The future of person-centered therapy: crisis and possibility

Abstract

In this article the question is asked of what should be done in order for the Person-Centered Approach to survive in the present cultural and political climate. The central thesis is that person-centered therapy can only survive when we succeed in demonstrating that we have a distinctive theme and a distinctive practice. This poses a very complex dilemma to us. On the one hand, we have to adapt ourselves to the present demands in order to survive. If we do so, however, we sacrifice the core of our approach and will no longer be distinct from other approaches and therefore will not survive either. It is argued that emphatically profiling ourselves as specialists in the exploration of the existential domain will provide a new perspective on our future.