It is now 25 years since the first edition of Person-Centred Counselling in Action appeared, offering the definitive exposition of the theory and practice of the person-centred approach. Since then the book has supported and inspired hundreds of thousands of trainees and practitioners worldwide.

This important Fourth Edition maintains the book's accessibility, clarity and verve whilst incorporating new developments in the approach. John McLeod joins authors Dave Mearns and Brian Thorne to contribute an exciting new chapter on research relevant to the person-centred field.

Person-Centred Counselling in Action, Fourth Edition will be an invaluable resource for those embarking on their first stages of training. Well-established practitioners and even seasoned scholars will continue to find much to interest and stimulate them.

Dave Mearns is professor of counselling and retired Director of the Counselling Unit of the University of Strathclyde. He has written seven books including Working at Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy (with Mick Cooper) and is co-editor of the international journal, Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies.

Brian Thorne is Emeritus Professor of Counselling at the University of East Anglia, Norwich where he was previously Director of Counselling and of the Centre for Counselling Studies. He is also a Co-founder of the Norwich Centre and continues to work there as a Professional Fellow.

John McLeod is Emeritus Professor of Counselling at the University of Abertay Dundee and adjunct Professor of Psychology at the University of Oslo, Norway.

Eagerly awaited by many counsellors and psychotherapists, this new edition includes an updated preface, new content on recent research and new developments and debates around relational depth, and new case studies. This groundbreaking text goes to the very heart of the therapeutic meeting between therapist and client. Focusing on the concept of 'relational depth', the authors describe a form of encounter in which therapist and client experience profound feelings of contact and engagement with each other, and in which the client has an opportunity to explore whatever is experienced as most fundamental to her or his existence. The book has helped thousands of trainees and practitioners understand how to facilitate a relationally-deep encounter, identify the personal 'blocks' that may be encountered along the way, and consider new therapeutic concepts - such as 'holistic listening' - that help them to meet their clients at this level. This classic text remains a source of fresh thinking and stimulating ideas about the therapeutic encounter which is relevant to trainees and practitioners of all orientations.

Praise for the First Edition:

`This is a useful book for those who use person-centred counselling in their practice, or who are training to become person-centred counsellors' - Counselling and Psychotherapy, The Journal of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

`I found myself fascinated, riveted by the accessibility of the prose and format, and, most importantly, splendidly re-engaged with the person-centred approach.... The book will prove most useful to practitioners and students of the person-centred approach to counselling, but those from other orientations might also be agreeably surprised by its depth and by Mearns', dare I say, analytical approach to his subject' - Self & Society

Developing Person-Centred Counselling,

Second Edition is designed to help counsellors improve their skills within the person-centred approach. Written by Dave Mearns, leading person-centred expert and bestselling author, the Second Edition has been fully revised and updated taking account of developments in person-centred practice.

With new chapters on growth and transference, the book covers the subjects which are central to person-centred training:

- the core conditions

- therapeutic alliance

- development of the counsellor

- therapeutic process

- the person-centred approach in relation to psychopathology.

Supported by case material and examples from practice, each part of the book presents the counsellor with practical, and often challenging ideas, which encourage him//her to think carefully about his//her practice and how to improve it.

Developing Person-Centred Counselling, Second Edition is a highly practical and inspiring resource for trainees and practitioners alike.

`At the risk of being directive, I would say you should buy this book. It contains some of the most stimulating and refreshing ideas to have emerged in the person-centred literature since On Becoming a Person '- Person Centred Practice Person-Centred Therapy Today makes a timely and significant contribution to the development of one of the most popular and widely-used therapeutic approaches. `This is a book that is rooted in the origins of person-centred therapy but stands at the cutting edge of new ideas developing in this tradition. It will reinvigorate those of us already immersed in this tradition. It should convince newcomers of the vitality and potential of this approach to therapy' - Tim Bond, University of Bristol `This book is clearly a labour of love by two authors with unique abilities and unparalleled experience: readers will be educated, inspired and encouraged in their own dialogue with the person-centred approach'- Charles J. O'Leary, Denver Colorado `Mearns and Thorne have done Rogers proud in suggesting how person-centred theory and practice can, without losing its essence, evolve in new directions' - Richard Nelson-Jones, Director, Cognitive Institute, Chiang Mai, Thailand Dave Mearns and Brian Thorne are well known internationally as leading experts and authors of the bestselling Person-Centred Counselling in Action, a classic text which has been the cornerstone of training in the approach for over a decade. Written in the same vivid and engaging style, Person-Centred Therapy Today explores what it means to be `person-centred' in the twenty-first century and outlines key philosophical challenges to the approach. The authors robustly answer critics who have labelled person-centred therapy `westernised', `unmanly' and `anti-intellectual'. The book breaks new ground in presenting the authors' reworking of Carl Rogers' theory of the Self, an innovation which has been years in the making and has implications for both theory and practice. Central to the book are two chapters which describe how the Self is constructed as a collection of different parts or `configurations'. Using vivid examples chosen from their own practice, Dave Mearns and Brian Thorne show how this theory contributes directly to the therapist's understanding and interactions with clients. Person-Centred Therapy Today represents a significant contribution to the development of the person-centred approach. It will be read by teachers and students of counselling and psychology who wish to keep their knowledge of the approach fully up-to-date and by all who consider themselves to be person-centred in their approach to helping clients.

`How hard it is to find a book to recommend to trainees, which will give them an insight into what counselling (and psychotherapy too, for that matter) is really like. This book does exactly that.... This is a book which would be equally useful to the humanistic practitioner and the more orthodox one. The breadth of sympathy is admirable in dealing with what is common to all orientations. This is one of those rare books which does justice both to the human experiences involved in counselling and psychotherapy, and to the theory which might explain those experiences' - Changes What is the experience of counselling from the perspectives of both client and counsellor? What can be learned for the practice of counselling from an understanding of how it feels to be a client or a counsellor? Addressing these questions, central to this book are the personal accounts of individual clients and counsellors, who each relate their own very different experiences of counselling. They explore such issues as identity, expectations, trust, power and boundaries in the client-counsellor relationship. And each examines the intense personal meanings of `success' or `failure' in the client or counsellor role. An analysis of the implications for the counselling relationship concludes the volume.

Eagerly awaited by many counsellors and psychotherapists, this new edition includes an updated preface, new content on recent research and new developments and debates around relational depth, and new case studies. This groundbreaking text goes to the very heart of the therapeutic meeting between therapist and client. Focusing on the concept of 'relational depth', the authors describe a form of encounter in which therapist and client experience profound feelings of contact and engagement with each other, and in which the client has an opportunity to explore whatever is experienced as most fundamental to her or his existence. The book has helped thousands of trainees and practitioners understand how to facilitate a relationally-deep encounter, identify the personal 'blocks' that may be encountered along the way, and consider new therapeutic concepts - such as 'holistic listening' - that help them to meet their clients at this level. This classic text remains a source of fresh thinking and stimulating ideas about the therapeutic encounter which is relevant to trainees and practitioners of all orientations.

`At the risk of being directive, I would say you should buy this book. It contains some of the most stimulating and refreshing ideas to have emerged in the person-centred literature since On Becoming a Person '- Person Centred Practice Person-Centred Therapy Today makes a timely and significant contribution to the development of one of the most popular and widely-used therapeutic approaches. `This is a book that is rooted in the origins of person-centred therapy but stands at the cutting edge of new ideas developing in this tradition. It will reinvigorate those of us already immersed in this tradition. It should convince newcomers of the vitality and potential of this approach to therapy' - Tim Bond, University of Bristol `This book is clearly a labour of love by two authors with unique abilities and unparalleled experience: readers will be educated, inspired and encouraged in their own dialogue with the person-centred approach'- Charles J. O'Leary, Denver Colorado `Mearns and Thorne have done Rogers proud in suggesting how person-centred theory and practice can, without losing its essence, evolve in new directions' - Richard Nelson-Jones, Director, Cognitive Institute, Chiang Mai, Thailand Dave Mearns and Brian Thorne are well known internationally as leading experts and authors of the bestselling Person-Centred Counselling in Action, a classic text which has been the cornerstone of training in the approach for over a decade. Written in the same vivid and engaging style, Person-Centred Therapy Today explores what it means to be `person-centred' in the twenty-first century and outlines key philosophical challenges to the approach. The authors robustly answer critics who have labelled person-centred therapy `westernised', `unmanly' and `anti-intellectual'. The book breaks new ground in presenting the authors' reworking of Carl Rogers' theory of the Self, an innovation which has been years in the making and has implications for both theory and practice. Central to the book are two chapters which describe how the Self is constructed as a collection of different parts or `configurations'. Using vivid examples chosen from their own practice, Dave Mearns and Brian Thorne show how this theory contributes directly to the therapist's understanding and interactions with clients. Person-Centred Therapy Today represents a significant contribution to the development of the person-centred approach. It will be read by teachers and students of counselling and psychology who wish to keep their knowledge of the approach fully up-to-date and by all who consider themselves to be person-centred in their approach to helping clients.

Praise for the First Edition:

`This is a useful book for those who use person-centred counselling in their practice, or who are training to become person-centred counsellors' - Counselling and Psychotherapy, The Journal of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

`I found myself fascinated, riveted by the accessibility of the prose and format, and, most importantly, splendidly re-engaged with the person-centred approach.... The book will prove most useful to practitioners and students of the person-centred approach to counselling, but those from other orientations might also be agreeably surprised by its depth and by Mearns', dare I say, analytical approach to his subject' - Self & Society

Developing Person-Centred Counselling,

Second Edition is designed to help counsellors improve their skills within the person-centred approach. Written by Dave Mearns, leading person-centred expert and bestselling author, the Second Edition has been fully revised and updated taking account of developments in person-centred practice.

With new chapters on growth and transference, the book covers the subjects which are central to person-centred training:

- the core conditions

- therapeutic alliance

- development of the counsellor

- therapeutic process

- the person-centred approach in relation to psychopathology.

Supported by case material and examples from practice, each part of the book presents the counsellor with practical, and often challenging ideas, which encourage him//her to think carefully about his//her practice and how to improve it.

Developing Person-Centred Counselling, Second Edition is a highly practical and inspiring resource for trainees and practitioners alike.