Consistent and Inconsistent of Client-Centered Theory - Essay Example

Client-Centered Theory Introduction In the client-centered theory of counseling, the primary focus is on the client wherehe or she is capable of looking at their problems and coming up with solutions on their own. The role if the counselor in this theory is almost like that of the parent where they offer unconditional love and an ear to the client without any judgment and in support of any decision that the client comes up with. The counselor does not interfere in any way with the thought process of the client as the client is believed to be responsible for their actions and is believed to be capable of reaching a solution that best suits them(Cepeda, Davenport & Donna 2006, p.1-12). The theory refers to client instead of patient merely because the counselor and the patient are seen to be on the same level rather than a doctor and a patient. The counselor must make sure that they set a comfortable environment for the client to be comfortable and feel relaxed without too much pressure. The counselor must offer congruence which means that the counselor must show genuine concern for the patient. People tend to relate more positively to people who show genuine concern for them. The counselor must also be empathetic towards the client and show sympathy and understand what the client is going through. The counselor should be accepting towards the client regardless of whether the feelings of the client are conventional or not. The counselor should not show any agreement or disagreement during the session and the client should not in any way sense any disapproval from the counselor (Cooper et.al 2007). The counselor and the patient should be able to contact each other psychologically which means that they should connect on an emotional level. The entire conversation is led by the client where she or he is free to give out or withhold any information as they wish. Analysing the Transcript In this case, the client went to a restaurant with a friend who works at the same restaurant. However, after some people went into the restaurant, she started feeling very uneasy that she could not continue eating and considered leaving. She approached the counselor who uses the client-centered approach. When she enters the office, she introduces herself and the subject that she wants to talk about. The counselor does not suggest in any way what she should talk about and it is at the discretion of the client to decide what they want to talk about and what they do not want to disclose. She is specific as she says she wants to talk about her experience at the restaurant where she frequently goes with her friends. The role of the counselor is to accept fully accept her feelings without any judgment and accept her character without attempting to change her personality. The client then provides information about the experience and says that she started feeling uneasy when four men entered the restaurant. She explains her feelings in details and that she was suddenly very fearful and anxious that she could not think of anything else. The client is responsible for her feelings as she claims that at first she thought she was being judgmental and applying a stereotype to the men due to how they were dressed and the way that they talked loudly. She then tried to shake away the feeling by reassuring herself although it was not very successful. The counselor acts on the belief that the client is responsible and thus knows what she is saying and how to decode their feelings. She only asks the patient a question to make the client feel that they are being listened to and perhaps also to enhance connection. The counselor has provided a permissive and comfortable environment where the client feels that she is free to talk about her emotions regardless of how unconventional they are. The client can talk about the way she may have been judgmental in her opinion, and she may have judges the men based on a stereotype rather than their character. She gets so nervous that she could barely eat her food and most people would have judged her harshly for discriminating against other people based on their appearances. The client-centered theory should be able the client to have a strong drive to be mature and socially adjusted (Arnold 2014). The client realises that her feelings may be due to her past experiences where she was bullied and harassed. It is clear that she has not gotten over the experiences even though she wishes to and says that she has tried to brush them off several times but has been unable to do so. She realises that she still has a lot of fear and her entire day was ruined as she kept thinking of her experiences the entire day as she could not control the fear that she was feeling at the time. She realises that she was unable to control her feelings, and the fact even annoyed her. She admits that she is ashamed that she judged the people based on what she had gone through as a child simply because they were dressed in the same way. The counselor gives affirmation by commending her on realizing her mistake and recognizing that she still had not gotten over her earlier experiences. The client has led the entire conversation and reaches within herself to explain the events that were happening rather than the counselor trying to get information from her using questions and probing. The counselor further offers a permissive environment by affirming the feelings of the client and further commending her for not leaving the restaurant even when she was very uncomfortable. It is clear that the counselor fully accepts the client and fully shows sympathy towards her. The counselor rarely probes or gives any advice. She only talks when she is affirming the client or when she needs clearance on something. The client has come up with the conclusion that she needs to change without any influence and thus is likely to be more committed to following it rather than something that has been suggested to her. She evaluates herself as the theory believes that the client is responsible for her feelings and actions, and only she can get rid of them effectively. As much as the client had gone through harassment in the past and realizes that she may have judged the four men wrongly due to her experiences in the past, she acknowledges that the problem is hers and in her mind. The four men may have looked like the ones who had harassed her in the past that they did not have anything to do with that, and she should not have judged them the way that she did. The counselor and the client both agree that it was wrong for her to judge them before they proved themselves. They are on the same level and even share a hearty laugh towards the end of their conversation. The counselor finishes off by assuring her that people learn something new about themselves every day. As much as it is human to want to identify with people in pain, the counselor’s opinion is not necessary in the client-centered theory. In the above scenario, he counselor was very empathetic towards the client as she talked about the experience. She seemed to understand really what the client was going through and in this way, the client felt very comfortable to open up more about her past experiences. Furthermore, the counselor does not interrupt the client by asking questions all the time. She fully accepts the client without trying to change her view of things or trying to guide her in a particular manner. The counselor also allows the client to lead the conversation and say what she wants to say without probing her. She tries as much as possible to make the client comfortable with her and to connect with her on the same level. She does not make the client feel as though she is a patient who requires to be healed. Rather, the counselor makes the client feel that they are equal and that she understands where she is coming from. The counselor meets all the conditions of client-centered theory and thus can relieve the patient of their discomfort or stress. However, the counselor makes a mistake according to the theory when she offers her opinion and agrees with the client. According to the client-centered theory, the counselor should only listen and offer a sympathetic ear as opposed to giving her opinion as this may sway the client in a direction that he did not intend to follow. Most people seeking the services of a counselor are looking for sympathy and a person to listen to them but the client-centered theory aims at giving the client the opportunity to evaluate their emotions and come up with their solutions. The client-centered theory believes that every person has the power within themselves to solve their issues and come up with ways to live their lives in a better way (Cooper, Watson,& Hoeldampf). The counselor may have appeared judgmental as she was giving her opinion regardless of whether they were in sync with those of the client or not. The goals of the client-centered theory have been met since the client has been able to express her motivating attitudes and deep feelings regarding the issue. The client has also been able to explore the attitudes that she possesses and become more aware of why she had reacted in the way that she did in a clear and concise manner. The views that she had previously denied or tried to hide are now more apparent, and thus she can deal with them in a more agreeable manner. After the conscious realization of why she felt fearful and afraid, the client accepts herself more and more completely. Again the client is at liberty to verbalize the feelings or not and, in this case, she chooses to disclose them to the counselor. After realizing what went wrong, the client determines their course of action which is to deal with her feelings and try to be less judgmental of people. She decides to deal with her experience and stop judging people unfairly based on their clothing or even their appearances. The client, on their initiative, chooses to act in a different manner and get over her feelings in order to reach her goal. Consistency with the client-centered theory I was consistent with the client-centered theory when due to the attention that was given to the client. The client was very comfortable and was able to disclose pieces of information about her past. The client believed that I was a good listener and that she could feel the sympathy as she was talking and replaying the event. Consistency with the client-centered theory was shown when I could get through to the client and helps her come up with reasons as to why she reacted in the way that she did. I believe that I allowed the client to take control of the session and provided her with the correct environment for them to talk freely and open up. Additionally, it is important that the client was taking responsibility for her actions, and she did that on her own by evaluating her feelings and reaching a solution. The client in the end left feeling better than when she came into the session and therefore she will be able to react differently when faced with the same situation at a different time (Rogers, Lyon & Tausch 2013). However, some inconsistencies were also shown such as asking some questions during the session in a bid to guide the patient. The client was looking for sympathy and someone to talk to and I asked whether she had talked to any of her friends about her experience, and this may have appeared wrong. The question was motivated by the desire to know more about the background of the situation that is not required in the client-centered theory. Sometimes I was uncomfortable in the sense that I tried to offer sympathy to the client and had to restrain myself since the theory does not permit it. It is normal for people to want to offer kind words to someone they are talking to and reassure them once in a while especially when they seem to be in pain. However, this is not consistent with the theory since, as a counselor, feelings are not meant to be shown. It was also clear that at some point I tried to push back feelings and did not allow the client to explore their feelings fully. For instance, the client mentioned severally that she was quite fearful and that she was ashamed of her judgmental attitude towards the four men. I missed the emotional content of the entire session and this may have been facilitated by the desire to not want to push the client to a certain direction and lead the client in a particular manner. At the end of the session, I may have given my opinion that may have further affirmed the patient. As much as it is normal to give an opinion and to try to help in any way that one can, it is not consistent with theory. The client-centered approach is based on the ability of the client to get to their conclusions using only their values (Guindon 2011). However, when the counselor offers their opinion, they may influence the client to respond in a particular manner and thus not attaining the goal of client-centered theory. Values and beliefs in relation to self and others within the context of the counseling relationship I believe in making the lives of other people better than they already are. People need to be encouraged and helped through the various issues of life so that they may be able to reach their full potentials. I would want to connect with people in a way that inspires them and makes them want more out of life and work hard in all that they do. Counseling offers a platform for reaching out to people who are in need of the services and those who want to better their lives by getting rid of their past or by evaluating their reactions to certain things that may hinder their progress. The fulfillment obtained from helping other people is priceless. Materials things in life do not matter as much as the lives of the people. People have to be satisfied with their inner beings first so that they may enjoy the material things. The greatest discovery that one can make in their lives is discovering their potential and changing their lives for the better. Once a person finds himself, his weaknesses, his strengths, then they will be able to reach their maximum potential. In my opinion, material things should not be among the things that people derive pleasure as there are much more important things in life other than owning a car or a big house. It is much more important to have personal relationships with human beings whether they are family, friends or even clients and to share in the joys and troubles of life. I believe that I have a gift for understanding other people, relating to them and helping them see another side of things that they had not considered before. When making an important decision, it is important to be as objective as possible and hence be able to see things from all sides and make an informed decision. The desire to help people is essential for the field of counseling as it forms the basis of the counseling profession. References Arnold, Kyle. 2014. Behind the Mirror: Reflective Listening and its Tain in the Work of Carl Rogers. The Humanistic Psychologist, 42:4 354-369 Brodsky, S. 2011. Therapy with coerced and reluctant clients. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Cepeda, Lisa M.; Davenport, Donna S. 2006. "Person-Centered Therapy and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: An Integration of Present and Future Awareness". Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training (Educational Publishing Foundation) 43 (1): 1–12 Cooper, M., OHara, M, Schmid, P., and Wyatt, G. 2007. The Handbook of person-centered psychotherapy and counseling. London: Palgrave MacMillan Cooper, M., Watson, J. C., & Hoeldampf, D. 2010. Person-centered and experiential therapies work: A review of the research on counseling, psychotherapy and related practices. Ross-on-Wye, UK: PCCS Books Gelso, C. 2011. The real relationship in psychotherapy: The hidden foundation of change. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Guindon, M. 2011. A counseling primer: An introduction to the profession. New York: Routledge/Taylor-Francis Prochaska, J.O & Norcross, J.C. 2007. Systems of Psychotherapy: A Trans-theoretical Analysis. Thompson Books/Cole:New York Reinkraut, R., Motulsky, S., & Ritchie, J. 2009. Developing a competent practitioner: Use of self in counseling psychology training. Asian Journal of Counseling, 16(1), 7–29. Rogers, Carl, Lyon, HC, Tausch, R. 2013. On Becoming an Effective Teacher – Person-centered teaching, Psychology, Philosophy, and Dialogues with Carl R. Rogers and Harold Lyon. London: Routledge Read More