COUNSELLING

Dr. V. Vaidehi Priyal

COUNSELLING

 Support process in which a counsellor holds face to face talks with another person
to help him or her solve a personal problem, or help improve that person’s
attitude, behaviour or character. Professional guidance of the individual by
utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using
various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes.
 The counsellor will attempt to build a certain amount of rapport with their client,
but not to an extent that would allow them to become emotionally involved.
 Counsellors need to be empathetic, seeing things from the client’s point of view,
rather than sympathetic (feeling sorry for their clients).  Empathy can help the
counsellor to ask appropriate questions and lead the client to positive conclusions.
IMPORTANCE OF COUNSELLING

 To go by the dictionary meaning, the term counseling means "the provision of

professional assistance and guidance in resolving personal or psychological
problems."
 When facing a dilemma or some psychological problem, we often tend to socially
isolate ourselves from everyone and keep probing our minds to find a solution.
This is the situation when problems eat away self conscious that one needs to
seek a counselor and get life back on track. Children, students, adults, and old age
people everyone can go to a counselor for help at any point of time in life.
 In layman’s language the term counseling might be defined as the process where
one person seeks advice and guidance from counselor by sharing their personal
grievances or dilemmas.
IMPORTANCE OF COUNSELLING

 A counselor hears all the problems, thoughts, feelings of his/her subject, finds out
his/her solution and do not judge them on any account. This is what makes one
feel more comfortable and establishes a relation with the counselor.
 a counselor is not attached to his/her subject and thus his advice and counseling is
not biased or judgmental. He/she observes and listens patiently to the subject’s
situation and work in a direction to bring their subject out of the depression or
problematic phase of life. Students who face lack of concentration and
confidence, mentally affected by family or academic stress or bullying of some
kind must see a counselor who can shape their potential minds in a better way so
that they does not grow up as shy and afraid people.
 Adults who are frustrated with not achieving desired results or are failing
hopelessly can also seek counseling to help them keep motivated and focused on
their aims. 
IMPORTANCE OF COUNSELLING

 Many old age people who are often treated as commodity in their houses feel the
need of some counseling so that they do not take any wrong decision and a
counselor becomes a friend to whom they can share everything they want to and
thus stay happier and merrier.
 Schools have started keeping a position of counselor who can deal with children
who require counseling. This is quite an important step because the children are
the future of the country and if some things are holding them back then they do
need expert advice to break free and live a fully cherished childhood. 
 Adolescent is the age when many children often make wrong decisions in lack of
guidance and if there is a counselor who is there to listen and guide them without
judging or punishing them, then they can actually be more frank and focus on
good things.
IMPORTANCE OF COUNSELLING

 Every relationship involves conflicts and conflict management is a skill that many
of us lack in. Counseling in marriage and relationships help people to bond better
and make relationships smoother and with fewer conflicts.
 Counseling also helps one improve the skill of decision making, reduce tension,
maintain a better self-esteem and confidence and feel more positive and
optimistic towards life.
 It is true that complications and problems are inevitable in human life but we all
acknowledge the fact that great disasters also hurt less if we have someone to
support us. If you feel emotionally tired and helpless, you must seek counseling
from someone you trust. Sharing your problems does reduce the pain but if the
issue is way too complicated then seek an expert advice from a counselor.
TYPES OF COUNSELLING

 There are several types of counselling that follow similar lines to the various
different types of psychotherapy.
 Psychodynamic counseling
 Client-centred or person-centred counseling
 Transpersonal counselling
 Transactional analysis counselling
 Existential counselling
 Personal construct counselling
 Gestalt counselling
 Rational-emotive behavioural counselling
PSYCHODYNAMIC COUNSELLING

 This is based on the idea that past experiences have a bearing on experiences and
feelings in the present, and those important relationships, perhaps from early
childhood, may be replayed with other people later in life. It translates the
principles and insights of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy into
once-a-week counselling.
 The counsellor usually aims to be as neutral a figure as possible, giving little
information about him or herself, making it more likely that important
relationships will be reflected in the relationship between the client and the
counsellor. This relationship is therefore an important source of insight for both
parties, and helps the client to ‘work through’ their difficulties.
 Developing a trusting and reliable relationship with the counsellor is essential for
this work.
CLIENT-CENTERED OR PERSON CENTERED
COUNSELLING
 This is based on the principle that the counsellor provides three ‘core conditions’
(or essential attributes) that are, in themselves, therapeutic. These are:
 Empathy (the ability to imagine oneself in another person’s position)
 Unconditional positive regard (warm, positive feelings, regardless of the
person’s behaviour)
 Congruence (honesty and openness)
 Again, the counsellor uses the relationship with the client as a means of healing
and change.
TRANSPERSONAL COUNSELLING

 This is an integrative and holistic approach that utilises creative imagination. It

assumes a spiritual dimension to life and human nature. It also presupposes the
interconnectedness of all beings with a higher spiritual power, and specifically
addresses the bridge between the two.
 Transpersonal counselling emphasises personal empowerment. It takes account
of the client’s past experiences, but also looks to the future and what is likely to
unfold for them, the challenges they may face and the qualities that need to
emerge in them to meet those challenges. Its basic belief is that whatever the
hardships of human experience, the core essence, or soul, remains undamaged.
TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS COUNSELLING

 Transactional Analysis counselling emphasises people’s personal responsibility for their

feelings, thoughts and behaviour. It believes people can change, if they actively decide to
replace their usual patterns of behaviour with new ones. The counsellor offers:
 ‘Permission’ (for new messages about yourself and the world)
 ‘Protection’ (when changing behaviour and thoughts feels risky)
 ‘Potency’ (to deliver what he or she promised)
 Planning the goals of the counselling is part of the process. The focus is on uncovering the ‘life
scripts’ (life plans) that reflect the messages the client was given as a child. The counseling
teaches the client to identify in which of the following modes he or she is operating, at any
given time:
 The ‘child’ (replaying their childhood)
 The ‘parent’ (copied from parents or parent-figures)
 The ‘adult’ (appropriate to the present situation)
EXISTENTIAL COUNSELLING

 This helps people to clarify, think about and understand life, so that they can live it
well. It encourages them to focus on the basic assumptions they make about it,
and about themselves, so they can come to terms with life as it is. It allows them
to make sense of their existence.
 The counselling focuses the client on how much they already take charge of their
life, and not on what they are doing wrong. At the same time, it takes note of any
real limitations, so that they can make choices based on a true view of the options
available.
PERSONAL CONSTRUCT COUNSELLING

 This is based on the idea that nobody can know absolute truth. Instead, each
person constructs their idea of the truth from their own experiences, and this
affects the way they see the world.
 The problem is that people can get stuck with a view of things that prevents them
from living life to the full, because they can’t find any alternative ways of seeing
things. Personal Construct counselling helps people to look at different ways of
behaving that may be useful in changing the way they see the world.
GESTALT COUNSELLING

 This is a more directive type of counselling, focusing on gestalten (patterns of

thought, feeling and activity). It encourages people to have an active awareness
of their present situation, and also incorporates communication that goes beyond
words.
 A key part of gestalt counselling is the dramatisation, or acting out, of important
conflicts in a person’s life. This could involve using two or more chairs, for
instance, so that they can physically take up different positions to represent
different aspects of themselves.
RATIONAL-EMOTIVE BEHAVIOURAL
COUNSELLING
 This takes the view that people have two main goals in life: to stay alive and to be
happy. It aims to remove the obstacles that people place in their own way, and
also to achieve a healthy balance between short-term and long-term goals.
ADVANTAGES OF COUNSELLING

 Counselling will help a person to understand the cause of depression. This will help
in dealing with the cause positively and avoiding negative thinking. Counselling
support will help one to decrease the symptoms of depression by helping the
person build up their self-esteem and confidence. The patient will also be able to
change their attitude towards life after a few sessions of counselling.
 Getting counselling help will affirm someone with depressions self-worth,
improving the quality of their life by feeling more able and adequate. Since
depression makes one feel hopeless and helpless, counselling will install renewed
a sense of hope in life. Counselling will act as a safeguard and help one stop
having life threatening thoughts like suicide, abuse of drugs, alcoholism and
violence.
ADVANTAGES OF COUNSELLING

 With depression, the patient tends to think of the worst case scenario, leading to
unhealthy ways reactions to situations. Plymouth State University notes that
counseling helps the patient make better decisions, as the counselling teaches the
patient how to deal with problems in a healthy way. For example, if the patient
hurts herself in response to a disappointment, such as a poor grade, the therapist
will teach the patient a safer way of dealing with that situation, such as doing a
breathing exercise. This skill can help the patient increase her self-confidence and
work through problems.
DISADVANTAGES COUNSELLING

 A disadvantage is that psychotherapy typically takes longer than drug therapy to

produce benefits that are noticeable to the person receiving treatment -- six to
eight weeks or longer for psychotherapy, compared with four to six weeks for
medication. Also, psychotherapy alone is not effective in people with severe
depression or bipolar disorder.
 Depending on the severity of the depression and other factors specific to each
individual, a therapist selects a combination of techniques from the range of
psychotherapeutic approaches. Regardless of the particular approach, the
essential foundation of all psychotherapy is the establishment of a trusting
relationship with the therapist. This allows the patient to share confidences, life
experiences and problems. If psychotherapy alone leads to no improvement by six
weeks, or if a person has only a partial or weak response by 12 weeks, medication
should be strongly considered.