Counseling Psychology

What Is Counseling Psychology?

The premise of counseling psychology is the human mind; the latter’s unlimited ability to comprehend the world around it in an equally infinite number of perspectives. In that respect, counseling psychology is a very recent development, but it has quickly grown out of its mould to encompass wide-ranging aspects of personal as well as interpersonal functioning of an individual with respect to his or her immediate societal setup.

Counseling Psychology vs. General Counseling Practices

As opposed to general counseling practices taken up in Christian and other theological organizations, counseling psychology is well defined in its approach, methods and manner of analysis, thus paying more attention to normative and absolute scientific procedures. Typically, it defines the pillars of professionalism:

• Such a person should have extensive post-graduate education in the field of counseling psychology from a recognized university.
• He or she should have to education to conduct research, evaluations and therefore know how to implement the same into therapeutic procedures for helping clients.
• He or she should be certified or licensed to practice by either the state or a central certification body.
• A counseling psychologist must follow the American Psychological Association (APA) Ethics Code at all times.

As such, the word ‘Psychologist’ is a legally protected term that is reserved only for individuals who have a doctor degree in a field of Psychology.

What Do Counseling Psychologists Do?

Counseling Psychologists are engaged in the any of the following areas where they put their education into practice and as a result offer their contribution while earning their salary:

• Psychotherapy and Counseling: Here, a counseling psychologist can be employed in a varying number of organizations with wide-ranging responsibilities specific to the organization. Prime among them are counseling and clinical centers, Hospitals, VA’s, EAP (Employee Assistance Program), prisons, military and other government agencies.
• Teaching: Often, individuals with counseling psychology degrees enroll into professional schools, colleges and universities, as teachers and counseling experts. Some with an M.A. degree might also going into teaching in community colleges.
• Research And Publishing: A lot of counseling graduates can take up posts in higher educational organizations, hospitals and professional organizations like the APA to further the research in their specific field of specialization.
• Consulting: Private consulting is another area that sees the inflow of counseling psychologists year after year. These professionals can offer their expertise to different industries or businesses, larger consulting firms (such as RHR) or even take up private practice or executive coaching as a profession.
• Administration: Owing to the high degree of knowledge about interpersonal dynamics relating to individuals in an organizational setup, administrative posts are open for those with the right counseling psychology degree and license to ply their trade in community mental health institutions, hospitals, VA’s, Professional organizations, NGO’s and government organizations as well as educational institutions such as schools and universities.

Degrees In Clinical Psychology

Here are the different educational paths that you could take up in your quest to become a counseling psychologist, with a brief description of what they entail.

• Master of Science (M.S.) Or master Of Arts (M.A.)

This includes 2 years of study, culminating in the completion of a Thesis. Often students with the desire of a Ph.D. take this route. Apart from that, a Masters degree, with the right certification courses can qualify you for professions such as teaching in community colleges or overseeing clients as a supervisor in a health facility. Read more about Counseling Psychology Masters Program.

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

This course of study basically focuses on the scientist-practitioner Model, otherwise known as the Boulder Model. It is a 3-year course work, and takes an additional year for dissertation and a year of internship in an APA approved environment, thus totaling to 5 years of study and research. Public and private organizations accept only those university degree programs that are approved by the APA. Read more about Counseling Psychology PhD Programs.

• Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D)

Pronounced as ‘sigh-dee’, a Psy.D program is not research driven and do not generally take dissertation as a compulsory completion requirement as with Ph.D. degrees. This is typically a 4-6 year course, which includes a year of internship too. It focuses on the applied aspect of the discipline or the Professional Model (Vail Model) to be exact. The course work is offered in professional schools. Read more about Counseling Psychology Doctoral Programs.

Counseling Psychology As A Mental Health Profession (MHP)

Counseling psychology is an integral part of MHP (Mental Health Professions), a categorization, which envelops the following disciplines too:

• Clinical Neuropsychology
• Educational Psychology
• Rehabilitation Psychology
• Community Psychology
• Forensic Psychology
• IO (Industrial/Organizational) Psychology
• Social Work
• Marriage, Family and Child Counseling (MFCC) and
• Psychiatry

Visit MentalHelp.net to get a better understanding of MHP, and its associative professions. It offers an accurate and in depth analysis of each of these disciplines. MHPs differ in terms of their specialties in that each discipline requires a different type of education, training, licensing, and therefore, happens to have varying pay as well as prestige levels.

Now, counseling psychology takes the best of most MHP into its account and offers a therapeutic solution to the everyday challenges faced by adults mainly, be it in the field of work, personal space, or interpersonal relationships.

As such, the career opportunities presented by counseling psychology are immense to say to least. Click here to see what the 2018-2020 analysis of US Statistics concerning MHP has to say about counseling psychology.

A Realistic Look At Counseling Psychology As A Profession

Counseling psychology might be a very noble profession but that does not necessarily make it an easy one to take up. It requires the right desire, dedication and technique to help those who are in need of emotional and psychological support to deal with one or more aspects of their daily lives. Therefore, in order to be taken seriously for the job of a counselor, you will need to pass some hurdles and prove your competencies along the way.

That been said, there are many perks for people who choose this noble profession. Apart from being in a profession that sees a healthy income rate, you are also open to choosing your line of specialization from the variety of options. Plus, the self employment opportunities presented here are tremendous to say the least!

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Being a Counseling Psychologist

Just as with any other people-oriented profession, counseling psychology too has its pros and cons, and it is important that those individuals looking to pursue counseling as a full time option understand what they are getting into.

First, let us take a look at the pros of being a counseling psychologist. They are listed as follows:

• Well-paying career: Given the current slowdown in economy and resulting job losses, a very high number of middle class families have had to see some tough times. Such periods do give rise to stress and emotional turmoil both in an individual and the relationships he/she maintains. As such, it is no surprise to see that the latest yearly wage figures (May 2011 average) for counseling psychology position have shot up to $73,000 per annum.
• Healthy Job Growth: Interestingly, professionals working as counseling psychologists across different organizations within the private and public realm see a healthy job growth. The latest figures put up by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics point to a 22% growth by 2020.
• Wide Variety Of Employment Options: Typically, counseling psychology can apply to a variety of settings. For instance, a lot of counselors are absorbed into community treatment centers, non-profit organization, hospitals and many even have their own practice.
• Self Employment: Shelf life is one of the problems with most jobs. However, you will be pleased to know that counseling psychology faces no such problems. Given the unique skill sets of a counseling representative, such a person will always have the opportunity of self employment available to him/her. In fact, the latest figures show that roughly 34% of counseling psychologists are self employed.

The cons of going for counseling psychology as a profession are as follows:

• Longer Study Period: If you want to be a respected counseling professional, then you need to lap up the degrees too. This mean an average of 8-9 years just finishing up your undergraduate and post graduate studies.
• Long Work Hours: Counseling psychology as a profession translates to hectic schedules and long working hours. Typically professionals will find themselves working on weekends and sometimes round the clock. This is also a very emotionally draining profession given that you will have to deal with a lot of negative energy from clients all day.

Education And Licensure Requirements

In order to be a successful counseling psychologist, you will need to get two aspects in order, namely education and licensure. The second aspect is dependent on the first, meaning that you will need to have the necessary education in place to get the licensure. While it is possible to be considered for a counseling psychology job with just a bachelor’s degree, the growth opportunities will, however, be limited. A doctorate in the field, on the other hand, will open a lot of professional avenues. You may choose between a Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) or Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) to complete your education.

Licensure is required by those individuals who want to practice counseling psychology. As such, you will need to earn the requisite degrees, be part of an internship program, get the right amount of professional experience, and pass a licensure examination in order to be seen fit as a practitioner by government and private organizations hiring professional counselors.

Duties And Responsibilities As A Counseling Psychologist

A counseling psychologist is expected to solve emotional issues faced by patients in their daily lives. This will include helping people deal with challenges faced in a variety of settings from home, work, schools to other community settings. Apart from that, you may also choose to help people deal with problems in their interpersonal relationships, such as marriage, family, unemployment, etc.

As such, you daily duties will include listening to client problems, collecting information, analyzing notes, developing therapy and treatment methods, and evaluation of results. Also, given that counseling psychology is a highly evolving subject, you will also need to keep yourself abreast with the latest information in your field of specialization.

Counseling Psychology Secrets – 10 Basic Strategies For Successful Adolescent Counseling

Many seasoned counseling psychology professionals have noted how difficult it can be to engage unwilling adolescents in a healthy one-to-one session. In fact, a lot of skilled counselors find working with adolescent clients to be somewhat like a chasm of fire. So much so that many psychologists avoid the prospect altogether and instead choose to work on ‘safer’ cases such as young children or adults.

However, this negative attitude towards adolescence from a counseling perspective is both unfortunate and unnecessary. As such, this article looks to throw some light on different approaches that could considered by a counselor so as to build a meaningful relationship with aggressive and defiant adolescents in order to pave the way for successful therapy.

Strategies For Reaching Out To Adolescents

It’s the little things that matter when it comes to making an adolescent client feel comfortable talking to you. As such, the strategies mentioned below should help you reach out better to a teenage client.

1. Offer snacks and munchies: Teenagers love to eat and therefore this strategy offers to be an effective ice-breaker between you and the young client. Offering a snack can quickly bring down shields as many times it makes you look like a nurturer to the youngster.
2. Familiarize yourself with music loved by adolescents: While this might sound easy, it is however important to understand performers and musicians and their work rather than just memorizing names and/or genres. In fact, the latter is not at all advised as it will only make you look phony and that is never a good thing for a therapist or counselor.
3. Allow more freedom when talking: A lot of teenagers are perfectly able to talk sensibly, listen and respond accurately even when their eyes are directed elsewhere and their hands are busy. So, do not stifle them by repeatedly drawing their attention to you. Also, it would be a good idea to have the session in a ‘desk-less’ environment, as such a move will make you look more accessible and therefore friendlier to talk to.
4. Be genuine: The attribute of an unpretentious counselor bodes well with clients in general and especially with adolescents. While adults understand the need to have some about of ingenuity, teenagers want the opposite in a person. What we perceive as tactfulness, they will see it as double standard and are amazingly quick at spotting phoniness or insincerity.
5. Sense of humor is invaluable: Often times, counselors tend to be too serious, and that can put off adolescent clients quickly. Therefore, use the healing qualities of laughter to your advantage to lighten up the mood. Teenagers will quickly associate with such an environment. Also, it helps a lot if you are able to laugh at yourself. Such a move makes you look more real and approachable and not a pompous adult that they are used to.

Strategies To Relate Better With Defiant Adolescents

It is important to understand that adolescent clients, at their height of stubbornness, will boldly rebuff any form of help given to them. As such, the only way forward is to relate with them in order to make them more comfortable with the counseling scenario. Here are a few ideas to that end.

1. In the event that you are unaware about a certain youth culture, be honest and admit your ignorance. This will only educate you more about the aspect and therefore help build rapport faster with the client.
2. When citing positive examples of counseling, always ensure that it is about another adolescent of the same age group. Narratives of this nature help build that much need sense of hope in your teenage client.
3. If you want to put forward anecdotes from your own life, then it should preferably be from your own adolescence. However, while self disclosure is a good strategy, make sure that you do not overdo it.
4. Understand the difference between depth and caring in general. They are two different things. While it is okay to care about what an adolescent is going through, there is absolutely no need of getting yourself attached emotionally.
5. Adolescence is the time when these underlying issues come up and therefore produce extreme negativity in the individual. So, if the topic of life and death, meaninglessness or other existential issues creep up during a session, then do not back off from discussing them.

Developing A Relationship Is Crucial

Basic counseling skills such as development of an empathetic relationship etc is ever so important when working with defiant adolescents. So much so, that it defines the success or failure of your counseling endeavor with the client. Therefore, make sure that you develop a working relationship with your young clients before opining on the course of counseling psychology to apply.

Pursue a Career In Counseling Psychology

Living the American Dream is not easy for it involves a lot of hard work, long working hours and often, very little time for leisure or the family. As a result, stress builds up and many individuals suffer a nervous breakdown. According to a World Health Organization report, a quarter of the American population suffers from mental illness of some form. As the competition grows and the pace of life becomes even more frenetic, the number of people requiring psychological counseling will continue to increase.

America needs people trained in counseling psychology in large numbers as every field of human activity requires these professionals. Counseling psychologists are employed everywhere. They are employed by schools and colleges, by sports clubs, by hospitals, institutions, correctional institutions, and drug rehabilitation centers, research agencies, the NASA, the corporate world and the U.S. armed forces. Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan not only suffer from physical injuries but also from post traumatic stress disorders, which can only be treated with counseling and drugs. Within the depressed communities, counseling psychologists are urgently required to prevent the youth from sliding into a life of violent crime and weaning away those who have committed crimes but are judges to be ‘recoverable’.

Since there is such a heavy demand, counseling psychology jobs can be very lucrative with salaries starting at about $50,000 and can go up to $90,000 or higher. A career in counseling psychology has been predicted to grow at an average of 18 percent per year till 2018 on account of multifarious psychological strains on the American society.

To become a counseling psychologist requires enrolling in a doctoral program that gives the student a PhD or a PsyD or in some cases and EdD degree. Getting a degree is no easy task and it takes about five to six years to complete a course.

However, there are some excellent degree courses offered by numerous colleges which have been accredited by the American Psychological Association. After completing the doctoral degree, graduates have to do one year internship. In addition to internship, each graduate has to complete at least 3000 hours of counseling under supervision as also pass snap tests and examinations before being certified as a full fledged psychology counselor. On completion, the graduate can then open an independent practice or join any organization that employs counseling psychologists.

Other than opening own practice which requires a lot of capital, counselors can also take up jobs in the research field or as teaching faculty. Other than pure counseling, in cases where the patients have psychological difficulties, psychological counseling is also applied to the corporate industry in the form of career counseling. Career counseling is fast becoming a lucrative job in the field of psychological counseling, because of the competition for best paying jobs and the corporate industry’s requirement to keep their best talent working in top efficiency is increasing daily. It is therefore not surprising that all top Fortune 500 companies have career counselors working full time for their companies. Clients who wish to break into the ‘big’ market also hire career counselors to help them prepare psychologically for the ‘big interview’. So those having an independent practice end up making a lot of money. At the industrial level, American laws allows even those with a master’s degree in psychology to practice their profession. It is only for graduates who wish to take up clinical work that have to earn a doctoral degree to practice.

The need for counseling psychologists in American schools and colleges is expected to grow exponentially. This is on account of the fact that as the unitary family system in America consisting of a father and mother becomes even more fragmented, the number of children coming from broken homes, homes with a single parent or and unwed mothers are going to increase. These unnatural models of parenting together with hectic working hours have shifted the responsibility of inculcating basic societal behavioral patterns from the parents to the schools. It is here that the school employed counselor becomes extremely important for the mental health of the students.

This is an exciting and challenging field of work, which can be rewarding and paying at the same time.

What High School Subjects Will Help You In Your Future Counseling Psychology Course?

Students who find helping others in distress very alleviating will surely do well in the field of counseling psychology. While management, engineering and life sciences remain the main areas of interest with respect to further education, psychology in general and counseling psychology in particular has been slowly gaining acceptance over the last decade or so.

Preparing for a future in counseling can start well in high school as these are the formative years that will shape your thinking with respect to certain fields of study. Contrary to general belief, psychology actually derives a lot from other fields of study namely, Mathematics, Life Science, Philosophy, Literature and others.

Basic Subjects That Need Your Attention

While in your high school, it would help you tremendously if you pay attention to most subjects being taught. However, here is a list of subjects that you should look into intently, if you are keen on taking up counseling psychology in the future.

• Language Course: Communication is paramount as far as a counseling psychologist is concerned. Whether on the field collecting data, or holding a private therapy session, your ability to use the right words and form the right sentences will go a long way in ensuring that you succeed in your work. As such, think of taking extra Speech and English classes to brush up your speaking and writing skills.
  Another advantage of taking a serious dab at Speech and English classes is that you will learn how to think analytically and even organize your thoughts into speech and writing. Foreign language classes especially in Spanish or French will help you communicate better with other ethnicities during your apprenticeship and later in your practice years.
• Sciences: At its core, Psychology is a science and therefore needs a thorough knowledge of Biology and Mathematics as well as a working idea of other sciences like Physics and Chemistry.
• Social Sciences: Because most of counseling psychology roots go deep into human thinking, you will need to get a good understanding of social sciences such as Civics and History. The secret to being a good counselor is to understand an individual with respect to his/her society and social sciences will teach you exactly that.
• Humanities: Subjects like theology, literature and art will give you the necessary insight into how individuals and societies think. Furthermore, it will give you a rough model of inter-personal relationships and its complexities based on different time periods. Also, when you begin applying counseling psychology lessons in your apprenticeship years, you will quickly understand that a certain portion of society relates better to art forms, writings and scriptures.

Specific Subjects And Topics That Need Extra Practice

Given the competitiveness that has crept into modern day selection methods adopted by colleges and universities, you need to show them that you have the right amount of academic prerequisites to be considered for a course in counseling psychology. As such, it would really help if you took special classes to master specific subjects and topics.

1. Biology: Apart from understanding the human interaction method, you will need to take a hard look at the Human Physiology as this will be one of the key subjects in counseling psychology. The topics that need extra focus are:
   • Nervous System
   • Endocrine System
   • Brain, Spinal Cord and Its Key Functional Areas
   • Five Senses and Their Role In Perception
   • States Of Consciousness – Sleep, Activation, Attention, Vigilance etc. In addition, try to take a specific course on Nutrition and Health Science. This will definitely come handy during the bachelor’s course in counseling psychology.
2. Arithmetic: All sciences depend on analytical methods to gather data and Psychology is no exception to that rule. In your college years you will be taught different analytical methods to aid in gathering data for your papers. Therefore, pay a lot of attention to Mathematics in general and statistics and probability in particular. Understand what statistical terms like mean, median, mode, average, standard deviation, maxima, minima etc signify. In probability, pay attention to different aspects of permutations and combinations along with specific ones like binominal and bell (normal) curves.
3. Logic: While this could have been bundled within Mathematics, there is a reason why I have chosen to emphasize this subject individually. Logic does not only involve associative and distributive forms of reasoning, but also takes into account diverse theories of knowledge with respect to European Logic. As such, you should be able to understand the difference between ‘deduction’ and ‘induction’ along with the six types of syllogism in use. For those who would like to study deeper into the subject, topics like hypothesis, verification, proof and truth theories will certainly prove helpful for your future courses in counseling psychology.

Four Major Theories That Have Helped Shape Modern Counseling Psychology

The prime focus areas of counseling psychology includes health related, developmental, social, organizational, emotional, educational and vocational concerns. As such, the goal is to promote healthy personal as well as interpersonal functional that lasts throughout the individual’s life. Given that counseling will have to deal with clients facing multicultural issues, a counselor has to integrate different theories, research and practice elements into his or her methods. By applying the above knowledge sources, a counselor then strives to perform one or more of the following duties:

• Resolve crisis and conflict in the client’s life
• Alleviate issues of maladjustment and distress within the client
• Improve client’s well-being and
• Increase the client’s ability to enjoy a more fruitful and functional life

While research, and experience gained from past practice will immensely help a counselor deal effectively with clients and their problems, a thorough understanding of basic psychology theories is something that will prove to be a foundation for any and all future counseling works. This article introduces some of the major theories studied in general psychology, all of which have impacted different fields of psychology including counseling in a major way.

Individual Psychology And Therapy

A branch of psychology made famous by Dr. Alfred Adler, the underlying philosophy here is that human beings are naturally motivated by three aspects:

• Social Interest
• Striving towards predefined life goals and
• Dealing with everyday tasks with optimal efficacy

The Adlerian theory suggests that people have the capability within themselves to influence, interpret as well as create events, but all these actions are ideally taken in a capacity where cooperation with society is not hampered.

Therefore, a counseling psychology professional who applies Adlerian approach effectively convinces the client that both of them have this ‘joint responsibility’ to determine goals wherein mutual trust, respect and equality are held in the highest regard. In doing so, a therapist can not only challenge a client’s basic life goals but also offer the necessary encouragement to the latter to develop a sense of belonging with respect to the individual’s immediate social premise.

However, Individual therapy lacks precision and therefore cannot be properly tested for empirical validity. In addition, Adlerian therapy tends to ‘oversimplify’ otherwise complex human problems and is therefore heavily reliant on so-called common sense rather than actual sense.

Person Centered Psychology And Therapy

Person centered psychology was first developed and then successfully applied by Carl Rogers, who believed that we, as humans, naturally possess a positive view on life. Furthermore, mental health of an individual here is described in terms of congruence between the person’s ‘real self’ and ‘perceived self’. So, maladjustment occurs when there is a discrepancy between reality and perception of oneself.

The therapy process proceeds with the assumption that the client, in spite of his or her inadequacy to adjust, does possess the potential to become self aware of the problem(s) as well the means to resolve them. As such, the counselor’s role, given the above attributes, entails creating a safe environment that would prove conducive for self-exploration on the client’s part. In order to achieve this goal, the therapist has to exhibit qualities of warmth, genuineness, respect and accurate empathy towards his or her client. More importantly, a counselor has to be non-judgmental of his/her client.

Owing to the innate counseling nature of person-centered approach, some clients might perceive the counselor to be inactive or passive given the latter’s limited responses to the client’s reflections. Furthermore, this form of counseling psychology does not cater to certain situations where the client himself is in a limbo. Case in point is crisis therapy where directive measures are required.

Existential Psychology And Therapy

Existential psychology includes core attributes such as a person’s capacity to be self-aware, freedom to make choices that ultimately define one’s fate and facing the reality that is death. In between, there are secondary aspects such as discovery of one-self, being alone and in a relationship as well as the feeling of responsibility and anxiety.

The brainchild of Rollo May and Victor Frankl, this therapeutic approach to counseling is more experimental by nature. Here, a therapist’s main role is to accurately understand the existential concepts of the client and proceed with counseling that stresses on the hear-and-now encounters. At the end of the session, the counselor should be able to:

• Help the client realize that freedom to make choices is a realistic aspect
• Reinforce the idea that personal choices dictate one’s course of destiny and not the other way round and
• Help the client identify factors inhibiting him or her from making free and responsible choices

The main problem with Existential therapy is that many of its basic concepts are ill-defined and fuzzy, thus giving the general framework, a more abstract feel. Furthermore, existential therapy cannot be applied in situations that need direction, such as when interacting with those who have been deeply affected by extreme crisis and are therefore non-verbal most of the time.

Gestalt Psychology And Therapy

The idea of Gestalt (meaning whole) psychology is wholeness and integration of feeling, thinking and behavior. As such, Gestalt philosophy recognizes the fact that a person has the capacity to not just look at his present circumstance but delve into his past actions to understand how it has influenced his current situation.  The therapy uses concepts such as unfinished business and avoidance, holism, awareness and figure formation process among other things.

The guiding principle of Gestalt therapy is not to analyse but to bring about holistic integration in the client. As such, a counselor applying the therapeutic theory looks to assist his or her clients to:

• Gain awareness on the moment by moment proceedings
• Expand their capacity to make effective life-choices

Given the nature of Gestalt therapy, it is quite normal for a client to delve into intense emotive expression. However, if these feelings are not explored properly or given the right outlet to reach their logical conclusion, then clients are going to feel as if the counseling session was incomplete. Moreover, this form of counseling psychology does not suit those clients who find difficulty in using their imaginary qualities.

Understanding The Fundamentals Of Existential Quotient In Counseling Psychology

From a simplistic perspective, existential psychology represents a perfect amalgamation of psychological statements and philosophical thought process about human existence. The philosophical bits were put in place by thinkers like Heidegger and Kierkegaard; the most popular summary of the concept being, existence always precedes essence.

On the other hand, personalities like Medard Boss and Victor Frankl in Europe while Paul Tilch and Rollo May in the USA translated the philosophical thinking into a fully applicable psychological approach describing personality. In fact, a lot of counseling psychology graduates in America refer to Rollo May’s work as the primary source of information when studying existential psychology.

Philosophically speaking, existentialism focuses on the significance of freedom of choice, free will and personal responsibility. Human life experiences are unique in their own right. Therefore each person has the responsibility of making life choices which end up in defining that individual’s destiny. From a psychotherapy standpoint, existential therapy consists of theories and approaches that can be used to urge a client to use his/her anxiety in a constructive manner to make positive life choices.

The Human Nature Seen From The Eyes Of An Existentialist

Professionals who swear by the principles of Existential psychology firmly believe in the dictum that an individual has the power to write his/her own life’s story if only the person believes so and therefore makes the right choices. Abnormality, when seen from an existentialist’s perspective, arises when a person neglects or fails to make significant choices that would otherwise accentuate his or her potential.

Psychology defines anxiety as a high energy response to external stimulus. But while the other psychological theories look at anxiety as a negative prospect, the existentialist views the same as motivational force which is only produced within a person to urge him to reach his highest potential. However, when this anxiety is not channeled properly into meaningful and responsible choices, it can become a paralyzing energy that will ultimately prevent an individual from reaching his true potential. Only through proper awareness of oneself and the surrounding can a person assume control over his anxious energy and direct in a more positive track.

Victor Frankl, in his description of human nature in his book ‘ Man’s Search For Meaning’ observed that every person is on a constant search to find the meaning of life. So, even though this ‘meaning’ might change owing to different life situations, it never ceases to be. According to him, the meaning of life may be realized in the three following ways:

1. By experiencing a value such as nature, arts, beauty, love etc
2. By performing a deed which automatically allows one to enjoy the feeling of achievement and/or accomplishment and
3. Through suffering wherein one ends up reconciling himself to fate

Role Of the Counselor When Taking The Existential Approach

When applying Existential therapy, a counselor focuses more on being as authentic in his approach to the client as possible, thereby allowing the former to enter into a deep relationship with the latter wherein personal sharing is fostered. Furthermore, an existentialist counselor views each client relationship uniquely.

Because the client is not initially in a position to make the responsible choices, the counselor becomes a role model for him and through this manner propels the client towards the following:

• Realizing his or her personal potential
• Making decisions where the focus lies on growth, wholeness and mutuality

Given that existential approach is experimental science, the counselor does neither tries to diagnose or assess his clients, meaning that the need for using DSM-IV categorizations is nullified.

Counselor Goals

No session can be deemed successful until its goals have been established and existential psychology based counseling is not exception to that rule. The major goals in existential counseling are described below:

• Develop self-awareness in the client which in turn will promote freedom, commitment and the increased potential to make better life choices
•  Encourage the client to take responsibility for his own actions and therefore take control of his life decisions
• Shun the client’s tendency to look at eternal frames of reference and instead help him develop a more internal schema for self-assessment

Existential Psychology Techniques

In order to succeed in providing an existential impetus, councilors primarily depend on techniques like confrontation wherein they challenge the client’s notion of reconciling with fate and instead show how their own choices are the reason why they are where they are. However, with integration with other psychotherapy fields, certain techniques may be borrowed and applied to produce the desired result in a client. Some of them are described below:

• Therapeutic Relationship: Unlike conventional psychoanalysis, where a counselor takes on a more neutral, watchful and passive role, the existentialist looks to have an extremely collaborative and authentic relationship with his or her client. Conversation is the most powerful weapon in such a context and when used with purpose and precision, it can look deeper into the core issues within the client, identify the crux of the problem and even be used as a way to heal the client.
• Person Centered Approach: Stemming from the core values of Humanistic Psychology, this technique may include a series of mini-techniques like close ended questions, empathetic responsive statements etc. The idea behind this technique is to bolster the counselor client relationship to an extent where the individual becomes motivated to accept the counselor as a role model of sorts. This typically removes any unwanted external frames of reference from the clients mind and attunes him towards what the counselor suggests in subsequent sessions.
• Phenomenology: This basically outlines the importance of inculcating values, ideals and assumptions in the client that will further help him in making life choices with more responsibility, maturity and wholeness. In order to do so, the counselor must put aside his own value systems and assessments of what might or might have transpired in the client’s past and focus on his present state. Also, known as the ‘here and now’ principle, it is used extensively in Gestalt therapy.

Person Centered Approach Used In Counseling Psychology

Lots of counseling psychology professionals, today, adhere to ‘Person Centered Approach’ when interacting with their clients and for good reason too. We as human beings are essentially social animals. That been said, we are naturally oriented towards living in cooperation with our immediate social premise. Thus, the answer to one’s problems lies within the individual himself and a councilor therefore, only acts as an instrument to attune the client to these problems and motivate him towards seeking a fruitful solution. This is true essence of Person Centered or Rogerian Counseling.

The Rogerian approach to counseling differs from other forms of psychotherapy in that the client is never pushed into a particular direction by the counselor, but rather realizes and chooses the path on his own. Therefore, person centered approach developed by Carl Rogers is categorized as a form of non-directive therapy.

View Of The Human Nature According To The Rogerian Model

Carl Rogers always exhibited an optimistic view of human nature and this shows in his approach to understanding and diagnosing human psychology. The basic human nature is good, progressive and optimally directed towards social cooperation. He coined the term ‘self actualization’ to describe the motivational factors that naturally mobilize an individual towards growth, purpose and meaningful existence. Therefore, if an individual were put in an environment where warmth, empathy and acceptance were in abundance, then that person would achieve self-actualization.

Important parameters of Person Centered psychology are as follows:

• As far as an individual is concerned, perceived reality is as good as actual reality. That is why person-centered approach is also known as phenomenological psychology.
• Self Theory – Every person learns more about himself as a result of personal experiences. As such, people will always tend to compare themselves with others to identify both similarities as well as differences. This leads to a formation of two different self theories in a person, one being the real self – ‘Who I Am’; and the other being the ideal self – ‘Who I Want To Be’.
• Conditional Acceptance – The Classical Rogerian school of thought says that most people behave in a certain way owing to the conditional acceptance that they were granted during their formative years. As such, their behavior also follows a pattern to ensure that acceptance is always assured.
• Incongruence Between Real And Ideal Self –  When a person tends to behave in a different way to gain acceptance; one that is starkly in contrast with his or her real self, it marks the initiation of psychopathology in the individual. As the incongruence between real and ideal self seems to increases, the person faces experiences higher degree of isolation, leading to greater maladjustment.

Counselor Role In A Person Centered Environment

When taking a person-centered approach, the counselor is responsible for setting up an environment, which is both safe and conducive for the former to move forward with exploring an aspect of the self. Therefore, a counselor facilitates the exploration in the client by developing a unique ‘I-Thou’ relationship with the latter in an atmosphere that promotes empathy, positive regard and warmth.

Counseling Psychology professionals utilizing the Rogerian approach may sometimes use psychological testing methods like Q-sort as a way of assessing the client’s train of thought. Here, the counselor may write down hundred self-descriptive statements into different cards. These descriptions will range from ‘I am capable’ to ‘I am worthless’. The client is then asked to read each card and sort them into nine different piles based on what the person feels is most applicable to him or her in the first pile, and gradually distribute the rest of the cards into the eight remaining piles.

The selections are noted and the sorting process is restarted, except this time the client has to choose and arrange the descriptive cards based on how he/she would ideally like to be. This two sorts offer a good understanding of the client’s real and perceived self and therefore measure the degree of maladjustment (if any).

However, the use of diagnostic categories or profiling is not encouraged in this form of therapy as that would then place the counselor in a position of authority, thereby giving the person the license to judge the client in order to come up with a  treatment plan.

What A Counselor Looks to Achieve By Employing The Rogerian Model?

Since person-centered psychology puts all its focus on the individual, a counselor using the approach should ideally look to achieve the following results:

• Promote realistic self-expectation within the client
• Empower and enlighten the client to see his or her positive worth
• Build confidence in the person and instigate self-direction in him or her
• Aid the client to develop greater social skill, maturity and therefore a better adaptive behavior
• Help cope with stress in a more fruitful way and
• Facilitate the client in becoming fully functioning in all aspects of his or her life.

Variance Of Rogerian Techniques Over The Years

In a person centered approach, the counselor helps the client in many different ways. For instance, he/she may help the client accurately reflect feelings, or even bring about an enhancement in the latter’s focus on the true problem at hand. At other times, the counselor aids the client in get a clarified view on the unresolved feelings by employing counseling skills like open-ended questions, reflective statements etc. Nevertheless, the techniques used by Rogerian counselors have evolved over the years, a chronological categorization and description of which can be found below:

• 1940-1950 (Non Directive Period): This period of theory development focused primarily on listening to the client by offering the latter with a permissive atmosphere. During this time, counselors generally did not intervene.
• 1950-1957 (Reflective Period): In this period, counselors did respond to clients’ feeling through empathetic reflective statements, while ensuring that they do not appear to be judgmental of the client.
• 1957-1980 (Experimental Period): This period marked a shift in the counselor role into one now famously known as EWG or Empathy, Warmth and Genuineness.

Gestalt Theory And Its Impact On Counseling Psychology

The word Gestalt in German means whole or complete. Thus, any form of counseling psychology that uses Gestalt theory at its core views human behavior and actions in a holistic light.  Our sensations, feelings, emotions and behavior, while separate as entities are actually inter-related, and our perceptions are more or less dependent on these factors. As such, this form of ‘unified’ approach to psychology promotes the thought that the human mind can only be studied properly if all its aspects are taken into consideration.

The actual credit for the development of the theory itself goes to Max Wertheimer. In fact, this unique approach to explaining the human mind was developed by Wertheimer as an alternative to the then established Wundt’s structuralism. The idea went through subsequent modifications and development thanks to many personalities like Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler. However, the application of Gestalt theory into actual psychotherapy goes to Frederick ‘Fritz’ Perls; Laura Perls, his wife and two other associates.

How Gestaltists View The Human Nature?

Gestalt Therapy takes a lot of its main attributes from other theories like existentialism, experimentalism, and phenomenology. However, Gestalt psychology greatly adheres to the here and now principle, thus putting a great deal of importance on the present awareness of a person. This is somewhat similar to the Rogerian thought process.

As such, Gestaltists are anti-deterministic in their views of another person given that the fundamental aspect of Gestalt philosophy is that people can become responsible and therefore possess the ability to change.

Given that Gestalt means a whole, Gestalt therapy focuses on making a person feel complete in his/her life. So, the moment a person begins to focus on his actual output rather than what he wishes it to be, he will have achieved ‘self-actualization’. In fact, Gestaltists believe that it is human nature which seeks integration with the whole in order to live productively.

Basic Theories Used In Gestalt Therapy

Mentioned below are the central theories of Gestalt psychology:

• A person is always aware of his or her internal needs and tries to deal with them one at a time. So, once an internal need is recognized, an individual will then go about meeting it either by manipulating the environment or the need itself. According to Gestaltists, this awareness is not a constant factor but something that keeps on varying. As such, a healthy person will be aware most of the time.
• An individual generally tends to emphasize more on intellectual experience and less on emotions and senses. As a result, the person becomes increasingly incapable of responding life events or situations in a holistic manner.
• Difficulties in awareness and the desire to meet one’s needs arise when the needs themselves are imaginary, or have been carried over. This can happen due to a number of reasons:
  • Failure to let go of unfinished business
  • Loss of contact with one-self mainly due to excessive involvement with the outside environment
  • Loss of contact with the environment and its available resources
  • Failure to comprehend the ‘Gestalt’, resulting in fragmented or scattered thinking
  • Conflict between requirement and desire
  • Experiencing difficulty with aspects like love and hate; pleasure and pain; masculinity and femininity.

The idea here is that self acceptance of one-self will automatically lead a person to become self-actualized and therefore integrated with the whole. So, counseling psychology professionals using Gestalt psychology try to guide the client to focus on his/her own inner world to interpret and assess present life conditions.

Counselor’s Role

When confirming to the principles and philosophies of Gestalt psychology, the counselor gets involved with the client will all intensity, honesty and purpose to ensure that the latter learns to interpret, operate and assess his every move within the confines of ‘here and now’. In taking such a step, the counselor creates an environment where in the client is now free to explore his real needs. So aided by a counselor, the client begins to focus on using his redirecting his energy in a way that is both positive and adaptive with respect to the latter’s needs, thus empowering him to discern life patterns.

As a counselor, one has to follow certain rules and/or conventions specific to Gestalt psychology. These are outlined below:

1. Principle of Now: The counselor should use present tense when conversing with the client
2. I-Thou Relationship: This means that client must be encouraged to take a direct approach to conversation. So, any conversation from the client’s side with a second party has to be directly aimed at the person instead of being diverted through the counselor.
3. First person usage: The client should learn to use first person (I) when referring to his experiences instead of the second or third person.
4. Awareness Continuum: This basically focuses on questions beginning with how and what instead of the more passive ‘why’.
5. Standardized assessments or categories within the DSM-V manual are not required when utilizing Gestalt therapy.
6. The client has to be urged to covert his questions into statements as the session progresses.

Gestalt Therapy Techniques

A counselor with expertise in Gestalt psychology may choose to apply a number of methods while working with clients. These can be either exercises like fantasy, frustration actions psychodrama etc or impromptu experiments developing out of the here and now interactions. Nevertheless, here are two special techniques that are often used by Gestaltists during a session of counseling psychology:

• Empty Chair: Here the counselor addresses a personality component of the client as if it were another entity sitting on an otherwise empty chair. So, in order to address the chair, the client may be afforded the choice of switching to the personality or directly interacting with the empty chair.
• Dream Work: This therapeutic process consists of the client talking about a dream and then focusing all his awareness on the dream, from the perspective of different characters within the dream.
• Confrontation: A powerful Gestalt exercise where the counselor notices the disparity between the client’s descriptions, and the respective behavior and emotions. The counselor then calls the attention of the client to the observed incongruence.

An Outlook On The Adlerian Model Of Counseling Psychology

Individual psychology along with its associated science was first brought to light by a Viennese psychiatrist by the name of Alfred Adler. According to the man, one can only understand a person if one pays attention to holistic aspects that ultimately define the person’s personality traits. As such, this approach to counseling psychology was a break away from the then established Freudian form of psychoanalytic theory where sex and libido played a major part in determining someone’s psychological profile.

Therefore, Individual psychology, otherwise known as ‘psychology of individual difference’ works on the axiom that all humans get motivated by social interests, which leads them to strive towards their goals in general and deal with life tasks in particular. Each person, based on his or response to external challenges, develops a unique style of life, and this remains more or less unperturbed throughout the individual’s life.

How Adlerian Model Views The Human Nature?

According to Alfred Adler, an individual’s feelings are not just isolated to the present or past but are in fact a sum total of all feelings spanning the past, present and future. The primary motivation in a person is produced from his or her feeling of belonging in society; a factor influenced by social training. A few of the more important Individual psychology observations with respect to the human nature are listed below:

• Striving Towards Goals Adler expressed the innate need for humans to strive towards life goals by overcoming areas that a person thinks he or she is inferior in. This can have three outcomes i.e. Compensation, Resignation and over-compensation. While compensation describes the positive steps taken by an individual to overcome disadvantages, resignation refers to the attitude of ‘giving in’ to disadvantages. Over-compensation is an extreme form where a person gets infatuated with the idea of trying to compensate for his or her short-coming,  aptly termed as ‘neurotic personality’.
• Maladjustment According to Adler, an individual becomes misbehaved when he or she has been discouraged repeatedly and/or when any attempts towards good behavior on part of the individual have failed to produce the right results. Thus, encouragement towards good behavior forms an effective antidote to battle maladjustment in Individual psychology.
• Teleology Adlerian principles strongly suggest that a person is more likely to be motivated by future goals than past experiences.
• Birth Order Adler firmly believed that the order of birth influences the child’s personality development to a certain extent. For instance, her noted that while the first born is a parent pleaser and therefore more conforming and well behaved, the second child is less constrained to rules and therefore show characteristics such as outgoing nature, lower anxiety levels etc.
  Similarly, children falling in the middle of the birth order generally have a feeling of being squeezed in and therefore perceive themselves as the ones who are treated unfairly. As such, these children quickly become averse in the skills of family politics and negotiation. Finally, the youngest child takes on the role of the family entertainer. Even though some might be spoilt, most are usually great at social skills owing to their birth order.

Counselor Role In An Adlerian Setup

In the realm of modern counseling psychology, the counselor wears many hats especially when he or she is relying on Adlerian approach. Such a person not only evaluates his/her client, but also a doubles ups as a teacher and role model in many cases. For appropriate realization of the Adlerian philosophy, the client-counselor has be on an equal footing, where the latter may share his or her thoughts, feelings and opinions with the former to promote a sense of trust and equality.

Since much emphasis is laid on examining faulty logic in client’s thinking and suitably empowering the person with a ‘responsibility’ to change through re-education, therapy within the purport of Individual psychology is mostly of a cognitive nature.

Adlerian Counseling Techniques

Classic Adlerian techniques include defining style of life, establishing rapport etc. However, modern Adlerian practitioners do borrow new methods from other theories. Some of these techniques are described below:

• The Question This technique consists of posing the question to the client as to how his or her life would have been different if the perceived problem did not exist. The technique helps a client realise the fallacy of sticking to a perceived problem.
• Confrontation The counselor challenges a client’s private logic and therefore the person’s behavior.
• ‘As If’ Act The instruction can be used in two ways. A client may either be asked to behave as if a problem never existed or simply take on the role of a person that they always liked to be.
• Encouragement The counselor typically states his or belief to the client of the latter’s ability to change behavior by taking responsibility, thereby inducing transformation through encouragement.
• Catch Oneself This atypical technique is used to make a client aware of his destructive qualities and therefore stop it from recurring again.
• Spit In The Client’s Soup Not to be taken literally, this technique is simply described as when a counselor explains the client the underlying reason for the former’s behavior. So, even though the client might repeat the behavior in later point in time, he or she will be conscious of the motivation behind his/her actions.

Goals of Adlerian Counseling

Counseling done using the principles of Individual psychology typically focuses on four goals which need to be met through the therapy process:

1. Establishment of an appropriate therapeutic relationship between the counselor and the client
2. Examination and diagnosis of the client’s style of life
3. Aiding the client to develop an insight and
4. Using different techniques described in the previous section to bring about the right behavioral changes in the client.

Counseling psychology aims at understanding the issues that hold back a person from achieving his or her true potential. As such, classic Adlerian psychology does not ignore the impact of drives and impulses on a person, but it stresses on how an individual goes about directing those drives, as that is what truly outlines one’s chances of success or failure. Therefore, by focusing on the above goals, a counselor essentially helps in developing a healthy life plan and the necessary social interest within a client.

Various Theories And Therapeutic Approaches Taught In Counseling Psychology

Counseling psychology exhaustively deals with the different ways to approach a client during a session. Apart from inculcating the necessary counseling skills, a course in the subject makes you aware of the different theories that have been laid out with respect to understanding the turmoil caused in the human mind.

While you may choose to specialize in a certain brand of counseling and therapy, it is highly imperative that you understand the most important types that are in practice currently.

The Three Basic Approaches To Counseling Psychology

All modern approaches can be classified into one of the three categories of counseling psychology described below:

1. Behavioral The base premise here is that all learning in a human being is a result of his experience in the matter. As such, a behavioral change in a person is due to the repeated stimuli pattern of a certain kind, which has resulted in a specific learning both in terms of predisposed actions and feelings to the repeatedly occurring situation. Thus, the primary solution here is to help the client analyze his/her behavior, define the problem causing stimuli and set certain goals so as to initiate a newer set of experiences and behavior. Therapy in this case includes exercises such as role playing, behavioral experiments, self management and self-assertiveness training.
2. Cognitive The premise of such an approach is that a person’s thoughts are directly dependant on his feelings at the point in time, which in turn gives rise to certain beliefs regarding a situation that he/she is facing. Thus, the main focus of the problem is more on the present actions than on what transpired in the past.
   Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), rational emotive therapy, transactional analysis etc are some examples of cognitive therapies. They are usually helpful in treating patients with anger problems, mild depression or general levels of anxiety.
3. Psychoanalytic Here, the root cause of a certain type of behavior is understood by exploring the relation of the conscious mind to that of the unconscious thoughts. ‘Talk Therapy’ is a popular application of this counseling psychology theory that has evolved from the original ‘Psychoanalytic Theory’ proposed by Sigmund Freud

Popular Therapeutic Practices Used By Counselors Today

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Currently, it is the most popular form of evidence-based model, both among counseling psychology professionals and clients in the U.S., as it is known to produce results in quick time. There are two approaches to CBT, one being the eclectic utility and other being a more formal and structured approach.
  The eclectic approach uses a more natural, conversational approach, which is laced with straightforward and logical steps. Conversely, the formal CBT approach, being more disciplined, makes use of stop behaviors, ranking scales for monitoring change and repetitive practicing for setup of the new behavior in the client.
• Family Systems Therapy Formally seen in different Christian counseling sessions, this remains a classic form of counseling. The psychology behind this form of counseling is to imbibe the spirit of togetherness, tolerance and therefore hope, so that therapy can holistically help in ousting a certain stress stimulus that creeps in due to lack of cohesiveness within the family.
• Exposure Response Therapy (ERT) Classically used in cases of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), this is designed to treat both adults and children to prevail over various types of anxiety. The concept is quite easy to understand. At its core, ERT works to increase the relative tolerance level of the client towards a certain form of anxiety. However, in practice, it is quite a tough skill to master for a counselor.
• Talk Therapy This might look like a good lengthy chat between a counselor and client, but it requires a lot of counseling skills to be able to carry off a session effectively. It requires the professional to have the ability to listen intently and provide feedback, provide a safe and conducive environment for conversation and develop proper technique through counseling experience.
• Play And Art Therapy In case of dealing with children who are not akin to verbalization, play and/or art therapy provide an effective alternative to talk therapy. This requires special training on the part of the counselor to be able to handle different objects related to arts, handicrafts and games to relax the child and strategically carry on the session.
• Gestalt Therapy Relying extensively on the counselor and client awareness of real time emotional states occurring within a session, this therapy draws heavily from the Psychodynamic theory with the difference that it does the work while allowing the individual to live in the current moment. While this is a time staking process, the results of this counseling psychology process are quite long term if applied properly.

Grief And Counseling Psychology – An Outlook On Grief Counseling

Grief counseling is a branch of counseling psychology that refers to specific structure of therapy where the goal lies in helping an individual address personal loss and grief in a manner, which is healthy and non-threatening to the latter’s mental or physical balance.

Loss of a loved one or asset of sustenance is a mighty burden to bear. People react to such losses in a variety of ways. Nevertheless, the common feeling associated in all such cases is grief, which in itself encompasses a range of behaviors, feelings, and thoughts. The reaction of a person to grief will depend heavily on his or her personality, gender, background, culture and relationship to the loss.

Grief – Understanding The Feeling And Differencing It From Depression

When a person is grieving, thoughts may vary from the usual ‘nothing I can do about it’ to the more emotional ‘it’s all because of me’. However, it has been noticed in many cases that people continuously move back and forth between emotions of opposite polarity. For instance, it is not uncommon to see a grieving person crying one moment and laughing soon after. Apart from this, certain individuals will take to engaging themselves in normal household chores like cleaning or fixing or even working out.

Nonetheless, the varying degrees of thoughts, feelings and behaviors of individuals expressing grief can be categorized into one of the two following styles:

1. Physical Activity: A grieving person takes to proper physical activity such as working or pursues a hobby, workout or play more vigorously than usual.
2. Intuitive Activity: The alternate to the above; a person expressing grief may share his or her feelings with a close acquaintance, ponder about existential philosophy or even go about exploring lost relationships.

While a grieving person might look depressed, it is important to note that bereavement and depression are not one and the same.

Models Of Grieving

Various eminent personalities working in the field of psychology have provided their own vies on grieving. Prime among grief models include those of Kubler-Ross, Stroebe & Schut and Worden.

• Elizabeth Kubler-Ross first described the grief model in 1969 breaking down the entire process into five distinctive stages. The stages include denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
• Stroebe And Schut add the ‘dual process’ to the already popular Kubler-Ross stages of grief. Going by research data that conclusively proved that grief neither follows a cyclical or linear stage, they proposed that a person in a grieving state goes back and forth between feelings of loss and restoration. This to and fro process gives the bereaved temporary respite from the grieving process.
• J.W. Worden, a renowned psychologist proposed a different model which shows how people naturally get a handle on their grief. He called it the Four Tasks of Grief, and they are:
  • Accept loss as a real aspect
  • Work to neutralize the pain suffered from grieving
  • Accept the loss and adjust to the new environment
  • Move on by emotionally relocating the deceased to a ‘better place’

All the above models are studied in detail by students graduating in counseling psychology with a specialization in grief counseling.

Specific Complications During Grieving

Grieving is a normal process of life where the end-result should be successful and long term adjustment with the changed environment. However, there may be certain circumstances that might bring about complications in the normal grieving process. Take for instance a mother dealing with loss of a child or a person having to deal with death of a loved one owing to homicide or accident.

In such cases, the grief responses might become more magnified than what is deemed emotionally sustainable. It all depends on personal resilience, ability to cope, and the available support system.

Risks in these cases include having to deal with severe depressive symptoms that might trigger a motivation to commit suicide. Furthermore, survivors who have gone through an ordeal may also show similar symptoms along with an aggressive intent towards causing harm to others.

Grief Counseling And Its Role

Grief counseling typically aids an individual in recognizing healthy processes for mourning. It allows the grieving person to cope with the pain of loss and makes them feel supported as he/she goes through anxieties of changed atmosphere. As a counselor experienced in dealing with grieving individuals, your goal is to help them:

• Express their feelings about the loss
• Accept the loss
• Adjust to lift post the loss and
• Cope with the changes in the outside world as well as within themselves after the loss.

Now, many people might find it hard to go about a healthy process of bereavement or sorrow over the loss. As such, a counseling psychology professional eases the process of grieving by helping the individual work through the memories, feelings and thoughts associated with losing something as valuable as a loved one.

Psychology Of Adjustment – An Integral Part Of Counseling Psychology

What Is Adjustment?

In counseling psychology terms, ‘adjustment’ is the harmonious relationship taking place between an individual and the environment. It is that aspect of the personality where behavioral changes brought about through learning and life experience produces favorable changes in an individual in a manner copacetic with the demands of the family, society and nature at large.

Status is the word that is used to define the extent of roles and responsibilities handed to a person by society. As such, a well-adjusted person would be in a much better position to accept these roles and play them out to the fullest of his potential. In doing so, the individual too will experience satisfaction in accordance to social needs and norms.

Psychological View Of Adjustment

Psychology in general and counseling psychology in particular studies the aspect of adjustment from two distinct viewpoints. They are:

• Adjustment In Terms of Achievement
• Adjustment As A Continuing Process

This first school of thought basically looks at the efficacy with which an individual is able to go about performing his/her duties in different circumstances. This is the model that is used by various business, educational, military bodies to gauge the effectiveness of people enrolled in the respective establishments.

In order to interpret the level of adjustment in terms of achievement, it is necessary to set certain criteria in place to judge the quality and success of personal adjustment.

As per the second school of thought, adjustment in an individual is studied throughout the entire developmental phases of an individual, starting from his/her initial baby days all the way up to adulthood. Here, adjustment will be defined on the basis of interaction between an individual and his/her external environment.

As a newborn, he/she might not be able to make much sense of what is going externally. However, with age, education, experience and maturity, the person develops a sense of belonging as he/she learns to articulate the details and demands of environment through perception, sensation and conception.

Mechanism Of Adjustment

Adjustment is not a ‘be all end all’ process. Instead it includes steady learning and coping with the adjective demands thrown at the person from different directions. Thus, adjustment mechanism in its purest form is defined as a process through which a person learns to cope with the outside environment by learning to reduce the effects of tension, anxiety and conflicts in life. It effectively outlines the problem solving attitude taken up by an individual and the experiences gained from the success or failures of the choices made.

For instance, a child would adopt self adjustment strategies only after his/her self-defense mechanisms have failed. In theory, the child begins with objecting to the demands for adjustment and finally learns to give into the coping mechanism in favor of gaining acceptance from family members. Similarly, adults go through the same process of rejection before they give into adjusting. However, the speed of adjustment is much faster in the latter case given past learning and need for acceptance from a various sections of the society.

Stress – Major Factor Affecting Adjustment

Stress, while unwanted happens to play an important role in our lives. In counseling psychology circles, stress refers to the physical reaction to external stimuli. As a result, an individual may react to stress in a positive or negative manner.

• Eustress is term used for positive stress, and it leads to a desirable outcome. It keeps us motivated towards achieving our goals.
• Distress is bad side of stress. It blocks goals, overwhelms and causes a gamut of problems.

Based on the nature of stressors, negative stress can produce one of the three types of by-products:

• Frustration: This is felt when one sees his/her goals hindered or blocked by external stressors.
• Anxiety: A feeling of dread or inkling of something being out of place, where the person painfully conforms to the notion that a disaster is inevitable.
• Conflict: It is a situation that forces you to choose between two or more alternatives. It may be between two good alternatives, two bad alternatives (dilemma), or other combinations between good and bad alternatives.

Normal Adjustment and Maladjustment

Because adjustment is a product of learning to cope, there is no one way to it. However, the adjustment strategies taken by the person through his/her growing years will define whether he/she is accepted by society or abhorred by it. If the moves made the individual to cope with environmental demands are as per the established norms, then it is said to be a normal adjustment.

Conversely, a person might choose alternative paths to adjust with the environment, the only difference being that they are not according to societal norms. Such a case is referred to as abnormal adjustment or ‘Maladjustment’ in counseling psychology and is characterized by delinquencies and criminal activities.

Psychoanalytical Theory And Its Impact On Counseling Psychology Today

Counseling Psychology derives heavily from the key schools of thought taught in general psychology. As one begins his or her formative years in this field of study, the name Sigmund Freud and his work in the field of Psychoanalytical theory will be repeatedly touched in different psychological subjects. Be it developmental psychology, social psychology, or any modern offshoot, Freud’s theories have left a profound impact on how psychologists today view the human nature, behavior and cognition.

Introduction

According to Freud, the human mind is dynamic in nature as there is a continuous exchange of energy, leading to transformation in human nature. Freud termed this release of energy as ‘catharses’. Such a schema represents the human mind as composed of conscious mind, preconscious mind and an unconscious mind.

While the conscious mind is in the know about its present setting, the unconscious acts as a reservoir of forgotten or repressed memories. The preconscious mind is missing link between the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind.

Key aspects of this theory are the structure of personality, Stages of Development and Ego Defense mechanisms.

Structure Of Personality And Stages Of Development

There are three parts to the personality. They are described as follows:

1. id: A dominant part of the unconscious and is present at birth. Being a centre for pleasure, irrational and impulsive, it mobilizes a person to move towards pleasure activities and away from painful ones.
2. ego: Develops a little later in a person, and functions as a moderator between the id and the superego. It adheres to the reality principle thus making a person able to interact with the outside world.
3. superego: The ‘moral compass’ in a person which develops much later in a person.

Freud described five different stages of development in a child spanning from birth till puberty, all of them centered on a certain source of pleasure. These include:

1. Oral stage
2. Anal stage
3. Phallic stage
4. Latency stage and
5. Genital stage

Certain explanations in his theory such as the Penis Envy, Electra Complex, Oedipus Complex drew much criticism from society in general and feminists in particular. However, these principles have been the framework for more improved versions of development as Erikson’s nine stages of Psychological Development.

Ego Defense Mechanisms

Freud believed that ego turns to defense mechanisms to protect a person from anxiety. This normally happens on a unconscious level. However, the down side of developing such defense mechanisms were that the individual begins to view the outside the world in a fairly distorted manner.

Here is a brief explanation of the major ego defense mechanisms:

• Repression: The ego prohibits any undesirable or painful thoughts, feeling or memory from flowing into the conscious. This is effectively the alpha mechanism, while all other defense mechanisms forming a certain modification of this mechanism.
• Denial: A very extreme form of self-protection, where the individual simply denies himself that a source of anxiety actually exists.
• Fantasy: The ego utilizes imaginary events to satisfy the desires that are the source of anxiety. This is done so as to give a distorted feeling to the person of the desire being fulfilled.
• Projection: Here, the individual attributes his/her own undesirable emotions and characteristics onto another person.
• Rationalization: A more common defense mechanism where the ego forms a socially acceptable reason to validate an action, which in reality might not even be true.
• Reaction Formation: A peculiar defense mechanism wherein a person adopts a behavior that is exactly opposite in response to that which is natural for the source of anxiety.
• Displacement: Similar to projection, except here the person transfers the repressed desires and feelings for a certain object onto a safer option.
• Intellectualization: repression of emotional component from a reaction thus giving a more logical treatment as if that was the correct thing to do.
• Identification: the opposite of projection where a person takes on the values and feelings of another person to increase his self-worth.

Counselor Role And Therapy Goals

Talk therapy is one that adheres to Psychoanalytic theory in Counseling Psychology the most, and it empowers a counselor to create an environment for the client where the latter feels safe and accepted, thus allowing in the development of transference. The counselor allows the client to express himself freely and only acts as an interpreter of the former’s feelings.

Thus the goals of the counseling psychology professional in such a therapy would be:

1. Help the client get past the inadequacy of a certain period of the developmental stage by resolving dormant issues.
2. Let the client understand the mismatch between his conscious and unconscious self.
3. Provide effective means for the client to adjust to the demands of society, work, family, intimacy etc.

Counseling Psychology Trends – A Look At Art Therapy

As a counseling psychology tool, art therapy can be used in more than one way. While some counseling therapists utilize this technique as a therapeutic tool, others may choose to apply the process as an alternative mode for clients such as autistic individuals, small children and adults with speech inadequacies to communicate their feelings.

The most appealing aspect about taking up art therapy is that you can work with a wide variety of clients across different age groups. Professionals in the field may choose to work with individuals such children or adolescents, and adults or a more focused group such as couples, families or communities.

Art Therapy – Its Principle

Asking a person to speak or write about his feelings is no doubt easy from a psychologist’s perspective. However, it is a fairly external process and the client may not always utilize the data from cognitive reservoirs such as the subconscious.

On the other hand, expression through art, howsoever crude it might be is much more capable of bringing out the emotions of the client into the open. Such a procedure also gives a client a sense of self-control, thereby enhancing his/her self esteem.

The Two Art Therapy Approaches

While there can be a multitude of ways in applying art therapy, given the huge number of mediums, the basic approach of this method can be distinguished into two categories:

• Process Intensive: In simple terms, this form of counseling psychology uses art as a way of helping a client discover something about himself that was otherwise be invisible to the person all this time. Used as a catharsis, art therapy takes the client through an emotional journey, where self-actualization and self-discovery await him or her at the end.
  Edith Kramer is most associated with this form of art therapy application. While she might have been more concerned with the artistic quality of the patient, her point of emphasis was all about the healing properties of art-making.
• Window Into The Subconscious: In this approach, one is not so much concerned about the process of art as much as what it means to the artist. We humans can express a lot of what is going on at the conscious as well as unconscious level through art. By allowing the client to express his/her feelings through art, a therapist can figure out the underlying problems or negative stressors playing on the client.
  Margaret Naumberg is known to have developed and refined this process of art therapy. It is best applied with children, who may not have developed the right set of vocabulary to describe what they are feeling inside.

Benefits Of Art Therapy

In spite of being such a modern development, art therapy has become the leading form of counseling psychology practiced by professionals today. Here is a birds-eye-view of the many benefits of art therapy when utilized as a client centered tool:

• Art Therapy aids in increasing the aspects of self-validation, self-awareness and self-esteem in the client as art creation reinforces the latter’s connection to his or her life in a perspective not experienced before.
• Art therapy can bring the so-called invisible parameters like painful experiences and emotions into the open without distressing the client.
• Self control is much established when children and adolescents work with art materials.
• Being the outlet for metaphorical language, therapy through art bridges the conscious and unconscious as both client and therapist discover and understand the significance of recurring symbols as they emerge through different sessions.
• Art therapy is a mood vitalizing element given the amount of creative freedom and relaxing atmosphere it bestows upon the client.

Art Therapy Applications With Children And Adolescents

As mentioned earlier, art therapy can prove useful in dealing with variety of clients. The applications of the process are discussed further in the following paragraphs.

a) Children

• Phobias and social skill inadequacies: Owing to the metaphoric yet concrete form of art, it becomes the perfect tool for understanding children faced with specific phobias or adverse social situations.
• Loss, Grieving And Abandonment: Art proves to be an useful therapy for children going through loss issues, helping therapists introduce new attachments.
• Victimization: It is easy for a child to express taboo, embossing or even scary subjects through art, thus allowing a therapist to deal with the problem more efficiently.

b) Adolescents

• Substance Abuse: Smoking, alcohol or drugs with teenagers are all about cultural image and the real issues behind substance abuse may be brought forward in their art.
• Defiance: Certain times, when teenagers go into self initiated lockdown, or do bizarre activities to irk adults around; there is always a specific motive behind it. Art therapy can not only gain insight on what the adolescent is thinking but also provide an outlet to the distressed client.
• Depression: As an active counseling psychology process, art therapy can identify symptoms of depression. It is especially helpful in revealing suicidal tendencies and plans in adolescents.