Personality Disorder and Counseling - Essay Example

Personality Disorder and Counseling Importance of Counseling: Counseling does not exist in isolation. It is a joint action that develops a kind of relationship that always involves two or more members working and communicating together. In the process of counseling, one participant always wants to seek the help of another member (who is known as counselor) with whom he is trying to interact. In the relationship of counseling, it is always important to make an idea clear in mind that counseling gets success and occurs only if people want it to occur. (Baum, 1991) Before going through counseling strategies, it is also essential to highlight the reason why we adopt counseling therapies. Personality disorders give rise to adopt therapeutic behaviors so what is personality disorder? Just have a look and try to understand the reasons behind counseling and therapies. Personality Disorder and Counseling Personality disorders are basically considered as the most complex medical situations. Health care professionals treat this sort of disorder with great suspicions and fear. However, the treatments help the clients to improve the quality of life. The treatments, counseling procedures and psychotherapy always highlight the importance of care for the patient in order to improve health and life conditions. Most of the service providers or counselors highlight the need of care for the client at the heart of each and every action. We can see a great deal of disagreement while health care professionals define personality disorders. The world health organization defines it as “a disruption to the behavioral tendencies of an individual which then produces substantial social disturbance”. (Adebowale, L). This definition directly links to the expectations of the society. The individual markedly deviated from what is expected from society and culture and this is known as personality disorder. So, it gives a concept that people are not born with personality disorders; it is the environment or society that play a role in developing such disorders. Personality disorder is something that develops over time based on personal experiences as well as the structuring of the brain. Early interventions and counseling strategies are always needed to minimize the chances of personality disorders especially in the childhood years and the young adulthood. In order to improve the quality and standard of living for the people who are going through personality disorders, it is important to understand the effects that their conditions may cause. The most common effects associated with personality disorder are the misuse of substance and self harm. Most of the people who misuse substance always thought to be those who have personality disorders or depressions in life. Such individuals can also experience high morbidity rates like depression or sometimes develop eating disorders. So, before going through any therapy, it is essential to understand how personality disorders can effect life and infringe the quality of standard living. Personality disorders can also manifest offending behaviors which are more destructive. According to an estimate, it is thought that more than half male and female prisoners are always affected from some sort of personality disorder. So, the importance of counseling cannot be underestimated as it is a fact that personality disorders give rise to criminal activities. (Adebowale, L) PERSON-CENTERED APPROACH This approach indicates that a person has vast resources within himself. These resources can be used for self understanding in order to alter the attitudes and self directed behavioral patterns. Furthermore, the resources can easily be tapped if a definable environment of facilitative mental and emotional attitudes is offered. (Rogers, 1979) According to the views of Carl Rogers, change is an ongoing process. It should be seen in the same way rather than considering change as an alteration from fixed state of mind to another state. So, Roger viewed that the psychological health can be best achieved if a person passes through continual changes with ease. Such individuals are open to new experiences and they are able to incorporate in new situations. Moreover, such people can easily adopt new experiences of life whether good or bad. (McMillan, 2004) So, Carl Roger who is considered one among the most influential and the competent psychologist of his time in America put forward a person centered approach in psychological therapy based on his ideas of ongoing change, assimilation and adoption. He was the person who spread professional counseling known as psychotherapy. Person centered approach in psychotherapy is an important hallmark of Carl Roger. Here is a brief description of this model and how it works under client- counselor relationship. Three Important Conditions of Person-centered Approach There are three important conditions that are considered as the foundation of person centered approach. These conditions play great role in developing the growth and promoting climate between counselor and client relationship whether we talk about parent and child relationship, therapist and client, leader and group, administrator and staff or teacher and student. These conditions apply in all the cases and play vital role wherever person centered approach is adopted for counseling. The ultimate goal, of all the below mentioned conditions, is the development of a person. A brief description of each condition, which is the building block of person centered therapy, is briefly enclosed here. Genuineness of the Therapist: The first condition has to do with the realness or the genuineness of the therapist. If a therapist will be more indulged in the relationship with the client and put up no professional front then there would be greater likelihood that his client will change and finally grow in a more constructive manner. At that moment, therapist is the only being whose attitudes and feelings matter a lot. Moreover, the level of transparency between the therapist and the client is also very important. The client can clearly see the relationship in this way. So there is close congruence between the experiences faced, both by the therapist and the client. (Rogers, 1979) Create a Climate for Change: In creating a climate for a positive change, the second important attitude that must be developed, is acceptance. This generally means when a therapist experiences positive and acceptant attitude towards his or her client then change or therapeutic movement is more likely to occur. The client might be at any condition so it is the duty of the therapist to care him rather the client is facing confusion, anxiety, courage, pride, fear or resentment. Whatever the case may be, the therapist should care his client to create a more productive environment towards positive change. (Rogers, 1979) Develop Empathic Understanding The third aspect that must be developed is the emphatic understanding with the client. This means that the counselor should sense the personal meanings and feelings of his client. He should communicate this feeling to his client. When this truly happens, the counselor goes into the private world of the client and starts understanding the meanings that further raises the level of awareness. This is also known as active and sensitive listening which rarely happens in our life. We always listen but listening with real understanding which is true empathy does not happens all the time. Listening with true understanding is the most important force that can bring change. (Rogers, 1979) How the three above mentioned climatic structure can bring change? Now, it is important to understand how the three conditions that have been mentioned above work together and create a climate that can bring positive change. Briefly speaking, when a person is accepted, he always develops a sense and attitude to care himself more. Moreover, when a person is empathically listened, it develops an attitude to listen himself more accurately as far as inner experiences are related. This makes him more real and genuine human being. Finally, as a person understands himself with the help of tendencies that are developed with reciprocal attitudes of the therapist, he can realize the importance of positive change. The therapist creates a feeling or sense in a person that he is more effective towards his own positive growth and development. This is known as person-centered approach. (Rogers, 1979) Finally, Person centered cognitive behavior therapy was first developed in order to treat anxiety and depression. This behavioral therapy was considered effective for a great range of problems. This form of therapy has been structured through different phases in which the therapist has high activity levels. In this form of therapy, the therapist focuses the issue and directs the treatment. However, there is a small difficulty with this process. If this technique is improperly utilized, it can lead to a feeling for clients that they are being judged by the therapist. The challenge of person centered therapy is always to join an empathic position with positive therapy that can further focus the treatment of the psychological problem. (Josefowitz, Myran, 2005) PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH Psychoanalysis or psychotherapy is an approach to human mind. In the beginning of the twentieth century, this approach was first developed by Sigmund Freud for the psychological treatment of the people. This theory of psychoanalysis emerged as a result of clinical observations. Freud attempts to understand the behavior and tried to treat the disorders that were previously thought incomprehensible. The main feature of psychoanalysis or psychodynamic approach resides in an assumption that the mental life of any individual is unconscious and thus people can be understood by interpreting the meanings lie in unconscious behavior. Psychodynamic concept is equal to this psychoanalysis in which the mental forces such as fears and wishes are combined together or conflicted with each other, most often, unconsciously to bring forward a solution to personality or psychological disorders. Freud further emphasized that the consciousness is the tip of psychic iceberg. Human beings are extraordinary in their potential of self acknowledgment at one end along with self depiction at the other. So, Freud proposed a range of models related to human mind. These models offer systematic views of human personality as well as psychological developments. The general model of human mind put forward by Freud divided the mental processes in three basic types. Rests of the models, that were developed later on, were based on these processes. These generally include, Conscious: This process involves those types of activities with which we are directly aware such as the words. Preconscious: These processes are not currently included in conscious but these can readily be carried to consciousness. Unconscious: The unconscious processes are unreachable and inaccessible to realization because of the fact that these are repressed. (Westen, D) Psychodynamic Counseling in a Nutshell Psychodynamic counseling is a type of in depth psychology. The main focus of this type of counseling is to disclose the unconscious substance of human mind. This substance is revealed in order to alleviate the psychic tension. So, psychodynamic analysis of mind can also be termed as psychoanalysis. The whole counseling depends on the interpersonal relationships between the therapist and the client. In term of its wideness, psychodynamic therapy is more advanced and has number of techniques. These techniques can be taken from different sources. Moreover, this type of counseling assists number of areas including family therapy and individual or group therapy. In administrative tasks, organizational and group tasks can also be achieved through this form of counseling. Psychodynamic or psychoanalytical theory developed in twentieth century. Psychodynamic approach was a great addition in the field of psychiatry or clinical psychology. (Howard, 2006) SIMILARITIES BETWEEN PSYCHODYNAMIC AND PERSON-CENTERED APPROACH There are various areas of similarities between the two approaches. This list is quite extensive. In both the approaches the main aim of the therapeutic acts and attitudes is just to facilitate the insight of the client and to offer them the new experiences of life that can bring positive change in their lives. Next to it, in both the cases the issues of the clients are explored after their engagement with the therapist. So, client and counselor relationships are of prior importance in both the strategies of counseling. As far as the concept of empathy is related, in both the traditions, this is considered a complex process that is applied to therapists as well as clients. The concept of empathy enables the clients to achieve new learning and renegotiate their boundaries that are present between them and the other people present around. Both the therapies have ultimate goal towards harmonious personality development and to develop tolerance for the relations present around. (Owen, I., 1999) DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PSYCHODYNAMIC AND PERSON-CENTERED APPROACH Both the above mentioned approaches, psychodynamic and person centered are different in some ways as well. For example the aim, of these counseling therapies, is to facilitate the clients but at the same time the methods of working with the client are different. Although these counseling strategies work out with therapeutic relations but each type continues with different attention in giving response to the clients. The aim is the same but the practice is different while working and practicing therapy with the client. (Owen, I., 1999) REFERENCES: 1. Leod, J., 2007. Counseling Skill. Open University Press: USA. 2. Baum, A., Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine. University Press. United Kingdom. 3. McMillan, M., 2004. The Person-Centered Approach to Therapeutic Change. 4. Rogers, C., 1979. The Foundations of the Person-Centered Approach. Centre for Studies of the Person, La Jolla, California. 5. Adebowale, L., Personality Disorder: Taking a Person-centered Approach. CEO, Turning Point, UK. 6. Westen, D., Psychoanalysis: Theories. 7. Josefowitz, N., Myran, D., 2005. Towards a Person-centered Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Routledge. 8. Howard, S., 2006. Psychodynamic Counseling in a Netshell. Sage: London. 9. Owen, I., 1999. Exploring the Similarities and Differences between Person-centered and Psychodynamic Therapy. WVI ISB, UK. Read More