Subject: the intersection of therapist's personal values and counteretransference in clinical psychol - Essay Example

Also, therapists must be aware that they carry their values and prejudices/stereotypes into the session and it is important to make sure that while doing therapy, these do not clash with what the patient is saying. My personal values that I hold utmost are: self worth, Respect, privacy, honesty, and possessing an educational degree. A situation in which my values would be compromised would be if I was working with a prostitute that had just become a rape victim. The rape victim works at a strip club, but also sells sexual favors on the side so that she can pay her “pimp” as well as satisfy her drug cravings because she is a drug addict.

In addition, she has also had at least two abortions in the past few months. She was walking down an alleyway late after her shift at the strip club when she was assaulted by a man who knocked her out and then took her somewhere where he raped her. As a therapist, I would have to recognize how this is a traumatic experience and understand the psychological and physiological aspects of this crisis. When dealing with it, I would have to be careful with the fact that her psyche is fragile and could possibly do more harm than helping her.

However, the situation would certainly clash with my values. How can I counsel a prostitute on rape when that is what she does for a living? One of the most important caveats about counseling is if you feel that your values are going to interfere with the session, and then you refer the individual to another therapist. If I had to deal with a situation for this, I might feel apathetic to the situation because I would feel that she sort of deserved it. She was leading a lifestyle where this would not be considered out of the ordinary.

She did not have any self-worth, which is probably why she was such a good target for rape because she sleeps for her money to support her other unhealthy habits; not to mention the risk of STD contraction assuming the fact that she had been checked, or even the threat of her passing them along to her customers. She has to respect for herself and has no honesty in that she cannot be honest and say that this lifestyle is not an acceptable one to live. She probably never went to school, otherwise even with the slightest education, she could have a better and safer job than this.

Like stated previously, if you are having problems separating yourself from the emotionality of the situation, you should refer the client. If you choose to work with the patient and you see that your values and thoughts are clashing with the patients, you need to take a step back. Being aware of one’s emotions is crucial, but also remembering that the person is there for help; they want to talk about it and make a change or they would have never come. Triaging is an acceptable method when dealing with a problem like this.

The first step would be to look at the problem and see if there are any legal concerns associated with. In this case, there are it was a crime that was committed, but also the client could also be indicted for prostitution and illegal substance use (Grosso, 2009). When proceeding with counseling, you let the patient self-examine themselves. The point is to help guide them to show them that maybe the lifestyle they were living was not a good one, but you let them discover this on their own. After the patient decides that they want to make a change, you facilitate