Client Satisfaction, Counselors, and the Counseling Process

Ever since the publication of Carl Rogers' first book in 1942 on client-centered therapy, Counseling and Psychotherapy, there has been continual and marked disputation between proponents of the Rogerian position and counselors of other persuasions. These disputes have been concerned with the role of the counselor, including the specifics of the counselor's behavior in the counseling situation, and, probably more importantly, the place of values in counseling and psychotherapy. One of the more articulate adherents of the client-centered school has been C. H. Patterson, who has written extensively on the issues involved, including articles in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, the American Psychologist, Educational and Psychological Measurements, and in this Journal. His article in the October, 1958, issue of this Journal has impelled two of our readers to submit the following paper in reply to some of Dr. Patterson's arguments. We have asked Dr. Patterson for his comments, which also follow. There is irritability by all parties concerned, by no means excluding the editor, who is impelled to note that ALL counseling is client-centered by definition and without Rogerian capitals or quotation marks! —J. S.