1902-1987
American psychologist who developed a nondirective, patient-centered method of psychotherapy known as humanistic psychology.

Carl Rogers was born in Oak Park, Illinois. Raised in a fundamentalist Christian home, Rogers attended the University of Wisconsin and studied for the ministry at Union Theological Seminary before deciding to pursue a doctorate in education and clinical psychology at Columbia University. Between 1928 and 1939, Rogers worked as a counselor at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Rochester. In 1940, he was appointed to the faculty of Ohio State University. By this time, he had worked out much of his new client-centered system of therapy, which was set forth in his second book, Counseling and Psychotherapy, published in 1942.

Rogers believed that the...