In this book one of America's most distinguished psychologists describes his own experiences in helping people to discover the path to personal growth through the understanding of their own true limitations and potentialities. What is the meaning of personal growth ? Under what conditions is such growth possible ? How can one person help another? What is creativity, and how can it be fostered ? These are some of the issues raised here which challenge many concepts and attitudes of traditional psychology.
Contemporary psychology derives largely from the experimental laboratory, or from Freudian theory. It is thus preoccupied with minute aspects of animal and human behaviour, or with the mentally ill. But there are rebels, of whom the author counts himself as one, along with Gordon Allport, Abraham Maslow and Rollo May, who feel that psychology and psychiatry should set their sights higher, and be more concerned with growth and potentiality in man. The interest of such a psychology is in the production of harmoniously mature persons whose many facets are in balance. To such a psychology, every person is an individual, with qualities and possibilities infinitely capable of development. In these chaotic times the need for such people is evident. for they are more flexible in human relationships, more creative, and less open to suggestion, persuasion, and control than the rest of us.
This book, philosophical and provocative in content, summarizes Dr. Rogers' mature experience in psychotherapy. He discusses the problems of helping others, of communication, and interpersonal relationships. The process of becoming a mature person. and the implications of this change of attitude for education, for therapy, and for family life, are investigated. On Becoming a person is non-technical in its language, is intended not only for psychologists and psychiatrists, but for anyone interested in "becoming". It is especially dedicated to teachers and counsellors, religious and social workers, labour-management specialists, and all who are concerned with human relationships.