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D. William Bower
In 1983, after several years of superficially viewing the work of Carl Rogers, I began working on my Ph.D in counseling at the University of Georgia. I was fortunate to take a required course on th...view moreIn 1983, after several years of superficially viewing the work of Carl Rogers, I began working on my Ph.D in counseling at the University of Georgia. I was fortunate to take a required course on theories of counseling and psychotherapy with Jerold Bozarth, Ph.D. He was solidly anchored in the person_centered approach introduced by Carl Rogers and his colleagues. Putting theories side by
side, so to speak, I found I was most in sync with the person_centered approach. Studying under a person-centered theorist/practitioner who believed profoundly in the approach opened the door to further exploration.
I found the attitudinal qualities of empathy, acceptance, and genuineness therapeutic and healing for people.
However, I questioned such concepts as unconditional positive regard,
nondirectiveness, and nonjudgmentalness. I felt adherents were being asked to be more than human. I have come to trust the real therapist who is accepting of positive, negative, and neutral regard, who understands there is a deliberate
choice to maintaining the attitudinal qualities of this approach, and who realizes that he or she is indeed just like everybody else in being judgmental.
I choose to self_publish. I don’t want some editor rewriting the materials I put together as they assume what readers will like. The reader determines that. I only submit the material when it says what I want to say. I hope readers will like it, but
they may not. Therefore my awkwardness and my smoothness will be available to the reader as it is available to me as a person. The reader gets the writer that I truly am, blemishes and thoughtfulness.view less