The Historical Development of Counselling

1. 1 Explain the historical development of Counselling Counselling and Psychotherapy began in the early 18th century. The shift in how society dealt with mental health issues came about primarily due to the advent of the popularisation of science through the beginning of the industrial revolution. Society became increasingly transient and anonymous and the responsibility for behaviour became from the individual rather than from the community as a whole. In the 1880’s Sigmund Freud developed a theory about the unconscious mind and went on to create psychoanalysis. Many therapists have been influenced by Freud and gone on to develop his theories. Freud collaborated with a number of analysts and set up the Vienna Psychoanalytic society. Notable amongst these is Carl Jung who developed Psychodynamics and focussed on dream analysis. Alfred Adler who’s most famous concept was the inferiority complex and also Otto Rank who was the secretary of the society. B. F Skinner was also influenced by Freud’s work. Skinner rejected the notion of the ‘psyche’ and developed his own theory called ‘radical behaviourism’ which is essentially the science of behaviour. Abraham Maslow developed the theory of a * Hierarchy of Human Needs (1943) Maslow believed that there where a set number of needs which had to be met before the client was able to achieve self actualisation, a term meaning the client reaching their full potential. Carl Rogers was the main proponent of person centred therapy which began in the 1940’s. This approach was Humanistic and saw the client rather than the therapist as the expert of their life. Person centred therapy believes the client holds the answers and has the power of autonomy. The counsellor is there to help facilitate this process by use of the core conditions. This humanistic approach relies less on medical knowledge and training and more on lay analysis. The principles of humanistic medicine are communication, respect and also an emotional connection between counsellor and their client. 1. 2 Explain the philosophical basis of Person Centred Counselling. The basis of the person centred approach is an optimistic outlook of individuals and a belief that people have the ability and inner resources to be able to resolve their own issues and move forward in a positive direction. It believes that all humans are innately social and constructive beings and that we are all motivated to seek the truth. We also directed by our need for self esteem Each individual’s behavior is influenced by how they perceive themselves. We are all trying to develop and be the best that we can be, and this process is guided by internal and external forces. By using the core conditions of Congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy the counsellor is able to develop a therapeutic relationship with the client. This relationship should be based on equality and the counsellor should provide a safe environment in which the client is empowered to explore their self perception and achieve greater self awareness. This self awareness will enable the client to become secure in their self concept and go on to enable them to fulfill their full potential. 1. 3 Explain the key concept principles of Person Centred Counselling The main principles of Person Centred Counselling include a right to autonomy. No advice or guidance should be given by the counsellor as the client has the ability to self actualise and find their own answers. The ability to discover themselves achieves beneficial long term results as the client will learn how to look at their own feelings and actions in the future and become self sustaining. Rogers demonstrates a 7 Stage process of change to attempt to clarify how the client moves forward during the counselling process. At the beginning of the counselling the client will feel defensive and rigid in their thoughts. The will have poor self-awareness and have trouble recognising feelings. As the therapy continues they will undergo a graduate change encompassing the following stages. * Personal Constructs- Conditions thought of as facts and not open to change. * Internal Dialogue. A fear or avoidance of internal conversations and the client is fearful of ‘thinking too much’. * Expression. Client fearful and uncomfortable in expressing themselves * Differentiation and elaboration of experience. Clients start back seeing things in a very black and white manner with no grey areas. This change during the counselling process. * Perception of problems. Clients start off believing it is other people that have the problem but gradually come to terms with their own issues and no longer fear them. * Attitude to change. The client goes from not believing they can or should change to being open to and even relishing the possibility. * Bodily Changes. The client will have less physical symptoms of unhappiness such a headaches, irritability etc. Their feeling of contentment will manifest themselves and a healthier outlook. It needs to be recognised that every client is individual and there is no guarantee how they will go about the therapeutic process. These stages should only be looked as a guide to some of the steps the client may take. 1. 4 Explain how Person Centred Counselling would inform the practice of a qualified trained counsellor By creating a therapeutic environment in which the client feel safe to be entirely honest and open about their thoughts and feelings we can enable the client to be become self actualised and able to find a way to move forward. In order to create this environment we need to offer the client warmth, respect and a safe place where they can openly explore themselves. This offering of unconditional positive regard will enable the client to feel accepted and understood and this will encourage them to practice full self disclosure without any fear of judgement or rejection. The counsellor needs to be aware of the clients anxiety and able to enter the clients own world and develop and understanding of it. Rogers wrote *‘ It (empathy) means temporarily living in his/her life, moving about in it delicately without making judgements, sensing meanings of which he/she is scarcely aware, but not trying to uncover feelings of which this person is totally unaware, since this would be too threatening. This feeling of empathy with what the client is experiencing and ability demonstrate this understanding to the client will build a reassurance within the client that we have a deep emotional awareness of what they are experiencing. In order to achieve these conditions we firstly need to establish congruence. Rogers states ** ‘personal growth is facil itated when the counsellor is what he is, when the relationship with his client is genuine and without â€Å"front† or â€Å"facade† , openly being the feelings and attitudes which at that moment are flowing in him. The counsellor should be able to be genuine and open with their feelings and understanding and be able to demonstrate this transparency to the client during their relationship. 1. 5 Explain how the chosen model influences the understanding of the development of the self concept. The Organismic self is an internal evaluation system we are all born with. It gives us an innate awareness of how to sustain wants and needs. The organismic self has the following traits. * Spontaneous /creative/fluid * self-perpetuated/ regulated self-directing- Knows how to drive forward to goal * self-maintaining- How to keep safe and well * self-enhancing- Knows what gives pleasure * self-replicating This system is defined by Rogers as the internal locus of evaluation and can be defined in the following way: * How you feel about right/wrong- good/bad- what you want/don’t want * This is an image of the ideal self and how you perceive you should think/act *1980 – p142 **Person to Person â€⠀œ p90 As we mature we interact more with other people and our valuing system begins to change. In order to gain approval and acceptance from people around us we adapt our behaviour. The first example of this will usually be as a child trying to please and parent or guardian and may extend to family, friends, colleagues and society as whole as we get older. We develop a self concept which is how we would like to be perceived by others and is based on what we feel we should be like in order to gain love and acceptance. Rogers defines these changes as the external locus of evaluation and is: * Driven by other individuals/society Creates ideal self what how you perceive you should be * Needs approval from others to gain love an acceptance * Conditions of worth- Acting in a certain way to be loved By living with this self concept we can feel lost and conflicted about who we are. Our sense of worth is based on how we perceive other people to be reacting to us and we can develop a reliance on a need to please others in order to value ourselves. Person centred counselling aims to get the client to recognise their own inner feelings and to re-introduce them to their organismic self. By doing this we can hope to achieve wherein the Organismic self and the Self Concept overlap and we are able to live to our full potential. 1. 6 Explain why it is important to have an understanding of a therapeutic model before using its methods and techniques Unless the therapeutic model is used then a counsellor would be unable to work with the core conditions and may be unable to demonstrate congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy. All these are vital in order for the client to feel comfortable and able to share their innermost thoughts and feelings. It is vital the counsellor and client have an awareness of professional boundaries and the counsellor has sufficient knowledge and insight to ensure the client is not left in an unsafe position. By ensuring the rules are clearly defined and the beginning of the process through the use of a contract the client will be fully aware of what they can expect from the counselling. For example, the client needs to be made aware they will not be receiving advice and they will be expected to find their own answers. The management of the expectations of the client will prevent them from feeling frustration with the counsellor and also give them a greater insight into the therapeutic process. The counsellor needs a full understanding of all the stages of the process of change in order to move the client forward and have awareness when the counselling has reached its natural conclusion. This will enable to the client to move on and not develop and over reliance on the therapy sessions. By ensuring the above conditions are met the counsellor has a solid base in which to begin the counselling and ensure the client has a positive experience.