Can you be integrative and a person-centered therapist at the same time?

I argue that person-centered therapy is a “fuzzy set” with a variety of members that bear a family resemblance to one another. I suggest that some members of this fuzzy set are approaches that integrate various activities and procedures into their practice along with traditional empathic understanding responses. Based on quotations from Carl Rogers I demonstrate that these approaches deserve to be included as members of the family and that if one follows what Rogers said there is no warrant for the idea that classical nondirective practice is the only “true” person-centered therapy. I argue that one can practice person-centered therapy in an integrative way by including techniques and procedures from other approaches, by meeting at relational depth, and by focusing on experiencing and emotions. I conclude by arguing that it is important that we be open to alternative ways of actualizing person-centered principles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]