HISTORICAL BACKGROUND COUNSELING & PSYCHOTHERAPY

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Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

Lesson 02

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

COUNSELING & PSYCHOTHERAPY

Similarities between Counseling & Psychotherapy

Counseling and psychotherapy are similar in many procedures and concepts. Some of them are given below:

Both have the same seating arrangements and directions during the process of conducting sessions.

In both psychotherapy and counseling special relationship is built and both value clients.

Psychotherapists and counselors use the same theoretical models.

Counseling skills are used by those practicing psychotherapy and counseling.

Both psychotherapy and counseling have same ethical and professional boundaries like confidentiality,

time limits, payments, ethical issues.

Similarities in the process of both disciplines are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Process in Counseling & Psychotherapy

Initial structure established

Develop rapport

Problem identification

Exploration of self, perceptual

Field, and behaviors

Problem solving

Possible assessment and

Acquisition of environmental

Input, such as information

assimilation

Plan of action

Decision making

Follow-up and possible

Termination

Development of additional

strategies

Historical Development of the Counseling Profession

Counseling as a distinct profession has developed in a variety of ways during the 20th century.

Counseling has emerged and developed largely as an American product in the 20th century. Its

acceptance and widespread use in the USA far exceeds that of other countries. The development in

counseling profession can be roughly divided into two broad categories:

Our heritage from the past: Before 20th Century

20th century- To date:

The development in 20th century and later years is largely attributed to following landmark events/

factors:

Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

Vocational Guidance Movement

Mental Health Movement

Standardized testing

Licensure and legislation

Our Heritage from the Past: Before 20th Century

Primitive Times

· Primitive societies shared fundamental economic enterprises, that is why no elaborates career guidance

was required at that time. Most of the career-related conflicts of present-day society were absent in early

primitive life. It is quite possible that the earliest (although unconfirmed) occasion in which humans

sought a counselor was when Adam reaped the consequences of his eating the apple in the Garden of

Eden. An abundance of evidence suggests that persons throughout the ages have sought the advice and

counsel of others believed to possess superior knowledge, insight, or experience. Perhaps the first

counterparts of the present-day counselor were the chieftains and elders of the ancient tribal societies.

· Later, as skills became more recognizable and important to societies, occupational trades began to passed

down, mostly within families. However, no elaborates career guidance programs were developed or

needed because occupational limitations were usually determined by two criteria: age and sex. Thus,

potters passed on the secrets and skills of their trade to their sons, as did the smiths and carpenters.

Women passed on their skills to their daughters. Anyway, the occupational opportunities were limited

in those times.

· A study of early primitive life can lead one to conclude that most of the conflicts existing in present-day

society regarding career decision making were absent.

Early Greek Counselors

In the early civilizations, the philosophers priests, or other representatives of the gods and religions assumed

the function of advising and offering counsel. The historic origins of the concept of developing one's

potential may be identified in the early Grecian societies.

Plato:

Plato is generally recognized as one of the first to organize psychological insight into a

systematic theory. Belkin (1975) noted Plato's varied interests: Education, persuasion, and most importantly

a method to deal with these questions (through real human interactions). Dramatic method: through the

dynamics of real human interaction in which characters are as important as the things they say)

Aristotle He studied how people interact with their environment and others.

Hippocrates:

He indicated that mental disorders were diseases due to natural causes. In 4th century BC, he suggested that

the disturbance of four humours in body causes different behavioural problems. He in fact provided the

first medical model of behaviour problems.

Early Hebrew, Christian and Islamic Teachings emphasized the rights of individuals and humanistic ideals.

Many contributions of that time can be similar to what was later to develop in the field of psychology. The

primary concepts of all religions later in 20th century provided basics to democratic societies and counseling

movements.

Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

Middle Ages (10th 15th Century)

During middle ages, attempts at counseling increasingly came under the control of church. At that time education

was also largely under church jurisdiction. By the early middle ages, the duty of advising and directing youth had

become centered in the parish priest.

A few important characteristics of middle ages are as under:

· Return to demonological explanations.

· Church became the primary social and legal institution in Europe. Physicians became the doctors to treat

the mentally ill.

· Exorcism again was practised.

· Priests diagnosed people by looking for signs of the devil, e.g., rashes and dead skin spots (by pricking)

Muslim Traditions in Counseling & Psychotherapy

Dark ages were not dark for Muslims. While demonology persisted in the Western world, Muslim

civilization was at its peak. Al-Razi, Al-Ghazali, Ibn-e-Miskwayh, Ashraf Ali Thanvi laid great

emphasis on the development of the whole man; common therapeutic goals are changing man's

relationship to God as well as to society. They put forward a radical humanistic approach by giving

respect to individuals. They held that man has the potential to grow by using his inner resources. They

also believed that ignorance was disease and knowledge was cure.

16th Century

Philosophers and educators, such as Luis Vives (1492-1540) recognized the need to guide persons according to their

aptitudes.

17th Century

Books like "Tom of All Trades: Or the plain pathway to preferment" (Powell, 1631) aimed at helping youths choose an

occupation. Also during this time, Rene Descartes (1596-1650) and others began to study human body

as an organism that reacted or behaved to various stimuli. These studies were to be forerunners for later

more accurate and scientific studies.

18th Century:

In the 18th century Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) suggested that the growing individual can best learn when

free to develop according to his or her natural impulses. He advocated permissiveness in learning and learning

through doing.

The famous Swiss educator Johann Pestalozzi (1746-1827) expressed the belief that society could be reformed only

to the extent that the individual in that society was helped to develop.

19th Century

US Educator Horace Mann in his 12th Annual Review stressed on main-stream schools and that the objective of

education should be to reform society. Mann reported that "in teaching the blind and the deaf and dumb, in kindling

the latent spark of intelligence that lurks in an idiot's mind and in the more holy work of reforming abandoned and

outcast children, education has proved what it can do by glorious experiments. Mann also believed that education

should have as one of its objectives the reform of society.

The biologist Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) set forth his concept of adjustment. This biological concept held that

forms of life that do not adapt their environment eventually become extinct. From this, Spencer concluded that

perfect life consisted of perfect adjustment. In other words, biological adjustment is criterion of life. Adaptive

behavior is that which maintains life.

Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

By the end of 19th century, several influential figures contributed to the field of Psychology, e.g., William James,

Wilhelm Wundt, Albert Ellis, Perls, etc. The work of some psychiatrists also influenced the field of counseling. For

example, Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis influenced later prominent theorists of Perls, Ellis, and Adler. Similarly,

Dorothy Dix advocated organic than moral treatment (prevalent at that time) at least for seriously mentally ill.

20th Century To date

1900-1909: Vocational Guidance Movement

In 20th century, when society was growing more complex, and finding one's appropriate place in society became

increasingly complicated, it seemed a ripe time for a genuinely scientific approach to meeting many human needs.

The time had come for the development of counseling to meet these needs. However, no single date can mark the

beginning of counseling.

The counseling profession entered the schoolhouse in the early 20th century. Three persons emerged as leaders in

the development of counseling:

Jesse B. Davis

Frank Parsons

Clifford Beers

Jesse B. Davis

Counseling may well have begun in 1898 when Jesse B. Davis advocated that students should be preached to about

the moral value of hard work. He was known as a broad scholar, writer and a tireless activist. He introduced

"vocational and moral guidance" as a curriculum into an English language composition course. Davis worked for

educational and vocational problems of students; a clear illustration of the early ties of

counseling to vocational guidance. He suggested that a good character shall be considered an asset to any person

who decides to enter the business work. He suggested that there shall be a guidance lecture once a week in schools

with the goal of building character. This was the first systematic guidance program in public schools and can be

considered a forerunner of counseling.

Frank Parsons - the Father of Guidance

Parson founded a vocation bureau in 1908 in Boston, eventually led to the National Vocational Guidance

Association in 1913. In 1909, he wrote the book, Choosing a Vocation, which was divided into 3 areas:

· Personal investigation

· Industrial investigation

· Organization and the work

Parson's work had significant impact on the vocational guidance movement. His bureau established a direct

connection with the Boston schools.

He suggested that the following three factors are important for the wise selection of a vocation:

· Extensive self-study on a "Schedule of personal data"

· A knowledge of requirements and conditions

· True reasoning on the relations of these two

He introduced an unusual feature of the intake interview "the observation". This approach would get clues to

possible flaws in the client, such as slow auditory reactions, defective verbal memory, etc. The counselor would

observe shape and size of head, enthusiasm, vitality, features, etc. and then would have some idea about the

appropriateness of that person for some particular job. He offered a method to match a person's personal

Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

characteristics with an occupation. He also recommended the client about methods that could be used for self-

improvement, like reading good suitable books to develop analytical thinking. Biographies were suggested for

finding commonalities and get inspiration. Counselor would then fill in the details by reading between the lines and

would make a detailed analysis of industrial job opportunities, work conditions, pay, demands, etc.

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