Viewing Person-Centred Counselling from an Islamic Perspective

Abstract

Studies have shown that person-centred approach to counselling is effective in helping various groups of clients. It has been almost thirty years after the departure of Carl Rogers, yet, the approach remains influential in counselling profession. In Malaysia, it becomes one of the most practised counselling approaches among counselling practitioners. As the theory was developed in the United States and represents the Western secular worldview, there is a need to look into its philosophy and concepts from the Islamic perspectives. This is due the reason that many counselling practitioners and clients in Malaysia are Muslims. Hence, the article aims to discuss the main features of the person-centred theory such as its philosophy, view of human nature, origin of individual’s problem and counsellor’s personal qualities and review them from an Islamic perspective.