approach was quite different. Rogers developed a radically ‘stripped down’ theory of therapy (or rather, counselling; he was the first therapist to prefer this term). He based this not just on his own theories and personal convictions but on actual research he had done into what conditions seemed to be necessary for patients to improve in therapy. In this way, although his research was crude and small-scale, he was a pioneer in insisting that the effect of psychotherapy could be measured, and indeed should be.

Rogers developed a theory that three, and only three, simple conditions were necessary for therapy to be a success; the therapist must have ‘congruence’ which means they must be honest and genuine with the client; they must have empathy, or the ability to feel what the client feels; and they must have respect for the client, which Rogers called an attitude of ‘unconditional positive regard’ towards the client. He said if therapists could observe these conditions perfectly, they were necessary and sufficient for any client to improve. The crucial word is ‘if’, of course; Rogerian therapy, while being very simple theoretically, imposes a doctrine of near-saintly consistency and warmth of behaviour on the therapist.

Because it is so accepting, what is now usually called ‘person-centred therapy’ may be especially suitable for clients with habitually poor self-image, and has been demonstrated to work successfully with clients with major depression.

Most organisations that offer counselling are influenced by Rogers’ ideas, so there is no specific clinic or school of person-centred therapy to refer to.