The Diverse Nature of Counseling - Essay Example

?The Diverse Nature of Counseling Until the advent of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the field of psychology was non-existent. Most of the ideas behind psychology were drawn from the deterministic, biological approach. Once the ideas behind talking therapy and analyzing components of personality and disorders began to take root, the profession of counseling came into play. Unlike many other fields, counseling is a field in which there is a diverse amount of theories regarding the proper way to approach counseling. Each of the main theories behind counseling stems from a different component of how to practice counseling and the theories, although some are similar, all address different portions of the psyche. The main theories that are used in counseling psychology are: psychoanalytic therapy, alderian therapy, existential therapy, person-centered therapy, gestalt therapy, reality therapy, behavioral therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy. Psychoanalytic therapy was the first to develop in the area of counseling. It was created by an Austrian doctor by the name of Sigmund Freud. He wrote many aspects of the personality such as the id, ego, and superego. He also came up with the idea of reaction mechanisms in response to anxiety as well as thoughts of the consciousness and unconsciousness. In regards to therapy, the goal of therapy in psychotherapy is to bring the unconscious into the conscious realm through dream interpretation and talking therapy. In addition, it focuses on the strengthening of the ego so that the person becomes more integrated with reality. This was the foundation for all of the other therapies in psychology (Elliott, 2002). The next major form of therapy to develop in counseling was Alderian therapy. It was started by Alfred Adler, who was a student of Freud’s, so there is some psychoanalytical influence on this theory. His basis for this therapy was that people are strongly influenced by the events of the past in which they either witnessed or experienced. Unlike in psychoanalysis which is purely deterministic, Alderian therapy acknowledges that both biological and environmental factors can impact a person. Many times, Alderian therapy is used in family and child therapy due to the emphasis on birth order and family constellations. Many times the goal in therapy is helping the person overcome inferiority and modifying faulty lifestyles and motivation (Rule, & Bishop, 2006). Existential therapy is one of the theories which is more derived from philosophy rather than the behavioral sciences. It was created and supported by Victor Frankl and Rollo May. They reject the deterministic behavior of psychoanalysis in favor of the idea that we have the freedom to choose who and what we want to be. It is in this attempt to find oneself in which the therapy is developed. Logotherapy, the search for meaning, was created using this philosophy on counseling. The goal in counseling is helping the individual discover themselves and allowing them to redefine themselves through personal expression and genuineness expressed by the therapist (Yalom, 1980). Person-centered therapy was started by Carol Rogers. Again, rather than the purely biological nature of psychoanalysis, person centered therapy relies on concepts from the humanistic psychology. The main aspects of person centered therapy, as a therapist, are to have unconditional positive regard for a person, congruence, and be able to be empathetic towards the individual. The idea behind person centered therapy is that growth in the client is attained by the genuineness of the client-therapist relationship. This was unlike many of the prior therapy philosophies in that the main goal of therapy is based on the client-therapist relationship (Tudor, & Worrall, 2006). Gestalt therapy is the based on the here and now. According to Fritz Pearls, the goal in helping the client overcome neuroticism is by making them experience their past emotions and experiences as if they are a current feeling. Some of the principles of Gestalt therapy included holism, field theory and figure-formation process, and organismic self-regulation. Most important and different from the other theories is in the notion of field theory; the principle of how the person sees themselves in a particular environment and the interaction. The goal of therapy is overcoming the impasses, or blocks, which prevent a person from accepting being in the here and now (Woldt, & Toman, 2005). The more modern therapies began to develop after Gestalt therapy, one of which being reality therapy. It was started by William Glasser. The biggest factor of this theory is that the belief is based on a unified problem set that all people have: it is based on the disenchantment in a relationship or the fact that the relationship is absent. It also takes the biological factor one step further by saying we have five genetically encoded needs which determine our behavior: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun. The focus of therapy is to empower the client to take control of the situation by placing an emphasis on responsibility. The goal is to reconstitute the connections with the people who surround the client in their life (Glasser, 1965). Behavioral Therapy is one of the most widely used therapies currently used today. Arnold Lazarus was one of the first pioneers in the field of behaviorism as well as the famous B.F. Skinner. Many of the traditional counseling techniques used today are from behaviorism, the most well known being classical and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is based on taking an unconditioned stimulus and response and modifying it to produce a conditioned response. Operant conditioning is based on positive/negative reinforcement and punishment in an effort to change behavior. Another huge contributor to behavioral therapy was influenced of Albert Bandura and he came up with the idea of social learning therapy where we are influenced by stimulus events and this is reinforced by other processes. Cognitive behavioral therapy arose from this school of counseling psychology (Corey, 2001). Cognitive behavioral therapy is the mainstream counseling theory which was created by Aaron Beck. It is based on the fact that we want the client to recognize and change negative thoughts and maladaptive beliefs. Like Gestalt therapy, CBT focuses on conducting therapy in the present moment. However, it focuses on the client’s ability to introspect and correct cognitive distortions in the person and how they are thinking (Corey, 2001). The field of counseling psychology can be described as extremely diversified. Even though the theories above are mainstreamed, there are many other bigger schools as well as sub-schools which make up these theories. Depending on the person, a different therapy or even multiple therapies might be used. The other important aspect in the field of counseling is the lack of statistical and experimental support which is what makes everything about counseling abstract. In contrast, this is what makes the area of counseling so adaptable in that it is based off of talking therapy. Even though the field of counseling has many diverse opinions and theories, this diversity is what allows for every type of person to be helped. References Corey, G. (2001). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Elliott, A. (2002). Psychoanalytic theory: an introduction. London: Blackwell Publishers. Glasser, W. (1965). Reality therapy: a new approach to psychiatry. New York, NY: Harper & Roe. Rule, W, & Bishop, Malachy. (2006). Adlerian lifestyle counseling: practice and research. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group. Tudor, K, & Worrall, M. (2006). Person-centered therapy: a clinical philosophy. Taylor & Francis Group. Woldt, A, & Toman, S. (2005). Gestalt therapy: history, theory, and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Yalom, I. (1980). Existential psychotherapy. Yalom Family Trust. Read More