Counseling & Therapy | Ridgewood, Bergen County, NJ 07450
  • Home
  • Contact me
  • Individual therapy
  • Couples therapy
  • LGBTQ therapy
  • Men's therapy
  • About
  • 5 tips for a better life
  • Blog
  • Home
  • Contact me
  • Individual therapy
  • Couples therapy
  • LGBTQ therapy
  • Men's therapy
  • About
  • 5 tips for a better life
  • Blog
Search

Counseling & Therapy

Chris Warren-Dickins LLB MA LPC

Congruent Katie (Hopkins)?

9/23/2015

 

I originally wrote this article in January, when Katie Hopkins was making our toenails curl with her acerbic comments as she appeared on Celebrity Big Brother.  Since then, she has sunk to a new low, referring to refugees as “cockroaches” and saying “show
me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don’t care”.

At one time she was saying things which were offensive, things like:  ‘Nothing makes my buttocks clench tighter and my teeth itch more than ‘Full Time Mummy’. Full Time Mummy is not a job title. It is a biological status’ (Katie Hopkins).  This might have made us feel angry, but somehow this pales in comparison with the comments about the tragic refugee crisis.

Hopkins would claim that she is speaking her ‘truth’, that she is describing the world as she sees it.  She might even say that she is being congruent.  Congruence is a term counsellors and psychotherapists often use in their work with clients.  Carl Rogers considered it to be an essential component of the relationship between counsellor and client. To be congruent, the counsellor and client must relate to each other in a genuine and open way. But does this mean that the counsellor and client can interact in such an open way that feelings get hurt?

Some might argue that a therapist is not there to be a nodding dog of a friend, and perhaps Katie Hopkins justifies her acerbic comments along similar lines, but does this give people the freedom to offend others? This debate arose in relation to the cartoon depictions of the Prophet Mohammed, and amongst that debate was an important point: ‘With freedom comes great responsibility’ (Eleanor Roosevelt). 

We cannot trample on someone else’s feelings simply in the name of freedom. We must use that freedom wisely, and so, as Nicola Davies pointed out in her article (Therapy Today, July 2014), congruence is not the only essential component of a relationship between a counsellor and a client. Carl Rogers also considered empathy and unconditional positive regard to be essential. We must understand accurately the feelings of the other person, and we must also remain accepting and caring.  Two additional components that sadly someone like Katie Hopkins will never understand.

Chris Warren-Dickins, Founder of Explore & Transform

Counselling and psychotherapy service in  Wandsworth (Southfields, SW18) & Central London (Bank, EC4)

Comments are closed.

      Sign me up

    Subscribe to Wellbeing Tips

    Therapy in Ridgewood

    Bergen County, New Jersey


    Location

    Counseling and therapy sessions take place at ​162 E Ridgewood Avenue, Suite 4B, Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey 07450-3846

    ​Online therapy is also available

    Picture

    Unsure whether to book your first counseling consultation? 
    It is hard, so I offer a free 15 minute phone consultation.  Call today
    (201) 779-6917, or book online

    Book a therapy consultation today
    Book online

    Find out more about my approach to counseling and therapy, including the use of EMDR therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy ( CBT ), and a person-centered approach

    Online therapy and in-person counseling, Ridgewood, Bergen County, NJ 07450

    'Truth, like love and sleep, resents
    Approaches that are too intense'

    WH Auden

    RSS Feed

Services

  • ​Therapy for Individuals
  • Couples Therapy​
  • LGBTQ affirmative therapy 
  • Men's therapy​​

contact me

  • Book consultation online​
  • ​Telephone me - (201) 779-6917
  • Email me - chris@exploretransform.com​

CHRIS WARREN-DICKINS LLB MA LPC

  • ​​Free 15m telephone consultation
  • My office is at 162 E Ridgewood Ave, Suite 4B, Ridgewood, Bergen County, NJ 07450
  • Sessions are available in-person, or online

Psychotherapist ~ Counselor ~ Psychology Today Therapist


Ridgewood ~ Bergen County ~ New Jersey


Psychotherapy ~ Counseling ~ Therapy

© COPYRIGHT 2015 CHRIS WARREN-DICKINS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NJ Licence # 37PC00618700
  • Home
  • Contact me
  • Individual therapy
  • Couples therapy
  • LGBTQ therapy
  • Men's therapy
  • About
  • 5 tips for a better life
  • Blog