Person-Centered Expressive Arts Psychotherapy

Carl Rogers’s daughter, Natalie Rogers, has developed an approach to psychotherapy that integrates the use of creative expressive modes with person-centered principles. Thus, Natalie Rogers embraces her father’s basic philosophy that “Each individual has worth, dignity and the capacity for self-direction if given an empathic, non-judgmental, supportive environment” (Rogers, n.d.). She also credits other prominent humanistic psychologists who have influenced the development of person-centered expressive arts therapy, including Abe Maslow, Rollo May, Clark Moustakas, Art Combs, and Sidney Jourard. What these pioneers share, according to Natalie Rogers, is a relational model of personal growth in which the therapist respects the client’s dignity, value, and capacity for self-direction.

A foundational premise of Natalie Rogers’s approach is that the therapeutic process “helps awaken creative life-force energy [and] what is creative is frequently therapeutic” (in Cooper, O’Hara, Schmid, & Wyatt, 2007, p. 316). Among the modalities employed are dance, music, and art therapies; journaling; poetry; imagery; meditation; improvisational drama; and any other means of creative expression that clients might wish to use. Natalie Rogers has observed that the use of one expressive art form often fosters the use of others, resulting in a “creative connection” that enhances the process of self-discovery while deepening affective experiences and finding personal meaning. Art is understood as a form of language that provides an “alternative path for intuitive, imaginative abilities supplementing traditional, logical, linear thought [that] . . . move the client into emotions yet add a further dimension, release of the ‘free-spirit’ ” (in Cooper et al., 2007, p. 318). According to Rogers, clients indicate that the use of creative arts enables them to discover and deepen their sense of self, identify inner truths and values, transcend problems, achieve a fresh sense of their soul or spirit, and bring about constructive change.

During therapy, at moments when the client is experiencing a strong emotion, the therapist offers an option to express the emotion though creative means. The client may accept or refuse the invitation and the therapist honors the client’s preference. When clients choose to use creative means, the therapist serves as an empathic but silent witness until the process is completed. At that point the therapist might inquire about the client’s experience during the process of creative expression. The client and therapist view the creation together while the therapist encourages the client to begin to identify personal meaning in the expression. The therapist remains non-interpretative, though he or she may encourage further exploration or offer ideas about the possible meanings of the client’s expression. Similar to person-centered therapy, the therapist checks to see if he or she accurately understands the meanings inherent in the client’s creations.

Natalie Rogers indicates that person-centered expressive therapies have been found helpful with a number of populations and problems including self-help groups, 12-step substance abuse programs, persons who have been sexually abused, grieving persons, anger problems, and children in play therapy. A research study conducted on 32 participants of Rogers’s workshops found increases in self-awareness, improved self-confidence, and deeper self-exploration (Merrill & Anderson, 1993).

In sum, Natalie Rogers’s expressive arts therapy represents a major innovation in practice and helped open the way for other person-centered therapists to expand the variety and range of practice.