Awareness of unconditional positive regard

When unconditional positive regard is in use through several therapy sessions and a client asks about of this technique. What explanation should be given?

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Welcome to PsychCentral!

There is no 'right' answer for this, as the individual therapist may have a different interpretation.

However, unconditional positive regard is based upon Carl Rogers' humanism. It's a viewpoint by which the therapist (or other person) views another individual with acceptance and respect, irrespective of what the other person says. Seeing the other person as human, and having worth.

In therapy, this approach to viewing the client may come naturally to some practitioners. For other practitioners, it might be a mindset that they put themselves into when working with clients. In either case, unconditional positive regard is often used in therapy as it helps for the practitioner to build rapport with the client.

You might like to refer to the Wikipedia entry for a general idea:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncond...ositive_regard

Were you looking at this from a client or practitioners perspective?

If you're coming from this as a client and would like to know what your therapist means, then I would recommend asking them directly. If you're unsure or uncomfortable with their response, you can always discuss that with them, or discuss it with us here.

If you're coming from it as a therapist, it's important to understand why you're using the technique and what it looks like, to then be able to describe it to the client. Most importantly, saying what rings true for you. Client's can often tell when a therapist isn't being genuine, and congruence is considered an important aspect of humanism. If you have a supervisor, you may also wish to discuss these concerns with them. Though honestly, if I was a practitioner, I wouldn't say I'm using unconditional positive regard unless asked directly... since it's more of a mindset rather than a structured therapeutic approach such as CBT. A better way to approach it, in my opinion, would be to provide feedback to the client that expresses that unconditional positive regard - such as through affirmations, and acknowledging the client's perspective.

Apologies if this is a bit broad, as I'm unsure as to which perspective you're coming from.