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WEEK 1

LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION TO
COUNSELING RUDIMENTARY SKILLS
COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
1. Attending
 Attending involves actively paying
THEORY DEFINED attention to clients, and it is a vital aspect
 A practical means or a framework in of avoiding the error of approach.
making systematic observations and  Accomplished through presence and
explaining phenomena focus
 Attempts to explain & provide  Being present or fully focused on clients
understanding of what happens in the means paying attention to what they say
counseling relationship (the content) and how it is said (the
 Summarizes the information base of the process).
philosophy and draws conclusions
 They explain behaviors 2. Active Listening
 Active listening may entail nodding one’s
head, verbal tracking (i.e., staying on the
COUNSELING topic the client brings up), accurate
summarization, and an ability to have the
 A process concerned with helping
client feel heard (as evidenced by clients’
normally functioning or healthy people to
self-reports, “I feel like you are really
achieve their goals or to function more
listening to me when I talk”)
appropriately
 Tended to have an educational,
3. Reflection
situational, developmental, and problem-
 One way to avoid making the error of
solving focus
interpretation, or the failure to accurately
 The helping professional concentrates on
understand what another person is
the present and what exists in the client’s
attempting to convey, is to use reflection.
conscious awareness
 Reflection helps therapists attend to
 May help people put into words why they what is being communicated by
are seeking help, encourage people to
conveying to clients a sense of what they
develop more options for their lives, and
are picking up from them.
help them practice new ways of acting
 Counselors may choose to reflect the
and being-in-the world
content (what is said) or process (how it
is said) of clients.

PSYCHOTHERAPY

 Usually reconstructive, remedial, in- 4. Gathering Information

depth work with individuals who suffer  The skill of gathering information entails
from mental disorders or who evidence getting as much information as is
serious deficiencies necessary
 A process of enabling a person to grow in  Counselors become more effective as
the directions that he or she chooses they learn when to gather information
 More long-term, more intense process and what type of information is relevant.
that assists individuals who have severe  To gather information, a counselor needs
problems of living. to make a few basic inquiries

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WEEK 1
 Counselors must live out what they
5. Questioning preach, and that begins with being able to
 Effective questioning is often accept feedback.
accomplished when counselors are aware
of the difference between content (what 10. Confrontation
is said) and process (how it is said).  Effective counseling relationships as
 By focusing on the client’s process rather antithetical rather than complementary.
than content, counselors move the focus  An antithetical relationship is one in
from external to internal. which confrontation is essential.
Antithetical literally means to “set in
6. Empathizing opposition”; this very definition is set in
 If we were to not only walk in another’s opposition to the literal meaning of the
shoes but live in another’s body, word complementary, which means
experiencing the other person’s cognitive “identical with”
functioning, affective range, every
emotional experience, memory, and even 11. Silence
only have access to that person’s psyche,  Some clients process ideas and concepts
we would have made every single in silence;
decision that person has made  Some have difficulty in silence and feel a
need to fill what they perceive to be a
7. Self-Disclosure void.
 If you want people to listen to what you  Regardless of the reason, counselors have
are about to say, tell them it’s a responsibility to allow clients to own the
confidential. silence
 Self-disclosure means telling someone  The more counselors are comfortable
something about your life, something with their own silence, the more they will
about you personally allow clients to own the silence.

8. Focusing
 Four steps to effective counseling: 12. Goal Setting
building rapport, establishing a contract,  Goal setting is contracting with clients
focusing the client, and funneling the about what they want.
session.  Short-term and long-term goals
 The counselor’s job is to help the client
focus on the issue at hand.

13. Modeling
9. Providing Feedback
 Genuineness stems from congruence
 Two primary skills for counselors:
between the real or actual self (who we
 To be able to accept feedback
truly are) and the ideal self (either who
themselves,
we believe we are or who we strive to be
 To be able to circumvent the error of
 Counselors are charged with the life-long
language.
pursuit of self-awareness.
 People are much more likely to respect
what they see as opposed to what they
are told.

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WEEK 1
14. Reframing
 When people process events, they do so
egocentrically at first, and usually only
after time can they begin to develop a
broader perspective on the event.
 To reframe what someone says, a
counselor merely has to reflect what
clients say in a different way from how
the clients presented it.

15. Termination
 Knowing the boundaries of professional
relationships is important to preparing
for the final or termination stage.
 Understanding when to terminate clients
is a skill that takes experience, practice,
and, most often, guidance from an
outside entity, such as a supervisor.

COMPONENTS OF CHOOSING A
THEORETICAL ORIENTATION TO THERAPY

 Personal therapeutic belief systems

 Theoretical school affiliation-self-
reported adherence to one or more
theoretical schools
 Espoused theory- what the therapist says
he or she does
 Theory-in-action- what is inferred by
people observing the therapist’s behavior
when working with clients

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WEEK 1
LESSON 2: THE COUNSELOR: 3. Acquiring Competencies in
Multicultural Counseling
PERSON AND PROFESSIONAL
 Beliefs and Attitudes
 Knowledge
THE COUNSELOR AS A THERAPEUTIC PERSON  Skills and Intervention Strategies
1. Personal Characteristics of Effective
4. Issues Faced by Beginning
Counselors.
Therapists
 Effective therapists have an identity.
 Dealing With Anxiety
 Effective therapists respect and
 Being Yourself and Self-Disclosure
appreciate themselves.
 Avoiding Perfectionism
 Effective therapists are open to change.
 Being Honest About Your Limitations
 Effective therapists make choices that are
life-oriented.  Understanding Silence
 Effective therapists are authentic,  Dealing With Demands From Clients
sincere, and honest.  Dealing With Clients Who Lack
 Effective therapists have a sense of Commitment
humor.  Tolerating Ambiguity
 Effective therapists make mistakes and  Becoming Aware of Your
are willing to admit them. Countertransference
 Effective therapists generally live in the  Developing a Sense of Humor
present.  Sharing Responsibility With the Client
 Effective therapists appreciate the  Declining to Give Advice
influence of culture.  Defining Your Role as a Counselor
 Effective therapists have a sincere  Learning to Use Techniques
interest in the welfare of others. Appropriately
 Effective therapists possess effective  Developing Your Own Counseling Style
interpersonal skills.  Maintaining Your Vitality as a Person and
 Effective therapists become deeply as a Professional
involved in their work and derive
meaning from it. 5. Countertransference
 Effective therapists are passionate.  Countertransference, defined broadly,
 Effective therapists are able to maintain includes any of our projections that
healthy boundaries. influence the way we perceive and react
to a client.
 This phenomenon occurs when we are
triggered into emotional reactivity, when
2. The Counselor’s Values and the
we respond defensively, or when we lose
Therapeutic Process
our ability to be present in a relationship
Value imposition because our own issues become involved.

 Refers to counselors directly attempting

to define a client’s values, attitudes,
beliefs, and behaviors.
 It is unethical for counselors to impose
their values in the therapeutic
relationship.

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WEEK 1
ETHICAL ISSUES IN COUNSELING
PRACTICE The Right of Informed Consent

 Informed consent involves the right of

ETHICAL DECISIONS clients to be informed about their therapy
and to make autonomous decisions
Mandatory ethics pertaining to it.
- Involves a level of ethical functioning at  Providing clients with information they
the minimum level of professional need to make informed choices tends to
practice. promote the active cooperation of clients
in their counseling plan.
 By educating your clients about their
Aspirational ethics rights and responsibilities, you are both
empowering them and building a trusting
- Focuses on doing what is in the best
relationship with them. Seen in this light,
interests of clients
informed consent is something far
broader than simply making sure clients
Positive ethics sign the appropriate forms. It is a positive
approach that helps clients become
- An approach taken by practitioners who active partners and true collaborators in
want to do their best for clients rather than their therapy
simply meet minimum standards to stay out of
trouble.
Dimensions of Confidentiality

Some Steps in Making Ethical Decisions  Confidentiality is an ethical concept, and

in most states it is the legal duty of
 Identify the problem or dilemma. therapists not to disclose information
 Identify the potential issues. about a client.
 Look at the relevant ethics codes for  Privileged communication is a legal
general guidance on the matter. concept that protects clients from having
 Consider the applicable laws and their confidential communications
regulations, and determine how they may revealed in court without their
have a bearing on an ethical dilemma. permission.
 Seek consultation from more than one
source to obtain various perspectives on
the dilemma, and document in the ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE ASSESSMENT
client’s record the suggestions you PROCESS
received from this consultation. The Role of Assessment and Diagnosis in
 Brainstorm various possible courses of Counseling
action.
 Enumerate the consequences of various  Assessment consists of evaluating the
decisions, and reflect on the implications relevant factors in a client’s life to identify
of each course of action for your client. themes for further exploration in the
 Decide on what appears to be the best counseling process.
possible course of action.  Diagnosis, which is sometimes part of the
assessment process, consists of

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WEEK 1
identifying a specific mental disorder Establishing Personal and Professional
based on a pattern of symptoms. Both Boundaries
assessment and diagnosis can be
understood as providing direction for the  A boundary crossing is a departure from a
treatment process. commonly accepted practice that could
potentially benefit a client.
 A boundary violation is a serious breach
that harms the client and is therefore
Ethical Aspects of Evidence-Based Practice
unethical.
 Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) involves
the integration of the best available
research with clinical expertise in the Social Media and Boundaries
context of patient characteristics, culture,
and preferences.  Limit what is shared online.
 Include clear and thorough social
networking policies as part of the
informed consent process.
Managing Multiple Relationships in
 Regularly update protective settings
Counseling Practice
because social media providers often
 Dual or multiple relationships occur when change their privacy rules.
counselors assume two (or more) roles
simultaneously or sequentially with a
Becoming an Ethical Counselor
client.
 This may involve assuming more than one  Ethical decision making is an evolutionary
professional role or combining process that requires you to be
professional and nonprofessional roles. continually open and self-reflective.
 Becoming an ethical practitioner is not a
final destination but a journey that will
Ways of Minimizing Risk continue throughout your career.

 Set healthy boundaries early in the

therapeutic relationship.
 Involve clients in ongoing discussions and
in the decision-making process, and
document your discussions.
 Consult with fellow professionals as a way
to maintain objectivity and identify
unanticipated difficulties.
 When multiple relationships are
potentially problematic, or when the risk
for harm is high, it is always wise to work
under supervision.
 Self-monitoring is critical throughout the
process.

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PSYCHOANALYTIC o Contains instincts, needs and

wishes
THERAPY (Freud) o Preoccupied with its own needs
View of Human Nature and desires; self-centered
o Functions on primary process
 Deterministic thinking: preverbal and
 Maintains that an individual’s dreamlike original, irrational
personality is fixed largely by the age of state of libido; sets into
6. operation a means for forming
 People do not have free will, their an image of something that
behavior is determined by innate drives helps reduce a drive
that have to do with sex and aggression o Governed by pleasure principle,
or love and death illogical, amoral, and driven to
satisfy its instinctual needs and
Levels of Consciousness
desires
 Conscious Level :  Ego
o All of our thought processes oDevelops most clearly about 6-8
operate; mos
o Only 10%; everything we are o Lies within the realms of the
aware of conscious, preconscious, and
 Preconscious Level unconscious
o Contains our memories and o Rational, capable of forming
thoughts that are not at the realistic plans, functions as a
conscious level but that may liaison between the id and
threaten to break into the superego
conscious level at any moment o Reality oriented seeks to protect
o Events, thoughts, and feelings the self
are easily recalled o Functions on secondary process
o About 10-15% of the mind thinking: thinking directed
 Unconscious Level toward problem-solving and
o The lowest and deepest level of self-preservation
awareness, or unawareness o Has the capacity for rational
o Hold the bulk of our past decision making and decides
experiences, including all the when not to satisfy the urgings
impulses and memories that of the id
threaten to debilitate or  Superego
destabilize our minds. o Represents parental values and
o Constitutes 75-80% of the mind societal standards
o Operates on morality principle
Structure of the Mind o Seeks perfection and is oriented
 Id toward the past rather than the
o Biological self; most basic of the present or the future
three o Uses introjections: involves a
process of the individual’s

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incorporating the norms and o Main source of pleasure: anal

standards of a culture into his or area
her culture. It is aided by the o Involves power struggle;
individual’s identification with children become fixated at the
significant adults during anal phase if their caretakers are
childhood too demanding or overindulgent
o Anal Personality: stinginess,
constrictedness, stubbornness,
messy, disorganized, reckless,
careless
 Phallic
o 3-5 or 6 years old
o Settling for the most sexual
conflict
o Source of gratification: genital
area
o Oedipus and electra complex
o Phallic personality: reckless,
Common Defense Mechanisms narcissistic, excessively vain and
proud; afraid or incapable of
 Repression close love (could be a major
 Rationalization cause of homosexuality)
 Regression  Latency
 Identification o 6-12 or puberty
 Displacement o Child’s sexual drive lies dormant;
 Reaction Formation unparalleled repression of
Psychosexual Stages of Development sexual desires
o Children repress their sexual
 Oral energy and channel it into
o Birth to 18 mos. school, friends, sports, hobbies,
o Source of gratification: feeding and direct their attention to the
and body organs associated with larger world
this function-mouth, lips, and o It is a time for ego development
tongue, along with the infant’s and for learning the rules of
feelings of security that occur as society
a result of his or her being held  Genital
o Oral Personality: o 13-18; signals the onset of
pessimism/optimism, adolescence
suspiciousness/gullibility, self- o Focus their sexual energy
belittlement/cockiness, toward opposite sex or same sex
passivity/manipulativeness; o More altruistic and less selfish
dependency than others
 Anal o People unable to make
o 18 mos to 3 years old psychological attachments

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during adolescence and young

adulthood will manifest
Goals of Therapy
abnormal personality patterns.
 To bring about changes in an individual’s
personality and character structure

 Helping those who are willing and able to

participate in a lengthy and often painful
process to achieve a resolution of some
intrapsychic conflicts so that they might
experience life in a mature manner.

 To help clients achieve self-awareness,

honesty, and more effective
The Therapeutic Process interpersonal relationships and gain
better control over their irrational and id
 Begins with asking the person to lie
impulses.
down on a a couch, looking away from
the therapist
 Ultimate goal: reorganization that
 The person expresses whatever
promotes the integration of dissociated
thoughts, feelings, or images that come
psychic material and results in a
to mind, without censoring, suppressing,
fundamentally changed, firmly
or prejudging them
established new structure of personality
 The therapist sits behind the couch and
listens in a nonjudgmental manner to Role of the Therapist
the client
 Begins by evaluating whether the client
 Periodically, the therapist interrupts the is suitable for psychoanalysis
client’s associations, helping him or her
to reflect on the possible connections  People who do not dare regress from
and significance of his or her reality and those who cannot return
associations. readily to reality are poor risks for
psychoanalysis
 The therapist’s goal is to make the
unconscious conscious, to interpret  Clients who have been diagnosed as
transferences, to work through and schizophrenic, manic-depressive,
resolve such transferences, and to schizoid, or borderline personalities are
strengthen the client’s ego believed to be poor risks for
psychoanalysis
 Childhood experiences are 
reconstructed, interpreted, and Compassionate neutrality attitude
analyzed. Analytic therapy is directed should be maintained
toward achieving insight and self-
understanding.

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 The therapist does not offer advice or interpretations of resistance and

extend sympathy transference.
 Entails clients’ gaining insights to their
 The therapist is seen as very passive and issues as a result of transference analysis
detached.  Clients come to understand that they do
not have to fear their impulses as they
 Focuses on intrapersonal conflicts did when they were children, because in
the transference relationship, they
 The ideal client is one who is capable of expressed those same impulses in
pregenital fixations; genital personality is intense words and were not castrated,
the ideal. rejected, or abandoned
1. Opening Phase : 4. Resolution of transference
 Consists of therapist’s first contact with  Both the therapist and client agree on a
the client and lasts from 3-6 weeks date to end the therapy.
 Therapist notes everything that the  They must resolve any remaining
client says and does for possible late ruse attachments issues the client has with
in treatment. the therapist.
 Therapists assesses the nature of the
Therapy Techniques
client’s problems
 Introducing clients to the couch and 1. Free Association
techniques of psychoanalysis
 Cardinal technique which allows clients
 Focuses primarily on conflicts that are
readily accessible to the client’s to say anything and everything that
consciousness comes to mind regardless of how silly,
painful, or meaningless it seems.
2. Development of Transference  One association leads to another that is
deeper in the unconscious
 The client was unconsciously reenacting
 Permits clients to abandon their usual
forgotten childhood memories and
ways of censoring or editing thoughts.
repressed unconscious fantasies
 Transference prevents us from seeing
others entirely objectively
 It is a form of memory in which the client
repeats in therapy conflicts from his or
her early childhood as if they currently
existed.
 It helps clients distinguish fantasy from
reality and the past from the present

3. Working-through phase

 Slow, gradual process of working again 2. Dream analysis

and again with the insights that have
 Pathway to the unconscious
emanated from the therapist’s

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 Manifest content: surface meaning of  Helps clients gain insights into the
the dream influence of their past on their present
 Latent content: contains the deeper, lives.
hidden, and symbolic meaning  Clients learn how to work through old
 Therapist’s task is to help the client conflicts that hindered their
uncover disguised meanings by studying psychological growth.
the symbols in the manifest content of
the dream

3. Analysis of Resistance

 Resistance exists when client behaviors

interfere with or hinder the analytic
process
 It is an unconscious situation clients use
to defend against anxiety
 Client resistance is an opportunity to
gain insight into their client’s
unconscious motivations or defensive
mechanisms
 It is designed to help clients become
aware of the reasons for resistance so
that they can confront them.

4. Analysis of Transference

 Therapist interprets the distorted

displacements of significant
relationships clients experience during
their transference onto the therapist
 Interpret client’s buried feelings,
traumatic conflicts and unconscious
fixations of early childhood

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ADLERIAN PSYCHOTHERAPY 2. Masculine Protest

View of Human Nature o The desire to be a “real man”, a desire

to be superior, to strive to be perfect.
• People are basically self-determined o Men carefully hide their feminine
and that they forge their traits through exaggerated masculine
personalities from the meaning they wishes and efforts
give to their life experiences.
3. Lifestyle
• People create their own lives by using
their creative power o Behaviors is lawfully organized and
• It is the individual who must that each person develops a
ultimately be responsible for making generalized pattern of responses to
good use of his abilities most situations
• People are motivated by their o Habitual pattern of behavior unique
present perceptions and by their to each person
present expectations of the future. o Considered as the major key of our
• People do not determine meanings behavior
by situations, but they determine o Includes our goals, opinions of
themselves by the meanings they ourselves and the world, and he
give to situations. habitual behaviors we use for
• People create their own achieving desired outcomes
personalities, and they can change
4. Goal-directed and purposeful behavior
their personality by developing new
attitudes o All behavior is purposeful and goal
• His view is essentially optimistic, directed
holistic, and phenomenological in o As counselors we must first
orientation understand our client’s goals.
o When counselors help clients analyze
Theory of Personality their goals, they are taking important
1. Social Interest steps to helping them lead more
productive lives
o Refers to the individual’s sense of
being part of the human community 5. Feelings of Inferiority
and their attitudes toward others. o All human beings begin their
o An individual’s ability to empathize
psychological life with feelings of
with others inferiority
o Social interest provides us with a o It is the presentation of the person to
basically positive outlook on life and
himself and others that he is not
an interest in developing the welfare strong enough to solve a given
of others problem in a socially useful way
o It is more than a sense of inadequacy

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o It is inevitable, universal, and normal Second Born

6. Striving for Superiority o Grows up knowing that he or she has

to share parental time and attention
o Used to explain our drive to master
o Optimistic, competitive, and
external obstacles, to gain power and
ambitious
status, and to arrive at a positive
o Strives in directions different from
state
the first born
o Positive striving for perfection
Middle Child
7. Fictional Finalism
o They are in a difficult and unfair
o Can help us deal more effectively
position
with reality, or they may block our
o They are ambitious and develop a
attempts to accept reality.
strong social interest
o Fictional goals develop during early
o Unfavorable outcomes they are
childhood, and they exist primarily at
rebellious and envious, they often
the unconscious level of awareness
experience difficulty being a follower
throughout one’s life.
o Our fictional goals influence the way Youngest Child
we think, and act throughout our
o Tends to be pampered within the
lives.
family constellation
8. Family Constellation o May excel over all others o establish
their place within the family
o Describes the composition of a family
o Competitive orientation and become
and one’s position within that system
high achievers
o It is not what we are that determines
our behavior, but rather, it is what we Only Child
think we are that has the most impact
o Not likely to develop a competitive
on us.
spirit
9. Birth Order o Develops exaggerated views of their
own importance
First born:
o May develop rich imaginations
o “reigning monarch”, given undivided o Likely to be deficient in social interest
attention
o Best understands the significance of
power and the exercise of it
o Conservative in outlook, nostalgically
look at the past, highly organized,
responsible, conscientious
o One feels a sense of responsibility
and takes care of others.

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• Uncovering the client’s dynamics,

which include his lifestyle, goals,
family constellation, childhood
illnesses, basic mistakes included in
his lifestyle
• Developing interpretations that
culminate in client insight
• Reorienting the client
• Three entrance gates to an
individual’s mental life:
o Birth order position in the
family of origin
o First childhood memory
o Dreams
Role of the Therapist

• Establish friendly relationship

between equals
• Encourage clients to use their talents
to help others---to develop a social
interest
The Therapeutic Process • Counselors tend to be active and
• Usually time-limited, supportive talkative in therapy
therapy focused on specific problems • Confront clients with their basic
• Designed to bring about moderate mistakes, misplaced goals, and self-
insight, attitude change, and defeating behaviors.
behavioral change • Encourage clients to develop new
• May focus on parenting, marital alternatives for reaching their revised
relationships, and career choice and goals
development • Take a non-pathological view of
• Overall goal: to help a person develop clients’ difficulties
from a partially functioning person • Avoid labeling clients with the
into a person who lives life more traditional medical model’s
cooperatively, more courageously. diagnoses. Instead help clients better
And with a greater sense of understand themselves and to
contribution to his community. modify their life’s stories.

Goals of Therapy Phases of Therapy

• Establishing and maintaining a good 1. Establishing the Therapeutic

client-therapist relationship Relationship

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• Use humor and small talk to establish • Dreams were a way of dealing with our
therapeutic alliance insecurities
• Help the client become a more • Help us try out strategies for overcoming
cooperative person our limitations
• Therapist offers genuine warmth, • Can serve as bridge to what we want
empathy, acceptance and understanding • More problems you have, the more
• Remain neutral in order to discuss dreams you are likely to have
possible improvements in their situations • Adlerian dream work involves examining
the parts of a dream and analyzing what
2. Uncovering the Client’s Dynamics
problems or inferiorities they might
a. Assessment and Diagnosis represent
• Dreaming is purposive. Dreams prepare
• Assess the client’s lifestyle
clients to solve their current problems or
• Assess and interpret the client’s early
to overcome their present circumstances
recollections
by rehearsing them for potential future
b. Analysis of Client’s Basic Mistakes (5 basic actions
mistakes) • Common dream symbols:
o Flying (moving or striving from
• Overgeneralizations: “People are no
below to above)
good”
o Falling (moving or striving from
• False or impossible goals of security: “I
above to below)
must please everyone, if I am to be
o Being chased ( an expression of
loved”
inferiority or weakness in relation
• Misperceptions of life and life’s to others)
demands: “I never get any breaks” o Being unclothed in public ( fear of
• Minimization or denial of one’s worth: disclosure or being found out)
“I’m stupid”
• Faulty values: “I must be first, regardless e. Integration and Summary of Adlerian
of who gets hurt in the process” Uncovering and Assessment
c. Early Recollections as an Assessment Client’s subjective experience and life
Technique story; family constellation and
• We select memories that coincide with developmental data, early recollections,
our basic beliefs about ourselves and the personal strengths, basic mistakes and
rest of the world coping strategies
• Earliest memories provide the therapist 3. Client Insight and Self-Understanding
with an understanding of our mistaken
beliefs, social interests, and future • Insight: client’s understanding of the
actions purposive nature of his
• d. Analysis of Client’s Dreams • behavior and the mistaken beliefs that
sustained it.

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• Self-understanding results when B. Asking the Question (Miracle Question in

therapists help clients make conscious Solution Focused)
hidden lifestyles and goals
“If I could magically eliminate your
4. Reorientation symptoms immediately, what would be
different in your life?”
• To help the client gain or regain the
courage to face life’s challenges-to put “What would be different if you were well?”
insight into action and to redirect goals
C. Asking “As If”
• Client is encouraged to develop more
social interest in others • Clients who state that they would do thus
• Client has learned to feel and function and so if only they possessed certain
better qualities are encouraged to act for a
short period of time as if they possessed
Therapy Techniques the qualities, they believe they lack.
• Time limits must be set with clients • It is based on the belief that clients must
• Sessions with children usually last for 30 change their behaviors to elicit different
minutes responses from others.
• Adults: 45 to 50 minutes D. Using the Push-Button
• Homework assignments are usually
made near the end of the therapy • Would ask clients to imagine pushing a
session button then direct them to picture a
pleasant experience in as much as detail
A. Offering Encouragement and vividness as possible
• It is both a principle and a technique that • Request clients to make note of the
pervades all of Adlerian therapy pleasant memory that made them feel
• Encouragement is necessary for good as they engaged in the imaginary
children’s healthy development push-button exercise
• Used in working with clients when they • Give the same directions—only this time
express faith and belief in them asking clients to imagine a negative
• Therapist does the following: experience in as much detail as possible
• Values the client as he or she is • Tell clients that they can exercise inner
• Demonstrates faith in the client control regarding how they feel at any
moment by controlling what they think
• Tries to build a positive self-concept
within the client about
o Gives the client recognition for his or
her efforts
o Concentrates on the strengths and
assets of the client

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E. Catching Oneself • Therapists give homework assignments

to give clients practice with a behavior
• Permits clients to become aware of their
• The client finds threatening situations
self-destructive behaviors or thoughts
less and less frightening
without feeling guilty about them
• Clients are told to “catch themselves” J. Creating Images
when they are just about ready to revert
• Used to describe clients with a single
back to their old ways and to substitute
phrase, such as the beggar as a king
the new behavior.
• Adlerians use images to describe clients
• The goal is to help clients change
maladaptive old habits K. Brainstorming
F. The Midas Technique • Brainstorms with clients’ alternatives
beliefs and convictions.
• Entails exaggerating the client’s irrational
o E.g. in place :”I never get what I
demands
want”; “Sometimes I get what I
• Helps clients to see that their wishes,
want”.
when taken to their logical extreme, can
be absurd. Clients laugh at their own L. “Spitting the in the client’s soup”
wishes and positions taken
• The intent is to spit in the client’s soup of
G. Pleasing Someone excuses and hidden goals
• When therapists reveal the hidden
• Designed to increase clients’ social
purpose of a client’s symptom or
interest
behavior, they deprive him or her of the
• Therapist suggests that the client do
secondary gains that the symptoms
something nice or someone else
provide
• Therapist might recommend that a client
volunteer his or her service and have no M. Paradoxical Intention
expectation of a reward other than that
• The therapist helps the client overcome
which comes from serving another
his own opposition by encouraging him
person
to do that which he is complaining about.
• The technique of pleasing someone
o E.g. “never do anything you don’t
helps put the client back into society
like”; “don’t stop worrying”.
H. Socratic Questioning • Can be used to encourage a client
symptom or to give him permission to do
• Leading an individual to insight through a
something.
series of questions
• Asking clients to exaggerate or to amplify
• Makes the client responsible for his or
the target behavior to show the client
her own conclusions
how ridiculous the behavior is.
I. Task Setting

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EXISTENTIAL THERAPY (ROLLO o Umwelt (Biological/Physical World):

living cycles of organisms such as
MAY AND VIKTOR FRANKL) sleep patterns, drives, instincts
View of Human Nature o Milwelt (Social World): refers to
existence as influenced by our social
• Main focus deals with human existence relationships
and what it means to be alive o Eigenwelt (Self-
• To be human means asking questions Knowing/Psychological experience):
about our very existence refers to our own individual world,
• Searching for meaning in life is a represents an attempt to understand
distinctly human characteristic ourselves; consists of our awareness,
• Our validation must come form within introspection and self-knowing
rather than from others o Uberwelt (Spiritual World): refers to
• People create their own values. People the spiritual world of being; people
are free when they choose freely and relate to the unknown and create a
when they accept the consequences of sense of an ideal world, as well as
their actions. philosophical outlook on that world.
It often leads to people finding
Existential Therapy
something for which they are willing
• Individuals define who they are by their to live or die.
choices even though there may be
factors beyond one’s control that restrict
one’s choices
• Ontological experience, the science of
“being”
• Basic concept: “being in the world”
o Umwelt: physical; Mitwelt:
Social
o Eigenwelt: Psychological or self-
knowing
o Uberwelt: Spiritual
• Therapists may help clients recognize Goals of Therapy
outmoded ways of life and become
• Finding personal meaning: the client is
willing to take the responsibility to
encouraged to find his or her own
change, to expand, and to find meaning
personal meanings and truths about life.
in their lives that is unique to them.
• Taking responsibility for one’s decisions
View of Human Nature about living.
• Living in the present so that the client
Levels of Being the World:
experiences life more fully each moment.

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• Increasing self-awareness and authentic the will to meaning and to find meaning in
living life

Role of the Therapist Techniques:

• Facilitate client’s encounters with Socratic Dialogue:

themselves
• Conversational method used to raise
• Focus on the issue of client responsibility
clients’ consciousness about their
• Assist clients in learning how to embrace possibilities
responsibility rather than avoid it
• Therapist asks specific questions to
• Assists clients in making choices, raise into consciousness the
removing the obstacles that block their possibility to find, and the freedom to
decision-making ability, and
fulfill, meaning in one’s life
understanding the methods they use in
arriving at decisions. Paradoxical Intention

Therapy Techniques • Directs a client to do something

contrary one’s actual intentions
• Free to use techniques across the broad
schools of thought, including diverse Labeled Dereflection
techniques such as desensitization and
• People encounter problems because
free association
they put too much emphasis on
• Primary guideline: address the
themselves
uniqueness of each person
• When people shift their attention to
Initial Phase: help clients identify and clarify others, their own personal problems
their beliefs about their worlds. Clients are seem to lessen
encouraged to explore the ways in which
they make sense of their being
Middle Phase: examines clients’ values and
their sources
Final Phase: focuses on helping clients take
action regarding the kind of life they want.

Logotherapy

3 Basic Assumptions:
➢ Life has meaning under all
circumstances
➢ People have a will to meaning
➢ People have the freedom under all
circumstances to activate

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 o Negative Reinforcement: when a certain
BEHAVIOR THERAPY stimulus is removed after a specific behavior
John Watson, B.F. Skinner, Joseph Wolpe, is exhibited. It involves taking something
Donald Meichenbaum away to increase a response
o Punishment: adding something aversive for
View of Human Nature the purpose of decreasing a behavior; helps
• People are basically neutral at birth; they are decrease a behavior
neither good nor bad 4. Extinction
• People are influenced by what happens to
them and by what they learn o Takes place when reinforcers are withdrawn
• Learning can result in the development of or unavailable, and people stop
any pattern of human behavior, provided demonstrating a behavior
that the person has a certain learning history o A process of removing an unwanted
and biological capability response by not reinforcing it.
• Includes both personal and environmental 5. Generalization
determinants of human behavior
When behavior is reinforced on a consistent
Theory of Personality basis, it may become generalized to other
1. Classical Conditioning (Pavlov) situations

2. Operant Conditioning (Skinner and 6. Discrimination

Thorndike) Learning how to respond differently to stimuli,
o Consequences that follow behavior help depending on the situation with which we are
learning presented
o Behavior is changed by systematically 7. Shaping
changing the consequences
o It occurs when a behavior is followed by a o Behavior that is learned gradually in steps by
consequence, and the nature of the successive approximation
consequence changes a person’s or an o Shaping takes place when a person actually
organism’s tendency to repeat the behavior practices a behavior.
in the future. 8. Counterconditioning
o We are more likely to increase behavior that
is rewarded and to decrease behavior that is o E.g. desensitization
either punished or not reinforced o Because anxiety can be learned through
conditioning, it can be unlearned by a
process of counterconditioning
3. Reinforcement 9. Token Economies
o To strengthen some behavior. It refers to any o To shape client behavior when approval and
stimulus that strengthens or increases the other reinforcers do not work
likelihood of a specific response from a o Provide a concrete measure of a person’s
person. motivation to change specific behaviors
o Positive Reinforcement: adding something
to increase a response
o Individuals can decide how to use their o Therapist develops treatment strategies that
tokens, thereby giving them a sense of are individually tailored for each client,
control over their lives depending on the issue for which they
request assistance
The Therapeutic Process (Perspectives)

o Counseling and psychotherapy should focus o It is not essential for a behavior therapist to
on client’s observable behavior and their life understand the origins of a psychological
responses, not on their unresolved, problem in order to produce positive client
unconscious conflicts. behavioral change.

o Learning is a central principle for o Behavior therapists must commit to the

understanding and changing a client’s scientific method in their work with clients.
behavior.
The Therapeutic Relationship
o Clients’ changes in behavior are governed by
the law of effect: “behavior that is followed o Behaviorists establish a warm and empathic
by satisfying consequences will be more relationship with clients
likely to be repeated and behavior that is o It is central in behavior therapy because the
followed by unsatisfying consequences will therapists must be able to get clients to trust
be less likely to be repeated. them in such sensitive issues as dealing with
their deepest fears.
o Learning is also governed by contingencies.
Goals of Therapy
Clients change their behaviors as they
discover relationships between sequences of o The counselor informs the client about the
events and their behaviors— associate need for goals, the role that they play in
learning therapy, and the client’s involvement in the
goal-setting process.
o Behavior therapy is an individual-focused
approach. o The client indicates the positive changes he
or she desires from therapy. Emphasis is
o It takes a non-pathological approach to what placed on what the client wants rather than
other schools of thoughts label as mental what he or she does not want.
illness.
o The therapist highlights that change can only
o Most abnormal behavior is assumed to be come from the client and the fact that the
acquired through learning and maintained in client must accept responsibility for the
the same manner as normal behavior desired change in behavior.

o Instead of focusing on the past, behavioral o Throughout the therapy process, the client
assessment examines the current and therapist work on identified goals,
determinants of behavior. revising them as the need arises. A plan of
action is developed to achieve the identified
o The therapist conducts a prior analysis of the goals.
problem into its components or subparts
Role of the Therapist 3. Stress Inoculation Training

o Function as consultants in producing o Designed to help inoculate people against

behavioral change collapse as they experienced stress.
o Active and directive during counseling o Goal: to change individual’s beliefs about the
o Conduct a complete functional assessment behaviors and statements they make to
to identify the variables that maintain the themselves regarding how they deal with
conditions about which the client complains stress
o Generate initial treatment goals and o Helps clients to induce a relaxation response,
construct a treatment plan to achieve these engage in cognitive restructuring, and
goals perform effective problem-solving skills
o Teach concrete skills to the client by
Exposure Therapies
instruction, modeling, and performance
feedback ➢ General category of behavior techniques
o Use therapy techniques to promote that are designed to treat phobias and a
maintenance of behavior change wide range of other behaviors
o Measure the effectiveness of treatment
procedures ➢ Therapists introduce clients to the
o Complete follow-up assessments situations that have contributed to their
problems
Role of the Client
1. Flooding: constitutes either an in vivo or
o Agreeing to perform homework assignments
imaginal exposure to anxiety-evoking stimuli for
and by engaging in behavioral rehearsal until
a prolonged period of time. The therapist
skills are learned.
exposes the client to a safe version of the
o Clients who come to therapy are motivated
fearsome stimulus at maximum intensity
to change
2. In Vivo: refers to procedures that takes place
Behavior Therapy Techniques
in the client’s actual environment
1. Relaxation Training Techniques: should be
3. Implosive Therapy:
individualized for each client
o Client imagines all anxiety situations
2. Reciprocal Inhibition and Systematic o The imagined anxiety scene are
Desensitization exaggerated to elicit as much anxiety as
possible
o Reciprocal inhibition: based on the
o The imagined scenes are based on
inhibition of responses by the
hypothesized sources of anxiety, which
occurrence of another response that is
are psychodynamic in nature
incompatible with it. E.g. relaxation
training
✓ Systematic desensitization
✓ Training in deep muscle relaxation
✓ Construction of anxiety hierarchies
✓ Matching specific anxiety situations
from the hierarchies with relaxation
training
 The Therapeutic Process
REBT (Albert Ellis)
o Designed to help clients gain a more realistic,
View of Human Nature o rational philosophy of life
➢ People are born with a potential for o Therapist does not devote much time to
irrational or rational thinking examining the morbid details of the client’s
➢ Human beings have predispositions for life
self-preservation, happiness, and growth o Challenges clients’ irrational beliefs in the
actualization first few sessions
➢ People are constructivists and have a o Intended to be a brief therapy (1-10
great deal of resources for human sessions)
growth. o Clients with sever disturbances are
encouraged to come to individual and/or
Theory of Personality group sessions for at least 6 months
o 2 techniques:
ABC Model of personality
➢ Tape the entire session. Clients then
A: activating event or experiences, such as listen to the recordings several times so
family problems or early childhood trauma, that they can ascertain their problems and
trigger stress or worry the REBT way of handling them
➢ To give REBT Self-Help Form to teach
B: belief system—the cognitive component in
clients how to use the method when
our reaction to events. Especially important are
they experience emotional problems
irrational, self-defeating beliefs that form the
between therapeutic sessions
source of our unhappiness
The Therapeutic Relationship
C: consequences (the neurotic symptoms and
negative emotions, such as depression, anger, o General REBT: similar to CBT
and rage) that come from our beliefs o Preferential REBT, which stresses a deep
philosophical change in the client’s life and
D: Disputing Irrational Thoughts and beliefs
way of relating to people
▪ Detecting o 3 powerful insights:
▪ Debating ➢ Person’s self-defeating behavior usually
▪ discriminating stems from the interaction of A and B;
such that A+B=C
E: Cognitive and Emotional effects of revised ➢ People have made themselves
beliefs emotionally disturbed because they
keep indoctrinating themselves with
similar irrational beliefs
➢ Clients recognize that only hard work
and practice will correct irrational
beliefs. Clients must commit themselves
to repeated challenging of irrational
thoughts until they are fully
extinguished.
Role of the REBT Therapist ✓ Imprecise language contributes to
distorted thinking
Must understand belief systems and how to
✓ Clients learn how to change their
distinguish rational and irrational beliefs.
“musts” to “preferences”
Primary role: focus on the main irrational ideas
Humor: emotional disturbance comes from
that lie behind the feelings clients have
taking oneself too seriously
expressed in therapy, especially their ideas that
is awful the way in which people have treated Shame-attacking exercises: to help clients
them reduce shame over how they behaved. Such
exercises are designed for increasing client self-
3 phases:
acceptance.
Cognitive Phase: therapist presents the cognitive
Disputing
rationale for REBT to the client. It is devoted to
clients writing down their troublesome thoughts. ✓ Detailed examination sentence by
sentence of any irrational belief that
Emotive Phase; clients are instructed that they
the client states during therapy
can learn to control their emotions by becoming
✓ Using three forms of disputation:
fully aware of the thoughts that support such
emotions and by learning to substitute Cognitive: attempts to persuade the
alternative thoughts client by asking direct questions; e.g.
“Can u prove it?”; “How do u know”?
Behavioristic Phase: clients are taught to change
their behavior Imaginal: ask client to imagine
themselves in the situation about which
Role of the Client
they feel uncomfortable
o Individuals who are out of contact with
Behavioral: if clients continue practicing
reality, in a highly manic state, seriously
rational emotive imagery, they can reach
autistic or brain injured, and in lower ranges
the point where they no longer feel
of mental deficiency are not good candidates
upset over negative events
for REBT
o More effective clients who have a single Emotional Control Card
major symptom such as depression.
o Wallet sized and contains four emotionally
o Clients are instructed to focus on the present
debilitating categories: anger, self-criticism,
and not on the past
anxiety and depression; a list of
o Expected to participate actively in the
inappropriate feelings, and a parallel list of
therapeutic process and to complete
appropriate feelings
assignments.
o The goal is to get clients to become aware
Counseling Techniques of the feelings that they are using and to
encourage them to rationally choose the
Uses a variety of therapeutic techniques:
emotions they display.
didactic discussion, bibliotherapy, role playing,
assertion training, operant conditioning, activity-
oriented homework assignments

Changing one’s language

 LESSON 2: GESTALT THERAPY (PERLS) • Individuals are capable of making choices
because they are aware.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY TO • Individuals have the capacity to govern their
GESTALT THERAPY own lives effectively.
• People cannot experience the past and the
• An individual’s behavior is a Gestalt, a
future. They can only experience
whole that is greater than the sum of its
themselves in the present.
parts.
• People are neither basically good nor bad.
• An individual experiences the world
according to the principles of a figure-
ground relationship. Emphasis on the “NOW”.
• An individual will seek closure of an
incomplete gestalt. An incomplete gestalt • E.g. “what are you doing now?”
draws an individual's attention until it is • Avoids the why or cause questions.
unified and stabilized. • Emphasize the Eigenwelt (the relation to
• An individual will complete gestalts on the oneself) rather than the past.
basis of his or her most prevalent need. • “lose your mind and come to your senses”.
• A person’s behavior can be most
meaningfully understood only in its
immediate context. THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS

• Highly verbal and experiential.

GESTALT COUNSELING
• Therapy focuses on what is happening in the
• A therapeutic approach in which the moment-to-moment therapeutic process rather
therapist assists the client toward self- than on what is being discussed (the content).
integration and toward learning to utilize
his energy in appropriate ways to grow, • Therapist is highly intuitive and can be
develop, and actualize. compared to an artist.
• Primary focus: here and now.
• Clients become aware of what they are doing,
• Major objective: integration of the person/
how they are doing it, and what they need to do
“getting it all together”.
to bring about desired change.
• Therapist seeks to increase the client’s
awareness.
• Client must also learn to take responsibility
for themselves. HERE-AND-NOW PRINCIPLES

• Live now; stay in the present.

FRAMEWORK FOR GESTALT • Live here; be with the present.
• Stop imagining; experience reality.
• Individuals are composite wholes made up • Stop unnecessary thinking.
of interrelated parts. • Expressing rather than manipulating,
• Individuals are also part of their own explaining, justifying, or judging.
environment and cannot be understood • Do not restrict your awareness; give in to
apart from it. your awareness of unpleasantness.
• People choose how they respond to • Accept no “should” or “ought” other than
external and internal stimuli. They are your own.
actors, not reactors. • Take full responsibility for your own actions,
• People have the potential to be fully aware feelings, and thoughts.
of all their sensations, thoughts, emotions, • Surrender to being who you are right now.
and perceptions.
 GESTALT RULES FOR THERAPISTS TECHNIQUES

1. The principle of Now: 1. The Hot Seat

- Always use the present tense and deal
with life in the present rather than in • Designed to bring about greater self-
the past. awareness among clients who are usually in
2. The use of I instead of It: a group setting.
- Helps clients substitute personal • Members are told that anyone who wants
pronouns (take responsibility for to work may sit in a chair facing the leader.
feelings) for impersonal ones. • The person who decides to sit in the chair is
3. Focusing on how and what rather than told to begin by stating a specific life
why: problem.
- Gestalt therapists maintain that when • 10-30 minutes or until the individual or the
clinicians ask why questions, they are leader feel closure has been reached.
requesting a rationale/excuse from 2. Now and How
clients.
4. The conversion of questions to statements: • NOW refers to a person’s immediate
- People sometimes hide behind their awareness of experiencing. E.g. “Now I am
questions. Gestalt clinicians ask clients feeling like a hopeless child, still clinging to
to change their questions into my mother’s apron’s string.”
statements. • HOW refers to a person’s description of the
5. Paying attention to client’s language manner in which certain feelings are
patterns: experienced. E.g. “What are the sensations
- a client’s language can both describe you experience when you feel like a child,
and conceal. E.g. Perhaps, sort of, clinging to your mother’s apron’s string?”
possibly, I can vs I won’t.
3. Top dog and Underdog Introjections
6. Listening to clients' metaphors:
- you learn about their internal and • Refers to the process by which people take
external struggles. The therapist into themselves aspects of other people,
translates the meaning of these especially their parents.
metaphors into manifest content so • There may be a split between what they
that it can be dealt with in therapy. want to do and what they feel they should
do. “should” introjections are known as
topdog, it is equivalent to superego. E.g “if
you don’t act like a good girl, then you’ll be
called cheap trash, and nobody will ever
respect you.”
• Underdog attempts to control top dog by
reacting defensively, apologizing and
playing the role of “nobody likes me”.
Clients who operate from the underdog
position are usually passive-aggressive,
make excuses for behavior, and have
countless reasons for delay. Those who play
underdog have great resentment toward
those whom they consider their top dog.
4. Dreamwork that provoke in clients strong avoidance
anxiety.
• ‘messages” that reflect a client’s place at a
certain time. 9. Exaggeration
• Clients present dreams and then the
therapist directs them to experience what it • Requires clients to accentuate behavior or
is like to be each part of the dream. gestures of which they may only be mildly
• The goal is to bring dreams back to life and aware.
to relive them as if they were happening • Exaggeration of body language, including
now. gestures, tone of voice, posture, and facial
• Clients with repetitive dreams are expressions, can promote clients’
encouraged to understand that unfinished awareness of incongruences between their
business is being brought into awareness verbal messages and their nonverbal
and that there is a need to take care of the communications.
message the dream delivered. 10. Withdrawal
5. Making the Rounds • Individual’s right to withdraw from contact
• Used primarily in groups; confrontation is at its and from therapy.
height. • It symbolizes the organismic regulation of
the person; people decide for themselves
• E.g. ‘I hate everyone in this room”; therapist: whether they want to be left alone or in
“Make that statement to each person here, and contact with other people.
in doing so, express your feelings about each • Helps a participant withdraw
person.” “Why are you in touch within this psychologically from a group if that
group?” individual indicates he or she wants to do
so.
6. Role Reversal o E.g. “try to relax and imagine that
• May be used in group or individual therapy. you are going to leave this group.”
• Used to help clients understand that their o “What are you experiencing now?
overt behavior may represent the opposite Can you try to put yourself into
of their latent impulses. what you are experiencing now?”
• A client may be asked to role-play a specific
feeling or behavior that seems the opposite
of what he or she wants.

7. Homework

• Might entail having clients write dialogues

between parts of themselves or between
the parts of their bodies.

8. Rehearsal

• Clients can gain awareness of how much

time they use preparing to play their social
roles or the effort required when they are
trying to be something other than what
they are.
• Rehearsal permits practice and modeling of
desirable behaviors, especially in situations
REALITY THERAPY other people to seek means to meet their
needs
View of Human Nature
10 AXIOMS OF RT
•Assumes that all behavior come from
axiom is a claim that could be seen to be true
within
without any need for proof
• People choose their behavior, and they
choose the best behavior for their needs 1. The only person whose behavior we can
at any given time. control is our own.
❖ 5 genetic/basic needs that drive us:
2. The best a therapist or another person can do
o Survival: eating, drinking, sleeping,
is to give information to a person.
seeking shelter, avoiding illness
o Belonging and love: need to love 3. All long-lasting psychological disturbances are
and be loved, to share, and to relationship problems.
cooperate; forming friends and
involvement within our families and 4. A person’s relationship problem is always part
other people; it is the primary need of his or present life.
in people 5. Although the past may affect what we are
o Power: achieving and accomplishing today, we can only satisfy our basic needs in the
our goals and by being recognized present and plan to continue satisfying them in
and respected within our families, at the future.
work, and within the general society
o Freedom: making daily choices in 6. We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the
our lives pictures in our quality world.
o Fun: our desire for pleasure and 7. All we do is behave.
enjoyment
• Our basic needs provide the general 8. All behavior is total behavior and is made up of
motivation for everything we do in life. four components: acting, thinking, feeling, and
• Our brains continually monitor whether or physiology.
not our needs are being met. As a result, 9. All total behavior is chosen, but we only have
people may experience a gap between direct control over the acting and thinking
their needs and what they are getting. They components. We control our feelings and
choose behavior to close the gap between physiology indirectly through how we choose to
their needs and wants act and think.
CONTROL: KEY COMPONENT IN RT 10. All total behavior is named by verbs and
• “The only person I can really control is named by the most recognizable part.
myself” 7 DEADLY HABITS
• Trying to control others is a never-ending
battle that alienates one from others and ✓ Criticizing
causes pain and frustration ✓ Blaming
• RT therapists teach clients to focus on what ✓ Complaining
is in their control and to respect the right of ✓ Nagging
✓ Threatening
✓ Punishing
 ✓ Bribing/rewarding to control source of strength

7 CARING HABITS o Avoid punishing, criticizing, or arguing

with clients
✓ Caring Habits:
✓ Supporting 2. Encourager
✓ Encouraging
o Does not give up on clients when they
✓ Listening
have failed to implement their plans
✓ Accepting
o Convey that there is always hope, no
✓ Trusting
matter how bad things seem
✓ Respecting
o Seeks to teach clients how to fulfill their
✓ Negotiating differences
needs
THE THERAPEUTIC PROCESS
3. Assessment
• Therapist is directed to establish a friendly
o Assess clients’ total behaviors
personal counseling relationship
o Do not interpret the clients’ symptoms.
• Therapists are involved with clients from the
Symptoms persist because they are
beginning and create warm, supportive, and
needed to help a client deal with
challenging relationships
unsatisfying relationships or the inability
• As the therapeutic relationship becomes
to satisfy basic needs
deeper, the therapist becomes firmer
• Involvement and concern for clients are 4. Focus on the Present rather than the Past
conveyed throughout the counseling
o Therapist only goes back to the past to
process.
learn about needs and how they were
• RT therapist is friendly, warm, and optimistic
satisfied previously
• The goal is to help clients meet their basic
o The goal is to help clients satisfy their
need of belonging
needs in the present.
• Avoid criticizing clients, accepting their o Reject transference because it allows
excuses, and giving up on them both the therapist and client to avoid
GOALS OF THERAPY being who they really are.

• Overarching: To meet their basic needs 5. Importance of Relationship in Client’s Life

• To help clients learn more effective ways of o An unsatisfying relationship or the lack
satisfying all basic needs of a relationship causes problems in a
• Begin by asking clients what they want and client’s life
what brings them to counseling o Poor relationships are the heart of most
• Build a satisfying relationship with the client unhappiness
ROLE OF THE THERAPIST o Therapist must guide the client to a
satisfying relationship and teach the
1. Teacher and Collaborator client to behave in more effective ways.
Clients discover that their problems are
o Accept no excuses for irresponsible
the way they have chosen to behave.
client behavior
o Does not stay in the past, unless it is
related to the present or a
 ✓ What is your recent success?
Recent challenges? What have you
tried so far?
✓ Hold a mirror before the client and
ask: How do you see yourself now
and in the future?
o Encourage clients to change what they
are doing and thinking

E: Evaluation

THERAPY TECHNIQUES (WDEP SYSTEM, o Therapy is directed towards getting

WUBBOLDING) clients to evaluate their behavior
o Helping clients engage in an inner
W: wants and needs evaluation is at the core of RT
o Seek to help client discover what they o Based on the belief that people do not
want voluntarily change their behavior until
o Assist clients to recognize, define, and they evaluate that what they are doing is
redefine their basic needs and how they not working
would like to meet them o E.g.
o E.g. ✓ Does your current behavior help
✓ Does your behavior help you or hurt you get what you want now, and
you? will take you in the direction that
✓ By doing what you are doing, are you you desire?
getting what you want? ✓ Is what you are doing helping
✓ Are you breaking the rules? you?
✓ Are your wants realistic and ✓ Is your behavior working for you?
attainable? ✓ Is what you are doing in your best
✓ What would you be doing if you were interests or in the best interests
living the life you would like to lead? of those you care about?
✓ Do you really want to change your ✓ If nothing outside you changes—
life? such as at work or within your
✓ What is it that you are not getting family---what will you do?
from life? P: Planning
✓ What stops you from getting what
you would like to get out of life? o Formulate an action plan that contains
possible replacement behaviors for
D: Direction and Doing ineffective ones
o Raise client’s awareness of their current o A plan helps clients focus their thoughts
total behaviors and behaviors
o E.g. o Elements of a good plan: SAMIC
✓ What are you doing? (Wubbolding)
✓ Where are you heading? ✓ Simple
✓ Attainable
✓ Measurable
 ✓ Immediate
✓ Controlled by the planner,
consistently practiced, and
committed to by the client.

o Some qualities of a good change plan

are as follows:
✓ Flexible and open to
modification
✓ Stated positively in terms of
what the client is willing to do
(behave)
✓ Capable of being completed
independently without the
assistance of others
✓ Repetitive and performed
daily
PERSON-CENTERED THERAPY on the phenomenological world
of the client
CARL ROGER o Focused more actualizing as a
motivational force
 In my early professional years, I was asking
the question: How can I treat, or cure, or Third Period -- 1950s – 1970s
change this person? Now I would phrase the
o Openness to experience
question in this way: How can I provide a
o Trust in one’s experience
relationship which this person may use for
o Internal Locus of Evaluation
his own personal growth?
o Willingness to be in process
o Encounter Groups, Applied in education
 The good life is a process, not a state of
as student-centered
being. It is a direction, not a destination
EXISTENTIALISM & HUMANISM: SIMILARITIES
RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING THEORY  Share a respect for the client’s subjective
experience
 Based on concepts of humanistic
 Trust in capacity of the client to make
psychology brought to the US by Jews
positive and constructive conscious
fleeing the Nazis
choices
 Was developed as non-directive
 Emphasize concepts such as freedom,
counseling
choice, values, personal responsibility,
o In reaction to the directiveness
autonomy, purpose and meaning
of psychoanalytic theory
 Parallel concepts with regard to the
 Falls into what has been termed the third
client-therapist relationship at the core
force in therapy
of therapy
o An alternative to both
 Both adopt a phenomenological stance
psychoanalysis and behaviorism
 Call for therapist to enter the subjective
THEORY DEVELOPMENT world
 Both emphasize client’s capacity for self-
First Period -- 1940s
awareness
o Nondirective Counseling
EXISTENTIALISM & HUMANISM: DIFFERENCES
o Developed in reaction to
psychoanalytic approach  Existentialists believe that, as humans,
o Challenged the basic we are faced with the anxiety of
assumption that “counselor choosing to create an identity in a world
knows best” that lacks intrinsic meaning
 Humanists believe each person has a
Second Period -- 1950s
natural potential that we can actualize
o Client-Centered Therapy and through which we can find meaning
o Reflects emphasis on the client
MAJOR PHILOSOPHICAL ASSUMPTIONS
rather than on nondirective
methods  Belief that people are resourceful,
o Characterized by shift from capable of self-direction and able to live
clarification of feelings to a focus effectively and successfully
 o People will move in positive ➢ UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD
directions if the way is clear for  Refers to acceptance of the worth of the
them to do so person; not acceptance or approval of all
o When people are free to do so, behaviors
they will find their own way ➢ ACCURATE EMPATHY
 Has little faith in the role of experts who  Able to grasp the subjective world of
direct others toward self-betterment  another
 Humanistic philosophy is compared to  Implies that the therapist will sense the
the acorn, which, if provided the right client’s feelings without getting lost in
nurturing conditions will automatically them (losing own identity)
grow in positive ways, pushed naturally  Easier said than done, learning it
toward actualization as an oak tree. sometimes feels silly (example of
 Becoming increasingly actualized = mirroring in counselor training)
o An openness to experience ➢ SELF-ACTUALIZATION
o A trust in oneself
Looked at the healthy rather than the sick side of
o An internal source of evaluation
clients and at the value of their moving toward
o A willingness to continue
self-actualization through which they experience
growing
 Tolerance of uncertainty
CENTRAL CONSTRUCTS & TENETS
 Acceptance of self and others
 Therapist can promote client growth by  Spontaneity and creativity
demonstrating:  Comfort with solitude
o Congruence  Autonomy
o Unconditional positive regard  Capacity for deep personal relationships
o Accurate empathy  Sense of humor
o Self-actualization  Genuine caring for others
 These result in people being less  Inner-directedness
defensive, letting go of rigid perceptions  Positive outlook on life
and being more open to self-
THERAPEUTIC FRAME OF REFERENCE
actualization
 Present
➢ CONGRUENCE  Past is important only as it contributes to
 Genuineness & Caring current awareness
 Real without False Front
 Considered by Rogers as most important THERAPEUTIC GOALS
 Trying too hard to be genuine can lead to  To achieve a greater degree of
incongruence integration and independence
 Therapist does not have to be fully self-  To focus on the person rather than on
actualized in order to be effective: the presenting problem.
 However, Congruence must be present  No preset goals
in the counseling relationship o Client with the help of a trusted,
facilitating therapist will set own
course
VIEW OF PATHOLOGY  Client is in state of incongruence, being
vulnerable or anxious
 Clients come to therapy in a state of
 Counselor is congruent or integrated in
incongruence (discrepancy between
the relationship
self-perception and their experience in
 Counselor experiences unconditional
reality) with resultant anxiety
positive regard for the client
 Feel sense of helplessness and
 Counselor experiences an empathic
powerlessness toward making
understanding of the client’s internal
appropriate decisions to direct their own
frame of reference and endeavors to
life
communicate this experience to the
 Since the drive toward higher levels of
client
psychological maturity are deeply
 The communication to the client of the
rooted, person-centered therapy can be
counselor’s empathic understanding and
effective with normal and maladjusted
unconditional positive regard is to a
persons
minimal degree achieved
THERAPEUTIC OBJECTIVES
CLIENTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO…
 Congruence
 Feel safer and less vulnerable
 Increased trust in self
 Accept themselves more as they are
 Increased willingness to explore
 Become truer to themselves and less
alternatives
affected by others’ expectations
 Increased personal resources
 Become more self-directed
ROLE OF THE THERAPIST  Perceive the past as less deterministic

 To establish a therapeutic climate (i.e., MULTICULTURAL CONTRIBUTIONS

congruence, empathy, unconditional
 Significant contributions to cross-
positive regard) that facilitates growth
cultural communication
and change.
 Person-centered philosophy and
 Clients should be able to:
practice is studied and practiced in many
o Feel understood and accepted
different cultures
without judgment
 Emphasis on core conditions increases
o Lower their defenses to self-
the utility of approach for understanding
exploration and feel more open
diverse worldviews
to experience
o Discover hidden aspects of MULTICULTURAL LIMITATIONS
themselves
 Some clients desire more structure
o Become more realistic
 Difficult to translate the core conditions
o Perceive others with greater
into actual practice in some cultures
accuracy
o Communication of conditions
RELATIONSHIP OF COUNSELOR & CLIENT must be congruent with client’s
cultural framework
 Quality of relationship determines
 Internal Locus of Evaluation
outcome of counseling
o Some cultures value collectivism
 2 people are in psychological contact
more than
 Individualism