Person to Person: The Problem of Being Human — A New Trend in Psychology

The book alternates between Rogers's professional papers and Barry Stevens's autobiographical reflections, which she wrote in response to reading the papers . A 1975 review in Vidvajyoti described the structure as 'rather peculiar,' consisting of lectures by professional counsellor-psychotherapists interspersed with Stevens's reflections 'triggered off' as she read them . Stevens, a writer with no formal psychological training, provides the 'Curtain Raiser' and interleaved personal sections, while Rogers contributes the theoretical core. The result is a dialogue between the professional and the experiential, embodying the book's argument that the person-to-person encounter is the substance of growth, not a technique only therapists can perform.

Rogers contributes several key papers from the early 1960s. 'Toward a Modern Approach to Values: The Valuing Process in the Mature Person' develops his theory of the organismic valuing process. 'Learning to be Free' addresses education and autonomy. 'The Interpersonal Relationship: The Core of Guidance' states his central thesis about the helping relationship. The book also includes three papers on the client-centered approach to schizophrenia: Rogers's 'Some Learnings from a Study of Psychotherapy with Schizophrenics,' Eugene Gendlin's 'Subverbal Communication and Therapist Expressivity,' and John Shlien's 'A Client-Centered Approach to Schizophrenia: First Approximation' . Wilson Van Dusen contributes 'The Natural Depth in Man,' and the volume closes with 'The End: A Commencement' .

The schizophrenia papers emerged from a research project Rogers conducted at the University of Wisconsin in the late 1950s and early 1960s, applying client-centered therapy to hospitalized psychotic patients—a population considered beyond the reach of non-directive methods . A 1975 theological review noted that these papers were written before 1963 and that 'their value is rather historical; for since then, much further work has been done in this area' . Rogers's contribution was to demonstrate that even severely disturbed individuals could be approached with the same core conditions of congruence, acceptance, and empathy, challenging the assumption that psychosis required purely directive or biological intervention. The book's inclusion of these papers gives it a dual identity as both humanistic manifesto and historical research document.

A PsycCRITIQUES review by I. Jay Knopf in 1968 noted that although the book brings together previously published papers by Rogers, Gendlin, and Van Dusen, it is 'quite unlike the typical edited compilation' . A Vidvajyoti reviewer in 1975 praised Rogers's contributions as needing 'no recommendation,' calling him 'clear, perceptive and realistic' and singling out 'Learning to be Free' and 'The Interpersonal Relationship' for special attention . The same reviewer recommended the book to those interested in personal growth and existential-humanistic counselling, noting that Stevens's contributions are 'therapeutic in themselves.' The reviewer also observed that Rogers's main contributions date from 1960-1964 and that neo-Rogerian developments by scholars like Carkhuff had since extended his work .

Barry Stevens was a writer and 'dropout from college' with no formal training in psychology, yet the book's structure makes her voice equal in weight to Rogers's . She provides the opening 'Curtain Raiser,' interleaved personal reflections, and the closing sections. A Vidvajyoti reviewer described her as 'an exceptional woman' who, though an 'amateur,' has 'put her imprint on all the fields she has touched' . The reviewer warned that some may find her 'very personal way of writing disconcerting at first,' but predicted that 'as he proceeds, the reader will soon become fascinated' . Stevens explicitly hoped readers would find 'permission to be and to become more of himself,' and her sections challenge the reader to 'be authentic, to be "I" and not what others expect' .

Person to Person extends the person-centered principles developed in Client-Centered Therapy (1951) and On Becoming a Person (1961) into new territory: the treatment of schizophrenia, the philosophy of valuing, and the application of the core conditions beyond the professional therapeutic relationship . The book's distinctive contribution is its insistence that the 'problem of being human' is not a clinical problem but a universal one, and that the same relational qualities that facilitate therapeutic growth are available to everyone in everyday life. Stevens's contributions make this argument experientially rather than theoretically, as she describes her own process of becoming authentic without professional training. The book thus bridges Rogers's clinical work and his broader humanistic vision.