I feel like some clinicians abuse the idea of being person-centered as a justification to essentially do nothing during therapy

This isn't a dig at Rogers or person-centered theory. While I do personally disagree that person-centered is both "necessary and sufficient" for change, I do think UPR, warmth, and empathy are crucial. But as a clinician who's seen a lot of therapists as a client myself, it seems like too many of them used it as an excuse to be non-directive to the point where there was no setting of goals, case conceptualization, treatment planning, or concrete interventions.

It was often just having a casual conversation and dicking around in an unstructured way for 50 minutes about whatever was on my mind, with no actual focus or clarity as to the direction of therapy. It's really easy to simply sit there with a client, nod, make an occasional reflection, and say "well i was person-centered, so I did a good job clinically" even if no effort is being made to diagnose, conceptualize, or plan treatment or interventions.