ABSTRACT
The danger of positive reinforcement may be particularly evident when the client has obvious ‘configurations of self’ (Point 27). There is often a temptation to respond to one or more configurations at the expense of others especially if some seem more constructive while others are inhibiting or even destructive. It is important to respond to all aspects of the client and to respect and accept them equally – even those that Mearns and Thorne (2000: 115–116) call ‘not for growth’ configurations. The examples they give of not for growth configurations include those that want to retreat from the world and do nothing, those that want to return to some previous state and those that have angry and/or aggressive feelings towards the therapist. They acknowledge that to pay attention to not for growth configurations can be very challenging for the therapist but point out that (p. 115) ‘the therapist must actively value this part of her client as well as understanding its nature and existence’. Person-centred therapists are tasked with the responsibility to respond congruently and with empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard to the totality of the client. As Mearns (1999: 127) points out, it is not only one or even a few of the configurations comprising a client’s self-concept which is important but all the configurations comprising that client and the dynamics between them. He states that if any parts are missed or banned from therapy because they are 231too difficult for the therapist what results is a conditional and possibly counter-therapeutic relationship. It is important and helpful to remember that all configurations of self, however ‘negative’ they may seem to the therapist, came about because they were useful – indeed they may even have been about survival and/or protection. Seen in this light, it is usually easy to comprehend the necessity of extending unconditional positive regard to them all.
