THE SETTINGS, PROCESSES, METHODS, AND TOOLS OF COUNSELING

In 1950’s there were 3 schools of thought in psychology that became very dominant: psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanistic
perspective.
1. Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud – it draws attention to darker forces of the unconscious and it influences how we feel
about ourself. It utilizes dreams, fantasies, associations, and the expressions of thoughts both verbally and physically. The
assumption is that there are inner battles that are waged in a client that are directly responsible for the appearance of
symptoms and behavioral problems, causing the person to seek treatment. It focuses in unearthing the underlying issues to
undress the symptoms, which will lead to minimize or eliminate the symptoms.
2. Behaviorism by B. F. Skinner – focuses on the effects of reinforcement on observable behavior. It has two main processes (a)
Operant Conditioning, (b) Classical Conditioning.
a. Operant Conditioning – One learns from the consequences of behavior. Behavior occurs for a reason. The three main
behavior compelling techniques are: positive reinforcements, negative reinforcement and punishment. This process
involves learning by reinforcement (e.g. rewards and punishment). This type of treatment are action-based.
b. Classical Conditioning – this was proposed by Ivan Pavlov. He conditioned a dog to salivate to the sound of the bell
thought repeated association with the sound of the bell and food. This involves learning by association.
3. Humanistic Perspective by Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow – they understand the conscious mind, free will, human dignity
and the capacity for self-reflection and growth. Humans are not hostage to the contingence and historical circumstances of
his/her past. For them, humans require only the exercise of the distinctively human capacities for choice, creativity and drive
toward self-actualization. This focuses on self development, growth and responsibilities. They help individuals gain self
empowerment by recognizing their strengths, creativity and choice in their given circumstances.
Basic Counseling Approaches
1. Psychoanalytic Therapy – This was develop by Sigmund Freud. This is based on the explanation that human beings are
basically determined by psychic energy and early experiences. These unconscious energy and experiences drive people’s
behavior in the form of unconscious motives and conflicts. The goal of the therapist is to help a client become conscious of
this energy and early experiences and thereby become empowered and harness both positively.
2. Adlerian Therapy – developed by Alfred Adler, he believed that the first six years of life influence an individual. But ensuing
behavior depended on how one interprets his/her past and its continuing influence on him/her. For Adler, humans are
motivated primarily by social urges by power.
3. Existential Therapy – key figures in this in this approach are Viktor Frankl, Abraham Maslow, Rollo May. This focuses on
human capacity to define and shape his/her own life, give meaning to personal circumstances through reflection, decision-
making and self-awareness. It emphasizes human freedom to define oneself, and that our life are not determined, we have a
responsibility to live and to see in life what we chose to and the only thing that we cannot control is being born and die.
Logotherapy is a psychotherapeutic approach is based on the idea that human beings are most motivated by a search for
meaning which is the minds and psyches biggest stressor. We constantly seek meaning to our lives and once a lack of
meaning occurs it can lead to emptiness, hopelessness, or despair. So they try to help people find meaning through creative
values, experiential values, and attitudinal values.
4. Person Centered Therapy – originated from Carl Rogers. People get, share or surrender power and control over themselves
and others, and so empowerment depended on the self and such required non*directive process. Counselors focus on the
client’s self-discovery rather than their input. This nondirective counseling is counselor-client reflecting and clarifying the
verbal and non-verbal communications of clients. This process includes the counselor use of active listening, reflection of
feelings, clarification and just being there.
5. Gestalt Therapy – this was develop by Frederick S. Perls. This is commonly translated as a pattern or form and it states that
the whole is greater than the sum of its part. In order to understand the various components of a particular issue or event, one
must understand the event itself and put the components in perspective. It focuses on the here and now which has made it
reputed as the feel-good therapeutic techniques. People must find their own way in life and accept personal responsibility for
maturity. They must develop awareness on their unfinished business from the past, traumatic experiences in life, and what
they are doing in order for them to bring about change in their lives. This includes confrontation, dialog with parties, role-
playing, reliving and re-experiencing unfinished business in the form of resentment and guilt. Counselors push for doing
experiencing rather than just talking bout one’s feeling as a client. It involves recognizing and letting go, accompanied by
actions like breaking a glass or hitting something hard.
6. Transactional Analysis – Developed by Eric Berne. This method involves identification of the ego states behind each and
every transaction. (Ega states refer to the ways that we think, feel and behave, changing across time and contexts. The Three
ego States are: Parent, Adult, and Child. Each of our personalities is made up of various parts or ego state.
 a. Parent Ego - set of feelings, thinking and behavior that we copied from our parents.
b. Adult Ego – is the ability to think and act based on the present.
c. Child Ego – is a state in which people behave, feel, and think similarly to how they did as a child rooted in the past.
The parent concept represents a massive collection of recordings in the brain of the external events experienced or perceived
in approximately the first 5 years of life. Child Concept in contrast to the parent represents the recordings in the brain of
internal events associated with external events the child perceives. Adult concept being principally concerned with
transforming stimuli into pieces of information and processing and fling that information on the basis of previous experience.
Parent taught concept, child reflects the felt concept and the adult reflects the learned concept.
7. Behavior Therapy – uses as action-oriented methods to help people take steps to change what they are doing and thinking.
This focuses on overt behavior, precision in specifying the goals of treatment and the development of specific treatment
plans. The counselor is active and directive, and functions as a teacher or trainer in helping the clients work on improving
behavior.
8. Rational-Emotive Therapy – developed by Albert Ellis. It is a form of cognitively-oriented behavior therapy and is based on the
assumptions that human beings are born with potential for both rational or straight thinking and irrational or crooked thinking.
Because people are fallible, this approach focuses on helping client accept themselves as people who would continue to
make mistakes, yet at the same time learn to live with themselves and be at peace with themselves. They can train to master
themselves and control themselves like choosing not to be upset.
9. Reality Therapy, based on Choice Theory – Promoted by William Glasser. This Therapy is a short term approach that focuses
on the present and highlights a clients strength. People choose their behavior and are therefore responsible for what they do
and how they think and feel. What a client needs from a counselor is encouragement to assess the current style of living then
leave them to employ a process of honest self-examination, leading and resulting to improvement of one’s quality of life.