Understanding and Enhancing Positive Regard in Psychotherapy: Carl Rogers and Beyond

The therapeutic relationship, more than any particular technique or intervention, is the key to therapeutic success. Positive regard is a crucial component of that relationship. This book reconsiders the role of positive regard in contemporary psychotherapies. Positive regard, along with the therapist’s empathy and genuineness, is one of Carl Rogers’ three “necessary and sufficient” conditions for therapeutic change. However, positive regard is the least well-researched and most misunderstood of the three conditions.