Conclusion
Here then is my theoretical model of the person who emerges from therapy—a person functioning freely in all the fullness of his organismic potentialities; a person who is dependable in being realistic, self-enhancing, socialized and appropriate in his behavior; a creative person, whose specific formings of behavior are not easily predictable; a person who is ever changing, ever developing, always discovering himself and the newness in himself in each succeeding moment of time. This is the person who in an imperfect way actually emerges from the experience of safety and freedom in a therapeutic experience, and this is the person whom I have tried to describe for you in “pure” form.
My purpose has not been to convince you of the correctness of this view. Indeed I would have to confess that I have written this paper primarily for my own satisfaction, to clarify the thoughts which have been stirring in me. But if this presentation causes you to formulate your view of the person who emerges from therapy, or enables you to point out flaws in my own thinking which I have not yet seen, or arouses in you the desire to put to objective test either this picture or one which you paint for yourself, then it will have fully served both its primary and its secondary purpose.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Kelley, E. L. &Fiske, Donald W. The Prediction of Performance in Clinical Psychology, Ann Arbor; U. of Michigan Press, 1951.
Krech, D. Notes toward a psychological theory. J. Pers., Sept. 1949, 18, 66–87.
Rogers, C. R. Personal thoughts on teaching and learning. Merrill-Palmer Quart., Summer, 1957, 3, pp. 241–243.
Rogers, C. R. Persons or Science: A Philosophical Question. Amer. Psychologist. 1955, 10, 267–278.
Wertheimer, M. Productive Thinking. New York: Harper, 1945, 183–4.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Reprinted by permission from “Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice,” Vol. 1, No. 1, August, 1963.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rogers, C.R. The concept of the fully functioning person. Pastoral Psychol 16, 21–33 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01769775
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01769775