Psychoanalytic and Person-Centered Counselling - Essay Example

Counselling and Therapy Counselling or psychotherapy is a process in which a trained professional helps an individual in sorting out his psychological problems with the help of certain techniques that have originated from the different psychological theories. There are many approaches of counselling. Psychoanalytic and the person centred counselling are two widely used approaches. Psychoanalytic is an approach that intelligently deals with an individual's hidden feelings by interpretation of his unconscious mind, which results in an increase in his self-awareness. The person centred approach also aims to increase the level of self-awareness but by making an individual aware of his potential or self worth. Psychoanalytic Sigmund Freud is the founder of Psychoanalytic approach to psychotherapy. Freud believed that our minds are divided into three parts: the id, the ego and the superego. All these three parts have different functions to perform. According to Freud, there is a beast in all of us and it can be identified by our id. Our id works on the pleasure principle and creates a desire to achieve things by unrealistic means in our minds. Most of the individuals are not aware of their ids because it works unconsciously in their minds and also because ego and superego keep a constant vigil on it. The ego is a way of realistically fulfilling the unrealistic desires created by the id. It works on the reality principle and follows the secondary process of thinking. The superego stands for ideals, imperatives and morals. It keeps a check on both the id and the ego. The superego stops individuals from falling prey to unreasonable desires and stops both the realistic and unrealistic ways of fulfilling those desires. In this process there is constant conflict between the superego, ego and id in the minds of people. If this conflict heightens then help is needed from psychotherapists who do psychoanalysis in order to help the mind in reaching to its normal stability. Since these conflicts go unconsciously in a person's mind, the job of a psychoanalyst is to bring those conflicts into consciousness in the process of solving the problem. "Thus the job of the psychoanalyst is to (a) create conditions in which the censorship of the ego is relaxed and (b) to interpret the disguised, symbolic revelations of the unconscious mind to the patient." (Lahey, 2002, p. 415). There are several ways in which psychoanalytic therapy is administered. The most important therapies that were developed by Freud and that are still in use today are: Free Association: This technique was the primary tool of psychoanalysis of Freud. In this technique the person undergoing the psychotherapy is made to talk whatever comes to his mind. His speech might be very trivial, undirected or illogical. Freud believed that if an individual talks in this way then the psychoanalyst could get a feel of his unconscious mind as his ego gets relaxed for sometime. In order to let the ego to switch off for sometime and allow the id to slip out, Freud believed in letting the individual sit on a couch facing the ceiling and making him talk as if he is talking to himself. The psychoanalyst sits at the back so that the person undergoing the therapy does not feel that he is letting his unconscious thoughts known to another person. Through this technique the psychoanalyst just gets the glimpses of the unconscious mind and has to interpret what the individual has said unconsciously. After interpretation he lets the individual know what is going on his unconscious mind and helps him in self-awareness and ultimately in solving the problem. Dream interpretation: Just as the Free Association, dream interpretation is a method to psychoanalyse what is going in an individual's unconscious mind. By listening to what a person has dreamt the therapists get an insight into that person's unconscious mind. Interpretation of resistance: Some of the patients who come for psychotherapy resist the process of psychoanalysis. The resistance can either be in the form of showing doubt about the process of psychoanalysis or missing the appointments meant for this technique. The client or patient might resist giving the therapist the charge of interpreting his unconscious mind. The resistance by the patient indicates that he is so disturbed and anxious about something that he wants to avoid speaking about it completely even when he wants respite from it. There might even be a sense of fear or embarrassment that the psychoanalyst would discover the immoral things that has been going in his mind. The psychoanalyst studies his resistance and tries to help the patient get in terms with his morally unacceptable thoughts and transform his thinking pattern into a more informed and logical way of thinking. Interpretation of Transference: Since a patient who comes to a psychoanalyst is undergoing lots of psychological troubles, which is beyond his control, he builds a special relationship with the psychoanalyst. It is just like a parent-child relationship in which the child is completely dependant on his parent in getting out of an unwanted situation. The patient bestows same respect and trust for the therapist as he has for his parents and elders. Through the intensity of trust and support required from the patient the therapist gets a great deal of insight into how the patient looks up to his elders. Thus his transference of respect to the therapist helps the therapist in understanding him better and supporting him in his behaviour correction. In an attempt to interpret the conflict that is going in an individual's mind, the psychoanalyst helps the patient in oozing out all that is going in his unconscious mind and disturbing him so much that it has visible effect on his behaviour. All the psychoanalytic methods or techniques discussed can emotionally drain out people or upsurge some very upsetting experiences of the patient's life. At the end of it, the patient experiences a feeling of relief from the inner discomfort and disturbance he was going through. This feeling of relief is considered one of the benefits of psychoanalysis and is commonly known as catharsis by the psychoanalysts. However catharsis should not be considered a problem solving position but a position in which the patient temporarily feels better. Lahey rightly points out that "Catharsis may facilitate the process of psychoanalysis, however, because a patient who feels better will generally be better able to make more intelligent decisions about discoveries from the unconscious." (2002, p. 417) There have been many adaptations of Freud's psychoanalytic therapy based on the different cultures and age groups the patient's belongs to. Sigmund Freud's daughter, Anna Freud had used different kinds of games and toys to build up better relationship with the patients who were children; thus adapting Freud's psychoanalytic therapy focusing children. Other Psychologists like Blimes and Tori adapted this approach keeping in mind the different cultures people come from. Person centred Person centred counselling skills aim to help clients in finding their own directions by fulfilling their unique potential and understanding their self worth. As the name signifies, the person centred approach is based on placing utmost importance to the client, his rights, his experiences, and his feelings. In this school of counselling a client is never considered a client but a human being, a person. In person centred counselling the focus is on building good interpersonal relationship between the client and the counsellor. Through this the client becomes comfortable and sheds all his inhibitions while discussing his problems. Most of the times he knows what he should do but is in dilemma whether he should do that or not. He has two different feelings for the same person or situation. That is why he approaches the counsellor to help him in finding the right direction. The counsellor is emphatic towards both the sides of the client. He indulges in therapeutic relationship with all aspects of the client's thoughts and feelings and does not look down to his negative thoughts. According to Carl Rogers - the originator of person centred counselling, the following attributes of the counsellor helps in the growth of person centred skills: Congruence: The demand of this attribute is to be very transparent, open, real and genuine with the client. The counselor or therapist should not behave as if he is a professional taking care of the client's needs. Rather, he should try to bring across the message to the client that his thoughts and feelings are in complete congruence to him. At the time of counselling not only the counsellor's mind and body but also his inner spirit should be there for the client. A person seeking a counsellor's help should not be treated as an object or just a client but as a special human being. Unconditional positive regard: This can be described as a non-possessive warmth, respect, acceptance, prizing and caring for an individual. The person should be made felt that he is significant irrespective of his mental condition. According to Nelson-Jones "unconditional positive regard does not mean that therapists need, from their frame of reference, to approve of all their clients' behaviours. Rather, unconditional positive regard is an attitude and philosophical orientation, reflected in therapist behavior, that clients are more likely to move forward if they feel prized for their humanity and they experience an emotional climate of safety and freedom in which, without loosing their therapist's acceptance, they can show feelings and relate events." (2006, p.103) Even if a client is feeling negatively about someone or he is accepting that he has done something wrong, in the person centred approach, the counsellor gives him unconditional positive regard instead of lecturing him on the good and bad. The client needs some one to listen to his inner feelings. By giving him positive regard the counsellor is not supporting the mistakes he has done, rather giving him a chance to realise his mistake by allowing him to discuss his mental status. Empathy: The counsellor tries to feel what the client is feeling and also lets him know that he understands his pain. It proves helpful as the client gradually starts creating an emotional climate that directly helps the counsellor in understanding the client in a more accurate way. By becoming a patient listener the counsellor gets the scope to observe the client in order to devise ways to better communicate with him. Thus, building a special non-possessive bond with the client is empathy. Based on the above-mentioned attributes the relationship between the counsellor and the client can be very fulfilling. Neilson-Jones rightly points out what Rogers felt about achieving a growth promoting relationship: " Rogers believed that in therapy 'it is the quality of the interpersonal encounter with the client which is the most significant element in determining effectiveness'" (2006, p.101) The first step that ensures that the counsellor is heading towards the right direction is his ability to build a good interpersonal relationship with the client. If the counsellor is unable to build a good rapport with the client, his chances of making him self aware and turning him into a better human being are minimal. Hence to facilitate a growth in the client the quality of relationship between the counsellor and the client is of utmost importance. According to the uktherapists.com: "' Rogers placed great significance to the relationship between the' therapist and client, with emphasis on the therapist's ability to: be congruent, to be herself with the client and, when appropriate, communicate her feelings to him have unconditional positive regard for the client, accept him for who he is and not what he does, have respect for him and his views be empathic, experience the client's subjective frame of reference as if it were her own and communicate this to him, sometimes bringing his feelings into focus from the edge of his awareness, thus enabling him to symbolise them." (para 21-22) So, psychoanalytic approach or school of counselling believes that everyone is born with an unconscious mind and there is constant conflict between the id, ego and superego of the mind. Whereas the person centred school of counselling propagates that we are not consciously aware of what's going in our minds. This school of counselling believes that those self and ideal concepts that are extremely different from what we think are denied awareness by us. It may be said that though both the approaches and schools of counselling believe in different ways, their aim is to help in self-awareness of patients experiencing psychological problems. Both the schools of counselling follow the following principles. Since counselling involves one-to-one communication, not only verbal but also non-verbal communication plays an important role in building a good relationship. So the counsellor whether he is administering psychoanalysis or person centred counselling, not only sounds interested but also looks interested. In this context Anthony rightly states "When face-to-face with my client, their body language and physical actions will tell me when it is appropriate to simply be with them on a mutual basis when they are distressed. Or, in the knowledge of my client's feelings because of the tone of voice or facial expression, I know when it is appropriate to intervene with insight, within the trust and genuineness of the therapeutic relationship." (para.3) The counsellor uses two types of questions while dealing with the client: (1) Open-ended - e.g. Tell me how you feel after your mother's death. (2) Closed ended - e.g. Do you feel insecure after your mother's death' Through the open-ended question the client gets an opportunity to let all his feelings known to the counsellor. The counsellor gets the total picture of the client's psyche and can determine the areas in which the client needs more help. Whereas through the close ended question the client tells only those things that the counsellor wants to know. This way the counsellor misses out very crucial facts as the client hardly gets an opportunity to elaborately describe his situation. Seager et.al. in Messer and Jones point out that "'by their very nature closed questions require only a limited response." (1999, p.100) Hence, use of open-ended question would ensure that the counsellor is giving adequate importance to the client. The most important task for a counselor is to establish trust. He should try to do it as soon as he starts the counseling session. Hence opening a therapeutic counselling session requires lots of warmth and comfort level. Since each counselling session has an objective, opening the session with a statement or question that establishes that objective with the mutual consent of the client is advisable. If the counselling session is not the first one then it becomes easier to open the session as it requires reviewing of what happened in the previous counselling and what growth has the client noticed in himself since then. While discussing about the objective of the session or reviewing the status of the previous plan of action, the counsellor should never be dominating but let the client speak and take active part in deciding the direction of the session. Until and unless the therapeutic counselling, whether it is psychoanalytic or person centred in approach, is two-way flow of communication, it cannot be termed successful. Closing a counselling session is as important as opening a session. If the counsellor falters during the opening of the session, then he has the time and opportunity to make up for the mistake, during the rest of the session. But closing the session unsatisfactorily means not being able to do full justice to the set objectives. There is no scope for improvement and the counsellor might have to wait till the next session to rectify the mistake. There are chances of complete wastage of purpose, time and effort. If the following advise of the Supervisor's Guide to Career Development and Counselling for Civilian Employees is followed, a counseling session can be immensely successful: "Bring the session to a satisfactory end, wind up loose ends, make final summary remarks, make a list of follow-up activities, and clarify important points." (para.21) To conclude, both psychoanalytic and person centred approaches or schools of counselling are aimed for the betterment of a psychologically disturbed individual. Both can yield good results if practiced in the right way. References Lahey, B.B. 2002. Essentials of Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill. Messer, D., and Jones, F., eds., 1999. Psychology and Social Care. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd. Nelson-Jones, R., 2006. Theory and Practice of Counselling and Therapy. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Anthony, K., 2000. Counselling in Cyberspace. [online]. 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