ZeePedia

COUNSELING PROCESS:Transference & Counter-transference

<< COUNSELING PROCESS:The Initial Session, Counselor-initiated, Advice Giving
THEORY IN THE PRACTICE OF COUNSELING:Timing of Termination >>
img
Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632
VU
Lesson 21
COUNSELING PROCESS
Initial Resistances
·
Resistances may be broadly defined as anything that gets in the way of counseling.
·
Resistances can be present at any stage of counseling.
·
Most clients are ambivalent when they come for counseling. At the same time as wanting change, they
may have anxieties both about changing and about the counseling process, for instance, talking about
themselves. Some clients come reluctantly: for example, 'problem' children sent to school counselors
for disrupting class.
·
Sullivan (1954) observed cultural resistance in non-medical counseling. Sullivan (1954) observed that
there were cultural handicaps to the work of the psychiatrist. These 'anti-psychiatric' or `anti-counselor'
elements in the culture can also lead to resistances in non-medical counseling. Such culturally
handicapping norms include: people ought not to need help.
Other cultural thinking errors contributing to resistances are that people who need helping are 'sick and
that you should be able to solve all problems by 'common sense'. A study about Pakistani people's
perceptions about those seeking medical or psychological help showed that people seeking help for
depression were perceived as less intelligent, sociable, kind, etc (Suhail & Anjum, 2004).
·
Sometime resistance could be as a consequence of poor counseling skills or models. Counselors may
wrongly attribute the sources of clients' resistances by being too quick to blame them for lack of
cooperation and progress which may actually be the consequence of poor counseling skills, for
example, not listening properly. Furthermore, some counseling models, especially if incompetently
applied, may engender resistances: for instance, the lack of structure of the person-centered counseling
or the didactic nature of the rational emotive behavior counseling. Clients may resist counselors whose
behavior is too discrepant from their expectations and perceived requirements
·
Counselors also bring resistances to their work, for example, fatigue, and burnout. One counselor
mentioned that once he counseled a 59-year-old female client whose manipulative manner triggered
anxieties in him because she reminded him of how his mother sometimes controlled how he should feel
and think when a child.
The following tables illustrate how different restraining and driving forces could interplay in resistance.
90
img
Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632
VU
Ta ble 1: "Driving " a nd "Restraini ng" forces
Restraining Forces
Driving Forces
5
4
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
5
A
B
C
D
E
How to deal with Initial Resistances?
·  Use non-judgmental listening to convey understanding: By using good active listening skills, you do much to
build the trust needed to lower resistances.
·  Communicate acceptance of client's unwillingness to change: Rather than justify yourself or allow yourself to
be sucked into a competitive contest, one approach to handling such aggression is to reflect.
·  Join with clients.
Example of joining with clients:
Client: I think coming here is a waste of time. My parents keep picking on me and they are the ones who
need help.
Family Counselor You feel angry about coming here because your parents are the people with problems.
Client: Yes (and then proceeds to share his/her side of the story).
Just showing clients that you understand their internal viewpoints, especially if done consistently, may
diminish resistances. For instance, counselors can initially listen and offer support to children expressing
resentment about parents. In the above instance you can focus on parental deficiencies prior to, possibly,
focusing the client back on himself or herself. You use your client's need to talk about parental injustices to
build the counseling relationship.
The above are just some ways of working with resistances and reluctance. Counselors need to be sensitive
to the pace at which different clients work. Clients who feel pressured by counselors may become even
more resistant. Furthermore, if attacked prematurely and clumsily, clients may reinforce their defenses.
When dealing with client resistances, counselors require sensitivity, realism, flexibility and tact.
·  Discuss reluctance and fears
In the following example, a parole officer responds to a juvenile delinquent's seeming reluctance to disclose
anything significant.
Counselor: I detect an unwillingness to open up to me because I'm your parole counselors. If I'm right, I'm
wondering what specifically worries you about that.
91
img
Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632
VU
·  Invite cooperation
Initial statements by counselors aim to create the idea of a partnership, a shared endeavor in which clients
and counselors can work together to attain goals.
·  Enlist client self-interest
It helps clients to identify reasons for participating in counseling. `What are your goals in the situation?' and
`Wouldn't you, like to be more in control of your life?'
·
Reward silent clients for talking.
Transference & Counter-transference
These are concepts as old as Freud. Transference and counter-transference are issues that affect all forms
of counseling, guidance, and psychotherapy.
Transference:
· Transference can be direct or indirect and it is the client's projection of past or present feelings,
attitudes, or desires or relationships onto the counselor. It originally emphasized the transference of
earlier emotions, but today it is not restricted to psychoanalytic therapy and may be based on current
experiences.
·
According to Gelso and Carter (1985), all counselors have a transference pull, which is an image
generated through the use of personality and a particular theoretical approach. The way counselor
speaks, looks, gestures, or sits may trigger a client's reaction.
·
Cavanagh (1982) describes that transference can be either direct or indirect. Direct transference is well
represented by the example of the client who thinks of the counselor as his/her mother. Indirect
transference is harder to recognize. It is usually revealed in client's reactions and behavior.
·
Transference can be both negative and positive. Cavanagh (1982) considers both as forms of resistance.
·
Corey at al. (1993) sees a therapeutic value in working through transference. Mild or indirect positive
transference is less harmful. Corey believes that the relationship improves once the client resolves
distorted perceptions about the counselor. It is reflected in client's increased trust and confidence in the
counselor.
Counter Transference
Cavanagh maintains that to resolve transference the counselor may work directly and interpersonally rather
than analytically, called counter transference. It is the counselor's projected emotional reaction to or
behavior towards the client. It can take on many forms, from a desire to please the client, to wanting to
develop a social or sexual relationship with the client, to identify with the problems of the client so much
that one loses objectivity, giving advice compulsively, etc. (Corey et al., 1993) . When this happens,
supervision or counseling for the counselor is called for.
·
Three approaches to counter transference:
­ Negative
­ Positive
­ Both positive and negative
Counter transference refers to negative and positive feelings towards clients based on unresolved areas in
counselors' lives. Intentionally or unintentionally some counselors use both involving and information self-
disclosures to manipulate clients to meet needs for approval, intimacy and sex.
92
img
Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632
VU
·
Watkins (1985) identifies four forms of counter transference:
o  Overprotective
o  Benign
o  Rejecting
o  Hostile
The first two are examples of identification, while the rest show misidentification. This highlights the
importance both of awareness of your motivation (for example, a counselor was aware that a 59-year-old
female client's manipulative manner triggered anxieties in him because she reminded him of how his mother
sometimes controlled how he should feel and think when a child) and also of behaving ethically.
Working through counter transference
·
Some pointers in effectively dealing with transference or client's reactions to you are:
o  Be willing to examine your own reactions
o  Monitor your own counter transference
o  Seek supervision or consultation with difficult cases
o  Avoid blaming or judging the client
o  Avoid labeling clients
o  Demonstrate understanding and respect
The following table describes attitudes of both client and counselor in different transference patterns.
Table 2: Patterns of Transference (Watkins, 1983)
Transferring Pattern
Client Attitude
Counselor Attitude
Ideal
Idealizes, imitates, hungry Feels pride; angry
for presence
Seer
Views counselor as expert, Feeling of al- knowing; self-
asks advices
doubts
Nurturer
Profuse emotions, sense of Sympathy, urge to touch;
fragility
depression
Frustrator
Cautious; distrustful
Uneasiness, anger
Nonentity
Topic shifting
Feeling of being used, lack
of recognition
To understand transference, a counselor must focus on client's expectations, need for advice, dependence,
trust building, establishing contact and getting behind client's barriers.
Termination of Counseling Relationships
·  Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes; hello begins at birth and good-byes end at death.
·  Refers to the decision, one-sided or mutual, to stop counseling (Burke, 1989)
·  A formal termination serves three functions:
o  Signals that something is finished: Many theorists assume that termination will occur naturally and
leave both clients and counselors pleased.
o  Termination is a means of maintaining changes already achieved and generalizing problem-solving
skills
93
img
Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632
VU
Serves as a reminder that the client has matured. It indicates that the counseling is finished and it is
o
time for the client to face their life challenges. The client has matured and thinks and acts more
effectively and independently.
Termination of a Session
There is no great secret to ending sessions. There are some guidelines:
·  Start and end on time.
·  Leave 5 minutes or so for a summary of the session.
·  Introduce the end of the session normally ("Our time is coming to a close").
·  Assign homework.
·  Set up next appointment.
·  Limit the number of sessions.
Limiting the number of sessions can facilitate termination. Counselors and client both are motivated by the
knowledge that the counseling experience is limited in time.
Termination of the Relationship
·  Termination is the end of the professional relationship with the client when the session goals have been
met.
·  Generally, both client and counselor should give each other verbal messages about a readiness to
terminate.
·  It is wise to spend the final 3-4 weeks discussing termination in a relationship lasting more than 3
months (Hackney & Cormier, 1994).
·  One-sixth of the time spent in a counseling relationship should be devoted to focusing on termination
(Shulman, 1979). For example, if there are total 18 sessions, 3 can be devoted to mentioning about
termination.
·  Two ways to facilitate the ending (Dixon & Glover, 1984):
o  Fading is gradual decrease reinforcement for behaving in certain ways.
o  To help client develop successful problem-solving skills.
94
Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION:Counseling Journals, Definitions of Counseling
  2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND COUNSELING & PSYCHOTHERAPY
  3. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 1900-1909:Frank Parson, Psychopathic Hospitals
  4. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:Recent Trends in Counseling
  5. GOALS & ACTIVITIES GOALS OF COUNSELING:Facilitating Behavior Change
  6. ETHICAL & LEGAL ISSUES IN COUNSELING:Development of Codes
  7. ETHICAL & LEGAL ISSUES IN COUNSELING:Keeping Relationships Professional
  8. EFFECTIVE COUNSELOR:Personal Characteristics Model
  9. EFFECTIVE COUNSELOR:Humanism, People Orientation, Intellectual Curiosity
  10. EFFECTIVE COUNSELOR:Cultural Bias in Theory and Practice, Stress and Burnout
  11. COUNSELING SKILLS:Microskills, Body Language & Movement, Paralinguistics
  12. COUNSELING SKILLS COUNSELOR’S NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION:Use of Space
  13. COUNSELING SKILLS HINTS TO MAINTAIN CONGRUENCE:
  14. LISTENING & UNDERSTANDING SKILLS:Barriers to an Accepting Attitude
  15. LISTENING & UNDERSTANDING SKILLS:Suggestive Questions,
  16. LISTENING & UNDERSTANDING SKILLS:Tips for Paraphrasing, Summarizing Skills
  17. INFLUENCING SKILLS:Basic Listening Sequence (BLS), Interpretation/ Reframing
  18. FOCUSING & CHALLENGING SKILLS:Focused and Selective Attention, Family focus
  19. COUNSELING PROCESS:Link to the Previous Lecture
  20. COUNSELING PROCESS:The Initial Session, Counselor-initiated, Advice Giving
  21. COUNSELING PROCESS:Transference & Counter-transference
  22. THEORY IN THE PRACTICE OF COUNSELING:Timing of Termination
  23. PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACHES TO COUNSELING:View of Human Nature
  24. CLASSICAL PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH:Psychic Determination, Anxiety
  25. NEO-FREUDIANS:Strengths, Weaknesses, NEO-FREUDIANS, Family Constellation
  26. NEO-FREUDIANS:Task setting, Composition of Personality, The Shadow
  27. NEO-FREUDIANS:Ten Neurotic Needs, Modes of Experiencing
  28. CLIENT-CENTERED APPROACH:Background of his approach, Techniques
  29. GESTALT THERAPY:Fritz Perls, Causes of Human Difficulties
  30. GESTALT THERAPY:Role of the Counselor, Assessment
  31. EXISTENTIAL THERAPY:Rollo May, Role of Counselor, Logotherapy
  32. COGNITIVE APPROACHES TO COUNSELING:Stress-Inoculation Therapy
  33. COGNITIVE APPROACHES TO COUNSELING:Role of the Counselor
  34. TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS:Eric Berne, The child ego state, Transactional Analysis
  35. BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES:Respondent Learning, Social Learning Theory
  36. BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES:Use of reinforcers, Maintenance, Extinction
  37. REALITY THERAPY:Role of the Counselor, Strengths, Limitations
  38. GROUPS IN COUNSELING:Major benefits, Traditional & Historical Groups
  39. GROUPS IN COUNSELING:Humanistic Groups, Gestalt Groups
  40. MARRIAGE & FAMILY COUNSELING:Systems Theory, Postwar changes
  41. MARRIAGE & FAMILY COUNSELING:Concepts Related to Circular Causality
  42. CAREER COUNSELING:Situational Approaches, Decision Theory
  43. COMMUNITY COUNSELING & CONSULTING:Community Counseling
  44. DIAGNOSIS & ASSESSMENT:Assessment Techniques, Observation
  45. FINAL OVERVIEW:Ethical issues, Influencing skills, Counseling Approaches