Quote:
Originally Posted by BudFox
How can unconditional positive regard be authentic? It is by definition an act. Authenticity means expressing what you really think and what you really feel. Putting on a particular face as a means to produce some effect in another person, that's not authentic, it's an affectation.
My experience with this as a client is mainly about feeling deceived. I paid someone, they played a role, they did not disclose what their methods or intentions were, and it was decidedly unhealthy.
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It depends on what you understand by unconditional positive regard. The definition that other members have given here (respecting the other as a different human being, not trying to impose our own morals, accepting the client as he/she is, etc.) isn't an act and can be authentic. As I said this doesn't mean not getting or repressing "negative" emotions and thoughts in the relationship with the client, but acknowledging them and dealing with them in a way that doesn't harm the client or the therapeutic relationship. Of course there will be client-therapist relationship where this isn't possible and in those cases an ethical therapist will try to solve the issues and if it's not possible client and therapist will have to talk about the possibility of ending the relationship.
Of course there is some kind of role because the therapeutic relationship isn't the same as the relationship that happens with friends, for example. But this isn't the same as playing an act, it's not how I see it and feel it.