nondirective psychotherapy

nondirective psychotherapy, an approach to the treatment of mental disorders that aims primarily toward fostering personality growth by helping individuals gain insight into and acceptance of their feelings, values, and behaviour. The function of the therapist is to extend consistent, warm, “unconditional positive regard” toward “clients” (avoiding the negative connotations of “patients”) and, by reflecting the clients’ own verbalized concerns, to enable them to see themselves more clearly and react more openly with the therapist and others. Pace, direction, and termination of therapy are controlled by the client; the therapist acts as a facilitator. The nondirective approach was originated by the American counseling psychologist Carl Rogers in the 1940s and influenced other individual and group psychotherapeutic methods. (See psychotherapy.)