UNIT 2

COUNSELLING RELATIONSHIP
QUALITIES OF HELPING RELATIONSHIP
 EXERCISE
• Pair up with a known partner, and discuss an
issue.
• Pair up with an unknown partner and discuss
the issue.
• Make sure you use your counselling skills
appropriately in both situations.
• Discuss the difference in the situations
 IMPORTANCE OF THE RELATIONSHIP
• Some stress the relationship in itself
• Others stress the work that is done through
the relationship or the outcomes achieved
through the relationship
 A. The relationship in itself.
• Patterson (1985) made the relationship itself central to helping. He
claimed that counseling or psychotherapy does not merely involve an
interpersonal relationship; rather, it is an interpersonal relationship.
Some schools of psychotherapy emphasize the centrality of the helping
relationship. For instance, in psychoanalytic or psychodynamic
approaches, "transference" — the complex and often unconscious
interpersonal dynamics between helper and client that are rooted in the
client's and even the helper's past—is central. (Client with a complicated
relationship with her mother uses relationship with therapist to heal)
Resolving these often murky dynamics is seen as intrinsic to successful
therapeutic outcomes.
• In a different mode, Carl Rogers (1951, 1957), representing the
humanistic-experiential approach to helping, claimed that the quality of
the relationship with respect to the unconditional positive regard,
accurate empathy, and genuineness offered by the helper and
perceived by the client was both necessary and sufficient for
therapeutic progress.
• Unlike psychodynamic approaches, however, the helping relationship
was considered a facilitative condition, not a "problem" in itself to be
B. The relationship as a means to an end.
• Others see the helping relationship as very important but still
as a means to an end. In this view, a good relationship is
practical because it enables client and counselor to do the work
called for by whatever helping process is being used. The
relationship is instrumental in achieving the goals of the
helping process. Practitioners using cognitive and behavioral
approaches to helping, although sensitive to relationship
issues (Amkoff, 1995), tend toward the means-to-end view.
• Overstressing the relationship is a mistake because it obscures
the ultimate goal of helping: clients' managing their lives
better.
• This goal won't be achieved if the relationship is poor, but if
too much focus is placed on, the relationship itself, both client
and helper can be distracted from the real work to be done.
THEORETICAL MODELS OF
COUNSELLING – CARL ROGERS
 CLIENT/ PERSON-CENTERED THERAPY
• The person-centered theory of Carl R. Rogers is one of
the most popular in the fields of psychology, counseling,
and education.
• Rogers’s perceptions of people and of how a supportive
environment can assist in their development have had
an immense impact on a wide variety of professions and
on parenting.
• This approach was a major deviation from the
psychoanalytic and behavioral models for working with
people that were predominant in the early part of the
20th century.
 ROGER’S LIFE BACKGROUND
• Born the fourth of six children Mother was a devout Christian (Protestant) and
was very strict.
• Carl and his siblings, has described his family relationships as “warm and close”
• Carl was socially introverted as he was discouraged from playing He developed
an active imagination and focused on academics.
• Because his family lived on a farm, Carl had many chores, therefore becoming
very independent and self-disciplined
• As a college student, he was selected to go to Beijing for the “World Student
Christian Federation Conference.” There, he was exposed to different religious
philosophies and began to question his own religious beliefs. This experienced
shaped his views on human behavior
• Rogers joined the staff at the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute in La Jolla,
California in 1964
• His theory became widely known during the 60’s and 70’s as the progression of
psychotherapy into the humanistic movement
 Theory background
• Based on concepts from humanistic psychology, many of
which were articulated by Carl Rogers in the early 1940s.
• Humanistic Therapy is based on the ideas of self-
empowerment, self-actualization, freedom, choices, values,
purpose, meaning.
• A humanistic theory— each of us has a natural potential that
we can actualize and through which we can find meaning
• Shares with existentialism a focus on respect and trust for
the client.
• Exercise: Pair up and the therapist continuously respects
and motivates the client
• Rogers’s research efforts increased and broadened as he tested
ideas on hospitalized schizophrenic patients rather than on the
primarily normal population he had been serving.
• His research confirmed the view that the conditions present in
the helping relationship did have a significant effect on both
the progress of counseling and the outcomes for clients
(Rogers, 1967).
• Work with client populations ranging from normal to
extremely disturbed encouraged him to broaden the use of
his ideas to include all people.
• Person-centered is the current term used to emphasize the
personal nature of counseling.
• The person-centered perception of people is based on five
key beliefs:
(a) People are trustworthy, (therapist should believe in this
about their client, if there are doubts then client will not
trust themselves)
(b) people innately move toward self actualization and
health,
(c) people have the inner resources to move themselves in
positive directions,
(d) people respond to their uniquely perceived world
(phenomenological world), and
(e) there is an interaction of these with external factors
 Major constructs
• No Two People See the World Exactly Alike
• According to the phenomenological approach, no
two people can be expected to see things as
happening in exactly the same way. (Our past, our
personality – ‘H’ Client’s experience with her
mother)
• Practitioners must recognize that whatever they
personally believe reality to be will be different
from the client’s perspective and that each client
will have a unique perspective.
 Demonstration
Client describes an event or situation in his/ her
life and what that means to them.
Therapists will try and give different
interpretations to the event according to their
understanding
• Empathic Understanding Is Critical
• Empathic understanding is critical to the person-centered
approach, because it refers to the understanding of the client’s
world from the client’s point of view.
• Empathic understanding has two important tasks that
practitioners must accomplish to make it a useful construct: (a)
understanding and (b) accurately conveying that
understanding.
• This is no easy task because it is hard for counselors to set
aside their biased views of the world in an attempt to see
things through the client’s eyes.
• ‘A’ and ‘B’ Client’s perception of her looks
• People Make Simple Mistakes in Judgment
• People are attempting to act in response to how they
believe others would have them act (conditions of worth)
rather than trusting their own positive, growth-oriented
nature and their tendency to actualize. (If a child has been
told continually that he is naughty/ good/ patient – he will
believe that he HAS to behave n that way)
• Counselors who demonstrate faith in the whole person,
rather than denigrating clients for mistakes of behavior,
allow clients the freedom to explore their inner world
without fear of rejection.
• Place Confidence in the Client
• Person-centered counselors place
tremendous confidence in clients even
knowing that they will make mistakes in
judgment along the way.
• People’s tendency to actualize personal
potential in positive ways is the force that the
person-centered practitioner recognizes and
seeks to free from self-induced constraints
• Perceived World of the Client May Not Approximate the World
Sought by the Client
• People come to counseling for help because of difficulties evolving
from the fact that the world they perceive is not close to the world
they would naturally seek for themselves. (Why is a client getting
abused in the relationship? She is not seeking it, is she?)
• The natural, growth-oriented, self-trusting nature of these people has
been pushed into conflict with their chosen world, where they
continually look outside their true selves for decisions. (Clients take up
a persona what others believe of them; they base their life decisions
on that self, and not on their true self)
• This conflict is termed incongruence. What does it do to the client?
• Let a student describe incongruence in their lives
• Congruent Individuals Trust Their Worldview
• Congruent individuals are those who trust their view of the world, trust
their ability to act on their basic positive nature, and generally gain the
acceptance they expect.
• The congruence versus incongruence construct helps explain the concept
of anxiety in person-centered theory.
• Low personal anxiety occurs when the perceived self is in line with
actual experiences (congruence). Alternatively, the degree to which
individuals’ perceptions of themselves do not match the way they
actually are (incongruence) is directly related to higher levels of anxiety.
• It is significant for the practitioner to recognize that in person-centered
theory, efforts are made to increase congruence in the client rather than
directly reduce anxiety.
Johari Window – exercise with friends
 Goals of Counseling and Psychotherapy

• Movement from incongruence to congruence

identifies the cornerstone person-centered goal for
people who are having psychological or sociological
difficulties.
• Client whose well off partner left her, tries to prove to
the world she is desired, tries to identify with rich
people (ideal self). However at a certain point this
incongruence with her real self (of that of a lovable
girl, but not necessarily a popular girl, constantly in
need of spending money to prove she is rich)
• They are attempting to perceive more accurately their
own positive nature and learn to use it more
effectively in their everyday lives.
 Therapy is a Growth-Promoting Climate
• Congruence
◦ Genuineness or realness in the therapy session
◦ Therapist’s behaviors match his or her words
• Unconditional positive regard
◦ Acceptance and genuine caring about the client as a valuable person
◦ Accepting clients as they presently are.
◦ Therapist need not approve of all client behavior (schizophrenic client –
relationships as reward; compared to another client who is into hooking up)
• Accurate empathic understanding
◦ The ability to deeply grasp the client’s subjective world
◦ Helper attitudes are more important than knowledge

The therapist need not experience the situation to develop an understanding of it

from the client’s perspective
 The Therapeutic process
• Therapeutic goals:
• Help client grow
• Focus on person, not problem
• People become more actualized when they
– 1. Open to experiences
– 2. Trust themselves
– 3. Self-evaluation
– 4. Continue growing
• The therapist does not choose specific goals for the
client.
Set clients free to engage in self exploration

Positive view of human nature

Focus on what is right about someone

Look at positive side of people

Clients work on moving forward, positively, in their world

Client deals with obstacles that are blocking growth

Therapist is real and empathetic; facilitates change in client

Work in ‘here and now’

 THERAPIST ROLE AND FUNCTION
Create a climate Create a relationship Be real,
that lets clients explore
conducive to freely denied or genuine,
self exploration distorted areas of life. honest.

Don’t see client Defenses are let

in diagnostic
Enter clients down because

categories. world therapist is real,

genuine, caring

Show
Accept Empathetic
unconditional understanding
positive regard client of client
 CLIENTS EXPERIENCE

Use relationship
to gain self-
understanding
 Conditions necessary for change
Two persons are in psychological contact

The first, the client, is experiencing incongruency

The second person, the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship

The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard or real caring for the client.

The therapist experiences empathy for the client’s internal frame of reference and
endeavors to communicate this to the client.

The communication to the client is, to a minimal degree, achieved

 Therapeutic techniques
• It is not technique-oriented
• A misunderstanding---this approach is simply to
restate what the client just said or the technique of
reflection of feelings (It is incorrect).
• The therapeutic relationship is the primary agent of
growth in the client
• Therapist’s presence: being completely engaged in
the relationship with clients.
• The best source of knowledge about the client is the
individual client.
 Application - Group counselling
• Therapist takes on the role of facilitator
• Creates therapeutic environment
• Techniques are not stressed
• Exhibits deep trust of the group members
• Provides support for members
• Group members set the goals for the group
• Group setting fosters an open and accepting community
where members can work on self acceptance
• Individuals learn that they do not have to experience the
process of change alone and grow from the support of group
members
 Limitations
• Some people need more structure, coping skills,
directedness
• Some may focus on family or societal expectations instead
of internal evaluation
• May be unfamiliar with people in different cultures.
• Discounts the significance of the past
• Misunderstanding the basic concept: e.g., reflection
feelings.
• People may not make a change in themselves even if it is
not helping their growth as they feel they are being
accepted either way
 Something about me:
Sentence prompts
• My friends think I’m awesome because…
• My classmates say I’m great at…
• I feel very happy when I…
• Something that I’m really proud of is…
• I make my family happy when I…
• One unique thing about me is…
 “I’m Great Because…” Worksheet

• I like who I am because…

• I’m super at…
• I feel good about my…
• My friends think I have an awesome…
• Somewhere I feel happy is…
• I mean a lot to…
• Others reckon I’m a great…
• I think I’m a pretty good…
• Something I really enjoy is…
• I really admire myself for…
• My future goals are…
• I know I can achieve them because I’m…
• I’m naturally gifted at…
• Others often praise my…
 Group Activity
• Make groups of 6
• Each one make a fan and write their name on
it.
• Pass the fan around the group so that
everyone can write something positive about
the owner of the fan.
Behavioral view of the therapeutic relationship

TRUAX AND CARKHUFF MODEL OF

COUNSELLING
• Truax and Carkhuff suggested that there are four
learning modalities or channels by which the basic
facilitative conditions operate in psychotherapy:
• (1) reinforcement of human relating,
• (2) reinforcement of self-exploration,
• (3) elimination of specific anxieties and fears, and
• (4) reinforcement of positive self-concepts and self
Evaluations.

• (5) modeling.
 Reinforcement of Human Relating
• Clients have difficulties in interpersonal relations; thus,
interpersonal relations are sources of anxiety and fear. (very rarely
is the actual work causing problems…it is the
relationships..astrophysics)
• Their interpersonal relations have been associated with painful
experiences--rejection, lack of understanding, hostility, threat, and
so on, from others.
• As a result, they are hesitant to approach others and are
threatened by the prospect of relating to others.
• Yet they come for therapy because the pain or disturbance is so
great that they will do almost anything to seek help.
• They approach the therapist, though at the same time they have
strong avoidance responses.
• They suffer from the approach-avoidance conflict
• The therapist responds to the client with warmth,
respect, concern, and understanding.
• These constitute, then, rewards for the approach
responses of the client.
• The therapist presents a nonthreatening relationship.
• It is more than a situation in which the process of
extinction operates, where clients find that the therapist
does not act toward them in the negative ways in which
others have acted or continue to act toward them.
• They are actually rewarded for efforts to relate to
another.
• The therapist must begin reinforcement of
those behaviors approaching or
approximating the desired behaviors.
• Even slight, tentative, or hesitant relating
behaviors must be met with warmth and
empathy, with positive responses.
• While the therapist begins by being unconditional
(providing continuous reinforcement for any client
responses), he or she should move toward discrimination,
or conditional reinforcement.
• The implication is that the therapist should consciously and
deliberately deliver reinforcements on a contingency basis.
• However, attempts to do this in research, either in
interview situations or counseling analogue studies,
indicate that it is not possible for therapists to discriminate
and respond to, or to recognize and reinforce,
predetermined classes of behavior with accuracy and
consistency.
• Thus, conscious, deliberate attempts to reinforce
specific client responses are not very effective, since
to be effective every (or almost every) response
must be reinforced, and this is not humanly possible.
• Moreover, the conscious and deliberate dispensing
of predetermined rewards or reinforcements leads
to an unnaturalness and lack of spontaneity or
genuineness that can dilute or destroy their
effectiveness as the client becomes aware of their
artificial nature.
Reinforcement of Self-Exploration
• The therapist does respond, intuitively, to some
activities or verbalizations of the client and not to
others.
• After the relationship begins, and after the opening
remarks of the interview sessions, the therapist
does not respond to social conversation by the
client. Such material is considered irrelevant.
• The therapist does respond to self-talk, since this
is assumed to be relevant.
• At the beginning of therapy, such self talk is usually of a negative
character. The therapist thus is reinforcing negative self
references.
• But negative self-references are only one subcategory of the self-
reference category. So when, as normally happens, positive self-
references begin to occur, these also are reinforced.
• But self-references are themselves only a subcategory of a broader
kind of client statements-self-exploratory statements. The
therapist, in responding to the several categories of self-exploratory
statements, participates in a process known as shaping.
• In this process, in the absence of the desired behavior (here self-
exploration), behaviors that approximate this response (here
spontaneous verbalization) are reinforced; when behavior that is
closer to the desired behavior occurs (such as self-talk), it is
reinforced.
• Eventually, the client engages in self-exploration, which is then
reinforced by the therapist, leading to self-exploration at deeper
and deeper levels.
• Self-exploration is often a painful or anxiety-arousing process.
• Thus, even though it is reinforced by specific therapist responses of
interest, acceptance, and understanding, clients may become anxious
or threatened by the nature of the material they are exploring.
• The therapist must be careful that his or her responses do not
increase threat. Probing questions and interpretations are likely to do
this. They cause the client to retreat; to resist.
• It is desirable that there should be a safe nonthreatening atmosphere
for this.
• However, as Truax and Carkhuff suggest, clients may have developed
conditioned anxiety responses to "human warmth" (probably phony or
manipulative in nature), so that the therapist should be cautious about
offering strong, overwhelming warmth at the beginning of therapy.
• The client, then, engages in the process of self-exploration in a
warm, relaxing, nonthreatening atmosphere.
• Nevertheless, the process arouses anxiety as it progresses; the
client stops, retreats, rests, takes a breather by moving into
irrelevant, or less relevant ' areas.
• Self-exploration is a step-by-step process, or a two-step forward
and one backward process-an approach-avoidance situation.
• If the therapist, by his or her specific responses (including
concreteness and confrontation), helps clients explore themselves
in the presence of the facilitative conditions, clients progress.
• The therapist's accepting, warm, empathic responses are
rewarding. Clients feel satisfaction in their achievement.
• Anxiety related to the topic that they are exploring is reduced.
Elimination of Specific Anxieties and Fears
• If the client has learned specific anxieties or fears in the area of
human relating, these may be removed through desensitization
or adaptation, reactive inhibition or internal inhibition, and
counterconditioning. (Example: Client has fear of confronting,
being open to friends .. Can be practiced with therapist)
• These processes occur in the traditional psychotherapies as a
result of the nonspecific or general nature of the nonthreatening,
accepting therapy relationship.
• The shaping process for progress in self-exploration would appear
to fall under this learning modality of Truax and Carkhuff, at least
insofar as specific anxieties and fears are dealt with.
• Where the client's problem appears to be an isolated specific fear
or anxiety, the use of techniques of behavior modification, such
as systematic desensitization, would appear to be appropriate.
 Reinforcement of Positive Self-Concepts
and Self-Valuations
• As clients progress in therapy, their responses become more positive in
regard to themselves or their self-concepts. These responses are
welcomed by the therapist, who sees them as desirable, as indications of
progress.
• The therapist is thus pleased with the client, and indications of this
pleasure and approval are communicated to the client.
• It is important to emphasize here that such positive client responses come
late in therapy, as a result of the process of self-exploration.
• It is not desirable-or possible-to short-circuit the process by extinguishing
negative self-references and reinforcing positive self-references from the
beginning of therapy.
• It might be possible to condition clients to emit positive self-references in a
relatively short period of time. However, this would simply be the
conditioning of verbal behavior.
• Give time for the client to explore the negative side of himself and then
discover their positive side.
 Modeling
• Modeling as a method of teaching and learning
has the advantage over reinforcement of
specific behaviors, in that it makes possible the
learning of complex wholes, the acquisition of
patterns of behavior, rather than the
piecemeal learning of wholes by the prior
learning of parts that must then be integrated.
• It also often leads to rapid learning, often one-
trial learning, without practice being necessary.
• The therapist becomes a model for the client.
• The verbal behavior of the therapist in the interpersonal
relationship of psychotherapy is a model of interpersonal
relationships.
• Listening to and understanding others are useful and
facilitative conditions for all interpersonal relationships. The
relationship therapist is modeling the facilitative conditions for
good human relationships.
• "A powerful form of treatment is one in which therapeutic
agents themselves model the desired behavior and arrange
optimal conditions for clients to engage in similar activities
until they can perform the behavior skillfully and fearlessly.
• Self –disclosure on the part of the therapist is also encouraged
as this behaviour would be useful for the client to imitate.
• Modeling is a complex process, and although it no doubt
incorporates elements of conditioning, it is not explainable
simply in conditioning terms.
• While vicarious conditioning (observation of the model
being rewarded) may be an element, modeling is effective
without this. Cognitive elements are certainly present.
• Truax and Carkhuff discuss the principle of reciprocal
affect, referring to the fact that people respond with
affect similar to that to which they are exposed.
• In the session, if the therapist is respectful and mindful of
the client, the client learns to incorporate that into his
relationships as well
 Case study which can be referred to
• 19 year old male living with his girl friend, who has been so
possessive of him over the years that he lost all his friends as
she didn’t find them well behaved. The relationship with his
parents has been strained because she has complained about
him to them constantly.
• He fears she is cheating on him now. But she accuses him of
the same, saying she will find someone else instead.
• He is feeling stifled at home, and hates going to his house
now, but he has no friends to hang out with. He fears her
accusing him of ditching her.
• He seems to be hedged in from all sides, and unable to move
forward in any direction.
 S.M.A.R.T GOALS
• SPECIFIC
• MEASURABLE
• ATTAINABLE
• REALISTIC
• TIME SENSITIVE
WORKSHEET
CORMIER’S MODEL OF
COUNSELLING
 1st Stage: Initial Disclosure - Relationship
Building
The first step involves building a relationship and
focuses on engaging clients to explore issue that
directly affect them.
The first interview is important because the client
is reading the verbal and nonverbal messages and
make inferences about the counsellor and the
counselling situation.
Is the counsellor able to empathize with the client?
Does the client view the counsellor as genuine?
• In counselling, relationship takes on a more specific
meaning.
• The counsellor establishes rapport with the client based on
trust, respect and mutual purpose.
• When there is good rapport, a positive psychological
climate is created and vice-versa.
• The likelihood of desirable outcomes is greater when the
psychological climate is positive.
• Mutual purpose means both the counsellor and client have
common goals leading to what has been described as a
therapeutic alliance.
3 essential skills in relationship building
• Empathy: Empathy is intimate participation in the inscape of
another.
• Genuineness: Genuineness refers to the counsellor’s state of
mind. It means that you as a counsellor can respond to the
client as a human being and not in terms of a therapist. You
are comfortable with yourself and the counselling situation.
How does a counsellor show that he is genuine?
– Congruence, spontaneous, positive regard
• Warmth: Warmth is the ability to communicate and
demonstrate genuine caring and concern for clients. Warmth
can be communicated also through nonverbal behaviours such
as a smile, tone of voice, facial expression.
 STAGE 2: IN-DEPTH EXPLORATION -
PROBLEM ASSESSMENT
– WHY ASSESS YOUR CLIENT?
– It should be remembered that you are assessing your client
not for the purpose of judging or evaluating him or her. The
purpose of assessment is to seek clarification; you want to
know about your client.
– Enable counsellors to make an accurate diagnosis
– Determine a person’s suitability for a particular treatment plan
– Enable counsellors to develop a treatment plan
– Make goal-setting easier and achievement of goals
measurable
– Enable assessment of environment or context
– Facilitate generation of options and alternatives
 WHAT TO ASSESS?
• Hackney and Cormier (2005) listed the following important components of
assessing the client:
• Identifying Data:
– Name, address, phone number [to enable the counsellor to contact and gives an
indication of the conditions under which the client lives
– Age, gender, marital status, occupation [gives an indication of the age of the client
and some background about marital status]
• Problems Presented Present the problem exactly the way the client reports
them and the following questions might reveal additional information:
– How does the problem interfere with the client’s daily life? What are the
behaviours, thoughts and feeling associated with the problem?
– How often and how long has the problem existed?
– Is a patten of events? e.g. when? With whom? Is it predictable?
• Client’s Current Life Style:
– How does the client spend a typical day?
– What social, religious and recreational activities is the client involved in?
– What is the nature of the client’s educational situation?
– What special characteristics about the client? e.g. age, physical, cultural, etc.
• Family History
– Father and mother: age, occupation, personalities, roles, relationship with client 
– Siblings: age, present life and relationship with client 
– Family stability: jobs held, family moves and reasons.
• Personal History
– Medical history: illness, injury
– Education history: academic performance, extra-curriculur activities, hobbies and interests,
relationships with peers
– Career: jobs held, types of jobs, relationships with colleagues and fellow workers
– Client’s personal goals in life
• Description of the Client during the Interview
– Physical appearance : posture, dress, gestures, facial expression
– How client related to counsellor in the session?
– Client’s warmth, readiness, motivation, passivity, etc.
– Were the client’s remarks logical? Connected to another.
• Summary and Recommendations
– Connection between problem stated by the client and other information collected.
– Should the client be assigned to a particular counsellor?
– Are the goals for counselling stated by the client realistic?
– How much counselling might be required?
 WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM
PRESENTED BY THE CLIENT?
• How does the problem manifest itself?
– Feelings associated with the problem (e.g. anger,
fear)
– Thinking associated with the problem (i.e. the
client’s beliefs, perceptions)
– Behavours associated with the problem (e.g. rude,
insults, avoids being in a crowd)
– Physiological complaints associated with the
problem (e.g. stomach aches, unable to sleep)
– Interpersonal effects (e.g. quarrels with family
members, keeps to himself, bullies classmates)
Group activity- Identify a problem, and fill
in the rest
 STAGE 3: GOAL SETTING - COMMITMENT
TO ACTION
• WHY DO YOU NEED GOALS? According to Dixon and Glover,
“once a goal is formulated and selected by a problem solver, it
is likely to be rehearsed in the working memory and stored in
long-tem memory. A goal encoded in this way, then, becomes
a major heuristic for the problem solver as he or she interacts
with the environment”.
• With clear goals, clients are more likely or motivated to work
toward achieving those goals.
• With goals clients learn how to structure their lives towards
achieving the goals.
• With goals, it is easier for the counsellor to select and evaluate
appropriate counselling interventions.
 Step 4: Counselling Intervention
• There are different points of view concerning what
a good counsellor should do with clients depending
on the theoretical positions that the counsellor
subscribes to.
• For example, the person-centred approach
suggests that the counsellor gets involved rather
than intervenes by placing emphasis on the
relationship.
• The behavioural approach attempts to initiate
activities that help clients alter their behaviour
Step 5: Evaluation, Termination or Referral

• For the beginning counsellor, it is difficult to

think of terminating the counselling process,
as they are more concerned with beginning
the counselling process.
• However, all counselling aims towards
successful termination.
• Terminating the counselling process will have
to be conducted with sensitivity with the
client knowing that it will have to end.
BREHM’S REACTANCE THEORY
• According to the theory, if individuals feel that any of their
free behaviors, in which they can engage at any moment or
in the future, is eliminated or threatened with elimination,
the motivational state of psychological reactance will be
aroused.
• This reactance state is directed toward the restoration of the
threatened or eliminated behavior.
• The classic reactance example is that of parents telling the
child to do or not do something, for instance, to wear a
particular pair of shoes at school. If the child believes s/he is
free to decide what shoes to wear then he or she will
experience reactance
 Conditions for Reactance
• In a given situation, reactance can only occur when an individual
believes they have control or freedom over the outcome.
• Reactance to a threat will only be as great as the perceived
importance of the freedom. If the freedom being threatened is
very important, reactance to it will also be great.
• The greater number of freedoms threatened, the greater will be
the reactance aroused. For instance, if a person is asked to stop
drinking alcohol altogether, the reactance to this may be greater
than if they are asked to drink in moderate amounts.
• Reactance to a threat may increase when there are implications
of other threats. For instance, if a professor asks a student not to
eat in class, the student may infer that this also means not to drink
coffee or have water. The reactance will thus increase.
• Because reactance is a motivational state, it possesses energizing
properties that drive individuals to engage in freedom-restoration
behaviors.
• Individuals may directly attempt to reassert the freedom through engaging
in the option threatened with elimination or may have the freedom
restored indirectly by observing others restore the threatened freedom.
• Sometimes individuals will derogate the threatener or aggress toward the
threatening agent if the threat is illegitimate.
• When a freedom cannot be directly restored, people may instead
subjectively decrease the attractiveness of the imposed alternative and
increase the attractiveness of the denied option. (writing vs printing
record)
• For reactance to be aroused the person must possess the freedom to begin
with. Eg. Arranged marriage in several indian communities is the norm, and
thus does not pose any form of threat to freedom. (As compared to certain
communities which have begun giving freedom to children in choice)
• When a person has a choice between two attractive
alternatives, as the person contemplates selecting
the more attractive one, the person will experience
reactance and, as a result, the other alternative will
be seen as more attractive.
• Perceiving the two alternatives as equally attractive
means not making a decision yet, which preserves
one’s freedoms to choose one alternative, to reject
the other, or not to make a decision.
• Giving up even a single freedom may not be pleasant.
 Implicit and explicit threat to freedom
• Threats to freedoms can be implied as well as
explicit.
• For instance, a threat to one’s present
freedom may imply that threats to one’s
future freedoms may be imminent.
• In the same vein, threats directed to other
people’s freedoms may imply that one’s own
freedoms may be at risk.
 Limitations on Freedoms
• A threat to the freedom to perform a behavior may instigate reactance in
some contexts but not in others; it all depends on how important the
freedom is thought to be by the person in each of these contexts.
• Anyone who has visited a country other than the one he or she grew up in
has noticed that the customs can be quite different from those to which
s/he is accustomed. For example, if visiting a mosque it is customary to
wear a burkha (whatever religion you are from) and thus it doesn’t create
reactance as compared to if you were told to wear one in your city.
• Rule of not wearing burkha in college
• Therefore what is actually practiced in any given locale is a better guide to
what freedoms people hold and may think important than what
principles of freedom are enunciated by public and political leaders.