SOURCE: Thorne, Brian. “Criticisms and Rebuttals.” In Carl Rogers, pp. 64-89. London: SAGE Publications, 1992.

In the following essay, Thorne outlines major arguments against Rogers's methodology.

Criticisms

Rogers had his critics from the very beginning and they have not grown less vociferous with the passage of the years. At the present time the standing of person-centred scholars and therapists within the world of academic psychology is not high: they tend to be patronized as naive enthusiasts from a former age or to suffer the greatest indignity of all—indifference. Certainly the person-centred viewpoint does not align itself easily with the spirit of the age. We live at a time when the pressure of life encourages swift answers to problems, the application of slick techniques and, above all, procedures which are demonstrably cost effective. In such a climate experts are sought after who can provide authoritative guidance and effect rapid...