INTRODUCTION:Counseling Journals, Definitions of Counseling

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND COUNSELING & PSYCHOTHERAPY >>

Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

Lesson 01

INTRODUCTION

Counseling is a distinct profession that has developed in a variety of ways in 20th century. It is a

very useful area; on one end it will equip the students with basic theoretical and practical knowledge about

the subject, on the other end it will teach how to understand and improve oneself, and also how to maintain

good interpersonal relationships. Also it teaches how to develop good communication and relationship

skills.

Course Content

The main sections of the course are as under:

Part I: Introduction to foundation and historical background

Part II: Counseling process and methods

Part III: Theories of counseling and interventions

Part IV: Assessment in counseling

Part V: Counseling situations

Course Objectives

The goal of this course is to present a comprehensive overview of counseling profession. This course has

been developed carefully to provide students with a thorough overview to the discipline of counseling. A

few objectives of this course are described below:

· To understand theoretical foundations of counseling psychology: Each theory is addressed from the

perspective of background, human nature, major constructs, applications, the process of change, and

intervention strategies, evaluation.

· To critically examine the major theories of therapy in the framework of one's own background, values

and professional goals.

· To indulge in self-assessment one's own needs and motivations, and personal characteristics that will

either help or hinder one in becoming a professional in human services.

· To understand basic counseling skills as practiced by an effective counselor.

· To discuss special settings and populations where counseling could be effectively used.

· To explore ethical and legal issues for the practice of counseling profession.

Reference List

· Gladding, S.T. (2003). Counseling: A Comprehensive Profession (5th ed..). Prentice-Hall Career &

Technology.

· Corey, G. (2004). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (7th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing.

· George, R.L. (1986). Counseling Theory and Practice. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Counseling Journals

· Counseling (by British Association for Counseling)

· British Journal of Guidance & Counseling

· The Counseling Psychologist (by American Psychological Associaton)

· Psychodynamic Counseling

· International Journal of Psychotherapy

· European Journal of Psychotherapy, Counseling and Health

Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

Main Features of this Course

· Classroom Activities: The counseling will provide actual demonstrations of different counseling skills

and other practical aspects of the course will relate theory to practice of counseling. At the same time, it

will also clear up students' misconceptions about how a therapy actually works.

· Case Approach: Case study consistent with the theoretical model under discussion will be presented to

further clarify the theoretical concepts. The case approach to counseling emphasizes the use of

demonstrations and attempts to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of counseling.

· Counseling Journal: Students will be expected to write their experiences regarding practice of different

counseling skills.

Students' Learning

At the end of this course, the students shall be able to:

· Demonstrate foundational knowledge in counseling psychology (concepts, theories, ethical issues,

basic skills, etc.).

· Apply this knowledge in improving one's own life as well as to understand others in a better way.

· Use basic counseling skills (attending and listening skill) in improving their relationships.

Definitions of Counseling

As a profession counseling is relatively new. It grew out of guidance movement, in opposition to traditional

psychotherapy. A few definitions described below will illustrate the meaning and process of counseling

profession:

· "An effort to help the client engage in those types of behavior which will lead to a resolution of

the client's problems" (Krumboltz, 1965).

· "Counseling denotes a professional relationship between a trained counselor and a client.

Relationship is usually person-to-person, and is designed to help clients to understand and clarify

their views of their lifespace, and to learn to reach their self-determined goals through meaningful,

well-informed choices and through resolution of problem" (Burks & Stefflre, 1979, p. 14)

· "An interaction in which the counselor offers another person the time, attention, and respect

necessary to explore, discover and clarify ways of living more resourcefully, and to his or her

greater well-being" (The BAC, 1999)

These definitions indicate that counseling as defined by different people have few common components, as

described below:

· "Counseling is aimed at helping people make choices and act on them"

· Counselors are the people who listen to others and help resolve difficulties

· A relationship: Counselor develops a relationship which is based on unconditional positive regard and

trust.

· A process: Counseling is a process in which the counselor and the clients involve themselves in a

psychological process to solve problems.

· The counseling is designed to help people make choices and solve problems.

· The counseling helps in recognizing one's potential and to use this potential in an effective way.

Counseling as a Helping Relationship

Counseling shares many characteristics of other helping professions. People working in these professions

are expected to help others, e.g., medical doctors, psychotherapists, nurses, paramedics, school counselors,

etc. According to Rogers (1961, p. 40), helping relationship is defined as:

Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

"Helping relationship is the one in which at least one of the parties has the intent of promoting the

growth, development, maturity, improved functioning, improved coping with life of the other".

This definition describes various interpersonal relationships in social settings, e.g., mother-child, teacher-

student and many other relationships where people interact with each other and their interactions affect

behaviors and attitudes of others. However, counselor-client relationship affects in a unique way, different

from other interactions.

In the following, certain characteristics of helping professions are described. All of these are also found in

client-counselor relationship.

Characteristics:

Affectiveness: Helping relationships is more affective (with feelings, and emotions) than cognitive.

Intensity: Counselor and client are expected to share openly their perceptions and reactions to each other

and to the process.

Growth: The relationship is dynamic. As the client grows and changes, so does the relationship. Counseling

is a unique and dynamic process in which, from counselor and client, one assists the other. The counselor

helps the client to grow in a positive direction and actualizing his own resources to grow.

Privacy: During or after the counseling session all client disclosures are confidential.

Support: Counselors, through counseling relationship, offer the client a system of support that often

provides the necessary stability for taking risks and changing behavior.

Honesty: The helping relationships is based on honesty and open and direct communication between the

counselor and the client.

The above characteristics indicate that the counselor will provide support to the client. However, counseling

relationship is not befriending, as in friendship both people share with each other but in counseling sharing

is one-sided. However the supporting elements are strong in both friendship and counseling relationships.

Is Counselor Simply a Helper?

The helping relationship is the cornerstone on which counseling profession rests. This topic has been

studied at length by various authors. The word helper is used as a short-hand term to describe both; both

counselors and informal helpers use helping skills, e.g., plumber, electrician, guide, student counselors, etc.

However, counseling is a help provided in a professional and ethical way. Egan (1994) mentions the term

skilled helper to define a professional counselor.

Nelson-Jones (1997) differentiates both in the following way:

Anyone who provides a service could be regarded as a helper but not counselor.

The word helper has connotations of placing recipients of help in dependent position and the

helper does things for the person rather than with him or her (which counselor is supposed to do.

The word help obscures the idea of self-help. The purpose of counseling to help people is to

become their own helpers, so both helpers and recipient of help ultimately become helpers. The

point is that when both are ultimately able to provide help, how the term of helper can be

employed for just one (counselor) of the two persons.

Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

Characteristics of Counseling

Counseling as a Relationship

Counseling is sufficient for constructive changes to occur in clients (Rogers, 1957). The counseling

relationship is characterized by core conditions namely empathy, unconditioned positive regard, and

genuineness.

Counseling as a Repertoire of Interventions

In counseling several questions (like which, when, and with what client) are answered and while

interventions are decided an attempt is made to have a match between the client and the counselor.

Counseling as a Psychological Process

· Goals of counseling have a mind component

· Process is psychological

· Underlying theories are psychological: Some psychologists like Rogers, Albert Ellis and psychiatrists

like Berne and Beck have contributed enormously to counseling theories. For example,

information about human nature has been derived from psychological theories. Some people argue

that counseling is not a profession as it is used in so many disciplines in so many sphere of life, e.g.,

loan counselors, business counselor, etc., but the difference is that professional counselors work

according to some theoretical model.

· Psychological research contributes both to creating counseling theories and to evaluate counseling

process

Guidance & Counseling

· Guidance has been flip-flopped with counseling for over 50 years. The word guidance has historical

significance in the history of counseling, although not much in use now.

· Guidance is an umbrella term that includes such a constellation of services aimed at personal and

career development and school adjustment. Guidance also describes the overall school/ college

program and implies personal assistance to students, teachers, parents and administrators.

· Guidance is a relationship between the unequal. While counseling has been perceived as a process

in which someone who has a problem receives personal assistance, usually through private

discussion.

· Guidance focuses on helping individuals choose what they value most; counseling focuses on

helping them make changes. Counseling has been perceived as a process in which someone who

has a problem receives personal assistance, usually through private discussion. The term

"counseling" not used exclusively by school counselors or other professional counselors, is used by

people in the counseling profession to describe a special type of helping process.

Distinctions between Counseling & Psychotherapy

Hahn (1953) writes, "I know few counselors or psychotherapists who are completely satisfied that clear

distinctions have been made". Hahn goes on to point out that the most complete agreements are that

counseling and psychotherapy cannot be clearly distinguished; counselors practice what psychotherapists

consider psychotherapy, and psychotherapists practice what counselors consider to be counseling, and

despite the above they are different.

Blocher (1966) distinguishes between counseling and psychotherapy by pointing out that the goals of

counseling are ordinarily developmental-educative-preventive, and the goals of psychotherapy are generally

remediative-adjustive-therapeutic. He describes that five basic assumptions about client and counselor

differentiate both:

Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

Counseling clients are not considered to be "mentally ill", but they are viewed as being capable of

choosing goals, making decisions, and generally assuming responsibility for their own behavior and

future development.

Counseling focuses on present and future.

The client is a client, not a patient. The counselor is not an authority figure but is essentially a

teacher and partner of the client as they move towards mutually defined goals.

The counselor is not morally neutral or amoral but has values, feelings, and standards of his/her

own. Although the counselor does not necessarily impose these on clients, he or she does not

attempt to hide them.

Counselor focuses on changing behavior, not just creating insight.

Brammer & Shostrom (1982) indicate that while the two activities may overlap, counseling in general can be

characterized by such terms as "educational, vocational, supportive, situational, problem-solving, conscious

awareness, normal, present time, and short-term"; psychotherapy can be characterized by such terms as

"supportive (in a crisis setting), reconstructive, depth emphasis, analytical, focus on the past, emphasis on

`neurotic' or other severe emotional, and long-term problems.

Counseling & Psychotherapy: Differences

· Differences in origins

· Differences in goals

· Differences in process

· Differences in issues/ settings

· Differences in clients

· Differences in training & orientation

Differences in Origins

Counseling evolved from the human potential movements of late 1950s and 1960s; many of the

psychotherapies have their roots in psychoanalysis although many schools evolved and have broken away.

The goals of psychotherapy are more likely to involve a quite complete change of basic character structure,

and reconstructive. In contrast, counseling is directed toward aiding growth.

Differences in Goals

In psychotherapy the goal is to change the personality while counseling deals with the goal of helping

people to utilize existing resources for coping with life better.

The goal of counseling is to help individuals deal with the developmental tasks appropriate to their age. The

adolescent who is being helped with problems of sexual definition, emotional independence from parents,

career decision making and preparation , and the other tasks typical of that age in different cultures would

be receiving counseling. Similarly, a middle-aged person grappling with stresses of his age would seek the

help of a counselor. However, more emotional and severe problems will be under the domain of a

psychotherapist.

The goals of psychotherapy are more likely to involve a quite complete change of basic character structure;

the goal of counseling are apt to be more limited, more directed towards aiding growth, more concerned

with the immediate situations, and aimed at helping the individual function adequately in appropriate roles.

Differences in Process

In the process of psychotherapy emphasis is on the past while the process of counseling emphasize on the

present.

Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

The purpose of the process of psychotherapy is treatment of the patient but counseling proceeds with the

purpose of the growth of the client.

Psychotherapy and counseling also differ in frequency and depth of work. In psychotherapy usually there

will be 20-40 sessions over the period of 6 months to 2 years, while in counseling sessions will be limited,

i.e., 6-12 sessions and the duration shall be usually less than 6 months

Differences in issues/ setting

Psychotherapists are more apt to work in hospital settings or in private practice; counselors are more apt to

work in educational settings. A wide range of settings/ issues for counselors are self awareness, relationship

difficulties, abuse, anxiety, self-harming, vocational problems, lack of assertiveness, career transitions, etc.

Suitable clients: Similarities & Differences

The counselor deals with normal persons and the psychotherapist deals with neurotic or psychotic persons.

Such a distinction, of course, has many of the same built-in problems in the definition of "normal" as are

involved in the distinction between counseling and psychotherapy.

Both counseling and psychotherapy utilize a common base of knowledge and a common set of techniques.

Both involve a psychotherapeutic process but they differ in terms of the severity of the client's situation, in

terms of the client's level of problem and/or functioning. Since the process does not change-only the

situation or the client's concern may-we use the term interchangeably.

There are also few similarities in clients and patients of counseling and psychotherapy, for example both are:

· Articulate

· Motivated

· Committed

Apart from similarities, both disciplines share many differences as well, for example, psychotherapy patients

could have personality disorders, at risk of breakdown or mental illness, and thus might require an access to

a consultant psychiatrist. As compared to that, counseling clients require more insight so that they could be

able to take responsibility for their emotions and decisions.

Differences in Training & Orientation

Some practitioners of counseling may be trained at the doctoral level with a supervised internship, as

psychotherapists are. But many counselors have less training, with relatively little psychology and little or no

formal supervised internship. More objective observers distinguish between counseling and psychotherapy

on the basis of the extent of training in personality theory, research methods, and formal internship.

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