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First Relationship, Neuropsychobiology, and the Person-Centered Approach

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Abstract

In 1959, Carl Rogers theorized that certain conditions exist in therapeutic relationships which are common to all “improving” interpersonal relationships. This chapter describes an exploration of the mother/baby partnership for evidence of Rogers’ six conditions of the therapeutic process. My source of evidence is a qualitative study analyzing written observations which I made on a mother and baby, whom I observed for 1 h weekly from the baby’s early days until he was 2 years of age. Neuropsychobiology is the basis of mother/baby communication leading to attachment, which also supports healthy relating in later life. This has implications for further development of therapeutic practice.

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Correspondence to Evleen Mann .

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Mann, E. (2013). First Relationship, Neuropsychobiology, and the Person-Centered Approach. In: Cornelius-White, J., Motschnig-Pitrik, R., Lux, M. (eds) Interdisciplinary Handbook of the Person-Centered Approach. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7141-7_14

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