Carl Rogers: biography of the promoter of humanism in therapy

The name Carl Rogers is widely known in the world of psychology. One of the pioneers of humanistic psychology and creator of client-centered therapy, his contributions even earned him the APA presidency. Knowing the life of this author can be of great interest, and that is why in this article we are going to do a summary of the biography of Carl Rogers.

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Brief biography of Carl Rogers

Carl Ransom Rogers was born on the day of January 1902 in Oak Park, Chicago, being the fourth of six siblings. His parents were Walter Rogers (civil engineer) and Julia Rogers (housewife), he being the fourth of six siblings. The family had strong Christian and evangelical convictions, the religion being important in the maturation and intellectual development of the author. Family bonding was positive and close, parents instilling values ​​such as the importance of effort and perseverance.

When he was twelve years old, his family bought a farm and moved there, spending his adolescence there and acquiring Rogers.

a great interest in agriculture and biology, actively participating in the care of animals and often reading scientific literature related to this sector.

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Years of formation and marriage

In 1919 he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in a career in Agriculture. However, throughout his studies and after attending various religious days he decided to turn his interest and his studies towards theology and history.

In 1922, during his junior year of study, he was chosen to participate in an international conference of the World Federation of Christian Students in China. During his stay on the Asian continent and at the conference he was able to observe a great diversity of beliefs and the still existing confrontation between the members of the countries involved in opposing sides during the First War World. This trip would make Rogers rethink his conception of life. After his return, he graduated in History.

During his college years he would reconnect with Ellen Elliott, a former elementary school classmate with whom he would fall in love and with whom he would end up marrying in 1924. After that and once they finished their studies, the couple He moved to New York, where Rogers would enroll in Union Theological Seminary.. There he would continue his studies in theology and philosophy while he began to attend different courses at the Columbia University School of Teachers. In the latter he discovered and became interested in aspects related to psychology.

After concluding in one of the seminars that he walked her and his philosophy They did not ascribe to religion (although he retained an interest in aspects such as the meaning of life), he decided to abandon a career in theology. In addition he would enroll at Columbia University to study Psychology, specifically in the clinical psychology program, and would begin to work with minors at the Institute for Child Guidance in New York. He obtained a master's degree in 1928, and a doctorate in psychology in 1931.

Professional life, therapy and humanistic psychology

During the year 1928, he was hired at the Rochester Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, in which he would work on aspects such as crime prevention in young people at risk of social exclusion and with different problems and of which he would be appointed director. In this place he would work for twelve years, observing and working with multiple patients.

In Rochester he observed on several occasions that when working with patients it is the client himself who knows the most what affects you and where your problems lie, often knowing which direction to take to solve them. Also tried to rush to submit proposals on forms of therapy.

In 1940 he was hired by Ohia State University as a teacher, following the publication of his first book "Clinical Treatment of the Problem Child" the previous year. The same year he began to give lectures, the one held at the University of Minesotta in which he established the foundations of non-directive therapy was remarkable. Rogers stated that the user of the psychologist's services was not a patient but a client (which implies that the subject is not limited to receiving the intervention but is an active subject and the architect of his own recovery) and that the role of the therapist is to help the client in a non-directive way, as a support to the client's own activity. subject.

In 1945 he was invited to create a welfare center at the University of Chicago, learning as he spent time establishing useful, close, and therapeutically productive relationships with his patients. Due to his numerous contributions in 1947 was named president of the American Psychological Association (APA). Throughout 1951 he published "Client-centered psychotherapy", in which the author develops his well-known theory in which he highlights the role of the ability of each of us to achieve growth and change personal.

Rogers returned to the University of Wisconsin in 1957, where he would serve as a professor in the department of psychology as well as research programs with schizophrenic population. However, different conflicts in said department caused the author to become disenchanted with the university world. In 1964 he was offered a position as an investigator in La Jolla, where he resided and worked until his death.

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Death and legacy

During the last years of his life, Carl Rogers continued to research and publish different works of great importance, in addition to doing work in clinical practice and various conferences.

In February 1987, Rogers fractured his hip in a fall that required surgery. The intervention was successful, but shortly thereafter he suffered cardiac arrest. Carl rogers he passed away on February 4, 1987 in San Diego, California.

Rogers' legacy is vast. He is one of the pioneering authors of humanistic psychology, highly interested in personal development and in the possibility of the person himself to rule his life and evolve. In addition to this, the conception of client-centered therapy stands out, the importance given to interaction between therapist and patient and the fact of proposing a non-directive therapy, which represented a revolution in their epoch. Many of his methods are still applied today, or have served as inspiration for other authors.