Counselling and Psychotherapy

Psychodynamic and Psychoanalytic,

Cognitive Behavioural,
Humanistic-Existential,
Integrative and Eclectic,
Constructivist Approaches to Counselling and Psychotherapy.
 Exercise.

• Write down a simple problem that is currently

bothering you.

• List out the factors associated with the

problem.

• List down the possible solutions.

 Counselling, Guidance and Psychotherapy.
• COUNSELLING is a dynamic and purposeful relationship between two people who
approach a mutually defined problem, with mutual consideration of each other to
the end that the younger or less mature or more troubled of the two is aided to a
self determined resolution to his problem.

• GUIDANCE means ‘’to direct” ”to point out” “to show the path”. It is the
assistance or help rendered by a more experienced person to a less experiences
person to solve certain major problems of the individual (less experienced) i.e.
educational, vocational, personal etc.

• PSYCHOTHERAPY is a general term that refers to therapeutic interaction or

treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client, patient, family,
couple, or group.
 Guidance Counselling PSYCHOTHERAPY
Short-term Long-term

Modifying Personality
behavior reconstruction

Surface Deep-seated
issues issues

Here and now There and then

Preventive Restorative

Conscious Unconscious

Helper- Helpee-
centered centered
Counseling/Psychotherapy has three fold
functions

Adjustmental Functions
Oriental Functions
Developmental Functions
 Adjustmental Functions:
• Rapid social change brought about by industrialization and
urbanization has led to several perplexing problems.

• The pace of this change is ever on the increase, thus making

adjustment a continuous process of grappling way with new
situations.

• Counselling/Psychotherapy helps the individuals in making the best

possible adjustment to the current situations be it in educational
institution, occupational world, in the home & in the community.

• Professional and individualized aid is given in making immediate &

suitable adjustment at problem points.
 Oriental function:

• Oriental function means to orient the individual about his/her

environmental and personal constraints & resources by
giving information and awareness in problems of career
planning, educational programming etc.
 Developmental function:

• It means not only to help the individual having problems

but also to help the individual before the problems arise.

• In the counseling process the function of counselling is to

prevent emergence & maladjustment and cure the person
having maladjustment to adjust with th e problem
situation.

• Therefore the development function helps in.

– Self-development
– Self-realization
– Development of society and
– National development
 Effective Counsellor’s skills
Characteristics & attitudes:
• A good counsellor should be:
– Rapport
– Empathy
– A good listener & good communicator
– Respectful to other person’s feelings & point of view.
– Kind, caring and understanding
– Non-Judgemental
– Trustworthy & respectful of people’s confidentiality
– Relaxed and calm
– Warm & approachable
– The ability to motivate & inspire clients.
 Factors affecting counselling process
 Counsellor Variables of the Counsellors
 General Characteristics of  Interested in helping people
Counsellors  Personal adjustment
 Speculation  Personal security
 Identifying effective and  Genuineness
ineffective groups  Counsellor Attitude and
 Hypothesized characteristics Beliefs
 Correlational analysis  Beliefs
 Age  Values
 Experience  Acceptance
 Sex
 Personality Characteristics
Counsellor’s responsibilities can be
classified into

a) Diagnostic

b) Therapeutic

c) Evaluation and Research

 Stages of the Counseling Process
The stages of the counseling process are:

Stage 1: Relationship Building:

Tasks here include:

•Laying foundations for trust
•Establishing the structure and form the relationship will take
•Informed consent process
•Articulating roles of counselor and client – developing a
collaborative working alliance.
 Stage 2:
Identifying the nature of the presenting problem

• To understand the kind of change that is sought.

• Seeing the problem in context to the client’s larger
world.
• Keeping an eye on the strengths and resources of the
client.
• Counselor builds hypotheses during this stage
and throughout maintain process.
 Stage 3:
Formulation of Counseling Goals:
• The client articulates where they want their counseling
journey to take them. Client role as one of driving the bus.
• Enhances sense of ownership and motivation factors
important in the change process.
• Well identified goals help create a roadmap and means to
evaluate.
• Goals may change, evolve as therapy progresses.
 Stage 4:
Categories: counseling goals
• To change an unwanted or unwelcome
behavior.
• To better cope.
• To make and implement decisions.
• To enhance relationships.
• To help client’s journey of growth toward
achieving potential (Nystul, 2003)
 Stage 5:
Intervention and Problem Solving
• Begins as soon as goals are established –there is plan for
how to achieve them.
• Action is directed in accordance with new perspective.
• Collaboratively established plan works best.
• Educational information is given to that client is offered
regarding options and advantages/disadvantages for
each.
 Intervention
• New perspectives on both the way clients look at
the problem and ways have they might approach it

• Confrontation Vs Carefrontation

• Self Disclosure as appropriate

• A clear, simple plan toward goals.

Characteristicsof a good treatment plan

•Goals are clearly defined and reachable

•Plan able to be adapted with time
•Positive and action-oriented focus
•Essential to an effective plan is client’s motivation
and willingness to follow it.
 Prochaska’s stages of Change
•Pre Contemplation
•Contemplation
•Preparation/Determination Action
•Maintenance
•Relapse Crafting a Treatment Plan
•Begins with clearly articulated problem and priority from client’s perspective of
primary (presenting) vs underlying clearly defined, broad goals –global objective
•Objectives –behaviorally stated, steps on way to broader goal –mindful of
accountability.
•Interventions to be utilized by counselor
Stage 6: Termination and follow up:
Collaboration with client in identifying a date in advance for next
follow up session and the role to review progress, create closure in
client counselor relationship and plan for future. Think of this as a
means of empowering client. Counselor always is mindful of avoiding
fostering dependency for the client only till client is aware of own
needs

Preparation for termination begins long before

Open door / plan for possibility of future need are required to be
given by the counselor to the client. Termination considered not just
at end of successful relationship, but also is considered when it seems
that counseling is not being helpful.
 Stage 7: Research and Evaluation:
• Throughout the counseling process, towards the end,
there is a feedback and the counseling process is
reviewed through:
•Generating hypotheses
•Trying intervention strategies
•Determining if/when goal is met and a plan for
evaluation is made.
 APPROACHES TO
COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
• Psychoanalytic Approach
• Behavioral Approach
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT)
• Transactional Analysis (TA)
• Humanistic Approach
• Person Centred Therapy
• Gestalt Therapy
• Existential Therapy
 Other Contemporary Therapy

• Adlerian Therapy/ Individual Psychology

• Reality therapy
• Family Systems Therapy
• Feminist Therapy
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
(EMDR)
• Eclectic Counselling
• Integrative Counselling
• Group Therapy
 Psychoanalytic Approach
• Sigmund Freud is the founder of psychoanalysis.

• This therapy explores how the unconscious mind influences thoughts and
behaviours, with the aim of offering insight and resolution to the person seeking
therapy.

• Basic Philosophy: While each therapist will work in different ways according to the
needs of the individual seeking therapy, many work on the following:
– Human beings are basically determined by psychic energy and by early experiences.

– Unconscious motives and conflicts are central in present behavior.

– Irrational forces are strong; the person is driven by sexual and aggressive impulses.

– Early development is of critical importance because later personality problems have their roots in
repressed childhood conflicts.
 Key Concepts
• Normal personality development is based on successful
resolution and integration of psychosexual stages of
development.

• Faulty personality development is the result of inadequate

resolution of some specific stage.

• Id, ego, and superego constitute the basis of personality

structure.

• Anxiety is a result of repression of basic conflicts.

Unconscious processes are centrally related to current
behaviour.
• Role of the Counselor:
– To encourage the development of transference, giving the client a
sense of safety and acceptance.
– The client freely explores difficult material and experiences from
their past, gaining insight and working through unresolved issues.
– The counselor is an expert, who interprets for the client.

Goals of Therapy
– Helping the client bring into the conscious the unconscious.
– Helping the client work through a developmental stage that was
not resolved or where the client became fixated.
– To reconstruct the basic personality.
– To assist clients in reliving earlier experiences and working
through repressed conflicts.
– To achieve intellectual awareness.
– Help the client adjustment to the demands of work, intimacy, and
society.
 Techniques of Therapy
• Interpretation, dream analysis, free association, analysis of
resistance, analysis of transference.

• All are designed to help clients gain access to their

unconscious conflicts, which leads to insight and eventual
assimilation of new material by the ego.

• Diagnosis and testing are often used. Questions are used to

develop a case history.
 Psychodynamic
Psychotherapy/Counseling
• This approach stresses the importance of the unconscious and past experience in
shaping current behavior.

• The client is encouraged to talk about childhood relationships with parents and
other significant people and the therapist focuses on the client/therapist
relationship (the dynamics) and in particular on the transference.

• Transference is when the client projects onto the therapist feelings experienced in
previous significant relationships.

• The Psychodynamic approach is derived from Psychoanalysis but usually provides

a quicker solution to emotional problems.
 BEHAVIORAL APPROACH:
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT),
• Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT),
• Transactional Analysis (TA)
 BEHAVIORAL APPROACH
• As the name implies, this approach focuses on behaviour
changing, unwanted behaviours through rewards,
reinforcements, and desensitization.

• This therapy is based on the belief that behavior is learnt in

response to past experience and can be unlearnt, or
reconditioned, without analyzing the past to find the reason
for the behavior.
 Key Concepts:
• Focus is on overt behavior, precision in specifying goals of
treatment, development of specific treatment plans, and objective
evaluation of therapy outcomes.

• Therapy is based on the principles of learning theory.

• Normal behavior is learned through reinforcement and imitation.

• Abnormal behavior is the result of faulty learning.

• This approach stresses present behavior.

 Techniques of Therapy:
The main techniques are
• Systematic Desensitization,
• Relaxation Methods,
• Flooding,
• Eye Movement and Desensitization Reprocessing,
• Reinforcement Techniques,
• Modelling,
• Cognitive Restructuring,
• Assertion And Social Skills Training,
• Self Management Programs,
• Behavioral Rehearsal,
• Coaching,
• And Various Multimodal Therapy Techniques.
COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY (CBT)
• A combination of cognitive and behavioral therapies.
• This approach helps people change negative thought patterns,
beliefs, and behaviors so they can manage symptoms and enjoy
more productive, less stressful lives.
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) was developed by Aaron T.Beck
and others.
• Cognitive behavior therapy is a type of psychotherapeutic
treatment that helps patients understand the thoughts and feelings
that influence behaviours.
Key Concepts:

• Although psychological problems may be rooted in childhood, they are perpetuated

through re-indoctrination in the now.

• A person’s belief system is the primary cause of disorders. Internal dialogue plays a
central role in one’s behavior.

• Clients focus on examining faulty assumptions and misconceptions and on replacing

these with effective beliefs.

Goals of Therapy:

• To challenge clients to confront faulty beliefs with contradictory evidence that they
gather and evaluate.

• Helping clients seek out their dogmatic beliefs and vigorously minimizing them.

• To become aware of automatic thoughts and tochange them.