Comparative theories and Approaches in Counselling Psychology Essay

Comparative Theories and Approaches in Counselling
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In the last decade, our field of counseling has seen rapid changes for the better. There has been growth and development brought about by various factors based on technological, economic, sociological and environmental growth. In the process of this growth, several theories have been developed, tested and verified to be used by professionals like us in our day-to-day activities. Some of these theories are observed to come from various fields in life, for example, in the psychology field, various theories have been formed. Counseling as a profession has been made better by this theory attack, and it is preferable to the hard evidence of the value of counseling. The profession of counseling and psychotherapy offers individuals with an opportunity to give back to the community as a career by helping those who experience personal distress. Thus, the developed theories make it easier for us professional to perform this task. Having owned a clinic, which is growing in popularity, it is in the opinion that the organization increases the number of staff, as the client base is growing. The stuff to choose has to be able to deliver better services and offer to counsel through psychodynamic, and CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy. This study is going to look at personal centered therapy, CBT and psychodynamic.
The existing psychotherapy theories do give counselors a framework from which they can effectively interpret a client's thoughts, feelings, and behavior, making it easier for them to help the client navigate from the negative journey in a detailed journey that moves from diagnosis to post-treatment. In the counseling profession, these theoretical approaches are comprehensibly an integral part of the complete therapeutic process.
The firm has been and growing because of the services provided based on this theory. Professionally we do not think there is a better theory than the other is, as different clients will react differently to the different theories. One theory might work on a client, but the same theory may fail to produce the same result in another individual even though they are suffering from the same personal distress. This is one of the main reasons for getting two new counselors who will come with different approaches to handling personal distress. While Personal centered counseling has proved to be a success in the firm, there is a need to diversify, however, as growth has brought new clients who need different handling and hence the recruitment.
Person-centered counseling
The above approach was developed by scholar Carl Rogers (1950). It is a humanistic approach that relates to the assumption that individuals do not have leaders, as they are experts of themselves and only they can access the innate expert resources of self-direction and self-understanding. According to the founder Rogers, in this approach, the counselor ought to provide the client with a facilitating environment that comprises of the following six sufficient and necessary conditions: one is the Psychological contact it is the mutual and rapport understanding between the counselor and the client. Two is the client incongruence; this can also be the client vulnerability in which will encourage them to continue with the counseling. Three is the counselor's congruency or the professional's genuineness that is showing their human character by appropriate personal disclosure. Four is the unconditional positive regard which entails that a counselor has to continue caring for the patient/client even though the client has divulged or disclosed something that is inappropriate or something that the counselor does not embrace, for example, religion or political sentiments. Five is the empathic understanding that involves the counselor trying as much as possible to understand the client's feelings (trying to be in someone else shoes), this helps to authenticate the client's feelings. Six is that the client recognizes the congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathic understanding of the counselor, even though not wholly at least to a minimal degree.
According to Rogers, the above essential conditions are developed to establish an appreciation of individuality and personhood, which summarizes the theoretical notion of self-concept (Bozarth, 1998). Referring to self-concept of the client it means what the individual holds and think that is the beliefs and perceptions client holds about themselves. These self-concepts comprise self-esteem, self-image, and ideal self. Self-Esteem or self-worth are the thoughts one holds about self; they may be developed in the early stages of childhood and from experiences shared with guardians or parents. Self-image involves the perception that one holds about self, these may include the body image, which is the influence of personality. Lastly the ideal-self, this is what the individual would like to be, this may include ambitions, goals or where one would want to be at the moment. Person-centered counseling is based on the assumption that all individuals are seeking a positive self-concept and it is this distinctive enthusiasm towards self-fulfillment that is fostered during Person Centered Counselling.
PCC bases it believed that if an individual is in the right environment of acceptance, empathy, and warmth, it is this condition that will lead him or her to self-actualization. Self-actualization then engages the individual morale to move towards purpose, meaning, and growth. Person-centered is phenomenological psychology whereby the client perception of reality is also accepted as the individual reality by the rest. Because of Rogers, emphasis on the self-being person-centered is normally referred to as self-theory.
Person-centered discourages the use of diagnostic categories because it is incompatible with the philosophical view of the individual to be unique. Diagnosis assessment method places the counselor in a higher position where he/she can impose authority and still impose the treatment plan without really knowing the real problem and feelings of the client.
The Goals to Attain through PCC
Although we always opt to achieve more with our favorite techniques or in what we achieve the most with, in general, the person-centered theory is concerned directly with the client. As a counselor, one is supposed to facilitate the client in archiving a realistic self-perception, a sense of positive worth, greater self-direction, and confidence, better ways to cope with stress, greater adaptive behavior, social skill, and maturity and more fully functioning in matters concerning aspects of lives.
Criticisms
The approach is observed as too general and lacks clear definitions of techniques. For its best results PCC is seen to depend on clients who are educated, insightful and bright. It is said to ignore client’s diagnosis as it classifies diagnosis as inhumane. It only deals with surface issues and ignores the deeper areas. There also researchers who observe that PCC is supportive of the client and does not challenge the irrational belief when it comes to the counselling relationship. This theory seems to; control subjects who should not be candidates of therapy, fails to control for place to effects, it does neglect the actual behavior and functioning in favor of ratings and omit the untreated control group.
Humans are essentially self-directing, have potential to understand themselves and others and trustworthy. They have the ability to observe reality and are not controlled by the outside factors. The goals of a PCC differ from those of the traditional methods as it focuses on achieving client’s growth and independence.
Psychodynamic Therapy
This mode of therapy inhibits in-depth talk based on the principles and theories of the psychoanalysis. Psychodynamic focuses less on the client-counselor relationship. It focuses more on the client's relationship to the external world. Unlike the personal centered, which also focuses on the client's counselor relationship, this is more focused on the relationship of the client and the external world.
Psychodynamic theory views individual behavior as a result of unconscious factors that cannot be controlled and hence strongly determinist. The individual personality is in tripartite and made up id, ego, and the super-ego. The id is instinctive and primitive component of personality. It has all the component of personal...