Tag Archives: Rogers

Psychology’s History and the CIA

CIAThe discussion over the relationship between Psychology and the CIA continues:

In the most recent edition of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 48(1), there appears an article by Stephen P. Demanchick and Howard Kirschenbaum entitled “Carl Rogers and the CIA” in which they link Carl Rogers to the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology:

Carl Rogers was a pioneer and leader in the humanistic psychology movement. Although his many professional activities and accomplishments are well known, the story of his association with the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology—a front organization for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)—is barely known and has never been explored in any depth. This article attempts to tell that story in the context of America during the 1950s, Rogers’s academic career, and the mission of the CIA.

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Carl Rogers, CBT most influential in Clinical

Carl RogersCelebrating its 25th anniversary, Psychotherapy Networker magazine partnered with Columbia researchers to chart the recent trends in Clinical Psychology. They found that Carl Rogers is still the #1 most influential figure, just as he was when American Psychologist first did the study in 1982.

In other words, the therapist who became famous for his leisurely, nondirective, open-ended, soft-focus form of therapy 50 years ago remains a major role model today, even with the explosion of brief, “evidence-based” clinical models, a psychopharmacological revolution that often makes medications the intervention du jour, and a radically altered system of insurance reimbursement that simply won’t pay for the kind of therapy Rogers did.

As for methods, however, the top therapeutic approach of the past quarter-century is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Over two-thirds of the 2,598 survey respondents use it, compared to just under a third following a “Rogerian/client-centered/humanistic” approach.

The top ten list of figures is: Continue reading Carl Rogers, CBT most influential in Clinical