Carl R. Rogers' "On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's Insight into the Power of Psychotherapy

noodle: 5/5

United Kingdom on Aug 04, 2023

joseph ball: Just finished reading this for the second time. There is an absolute ton of outstanding material in this book. I have found the teachings in this book to be invaluable for progressively understanding both myself and everyone I interact with in my life. I am astonished at how effective the teachings are for communication; for example, being brave enough to ask clarifying questions to ensure you understand what you have been told/instructed, and the importance of understanding what someone is saying from their point of view, in their own words.

I recommend this book to absolutely everyone, even those with only a passing interest in mental health.

United Kingdom on Jun 17, 2023

A: I liked how the author is humble yet very knowledgeable in his approach.

United States on Jun 29, 2022

Jenn: Bought this for my 18 year old Son. My older Brother, his a Uncle highly recommends this book and is currently reading it with him.

United States on Jul 01, 2021

Lola KLola K: When I ordered this book, I knew it was an old books, so I expected a book that was beat up, but this book came to me in great condition. All pages were here and none were wrinkled or torn or scribbled on. Clean and crisp. The binding is still intact and good. The seller was great! Even sent a little hand written note to me thanking me for buying it and wishing me well! Will definitely order from this seller again next time I have a need! (The highlighter marks are mine, all the pages were clean when I got the book.)

United States on Apr 19, 2021

Simon Knows Nothing: Rogers is credited as the founder of the person centred counselling system in the 1950s. Which he copied off Eldon Mayo's Hawthorn program in the 1920s (listen, don't talk; give your whole attention to them, or pretend to; never argue or give advice).
Mayo's work was to increase factory productivity. Carl Rogers lived at a time when language from psychology was invading family life, and he exploited this. He melded his strong Christian background with "modern" workplace psychology to create a cultural meme. It's all about redemption after the fall. Our early childhood affects everything (so he says) but we still all have the chance to be saved (to grow in his words). Hallelujah! It's a cultural frame that fits perfectly with capitalism. Self self self (couched as Person centred so that it doesn't seem as narcissistic as it is). How can a 12 year old girl who wants to transition really know that this is right (Tavistock was successfully sued by one such Autistic girl)? What if the client is Autistic?
The meme works well as, just like Christianity, it explains why the world is what it is (why some people are hosed), and offers redemption, if you follow the rules. It's very...

United Kingdom on Dec 30, 2020

Amazon Customer: Read this book for my courses CBT and Life Coaching and I would advise it to others doing any similar courses/studies.

United States on Dec 11, 2018

Peter Rogers MD: Carl Rogers is great. 4 stars because contains great ideas.

Took off one star because he rambles on and on.

If you are interested in psychology, the key is to recognize patterns of psychotherapy.

The Carl Jung, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, David Burns school is positive and optimistic which is helpful to people.

People need hope and meaning to be energized and happy.

United States on Jul 21, 2018

Kilt_monster: This is an excellent book and I think for both non-counsellor and counsellor alike (though counsellors might have a head start in understanding why the content is so important!). For all Rogers was working in the 50s and 60s this is still very relevant. There is a tendency in modern times for books/guides to be written which summarise and paraphrase subjects to try and make the content easily digestible; however after a paraphrase of a paraphrase a lot of the original efficacy can be lost. This book is 'the original stuff'! It's the principles behind much caring material which is written today; starting at this original work is very enlightening.

More info:
To appreciate this book you need to quickly understand it's history: Before Carl Rogers counselling as we know it today did not exist - psychotherapy/psychology was based on incomplete bits of science coupled with Jung and Freud, and worked within a culture which generally held strict and conservative views (1950s). Rogers was nagged by a feeling these approaches were unsatisfactory and began his own journey to try and understand how to help people. Soon he found that the beliefs held in psychotherapy actually were...

United Kingdom on Mar 25, 2017

Guy Bullen: Reading Rogers has almost been a physical experience for me. What he says rings so true in my experience, and the way he says it so unassuming, so tentative, that I did not feel he was trying to convince me of anything, just sharing what he learnt through his decades of experience as a therapist. Here is an example of how he says things: "I would like to make it very plain that these are learnings which have significance for me. I do not know whether they would hold true for you. I have no desire to present them as a guide for anyone else. Yet I have found that when another person has been willing to tell me something of his inner directions this has been of value to me, if only in sharpening my realization that my directions are different. So it is in that spirit that I offer the learnings which follow."

And the kind of thing he says... "If I let myself really understand another person, I might be changed by that understanding. And we all fear change. So as I say, it is not an easy thing to permit oneself to understand an individual, to enter thoroughly and completely and empathically into his frame of reference. It is also a rare thing....And it is their experience as...

United Kingdom on Jan 11, 2014