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This book examines the scientific contribution and increasing relevance of the Person-Centered Approach (PCA) in psychotherapy. The direction taken in the book is to provide readers with a multidisciplinary and multi-perspective view as well as practical applications. Beyond the more conventional psychotherapy applications (client-centered, experimental, emotion-focused, child-centered, motivational interviewing, existential, filial, etc.) others have evolved including peace and conflict resolution work, encounter and T-groups, nonviolent communication, parent effectiveness training, person-centered planning for people with disabilities, relationship enhancement methods, learner-centered education, technology-enhanced learning environments, human relations leadership training, etc. Simultaneously, scientific disciplines were influenced by this perspective in less obvious ways.
Hence, the major contribution of this book is to identify and characterize the key bridges-so far only partly recognized- between the PCA and several other disciplines. Based on the results of the bridge-building endeavor, the editors will propose an initial formulation of the PCA as a meta-theory. It is intended as a generic framework to solve complex, social problems and to stimulate further research and development concerning the human species in relationship to its environment.

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On the Origins of the Handbook.- The Essence of the Person-Centered Approach.- Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research and Theory.- An Interactive Cognitive-Emotional Model of the Person-Centered Approach.- Carl Rogers Meets The Neurosciences: Insights from Social Neuroscience for Client-Centered Therapy.- The Circle of Contact: A Neuroscience View on the Formation of Relationships.- Rogers´ Generative Framework of Organismic Integrity: Scientific Evidence Challenging Academic, Medical, and Pharmaceutical Forces.- Mindfulness, Authentic Connection and Making "Right" Decisions:Using Neuroscience to Build a Bridge with the Person-Centered Approach.- You Can Inspire Me To Live Further: Explicating Pre-reflexive Bridges to the Other.- The Awakened Heart - Mindfulness as a Bridge between the Person-Centered Approach and Eastern Philosophies.- Centered in Presence: Meditation with Gifted Students at Hansenberg Castle.- On Correspondences Between the Person-Centered Approach and Attachment Theory.- Relational Psychophysiology and Mutual Regulation during Dyadic Therapeutic and Developmental Relating.- First Relationship, Neuro-psycho-biology and the Person-Centered Approach.- Person-Centered Theory Encountering Mainstream Psychology: Building Bridges and Looking to the Future.- Self-Determination Theory, Person-Centered Approaches, and Personal Goals: Exploring the Links.- A Strengths Based Approach Towards Coaching In a Multicultural Environment.- Person-Centred Approach and Systems Theory.- Relationship Worlds and the Plural Self.- Higher-Order Change within the Person Centered Approach.- How Can I Trust You? Encounters With Carl Rogers and Game Theory.- The Person-Centered Approach in Research.- The Learner-Centered Model: Implications for Research Approaches.- A Practice of Social Ethics - Anthropological, Epistemological and Ethical Foundations of the PCA.- Christian Spirituality and the Person-Centered Approach.- Formative Empathy as a Mystical Way of Being.- Reflections and a Preview.

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