CHAPTER 3

THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Counseling or Psychotherapy?

 Both
Counseling and Psychotherapy Rely on the
Same Theoretical Underpinnings

 How Practitioners Implement Them May Vary

 With
More Education and Training You Can Do
Counseling and Eventually Psychotherapy
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Individual Versus Systems Approach to

Clients

 Individual
Approach: Person Can Change e.g.,
Viktor Frankl, William Glasser

 Systems Approach: Lives Are Seen Contextually

e.g., Social and Family Systems
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Why Have a Theory?

 Offers
Us a Comprehensive System of Doing
Counseling

 HelpsUs Understand Clients, Offers Techniques,

and Predicts Change

 Theories Are Heuristic: They Are Researchable and

Testable.
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Views of Human Nature

 Basis for Our Understanding of Theory

 Major
Orientations: Psychodynamic, Behavioral,
Humanistic, & Cognitive

 OffersExplanations for Why People Are Motivated

to Do the Things They Do.
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Deterministic Versus Antideterministic

View of Human Nature
 Deterministic View Asserts That There is Little
Ability for the Person to Change

 Determinism: Early Childhood, Biology, Genetics

Determine Later Psychological Makeup Often
Adheres to Medical Model

 AntideterministicView Has Belief in the Ability of the

Individual to Change
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Directive Versus Nondirective Approach to

Clients

 Directive
View Believes Clients Need Guidance in
the Change Process

 Nondirective View Has Trust in the Client's Own

Ability to Make Change
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Integrative Approach

 Few Are Strictly Deterministic, Antideterministic,

Directive, or Nondirective

 MostPeople Today Take On an Integrative

Approach Which Reflects Their Own Views of
Human Nature
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Major Theoretical Orientations

Psychodynamic Approach

 Originated by the Psychoanalytic Approach of Sigmund

Freud

 Freud Started Using Hypnosis: E.g., Conversion Reaction

in Patients

 Freud Developed a Complex Theory of Development See

Chapter 5
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 The Psychodynamic View of Human Nature

 More Deterministic than Other Approaches: Freud,

Others e.g., Kohut, Erikson, Adler, Jung
 Believes That Drives Motivate Behavior and are
Somewhat Unconscious
 Believes Perceptions of our Childhood and Actual Events
in Combination with Our Drives Affects Our Psyche and
our Later Adult Development
 Purpose: To Help the Person Understand Childhood
Experiences, and How, in Combination with the
Individual's Drives, They Motivate the Person.
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Key Concepts of the Psychodynamic Approach

Developmental Stages Especially Freud
 Early Patterns of Behaviors Are Repeated with our Significant
Others
 Transference

 The Human Service Professional's Use of the Psychodynamic

Approach
Offers a Developmental Model to Understand the Individual
 Helps Us Particularly to Understand Deviant Behavior
 Gives Us an Understanding of the Importance of
“Countertransference”
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Behavioral Approach Three Main

Orientations

Classical Conditioning Pavlov: CS Paired with UCS

yields UCR
 Operant Conditioning Skinner: Skinner Box
 Social‑learning, or Modeling Bandura: Bobo Dolls
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 The Behavioral View of Human Nature

All Behavior is Learned

 We are Conditioned by Reinforcers in our Environment

 Antideterministic: What was Learned Can Be Relearned

CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Some Applications of the Behavioral Approach

 Token Economy
 Treatment of Phobias
 Learning of Assertive Behavior
 The Human Service Professional's Use of the Behavioral
Approach
 One of the Most Commonly Used Approaches
 E.g., Token Economies with the Mentally Retarded
 E.g., Use of Reinforcement e.g., Weight Loss,
Behavior Change, Stop Smoking
 E.g., Modeling via Role‑playing
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Humanistic Approach

 Some Key People: Carl Rogers, Rollo May, and Abraham

Maslow

 Highlights the Strengths and Positive Aspects of the

Individual
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 The Humanistic View of Human Nature

 Origins in Existential Philosophy and Phenomenology

 Antideterministic: We Have Choices and We Constantly

Create Our Existence

 Born with Some Type of Actualizing Tendency

CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

Key Concepts of the Humanistic Approach

Person‑centered Approach of Carl Rogers
 Empathy, Unconditional Positive Regard, & Genuineness
 Maslow: Hierarchical Approach of Needs

The Human Service Professional's Use of the Humanistic Approach

Maslow's Hierarchy: A way of understanding the development of the
person
 Empathy, Being Nonjudgmental, & Being Genuine: Essential
Qualities & Skills
 Importance of the Helper/Client Relationship has Become Key
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Cognitive Approach

Two Key Theorists: Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck

 Stresses How Cognitions Affect our Behaviors and How

we Feel
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 The Cognitive View of Human Nature

 Not Born with Innate Goodness or Evil, Rational or

Irrational Beings

 Thinking Can Be Changed Through Counterconditioning

 Antideterministic: We can Change Thinking, and

Ultimately Behaviors and Feelings
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Key Concepts of the Cognitive Approach

Less Emphasis on Qualities of the Helper/Client

Relationship

 Stresses Importance of Extinguishing Past Destructive

Ways of Thinking

 Stresses Importance of Practicing New, Positive Ways of

Thinking
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 The Human Service Professional's Use of

the Cognitive Approach

Have Not Been Widely Adopted, but Could Be

Beneficial For Clients

 Helping Clients Understand the Connection Between

Thinking, Behaving, and Feeling Can Dramatically
Impact How They Interact in the World
Cross Theoretical Approaches
 Eclecticism or Integrative Approaches to
Counseling
Draws from a Number of Different Orientations
 Not “Shooting from the Hip”: Must Carefully Reflect on
View of Human Nature
 Formation of an Eclectic Approach Is a Developmental
Process:
1 - Chaos Stage
2 - Coalescent Stage
3 - Theoretical Integration Stage
4 - Metatheory Stage
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Brief and Solution‑focused Counseling

Defined as Anywhere from a 2 to 50 Sessions
 Garfield Suggests Four Stages:

1 Building the Relationship and Assessing the Problem

2 Developing a Plan for the Client and Working on the Problem

3 Reformulating Plan Based on New Info & Client Feedback

4 Termination
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Gender Aware Approaches

Feminist Therapy and Men’s Issues Therapy

 Considers Gender Central to the Helping Relationship

 Views Problems Within Social Context & Examines
Gender Injustices
 Encourages Collaborative and Equal Relationship with
Client
 Client’s Choose Gender Roles Regardless of Political
Correctness
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Ethical and Professional Issues

 The Importance of Supervision for the Human Service
Professional
Helps You Review: 1 View of Human Nature, 2 Theoretical Approach, 3
Effectiveness

 Should Continue as Long as One Is Working with Clients

 Supervisor Roles:
1 Assuring the Welfare of the Client
2 Assuring Ethical, Legal, and Professional Standards are
Upheld
3 Overseeing Development of and Evaluating the Supervisee
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 Confidentiality and the Helping Relationship

 When to Keep Confidentiality and When to Break it see p. 82-83 of
book
 Tarasoff Case and Breaking Confidentiality
 Refer to NOHSE Ethical Guidelines
 Difference Between Confidentiality and Privileged Communication
 Dual Relationships and the Human Service Professional
Refers to things like: Social, Work, Sexual Relationships
with Clients
Unethical and May Be Illegal See NOHSE Ethical
Guidelines
CHAPTER 3
THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HUMAN SERVICE WORK

 The Developmentally Mature Human

Service Professional: Committed to a
Counseling Approach and Willing to
Change

Commitment with Relativism: Reflecting on Different

Approaches, Choosing an Approach, Being Willing
to Change as You Receive New Info