Counseling theories

Let’s begin with an imaginary trip…..

Pretend you’re about to embark on an interesting
journey . . . somewhere. Pick any destination you like.

Write your destination here:

 Now . . . write down at least three to four qualities of

the destination that you find attractive.
Next, make a list of at least three to four things about
yourself that make you a good fit for the destination
you chose

Be sure to focus on your internal (e.g., values,

interests, beliefs) qualities.
Now choose a co- traveler with you on this journey…
someone who you think will help you explore the best
from this trip …..

Make a list of 3-4 reasons why you chose them……

Destination – Theory

Your values – Counsellor

Your co – traveller - Client

Why do we need to know
theories of counselling ?

Theory is the why behind the how of counselors’

roles, providing a framework within which counselors
can operate.

Counselors guided by theory can meet the demands of

their roles because they have reasons for what they do.
Theories help us :
 Decide whether they are likely to be able to help
a particular person with a given set of concerns.
 Develop an overall plan for helping people
achieve their goals.
 Individualize treatment by emphasizing and
selecting interventions and strategies that are
most likely to be helpful to a particular person.
Common Characteristics of Counseling Theories
Nature of the person
Criteria for mental health
Information on how to promote healthy
development
Role of the effective counselor and the
desired relationship between client and
counsellor
Strategies and interventions of counselling
Theory into Practice
As of 2016, it was estimated that there were around
1,000 theories of psychotherapy and counseling
available worldwide (Sharf, 2016). Most of them did not
have many followers or much research to back their
effectiveness. However, the sheer number of theories
means counselors have a wide variety of approaches
from which to choose.

Instead of generating new theories, Okun (1990) states,

the present emphasis in counseling is on connecting
existing theories.
Process of counseling

In-depth Commitment to
Initial disclosure
exploration action
History of theories
Parsons Frank – 1909 –
Career choices counseling
Focus on aptitude testing and rational
choices
Directive counseling
Clients feelings were treated as second in
importance to thoughts
History
Carl Rogers- 1942
Book on counseling and
psychotherapy
Facilitate clients process of self
exploration
Non directive counseling
Clients self concept as crucial
Directive or non directive ????

Rogers opened up the full range of human

experience as appropriate material for
counseling

Counseling and psychotherapy----merger

Continuum
Cognitive
Affective
Non directional Directive
Client- controlled Counselor-
controlled

Person centered Gestalt Psychoanalytic Cognitive Behavioural

Looking at theories
View of Human Nature
Role of the Counselor
Goals of Therapy
Therapeutic Relationship
Techniques of Therapy
Contributions.
Limitations
Theory that you are familiar with ?

View of Human Nature

Role of the Counselor
Goals of Therapy
Therapeutic Relationship
Techniques of Therapy
Contributions.
Limitations
Continuum
Cognitive
Affective
Non directional Directive
Client- controlled Counselor-
controlled

Person centered Gestalt Psychoanalytic Cognitive Behavioural

Person centered counseling
View of human Nature:
People are essentially good (Rogers, 1961)

Humans are characteristically “positive, forward-

moving, constructive, realistic, and trustworthy”
(Rogers, 1957, p. 199).

Each person is aware, inner directed, and moving

toward self-actualization from infancy on.
Self-actualization is the most prevalent and
motivating drive of existence and
encompasses actions that influence the total
person

Rogers views the individual from a

phenomenological perspective: What is
important is the person’s perception of reality
rather than an event itself (Rogers, 1955)
The concept of self is another idea that Rogers put
forward.

But for Rogers the concept is so central to his theory

that his ideas are often referred to as self theory.

 The self is an outgrowth of what a person experiences,

and an awareness of self helps a person differentiate
himself or herself from others (Nye, 2000).
For a healthy self to emerge, a person needs positive
regard—love, warmth, care, respect, and acceptance.

Conditional regard from parents and others.

Feelings of worth -conditional acceptance

Yet if a person conforms, he or she opens up a gap

between the ideal self (what the person is striving to
become) and the real self (what the person is).
Person centered counseling
Role of counselor
Sets up an environment where the client is safe
to explore any aspect of the self- UPR, empathy,
congruence
Neither the client nor the counselor knows what
direction the sessions
 The client is a person in process who is “entitled
to direct his or her own therapy” (Moon, 2007, p.
277).
The counselor’s job is to work as a facilitator rather
than a director
Person centered counseling
Goals of therapy
Person centered theory is directly
concerned with the individual.
Ultimately, a client is helped to identify,
use, and integrate his or her own
resources and potential (Boy & Pine, 1983;
Miller, 1996).
The counselor facilitates the client toward :
Realistic self perception
Greater confidence and self direction
Sense of positive worth
Greater maturity, social skill, and adaptive
behavior
Better stress coping
More fully functioning in all aspects of their lives.
Person centered counseling
Therapeutic relationship
Genuineness,
Warmth
Accurate empathy
Respect
Non judgmentality

Communication of these attitudes to clients

Person centered counseling
Techniques of therapy

Active listening and hearing

Reflection of feelings

Clarification, and being there for the client

Contribution to model of counseling
Focus of relationship building
View that clients are ultimately responsible
for own life
Based on positive view of human nature
Empathy is an essential component of
successful therapy in every therapeutic
modality.
Gestalt counseling
Basic Philosophy
Gestalt Therapy was developed in the late
1940s by Fritz Perls
Gestalt psychology and therapy arose as a
reaction to the reductionist emphasis
Thus, Gestalt therapy emphasizes how people
function in their totality.
Gestalt means whole
Gestalt therapy is based on the person feeling
whole and complete in their life
Gestalt counseling
Basic Philosophy
Gestalt Therapy rejects the dualities of mind and
body, body and soul, thinking and feeling, and
feeling and action.

According to Perls, people are not made up of

separate components, i.e., mind, body and soul;
rather human beings function as a whole.
Gestalt counseling
Views on Human Nature

Gestalt therapy is considered to be a here and now therapy.

 Focusing on awareness with the belief that when one focuses
on what they are and not what they wish to become, they
become self actualized.
The Gestalt view of human nature places trust on the inner
wisdom of people, much as person-centered counseling does.
Each person seeks to live integratively and productively,
striving to coordinate the various parts of the person into a
healthy, unified whole.
From a Gestalt perspective, persons are more than a sum of
their parts (Perls, 1969).
Gestaltists are antideterministic because they
believe that people have the ability to change and
become responsible.
Individuals are actors in the events around them, not
just reactors to events.
Overall, the Gestalt point of view takes a position that
is existential, experiential, and
phenomenological
The now is what really matters. One discovers
different aspects of oneself through experience, not
talk, and a person’s own assessment and interpretation
of his or her life at a given moment in time are what is
most important.
Many troubled individuals have an overdependency
on intellectual experience (Simkin, 1975)..
Another common problem is the inability to identify
and resolve unfinished business—The most typical
unfinished business in life is not forgiving one’s
parents for their mistakes.
Gestaltists do not attribute either of these difficulties
to any unconscious forces within persons. Rather, the
focus is on awareness, the ability of the client to
be in full mental and sensory contact of
experiencing the now (James & Gilliland, 2013).
Every person operates on some conscious level, from
being very aware to being very unaware. Healthy
individuals are those who are most aware.
Gestalt Counseling
Role of counselor
Create environment to explore needs in order to
grow
Counselor is fully with client in the “here and now”
Focus on releasing blocked energy
Discern life patterns
‘Then and there’ to ‘here and now’
No ‘talking about’ ---recreating experience and
affect- role playing
Goals of Gestalt therapy are well defined.

They include an emphasis on the here and now - To

assist clients in gaining awareness of moment to moment
experiencing
Focus on the concept that life includes making choices
(Fagan & Shepherd, 1970).
Encouraged to make choices based on now as opposed to
past
Resolve the past to become integrated.
Acceptance of polarities within the person
Emphasize action, pushing their clients to experience
feelings and behaviors.
“Now = experience = awareness = reality. The past is
no more and the future not yet. Only the now exists”
Gestalt Counseling- Techniques
Exercises -enactment of fantasies, role-playing, and psychodrama (Coven, 1977).
They are employed to evoke a certain response from the client, such as anger or
exploration

 Finishing unfinished business.

 Techniques to bring client to a clearer touch with self- role playing, ‘I take
responsibility for what I said ‘ game.

 Confrontation - Counselors point out to a client incongruent behaviors and

feelings, such as a client’s smiling when admitting to nervousness.

 Confrontation involves asking clients what and how questions, Why

questions are avoided because they lead to intellectualization.

 Use of awareness continuum that focuses on how and what than on why .

 Not interpretive, however points out defensive behaviors.

Another effective technique is the empty chair .
 In this procedure, clients talk to the various parts of
their personality, such as the part that is dominant and
the part that is passive. An empty chair is the focus.

In this dialogue, both rational and irrational parts of

the client come into focus; the client not only sees
these sides but also becomes able to deal with the
dichotomies within the self.
Gestalt counseling – Techniques
Energy and Blocks to Energy
 Gestalt Therapists often focus on where energy is
in the body, how it is used, and how it may be
causing a blockage .Blocked energy is a form of
resistance, for example, tension in a part of the
body, not breathing deeply, or avoiding eye
contact.
Gestalt counseling
Therapeutic relationship
Central importance is given to the I/Thou
relationship and the quality of the therapist’s
presence.
The therapist’s attitudes and behavior counts more
than the techniques used.
I and Thou, Here and Now, What and How
I and Thou: An authentic therapist-client relationship.

2. Here and Now: Immediacy or being present in the

here and now.

3. What and How: An emphasis on process over

content; moment-to-moment examination of what’s
happening and how it’s happening
Contribution to model of counseling
Suits temperament of counselors
who want to intervene more
actively.
Whole focus- also includes
physiological responses
Emphasis on human potential, but
has a more diagnostic orientation.
Psychoanalytic counseling
Key concepts
Levels of consciousness-The unconscious
Structure of personality – id, ego, superego
Development of ego as key to effective
functioning
Defense mechanisms
Need to replace or reduce use of DM
Levels of the Mind
Structure of personality
Id – Pleasure principle
Ego – Reality principle
Superego – Morality
Psychoanalytic counseling
Key Concepts
Psychosexual stages of development

Normal personality development is based on

successful resolution and integration of
psychosexual stages of development.
Developing personality-Psychosexual
stages
Psychoanalytic counseling
Basic Philosophy:
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.
Psychoanalytic counseling
Role of counselor
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.-Depends heavily on counselors knowledge
of psychodynamics
Psychoanalytic counseling
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 assist clients in reliving earlier experiences
and working through repressed conflicts.
 Help the client adjustment to the demands of work,
intimacy, and society.
Psychoanalytic counseling
Therapeutic relationship
The analyst remains anonymous, and clients develop
projections toward him/her.
Focus is on reducing the resistances that develop in
working with transference and on establishing more
rational control.
Clients undergo long term analysis, engage in free
association, to uncover conflicts, and gain insight by talking.
The analyst makes interpretations to teach them the
meaning of current behavior as related to the past.
To encourage the development of transference, giving the client
a sense of safety and acceptance.
Psychoanalytic counseling
Techniques of therapy

Interpretation
Dream analysis
Free association,
Analysis of resistance,
Analysis of transference
Contribution to model of counseling
Theory of personality- convenient
framework to analyze behavior
Method of interpretation widely used
today
Dream analysis
Focus on both cognitive and affective
Counselor and client active
Cognitive Counseling
Cognitions are thoughts, beliefs, and internal images
that people have about events in their lives (Holden,
1993, 2001).

Cognitive counseling theories focus on mental

processes and their influences on mental health and
behavior.

A common premise of all cognitive approaches is that

how people think largely determines how they feel and
behave (Beck & Weishaar, 2014).
Cognitive counseling
Basic philosophy
What people think---- what people feel–
what people do
Irrational thinking-Ellis e.g.
catastrophizing ;ABC theory
This is a psychoeducational model, which
emphasizes therapy as a learning process,
including acquiring and practicing new skills,
learning new ways of thinking,
Cognitive counseling
Key Concepts
Each individual has the ability to control their
thoughts ,feelings and actions
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.
Ellis’s Irrational Beliefs
It is absolutely essential to be loved or approved of by
every significant person in one’s life .

To be worthwhile, one must be competent, adequate

and achieving in everything attempted .

It is terrible and catastrophic whenever events do not

occur as one hopes.
Cognitive counseling
Goals of therapy
To help people see that it is their thoughts and
beliefs about events that creates difficulties ,
not the events or situation themselves
Helps clients to stop catastrophising when
wants and desires are not met
Stresses the appropriateness of the emotional
response to the situation or event.
Cognitive counseling
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 to
change them.
Cognitive counseling
Therapeutic relationship

The therapist functions as a teacher and the client as a

student.
The therapist is highly directive .The focus is on a
collaborative relationship.
The therapist promotes corrective experience that lead to
learning new skills.
Clients gain insight into their problems and then must
actively practice changing self defeating thinking and
acting.
Cognitive counseling
Techniques of therapy
An active, directive, time limited, present centered,
structured therapy
Cognitive restructuring
 Describe situation
 Identify faulty thinking
 Errors explained o client
 Replaced with adaptive patterns

Techniques- persuasion,suggestion,instruction,socratic dialogue

Homework assignments
A-B-C-D-E model of REBT

A signifies the activating experience;

B represents how the person thinks about the
experience;
C is the emotional reaction to B.
D is disputing irrational thoughts, usually with the
help of a REBT counselor, and replacing them with
E effective thoughts and hopefully a new personal
philosophy that will help clients achieve great life
satisfaction (Ellis & Ellis, 2014).
Contribution to counseling
Modification of behavior through thinking
Direct help to client through cognitive restructuring
Emphasis on action planning
Behavioral counseling
Basic Philosophy

Behavior is the product of learning.

Humans as function of heredity and environment

Deterministic

One learns from environment- changing environment

changes behavior

No role of self concept, ego or unconscious

Behavioral counseling
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.
Behavioral counseling
Role of a counselor
consultant, a reinforcer, and a facilitator.
The counselor is active and may supervise other
people in the client’s environment to achieve the
goals of therapy.
Counselors using social learning may model the
desired behavior,
Respondent and operant conditioning counsellors
are more directive and prescriptive in their
approach to the therapy goals.
Behavioral counseling
Goals of therapy
Generally, to eliminate maladaptive behaviors
and learn more effective behaviors.
To focus on factors influencing behavior and find
what can be done about problematic behavior
Clients have an active role in setting treatment
goals and evaluating how well these goals are
being met.
Behavioral counseling
Therapeutic relationship
The therapist is active and directive and functions
as a teacher or trainer in helping clients learn more
effective behavior.
Clients must be active in the process and
experiment with new behaviors.
Although a quality client/therapist relationship is
not viewed as sufficient to bring about change, a
good working relationship is essential for
implementing behavioral procedures.
Behavioral counseling
Techniques of therapy
Systematic desensitization, relaxation methods, flooding,
reinforcement techniques, modeling, cognitive
restructuring, assertion and social skills training, self
management programs, behavioral rehearsal, coaching, and
various multimodal therapy techniques.
Diagnosis or assessment is done at the outset to determine a
treatment plan.
Questions are used, such as what, how, and when (but not
why).
Contracts and homework assignments are also typically used
Contribution to counseling
Based on learning theory and not personality theory.
Little emphasis on how the problem developed
Quick movement from initial disclosure to action
implementation
Commitment to action through environmental
manipulation
Behavioural counselors are not cold and mechanist,
they are as warm as other counselors
That’s it !!!! 
Person centered counseling
Key Concepts
Therapist Client Psychological Contact: relationship between therapist and client
must exist in order for the client to achieve positive personal change.
 Client Incongruence or Vulnerability: A discrepancy between the client’s self
image and actual experience leaves him/her vulnerable to fears and anxieties. The
client is often unaware of the incongruence.
 Therapist Congruence or Genuineness: The therapist should be self aware,
genuine, and congruent. This does not imply that the therapist be a picture of
perfection, but that s/he be true to him/herself within the therapeutic relationship.
 Therapist Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR): The clients’ experiences,
positive or negative, should be accepted by the therapist without any conditions or
judgment. In this way, the client can share experiences without fear of being judged.
 Therapist Empathy: The therapist demonstrates empathic understanding of the
clients’ experiences and recognizes emotional experiences without getting
emotionally involved.
 Client Perception: To some degree, the client perceives the therapist’s
unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding. This is communicated
through the words and behaviors of the therapist.