Carl Rogers

On August 28, 1924, in spite of his parents’ objections, he married Helen Elliot. In 1926, their first child, David was born; he was followed in 1928 by Natalie who is now is a prominent expressive arts therapist.

On February 4, 1987, Carl Rogers died of a heart attack in San Diego, California. Days prior to his death, he had undergone hip surgery and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in conflict resolution in South Africa and Northern Ireland.

His Person-Centered approach to psychotherapy is the dominant approach to therapy in the United States today. It is applied in psychotherapy, education, and business settings with great success.

Carl Rogers was born on January 8, 1902, in Oak Park, Illinois. His father was a civil engineer and his mother, a stay-at-home mom. Although he received a stern Protestant upbringing, he acquired a more compassionate vision of Christianity.

Before kindergarten, he learned to read, and he also had an early fascination with agriculture which led to his later interest in science.

In 1922, while attending the University of Wisconsin, he joined a Christian mission to China. During his 6-month stay, he developed a more compassionate and less harsh understanding of Christianity.

In 1924, inspired by his experience on a Christian mission to China, he enrolled in the Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

In 1926, Carl Rogers became disenchanted with the fixed mindset of the seminary and decided to pursue an education in clinical psychology at the Columbia University's Teacher’s College in New York City.

In 1928, he became a child psychologist at the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. During his work in the Child Study Department, his theories about personality began to develop.

In 1931, he finished his doctorate in clinical psychotherapy which involved the development of a psychological test that would help identify ways to make low income children’s lives better.

In 1939, based on his work with disadvantaged and often distressed children at the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, he published his first book, ‘The Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child’.

In 1940, he became a professor of Psychology at Ohio State University. This enabled him to clinically research his new ‘non-directive approach’.

Carl Rogers along with Abraham Maslow established the Humanistic Approach to psychology. They discarded the leading approaches of their time, namely, behaviorism and psychoanalysis. They found them too limited in understanding the human experience and the whole person. They put forward instead the principle of self-actualization, a basic human need to achieve one’s potential in life.

Carl Rogers revolutionized the relationship between the therapist and the client with his Person-Centered (also known Client-Centered) Approach. He emphasized listening, understanding, and helping the client to find their own solution rather than prescribing the solution for the client. This approach found further application in education, industry, and conflict resolution.