Psychoanalytic and Person-Centered Counseling Approaches - Essay Example

Psychoanalytic and Person-Centered Counseling Approaches Trials are inevitable part of one’s life. Oftentimes, people are bombarded with different catastrophes that we ought to face, whether we like it or not. However, what if one can no longer stand a specific upheaval alone? The role of counseling comes along. Counseling is defined as “an interpersonal helping relationship which begins with the client exploring the way they think, how they feel and what they do, for the purpose of enhancing their life” (“Definition of Counseling”). It deals mainly with simple problems of daily life and even to the more complex ones like chronic illness or disability, domestic violence, sexual abuse, trauma, substance-related disorders, and a lot more. Counseling uses different approaches in carrying out its function. Two of which are the psychoanalytic and person-centered approaches. Psychoanalysis is considered as the most comprehensive of all the personality theories, yet, it is also the most controversial. It has generated a great number of positive and even negative criticisms. Sigmund Freud, the Father of Psychoanalysis, has stirred the greatest amount of critical interest indeed. In a nutshell, what makes Freud’s theory so interesting? Three reasons account for this (J. Feist & G. Feist 17). Firstly, Freud dealt much on sex and aggression which made these two concepts the twin cornerstones of psychoanalysis. As a matter of fact, sex and aggression are still gaining popularity in research at present. Secondly, psychoanalysis was upheld and widely propagated by Freud’s followers who romanticized him as almost a mythological hero. Thirdly, Freud was able to elaborate on his theories because of his good command of the language that stimulated and excited a number of people. Freud was generally noted for the following concepts: levels of mental life namely, the unconscious, preconscious, and conscious; provinces of the mind that is the id, ego, superego; instincts and anxiety as dynamics of personality; stages of development specifically the infantile, latency, genital, and maturity stage; and the infamous defense mechanisms. Basically, these were products of Freud’s interactions with his patients, analysis of his own dreams, and his wide readership about various sciences and humanities. These experiences contributed much to the evolution of his theories and therapeutic techniques as well. Jess and Gregory Feist (48) divided the development of Freud’s therapeutic techniques into two: the early and the later techniques. For the early technique, Freud engaged in pressure technique. He focused on extracting repressed childhood memories. He did this by placing his hand on a patient’s forehead or placed the head of the patient between his hands. He then instructed the patient to think under the pressure of his hands and describe what comes into his or her mind. Surprisingly, much of the results Freud obtained from his patients were childhood seduction memories. However, he eventually realized that such technique was a highly suggestive and coercive one; hence, he was uncertain whether the memories his patients reported were real or were just simply fantasies. In this regard, he opted for a more passive technique. For his later psychoanalytic therapy, his objective was to uncover repressed memory through free association, dream analysis and Freudian slips analysis. In short, the goal of these techniques was to transform the unconscious into conscious experience. In free association, patients are asked to verbalize everything that comes into their mind, no matter how relevant or irrelevant the ideas may be. The logic of this technique is to arrive at the unconscious by starting with a conscious idea and following it through a pool of associations wherever it leads. Tedious as it may seem, many found this technique unfavorable. Hence, dream analysis was favored more. Freud’s basic assumption was that all dreams were wish fulfillments. Apparently, a dream consists of two parts: the manifest and latent content. Manifest content refers to the surface description of one’s dream while latent content is the unconscious meaning of the dream. In this regard, dream analysis aims to uncover the latent content through the manifest content of the dream. However, a dream as wish fulfillment does not apply to all scenarios of life. Traumatic patients, for instance, have dreams containing repetitions of traumatic experiences. These anxiety dreams serve as repetition compulsion and not as wish fulfillment. In interpreting dreams, Freud offers two operations. The first is also free association; patients are asked to describe their dream and relate it to all the associations that will enter their mind even though these associations are unrelated or illogical with regard to their dream. Freud firmly believes that these associations will reveal what was lying in the unconscious. In the case that the patient cannot relate the dream and the associations, the second operation was used—dream symbols. The task is to discover the unconscious elements hiding in the manifest content. Nevertheless, both operations—association and symbols—aim to trace the dream formation until the unconscious meaning was revealed. By upholding the dream as the royal road to the unconscious, Freud believed that dream analysis was the most reliable technique in understanding the unconscious processes of the psyche or mind. Likewise, Freud believed that slips of the tongue also help in the understanding of the unconscious. Slip of the tongue eventually was called Freudian slip which included not only the slips of the tongue but also slips of the pen, misreading, incorrect hearings, misplacing objects, temporary forgetting of names; all of which were chance accidents. Freud believed that these phenomena were similar to dreams in the sense that they also reveal the unconscious; hence, they also needed to be analyzed. At present, these Freudian techniques are still being used in clinical practice by some practitioners. Overall, Freud was more concerned in developing his theories than in treating people. But unlike Freud who was primarily a theorist and secondarily a therapist, Carl Rogers was a consummate therapist. He was more concerned in helping a person grow and develop than knowing the causes for one’s behavior. Hence, he proposed another approach in the client-centered theory, otherwise known person-centered approach (J. Feist & G. Feist 435). The approach may appear to be simple as its name suggests, however, it was in fact somewhat difficult in practice. The basic assumption of person-centered approach holds that for a vulnerable person to grow psychologically, one must seek the help of a therapist who is congruent to him or her; someone who could provide a comfortable atmosphere with unconditional acceptance and accurate empathy (J. Feist & G. Feist 473). Thus, it is the main responsibility of the counselor or therapist to show congruence, unconditional acceptance and empathy. If these requirements are met by the counselor, the process of therapeutic change will then take place. The first requirement for a person-centered therapist is congruence. In layman’s term, to be congruent means to be real, to be genuine, and to be what one truly is. This implies that a congruent counselor is not simply the kind and approachable one; he or she must exhibit full humanness capable of feeling both positive and negative emotions such as joy, anger, frustration, confusion, and so on. Unconditional positive regard, on the other hand, is the second sufficient condition for person-centered approach. The counselor attains this by showing a warm, positive and accepting attitude toward the client; without possessiveness, without evaluations, and without reservations. To show non-possessiveness, the counselor must care about another without owning the person. The therapist then must accept and value the client without any reservations, disregarding the client’s behavior because evaluation of the person is not needed here. In addition, the third necessary condition for this approach to attain psychological growth is empathic listening. A counselor must show empathy by sensing the feelings of a person, yet, making the person feel safe from prejudice, projection and evaluation. As the name suggests, empathic listening merely implies listening; neither evaluation nor judgment must be given. Living from the client’s point of view is the key for a person-centered counselor to be successful. Overall, psychoanalytic and person-centered approaches contribute much to the development of the field of counseling. However, there are also some criticisms thrown against these therapeutic techniques. Psychoanalytic approach is criticized much because of its proponent, Freud. The big question is: was he a scientist? Though he claimed that he was indeed a scientist and psychoanalysis was a science, Freud’s definition of science was somewhat vague. I believe that science is built up on clear and sharply defined basic concepts; however, psychoanalysis does not meet this. In fact, scientific method is not applicable here. Thus, psychoanalytic approach does not also meet the criteria of a useful theory. First, since the information gathered from psychoanalysis is subjective in nature, no empirical data can be obtained from it. Second, this subjective information opens much room for subjective interpretations and indefinite definitions; thus, no generalizations will result. Third, the concepts of psychoanalysis are so profound and abstract making the approach violate science’s rule of parsimony; it does not have the ability to organize knowledge because of its comprehensiveness and complexity. Fourth, the results obtained from psychoanalysis are not testable; hence, they are not falsifiable. Sixth, it cannot be a useful guide for the solution of practical problems in general. Nevertheless, psychoanalytic approach is high in its ability to generate research, one criterion for useful theory. As we have noted, psychoanalytic approach has drawn much interests and controversies. On the contrary, Roger’s person-centered approach is only moderate in its ability to generate research. But unlike psychoanalysis, person-centered approach is highly falsifiable. Furthermore, this has also a high ability to organize knowledge into a meaningful framework. Its capacity for solving practical problems is unequivocal. As stated, the counselor just has to meet the three requirements namely congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy for bringing about personality change. In a nutshell, whether psychoanalytic, person-centered or other approach is used, counseling is indeed a vital part of one’s life. Nowadays, counseling is no longer just for the mentally ill; it is now open to everyone especially to those undergoing difficult circumstances. As the cliché goes, no man is an island. Let’s not hesitate to seek for help from others. Works Cited: Feist, Jess and Feist, Gregory. Theories of Personality. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2003. New Directions Counseling.n.d. Definition of Counseling. 9 August 2007 < http://www.newdirectionscounseling. com/defcoun.html>. Read More