WELCOME

GOPIKA S
2nd year MASWDS&ACTION
THEORIES AND
APPROACHES IN
COUNSELING PRACTICE
COUNSELING
 Counseling is a collaborative process that involves the
development of a confidential professional relationship
that focuses on personal problems.
 The objective of counseling is to help you clarify issues,
gain insight into your feelings and thoughts and deal
effectively with problems. 
 it is the means by which one person helps another
through purposeful conversation.
PRINCIPLES
1. Principle of acceptance
2. Principle of communication
3. Principle of empathy
4. Principle of non-judgmental attitude
5. Principle of confidentiality
6. Principle of individuality
7. Principles of non-emotional involvement
THERAPY PROCESS
 The counseling process is a planned and structured
dialogue between client and counselor. The counselor is
a trained and qualified professional who helps the client
identify the source of their concerns or difficulties; then,
together, they find counseling approaches to help deal
with the problems faced
1. Stage one: (Initial disclosure) Relationship building
2. Stage two: (In-depth exploration) Problem
assessment
3. Stage three: (Commitment to action) Goal setting
4. Stage four: Counseling intervention
5. Stage five: Evaluation, termination, or referral
PSYCHOANALYTIC
APPROACH
PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH
 Psychoanalytic approach is a type of approach based upon the
theories of Sigmund Freud
 This therapy explores how the unconscious mind influences
thoughts and behaviors, with the aim of offering insight and
resolution to the person seeking therapy.
 Psychoanalytic therapy tends to look at experiences from
early childhood to see if these events have affected the
individual’s life, or potentially contributed to current concerns.
 This form of therapy is considered a long term choice and
can continue for weeks, months or even years depending on the
depth of the concern being explored.
 psychoanalytic therapy aims to make deep seated changes in
personality and emotional development.
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.
PERSON-CENTERED THERAPY/
CLIENT CENTERED THERAPY
PERSON-CENTERED THERAPY/
CLIENT CENTERED THERAPY
 Person centered therapy (PCT) is also known as person
centered psychotherapy, person centered counseling, client
centered therapy or Rogerian psychotherapy.
 It is a nondirective form of talk therapy that was developed by
humanist psychologist Carl Rogers during the 1940s and
1950s
  “Person centered therapy allows the client to steer the ship. 
There’s no agenda, no rush,”
 It centers the client in a more positive and inclusive manner,
providing deeper insight into the difficult situation they’re facing
while also maximizing their ability to resolve it on their own.
 This type of talk therapy supports a therapeutic process that
encourages positive change within the client.
 Rogers believed that no other person’s ideas could be as
valid as one’s individual experience, and that exploring
these experiences in a supportive, non-judgemental
environment is necessary in order to achieve a positive
therapy experience.
 Rogers used the term “client” rather than “patient” to
promote equality in the therapist-client relationship.
 The therapist to focus on the client’s needs.

 Rather than giving an in-depth analysis of the client’s

difficulties or blaming the client’s present thoughts and
behaviors on past experiences, the therapist listens to the
client and provides a conducive environment for them to
make decisions independently.
 The practice of client centered therapy requires the
therapist to understand how the world works from the
client’s point of view.
 The goals of this practice include increasing self-
awareness, improving the client’s ability to use self-
direction to make desired changes, increasing clarity,
improving self-esteem and boosting the client’s self-
reliance.
ROLE OF THE COUNSELOR
Therapists who practice Carl Rogers’ person centered therapy should exhibit
three essential qualities: genuineness, unconditional positive regard, and
empathetic understanding.
 Genuineness Open communication between the therapist and client should be
established, where the client centered therapist feels comfortable sharing their
feelings with the client. This will similarly encourage the client to share their
own feelings and engage in honest conversations.
 Unconditional positive regard Carl Rogers believed that offering people
conditional support often makes them develop further problems, and
therefore, the client centered therapist should create a climate of
unconditional positive regard, where the client is free to express their
thoughts and feelings without fear of judgement.
 Empathetic understanding Empathy is a key quality in client centered
therapy. It fosters a positive relationship between the therapist and client and
represents a mirror that reflects the client’s thoughts and emotions so as to
help them gain more insight into the situation they’re struggling with and into
themselves.
WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM CLIENT
CENTERED THERAPY
 Relationship problem, phobias,panic attacks,
substance abuse, personality disorders, low self-
esteem linked to depression, stress management,
eating disorders, and trauma recovey
GESTALT THERAPY
GESTALT THERAPY
 Gestalt Therapy was developed in the late 1940s by Fritz
Perls with his wife Laura Perls
 According to Perls, people are not made up of separate
components, i.e., mind, body and soul; rather human beings
function as a whole.
 In doing so, one defines who one is (sense of self) by
choice of responses to environmental interactions
(boundaries).
 Gestalt Therapy focuses on the whole of the client’s
experience, including feelings, thoughts and actions.
 The main hallmark of gestalt therapy is the focus on the
present.
 In gestalt therapy, self-awareness is key to personal growth and
developing full potential.
 The approach recognizes that sometimes this self-
awareness can become blocked by negative thought
patterns and behavior that can leave people feeling
dissatisfied and unhappy.
 It is focused on a person's present life and challenges rather
than delving into past experiences.
 This approach stresses the importance of understanding the
context of a person’s life and taking responsibility rather than
placing blame.
 By helping an individual to become more aware of how
they think, feel and act in the present moment, gestalt therapy
provides insight into ways in which s/he can alleviate their
current issues and distress in order to aspire to their
maximum potential
ROLE OF THE COUNSELOR
 Counselor creates an environment for the client to explore their
needs in order to grow.
 Counselor is fully with the client in the here and now with
intense personal involvement and honesty.
 Counselor helps the client to focus on blocking energy and to
positively and adaptively use that energy.
 Counselor also helps the clients to discern life patterns.

 The counselor has the client convert questions into statements

 Gestalt therapy aims for the client to gain greater awareness of their
experience of being in the world.
 Gestalt therapists do not have a goal of changing their clients. In
fact, clients are encouraged to focus on becoming more aware of
themselves, staying present, and processing things in the here and
now.
GOALS OF THERAPY
• An improved sense of self-control
• Better ability to monitor and regulate mental states
• Better awareness of your needs
• Better tolerance for negative emotions
• Improved communication skills
• Improved mindfulness
• Increased emotional understanding
TECHNIQUES

 Words and Language

 Empty Chair

 Body Language

 Role play
RATIONAL EMOTIVE
BEHAVIOR THERAPY
RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOR
THERAPY
 It is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy
 It was introduced in 1955 by Dr. Albert Ellis

 It is an action-oriented approach that’s focused on

helping people deal with irrational beliefs and learn how
to manage their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in a
healthier, more realistic way.
 Ellis suggested that people mistakenly blame external
events for unhappiness.
 He argued, however, that it is our interpretation of these
events that truly lies at the heart of our psychological
distress.
To explain this process, Ellis developed what he referred to
as the ABC Model
 A – Activating Event: Something happens in the
environment around you.
 B – Beliefs: You hold a belief about the event or
situation.
 C – Consequence: You have an emotional response to
your belief
ROLE OF THE COUNSELOR
 Counselors are direct and active in their teaching and
correcting the client’s cognitions.
 Ellis believes that a good REBT counselor must be
bright, knowledgeable, empathetic, persistent, scientific,
interested in helping others and use RET in their
personal lives (Ellis, 1980).
GOALS OF THE THERAPY
 The primary goal is to help people live rational and
productive lives.
 REBT helps people see that it is their thoughts and
beliefs about events that creates difficulties, not the
events or the situations.
• Reduced feelings of anger, anxiety, depression, and
distress
• Improved health and quality of life

• Better school performance and social skills

THANK YOU