Rules, Principles, and Various Models and Concepts of Counseling - Essay Example

Jachelline Patino Dr. James Rosado HUS 2303 Chapter Introduction and Overview The s that this book examines the 11 major approaches to Counseling and Psychotherapy, and discusses the various characteristics of each approach, such as therapeutic goals and processes, the client–therapist relationship, and specific counseling procedures. Students are encouraged to develop a balanced view of the major theories and practical techniques of the various approaches which are commonly used by counselors, to consider the potential and limitation of each approach, and develop a personal counseling style. It is important to educate counselors to integrate the various approaches, without rejecting any model, as each approach has its own unique useful dimensions. If students are confined to one model, it will restrict their effectiveness as future counselors of diverse human behavior. Theoretical pluralism is necessary in a diverse society. At the same time, an undisciplined mixture of approaches, based on personal biases and preconceptions, is to be avoided. The author cautions that the acquisition of this integrative approach requires years of study and practice. The author goes on to define his own stand on the subject. He is strongly influenced by the existential approach and particularly favors the use of role-playing techniques. He values the psychoanalytical stand that the past influences present behavior. He favors the cognitive behavioral focus on how thinking affects feeling and behavior. He considers it essential for clients to apply what they learn in therapy to their everyday lives. He focuses on personal responsibility, in conjunction with the limitations of external and internal forces. Family therapy and feminist therapy emphasize interpersonal and sociocultural factors in understanding an individual. He concurs with the post modern approaches which are based on the premise of clients possessing individual competencies to solve their problems. He favors the collaborative therapist-client approach to psychotherapy. His definition of an effective counselor is one who personally relates to the client to facilitate healing. Serving as a model and connecting with the client are powerful tools. The author holds that the development of a constructive client-therapist relationship is dependent on personal characteristics of the counselor. He advises the practice of techniques by the student in order to develop client empathy. He emphasizes the importance of acquiring a broad base of counseling techniques, which can be tailored to meet the needs of individual clients. The author suggests that the student relates the concepts and techniques discussed in the book to his own personal life in order to get the maximum value from the book. The author’s goal is to enable the student to develop a personal synthesis to counseling. In an overview of Contemporary Counseling Models, the author gives five general categories under which eleven therapeutic approaches are listed, and lists the key figures involved (1) Psychodynamic therapies: Psychoanalytic and Adlerian Therapy. (2) Experiential and Relationship-oriented therapies: Existential, Person-centered and Gestalt Therapy. (3) Action therapies: Reality, Behavior, Rational-emotive and Cognitive Therapy. (4) Systems Perspective: Feminist and Family Therapy. (5) Post modern Approaches: Social Constructionism, Solution-focused brief Therapy and Narrative therapy. The author presents the case history of a hypothetical client, Stan. Using this case helps the student to apply the various theoretical techniques to this case, form an integrative approach and develop a personalized style of counseling. Chapter 1 concludes with a detailed intake interview, an autobiography of ‘Stan,’ and an overview of the key themes in Stan’s life. Name: Jachelline Patino Instructor: Dr. James Rosado Course: HUS 2303 Date: Chapter 2: The Counselor: Person and Professional This chapter focuses on the intertwining of the counselor as a person and as a professional. The outcome of therapy depends on the person of the therapist and the therapeutic relationship, and not only on the therapeutic approach used. Counseling is a person-to-person connection and not just a sterile technique. Therapists serve as models, and the degree of aliveness and psychological health of the counselor are important factors in successful therapy.Effective counselors have an identity; are open to change; make life-oriented choices; are authentic, sincere and honest; have a sense of humor; are willing to admit their mistakes; live in the present; appreciate cultural influences; are interested in the welfare of others; possess effective interpersonal skills; are deeply involved in their work and derive meaning from it; are passionate; maintain a healthy balance in their lives. 85% of therapists agree that personal mental therapy is beneficial to professional development. It offers an experienced model of therapeutic practice, enhances interpersonal skills, and strengthens the ability to deal with the stress of clinical work. It provides an opportunity for self-exploration and helps to identify the motives of potential counselors. It is an important tool in dealing with countertransference. The counselor’s values and beliefs influence all aspects of client interventions. Psychotherapy cannot be value-neutral. Counselors should avoid exerting influence on clients to adopt the counselor’s own values, or immobilizing oneself by striving for value-free counseling. The counselor’s role is to create a climate for the client to define his own values and goals, explore solutions, and assume responsibility for his actions. The American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethic cautions counselors against imposing their personal values on their clients. The general goal of the counselor should dovetail with the personal goals of the client and lie within the framework of the client’s scheme of values. Counselors are ethically obliged to develop sensitivity to cultural differences. An effective multicultural counselor takes into consideration the social and cultural context of the client and is aware of the cultural origins of his own values and biases. Diversity-competent counseling involves three dimensions: beliefs and attitudes; knowledge; skills and intervention strategies. The suspension of preconceived notions about race and ethnicity, and the initiation of open discussions on these issues with the client is necessary. Understanding the worldview, cultural background and cultural conflicts of the client leads to successful therapeutic outcomes. Effective counseling welcomes diversity by remaining open, flexible and willing to modify strategies. The American Psychological Society’s multicultural guidelines emphasize the importance of multicultural sensitivity and understanding of racial and ethnic differences. Therapists can overcome initial challenges by recognizing and dealing with anxieties, being genuine and disclosing personal experience, avoiding perfectionism, being honest about limitations, understanding silence, dealing with client demands and lack of commitment, tolerating ambiguity in results, avoiding incorporating the client’s dynamics into one’s own personality, developing a sense of humor, sharing responsibility with the client, and declining to give advice. An effective counselor helps the client identify his strengths and the obstacles to his use of resources, and to clarify his goals. The counselor’s role changes with the application of diverse theories. The appropriate use of therapeutic techniques involves knowledge of theoretical rationale and the therapeutic relationship. Developing one’s own counseling style, staying vital as a person and as a professional, avoiding professional burnout, and self-monitoring is essential for being an effective professional. Name: Jachelline Patino Instructor: Dr. James Rosado Course: HUS 2303 Date: Chapter 3: Ethical Issues in Counseling Practice This chapter addresses the ethical principles and issues in professional practice, and advocates the approach of positive ethics in order to further the best interests of the client. It is ethically essential to put the client’s needs before one’s own. Exploiting or harming the client must be avoided. This requires professional maturity and an honest appraisal of personal prejudices and vulnerabilities. Personal needs cannot be met at the expense of the client. Ethics codes are catalysts for improving practice, and are best used as guidelines to formulate the appropriate course of action in a particular situation, along with prudent judgment. They list professional responsibilities, provide a basis for accountability and self-monitoring, and protect clients. The author regrets the increasingly legal dimensions of ethics codes. Steps in making ethical decisions are: identification of the problem and the potential issues; consideration of the relevant ethics code and the applicable laws; consultation of various sources and brainstorming of available options; reflection on the consequences of these options; deciding and executing a course of action. Inclusion of the client in this process is beneficial. The Right of Informed Consent is an essential legal and ethical requisite of therapy. Providing the client with the information required to make autonomous therapeutic decisions builds a collaborative partnership. It is essential to strike a balance in the quantity of information given to the client regarding therapeutic goals, confidentiality parameters, fees, etc. Confidentiality is a vital part of the therapeutic process and builds trust in the client-therapist relationship. It is the legal and ethical duty of the therapist not to disclose information about a client. However, there are limitations to confidentiality in circumstances such as child and elderly abuse, cases requiring hospitalization, and issues of court action. Ethics mandates a multicultural perspective in counseling. Western models of counseling are culture bound and lead to culturally biased counseling when applied to ethnically diverse populations. Competent counselors adopt a multicultural framework and consider the salient cultural and environmental variables of an individual’s problems. Ethics directs assessment (evaluating relevant factors in the client’s life) and diagnosis (identifying a specific mental disorder). A danger of the diagnostic approach is the failure to consider ethnic and cultural factors, leading to erroneous diagnoses. Assessment and diagnosis vary with the theoretical approach adopted by the therapist. Assessment needs to be holistic, taking into consideration biological processes, spiritual and religious values and cultural factors. Evidence-based Practice requires adoption of techniques that have empirical evidence to support their efficacy. This calls for standardized treatment for specific problems. This enhances the effectiveness of client services and public health but raises the ethical issue of insurance companies using this as a cost-containment measure. EBP ignores factors such as the therapy relationship, personality of the therapist and environmental factors. Dual and multiple relationships, either sexual or non-sexual, involve nonprofessional interactions between therapist and client. These include roles of teaches, borrower, friend, employee, business partner. The ACA Code of Ethics emphasizes the ethical management of such roles, without causing harm or exploitation of the client. While sexual relationship is unequivocally unethical, other multiple relationships are sometimes unavoidable. To minimize risk in multiple relationships: set healthy boundaries; involve clients in decision-making; consult fellow-professionals; work under supervision; self-monitor motives and needs. Name: Jachelline Patino Instructor: Dr. James Rosado Course: HUS 2303 Date: Chapter 4: Psychoanalytic Theory. This chapter focuses on basic psychoanalytic concepts and practices, largely based on Sigmund Freud. Behavior is determined by irrational forces, unconscious motivations, and biological and instinctive drives which evolve through psychosexual stages up to 6 years of age. The term libido refers to sexual energy and life instincts, and is the source of motivation. Death instincts are the source of aggressive drives. Instincts drive behavior. The personality consists of three psychological structures: The id is the biological component ruled by the pleasure principle. It remains immature and largely unconscious. The ego is the psychological component, ruled by the reality principle. It involves realistic and logistical thinking and controls the id. The superego is the social component which includes a person’s moral code. It is the ideal and strives for perfection. Freud’s concept of the conscious and the unconscious is the key to understanding personality disorders. The unconscious stores experiences, memories, and repressed material including needs and motivations. The unconscious can be inferred from dreams, slips of the tongue, posthypnotic suggestions, material from free-association and projection techniques, and psychotic symptoms. Anxiety is a feeling of dread. It is categorized as reality, neurotic and moral. Ego-Defense mechanisms deny or distort reality, operate on an unconscious level, and help the individual cope with anxiety. They include repression, denial, reaction formation, projection, displacement, rationalization, sublimation, regression, introjection, identification and compensation. The development of personality is delineated in Freud’s psychosexual stages (oral, anal, phallic and latency stages) and Erickson’s psychosocial stages (infancy, early childhood, preschool and school) from birth to adulthood. Classical psychoanalysis is based on id psychology and is confined to instincts and intrapsychic conflicts, while contemporary psychoanalysis is based on ego psychology and includes both early and late development stages. Effective counseling can best adopt a combined psychosexual and psychosocial perspective. The goals of psychoanalytic therapy are to make unconscious motives conscious, and to strengthen the ego, so that neurotic symptoms can be treated. The past is probed in order to develop self-understanding. In classical psychoanalysis, the analyst assumes a neutral ‘blank-screen’ approach to foster a transference relationship. Projections of past repressed situations are analyzed and interpreted to bring about change. Clients lie on a couch and engage in free association, termed the ‘fundamental rule.’ In contemporary psychoanalysis, the therapist enters into therapeutic relationship and emotional communication. Through transference, the analyst becomes the substitute for significant others in the clients past. This transference relationship must be worked through. Conflicts within the therapist are known as counter transference, and can become tools in therapy. Contemporary psychoanalytic or psychodynamic therapy has limited objectives, scarcely uses the couch, involves fewer sessions, has frequent interventions and focuses less on fantasy material. It is characterized by increased attention to childhood and adolescent disturbances, deals with personality disorders, devises specific treatments for specific disorders, establishes a collaborative therapeutic relationship, develops time-limited psychotherapy and brief psychodynamic therapy. The six basic techniques of psychoanalytic therapy are maintaining the analytic framework, free association, interpretation, dream analysis, analysis of resistance, analysis of transference. Psychodynamic group therapy is becoming popular. Karl Jung’s analytical psychology holds that personality is shaped by the past and also by aspirations for the future. Achieving individuation, or the integration of the conscious and unconscious aspects of personality, is the innate goal. An individual’s collective unconscious holds the accumulated inherited experiences of human species. The images held here are called archetypes, and include the persona (public face), the animus and the anima (biological and psychological aspects of masculinity and femininity) and the shadow (the dark side). Dreams have a prospective and compensatory function. The Object-relations Theory explores interpersonal relationships as they are represented intrapsychically. Self-psychology emphasizes the use of personal relationships to develop a sense of self. Contemporary psychoanalysis is based on the relational model as an interactive process between the client and the therapist. Margaret Mahler’s contemporary object-relations theory lists the development stages as normal infantile autism, symbiosis, and separation-individuation. Narcissistic personality and borderline personality disorder arise from developmental disturbances at the last stage. From the diversity perspective, Erikson’s psychosocial approach is particularly suited to people of color. Personal psychotherapy helps therapists to evaluate their countertransference in terms of racial and ethnic stereotypes. However, the high costs of psychoanalysis, the non-directive approach, and insufficient consideration of social, cultural and political factors are shortcomings of this approach. The chapter concludes with the application of psychoanalytic therapy to the hypothetical case of ‘Stan.’ The author believes in the integration of Freud’s and Erikson’s approaches and in incorporating contemporary psychoanalytic theories into various theoretical approaches. Read More