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INTRODUCTION:Counseling Journals, Definitions of Counseling

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND COUNSELING & PSYCHOTHERAPY >>
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Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632
VU
Lesson 01
INTRODUCTION
Counseling is a distinct profession that has developed in a variety of ways in 20th century. It is a
very useful area; on one end it will equip the students with basic theoretical and practical knowledge about
the subject, on the other end it will teach how to understand and improve oneself, and also how to maintain
good interpersonal relationships. Also it teaches how to develop good communication and relationship
skills.
Course Content
The main sections of the course are as under:
Part I: Introduction to foundation and historical background
Part II: Counseling process and methods
Part III: Theories of counseling and interventions
Part IV: Assessment in counseling
Part V: Counseling situations
Course Objectives
The goal of this course is to present a comprehensive overview of counseling profession. This course has
been developed carefully to provide students with a thorough overview to the discipline of counseling. A
few objectives of this course are described below:
· To understand theoretical foundations of counseling psychology: Each theory is addressed from the
perspective of background, human nature, major constructs, applications, the process of change, and
intervention strategies, evaluation.
· To critically examine the major theories of therapy in the framework of one's own background, values
and professional goals.
· To indulge in self-assessment ­ one's own needs and motivations, and personal characteristics that will
either help or hinder one in becoming a professional in human services.
· To understand basic counseling skills as practiced by an effective counselor.
· To discuss special settings and populations where counseling could be effectively used.
· To explore ethical and legal issues for the practice of counseling profession.
Reference List
·  Gladding, S.T. (2003). Counseling: A Comprehensive Profession (5th ed..). Prentice-Hall Career &
Technology.
·  Corey, G. (2004). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (7th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing.
·  George, R.L. (1986). Counseling Theory and Practice. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Counseling Journals
·  Counseling (by British Association for Counseling)
·  British Journal of Guidance & Counseling
·  The Counseling Psychologist (by American Psychological Associaton)
·  Psychodynamic Counseling
·  International Journal of Psychotherapy
·  European Journal of Psychotherapy, Counseling and Health
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Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632
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Main Features of this Course
· Classroom Activities: The counseling will provide actual demonstrations of different counseling skills
and other practical aspects of the course will relate theory to practice of counseling. At the same time, it
will also clear up students' misconceptions about how a therapy actually works.
· Case Approach: Case study consistent with the theoretical model under discussion will be presented to
further clarify the theoretical concepts. The case approach to counseling emphasizes the use of
demonstrations and attempts to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of counseling.
· Counseling Journal: Students will be expected to write their experiences regarding practice of different
counseling skills.
Students' Learning
At the end of this course, the students shall be able to:
·  Demonstrate foundational knowledge in counseling psychology (concepts, theories, ethical issues,
basic skills, etc.).
·  Apply this knowledge in improving one's own life as well as to understand others in a better way.
·  Use basic counseling skills (attending and listening skill) in improving their relationships.
Definitions of Counseling
As a profession counseling is relatively new. It grew out of guidance movement, in opposition to traditional
psychotherapy. A few definitions described below will illustrate the meaning and process of counseling
profession:
·  "An effort to help the client engage in those types of behavior which will lead to a resolution of
the client's problems" (Krumboltz, 1965).
·  "Counseling denotes a professional relationship between a trained counselor and a client.
Relationship is usually person-to-person, and is designed to help clients to understand and clarify
their views of their lifespace, and to learn to reach their self-determined goals through meaningful,
well-informed choices and through resolution of problem" (Burks & Stefflre, 1979, p. 14)
·  "An interaction in which the counselor offers another person the time, attention, and respect
necessary to explore, discover and clarify ways of living more resourcefully, and to his or her
greater well-being" (The BAC, 1999)
These definitions indicate that counseling as defined by different people have few common components, as
described below:
· "Counseling is aimed at helping people make choices and act on them"
· Counselors are the people who listen to others and help resolve difficulties
· A relationship: Counselor develops a relationship which is based on unconditional positive regard and
trust.
· A process: Counseling is a process in which the counselor and the clients involve themselves in a
psychological process to solve problems.
· The counseling is designed to help people make choices and solve problems.
· The counseling helps in recognizing one's potential and to use this potential in an effective way.
Counseling as a Helping Relationship
Counseling shares many characteristics of other helping professions. People working in these professions
are expected to help others, e.g., medical doctors, psychotherapists, nurses, paramedics, school counselors,
etc. According to Rogers (1961, p. 40), helping relationship is defined as:
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Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632
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"Helping relationship is the one in which at least one of the parties has the intent of promoting the
growth, development, maturity, improved functioning, improved coping with life of the other".
This definition describes various interpersonal relationships in social settings, e.g., mother-child, teacher-
student and many other relationships where people interact with each other and their interactions affect
behaviors and attitudes of others. However, counselor-client relationship affects in a unique way, different
from other interactions.
In the following, certain characteristics of helping professions are described. All of these are also found in
client-counselor relationship.
Characteristics:
Affectiveness: Helping relationships is more affective (with feelings, and emotions) than cognitive.
Intensity: Counselor and client are expected to share openly their perceptions and reactions to each other
and to the process.
Growth: The relationship is dynamic. As the client grows and changes, so does the relationship. Counseling
is a unique and dynamic process in which, from counselor and client, one assists the other. The counselor
helps the client to grow in a positive direction and actualizing his own resources to grow.
Privacy: During or after the counseling session all client disclosures are confidential.
Support: Counselors, through counseling relationship, offer the client a system of support that often
provides the necessary stability for taking risks and changing behavior.
Honesty: The helping relationships is based on honesty and open and direct communication between the
counselor and the client.
The above characteristics indicate that the counselor will provide support to the client. However, counseling
relationship is not befriending, as in friendship both people share with each other but in counseling sharing
is one-sided. However the supporting elements are strong in both friendship and counseling relationships.
Is Counselor Simply a Helper?
The helping relationship is the cornerstone on which counseling profession rests. This topic has been
studied at length by various authors. The word helper is used as a short-hand term to describe both; both
counselors and informal helpers use helping skills, e.g., plumber, electrician, guide, student counselors, etc.
However, counseling is a help provided in a professional and ethical way. Egan (1994) mentions the term
skilled helper to define a professional counselor.
Nelson-Jones (1997) differentiates both in the following way:
·
Anyone who provides a service could be regarded as a helper but not counselor.
·
The word helper has connotations of placing recipients of help in dependent position and the
helper does things for the person rather than with him or her (which counselor is supposed to do.
·
The word help obscures the idea of self-help. The purpose of counseling to help people is to
become their own helpers, so both helpers and recipient of help ultimately become helpers. The
point is that when both are ultimately able to provide help, how the term of helper can be
employed for just one (counselor) of the two persons.
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Characteristics of Counseling
Counseling as a Relationship
Counseling is sufficient for constructive changes to occur in clients (Rogers, 1957). The counseling
relationship is characterized by core conditions namely empathy, unconditioned positive regard, and
genuineness.
Counseling as a Repertoire of Interventions
In counseling several questions (like which, when, and with what client) are answered and while
interventions are decided an attempt is made to have a match between the client and the counselor.
Counseling as a Psychological Process
·  Goals of counseling have a mind component
·  Process is psychological
·  Underlying theories are psychological: Some psychologists like Rogers, Albert Ellis and psychiatrists
like Berne and Beck have contributed enormously to counseling theories.  For example,
information about human nature has been derived from psychological theories. Some people argue
that counseling is not a profession as it is used in so many disciplines in so many sphere of life, e.g.,
loan counselors, business counselor, etc., but the difference is that professional counselors work
according to some theoretical model.
·  Psychological research contributes both to creating counseling theories and to evaluate counseling
process
Guidance & Counseling
·  Guidance has been flip-flopped with counseling for over 50 years. The word guidance has historical
significance in the history of counseling, although not much in use now.
·  Guidance is an umbrella term that includes such a constellation of services aimed at personal and
career development and school adjustment. Guidance also describes the overall school/ college
program and implies personal assistance to students, teachers, parents and administrators.
·  Guidance is a relationship between the unequal. While counseling has been perceived as a process
in which someone who has a problem receives personal assistance, usually through private
discussion.
·  Guidance focuses on helping individuals choose what they value most; counseling focuses on
helping them make changes. Counseling has been perceived as a process in which someone who
has a problem receives personal assistance, usually through private discussion. The term
"counseling" not used exclusively by school counselors or other professional counselors, is used by
people in the counseling profession to describe a special type of helping process.
Distinctions between Counseling & Psychotherapy
Hahn (1953) writes, "I know few counselors or psychotherapists who are completely satisfied that clear
distinctions have been made". Hahn goes on to point out that the most complete agreements are that
counseling and psychotherapy cannot be clearly distinguished; counselors practice what psychotherapists
consider psychotherapy, and psychotherapists practice what counselors consider to be counseling, and
despite the above they are different.
Blocher (1966) distinguishes between counseling and psychotherapy by pointing out that the goals of
counseling are ordinarily developmental-educative-preventive, and the goals of psychotherapy are generally
remediative-adjustive-therapeutic. He describes that five basic assumptions about client and counselor
differentiate both:
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Counseling clients are not considered to be "mentally ill", but they are viewed as being capable of
choosing goals, making decisions, and generally assuming responsibility for their own behavior and
future development.
·
Counseling focuses on present and future.
·
The client is a client, not a patient. The counselor is not an authority figure but is essentially a
teacher and partner of the client as they move towards mutually defined goals.
·
The counselor is not morally neutral or amoral but has values, feelings, and standards of his/her
own. Although the counselor does not necessarily impose these on clients, he or she does not
attempt to hide them.
·
Counselor focuses on changing behavior, not just creating insight.
Brammer & Shostrom (1982) indicate that while the two activities may overlap, counseling in general can be
characterized by such terms as "educational, vocational, supportive, situational, problem-solving, conscious
awareness, normal, present time, and short-term"; psychotherapy can be characterized by such terms as
"supportive (in a crisis setting), reconstructive, depth emphasis, analytical, focus on the past, emphasis on
`neurotic' or other severe emotional, and long-term problems.
Counseling & Psychotherapy: Differences
·  Differences in origins
·  Differences in goals
·  Differences in process
·  Differences in issues/ settings
·  Differences in clients
·  Differences in training & orientation
Differences in Origins
Counseling evolved from the human potential movements of late 1950s and 1960s; many of the
psychotherapies have their roots in psychoanalysis although many schools evolved and have broken away.
The goals of psychotherapy are more likely to involve a quite complete change of basic character structure,
and reconstructive. In contrast, counseling is directed toward aiding growth.
Differences in Goals
In psychotherapy the goal is to change the personality while counseling deals with the goal of helping
people to utilize existing resources for coping with life better.
The goal of counseling is to help individuals deal with the developmental tasks appropriate to their age. The
adolescent who is being helped with problems of sexual definition, emotional independence from parents,
career decision making and preparation , and the other tasks typical of that age in different cultures would
be receiving counseling. Similarly, a middle-aged person grappling with stresses of his age would seek the
help of a counselor. However, more emotional and severe problems will be under the domain of a
psychotherapist.
The goals of psychotherapy are more likely to involve a quite complete change of basic character structure;
the goal of counseling are apt to be more limited, more directed towards aiding growth, more concerned
with the immediate situations, and aimed at helping the individual function adequately in appropriate roles.
Differences in Process
In the process of psychotherapy emphasis is on the past while the process of counseling emphasize on the
present.
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The purpose of the process of psychotherapy is treatment of the patient but counseling proceeds with the
purpose of the growth of the client.
Psychotherapy and counseling also differ in frequency and depth of work. In psychotherapy usually there
will be 20-40 sessions over the period of 6 months to 2 years, while in counseling sessions will be limited,
i.e., 6-12 sessions and the duration shall be usually less than 6 months
Differences in issues/ setting
Psychotherapists are more apt to work in hospital settings or in private practice; counselors are more apt to
work in educational settings. A wide range of settings/ issues for counselors are self awareness, relationship
difficulties, abuse, anxiety, self-harming, vocational problems, lack of assertiveness, career transitions, etc.
Suitable clients: Similarities & Differences
The counselor deals with normal persons and the psychotherapist deals with neurotic or psychotic persons.
Such a distinction, of course, has many of the same built-in problems in the definition of "normal" as are
involved in the distinction between counseling and psychotherapy.
Both counseling and psychotherapy utilize a common base of knowledge and a common set of techniques.
Both involve a psychotherapeutic process but they differ in terms of the severity of the client's situation, in
terms of the client's level of problem and/or functioning. Since the process does not change-only the
situation or the client's concern may-we use the term interchangeably.
There are also few similarities in clients and patients of counseling and psychotherapy, for example both are:
·  Articulate
·  Motivated
·  Committed
Apart from similarities, both disciplines share many differences as well, for example, psychotherapy patients
could have personality disorders, at risk of breakdown or mental illness, and thus might require an access to
a consultant psychiatrist. As compared to that, counseling clients require more insight so that they could be
able to take responsibility for their emotions and decisions.
Differences in Training & Orientation
Some practitioners of counseling may be trained at the doctoral level with a supervised internship, as
psychotherapists are. But many counselors have less training, with relatively little psychology and little or no
formal supervised internship. More objective observers distinguish between counseling and psychotherapy
on the basis of the extent of training in personality theory, research methods, and formal internship.
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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