Episode 8: The mystery of therapy

At the heart of person-centred therapy lies a great mystery. Can we ever truly know or connect with another human, and what can person-centred psychology offer in a complex, uncertain and chaotic world? We attempt to unravel the mystery of therapy, in a rich and personal encounter.

Rachael speaks to Sheila Haugh (she/her) a person-centred therapist, supervisor and consultant.

Rachael writes:  Sheila and I have known each other for many years in a variety of contexts. The encounter was a rich consolidation of many themes we have explored over the years and it could have gone on for much longer!

We talk about the formative tendency and our understanding of it in terms of complexity theory. There have been several chapters exploring person-centred theory and complexity theory over the years: Jerold Bozarth provides a short piece on complexity and Sheila has written about it in this publication.

Asha Davies has carried out fascinating research considering the formative tendency alongside British South-Asian multicultural process and identity.

If you are interesting in complexity and quantum theory more generally, Carlo Rovelli’s work is worth accessing. In thinking about the conversation with Sheila, I encountered the work of Merlin Sheldrake who helped me to reflect on the implicitly biological and organismic nature of person-centred theory and Rogers’ background in biology. Mike Worrall and Keith Tudor’s excellent publication is also useful to be aware of, particularly their chapters on ‘Organism’ and ‘Tendencies’’.