Client‐centred therapy,post‐traumatic stress disorder and post‐traumatic growth: Theoretical perspectives and practical implications

In practice it is not unusual for client‐centred therapists to work with people who have experienced traumatic events. However, client‐centred therapy is not usually considered within texts on traumatic stress and questions have been raised over the appropriateness of client‐centred therapy with trauma survivors. The present study shows how, although he was writing well before the introduction of the term ‘posttraumatic stress disorder’, Carl Rogers provided a theory of therapy and personality that contains an account of threat‐related psychological processes largely consistent with contemporary trauma theory. Rogers' theory provides the conceptual underpinnings to the client‐centred and experiential ways of working with traumatized people. Furthermore, Rogers' theory provides an understanding of post‐traumatic growth processes, and encourages therapists to adopt a more positive psychological perspective to their understanding of how people adjust to traumatic events.