Introduction to Counseling: An Art and Science Perspective

Chapter 8:

Experiential Theories and Approaches

Art and Science of Experiential Counseling

Counseling relationship is based on Humanistic Psychology

Candid and authentic interactions

Experiential approach allows for intensity in relationship

Counselor uses self-transcendence to experience client’s emotion

Experiential Theories

Focus on clients’ experiences in counseling

Encouraged to experience the “self”

Here and now

Focus on becoming aware

All emotions and experiences can be instructive

People are viewed as inherently positive

Overview of Experiential Approaches

Person-Centered Therapy

Carl Rogers founder

Psychologist at Child Guidance Clinic in New York

Professor at Ohio State, later at University of Chicago and University of Wisconsin

Left academia spent remainder of career at the Institute for the Study of the Person

Client-Centered Theory

Positive view of human nature

People proceed toward self-actualization

Individual’s internal frame of reference is point of understanding

Trust most fundamental concept

Four Propositions that Characterize Rogers’ Personality Theory

People react to the phenomenal field as they experience and perceive it.

The best point from which to understand behavior is the

person’s internal frame of reference.

People tend to behave in a manner consistent with their concept of self.

The more people perceive and accept experiences, the more they will tend to be accepting and understanding of others.

Client-Centered Counseling

Counselor congruence

Empathic understanding

Unconditional positive regard

Goals & Changes toward Self-Actualization

Counseling does not attempt to resolve the client’s problem

Aims to assist client in growth to become a fully functioning individual

Open to experience

Self-trust

Internal source of evaluation

Willingness to continue growing

Gestalt Therapy

Fritz Perls founder

Born in Berlin

Helped establish Gestalt institutes

Gestalt Theory of Personality

Phenomenological concepts

Independence

Focus on the here and now

View:

People are self-determined

Strive for self-actualization

Best understood from phenomenological perspective

Gestalt Key Concepts

Each aspect of a person can only be understood within the context of the whole person.

An existential-phenomenological perspective

Helping clients move from dependence to independence

Being integrated and centered in the now

Experimentation

Health

Relational focus

Gestalt Counseling Techniques

Authenticity

Assuming responsibility

Using personal pronouns

Now I’m aware

The empty chair

Existential Therapy

No single founder

Traced back to philosophy

Premise that people do not exist in isolation

Existential Theory

Each person is unique

Individuals struggle to find meaning

May & Yalom (2005) interrelated human concerns:

Death, freedom, isolation and meaningless

Death being the ultimate concern

Personal meaning and authenticity associated with death

Existential Key Concepts

Uniqueness of the individual

The search for meaning

The role of anxiety

Existential Key Concepts (cont’d)

Freedom and responsibility

Being and nonbeing

Three modes of existence

Self-transcendence

Goals of Existential Counseling

Relate directly to the key concepts

Assist client in:

discovering their own uniqueness

find personal meaning in life

use anxiety in a positive sense

become aware of their choices and the need to take responsibility for choices

see death as an eventual reality that gives life meaning

Existential compared to Client-Centered

Similar to the Person (Client)-Centered: aim for phenomenological understanding and encourage the client to become aware of inner choices

Differ: nature of counseling relationship.

Existential Techniques

Relationship over specific techniques

Dereflection: Focus on strengths instead of weaknesses

Paradoxical intention: Encourage client to do that which is feared

Symptom prescription

Symptom restraining

Self-transcendence

Creative Arts Therapy (CAT)

Utilizes modalities of art, music, dance and drama

Existential theory is used

Certification varies with modality

Music therapy

Art therapy

Drama therapy

Dance therapy

Bibliotherapy

Introduction to Counseling: An Art and Science Perspective

Chapter 7:

The Classic Theories of Freud, Adler, and Jung

Classic Psychological Theories

Psychoanalytic field

Sigmund Freud

Alfred Adler

Carl Jung

Classic Theories

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

Freud was born in 1856

Lived most of his life in Vienna

Earned a medical degree

Spent time working in fields of hypnosis and hysteria

Became interested in a “talking cure”

Self-analysis contributed to the development of his theories

Freud’s Theory of Personality

Deterministic view

Behavior directed by unconscious biological urges

Urges involved sex and aggression

Psychosexual stages

Structure of Personality

Driven by pleasure principal

Ego

Ruled by the reality principal

Attempts to influence over id and superego

Super ego

Concerned with moral reasoning

Inhibits the impulses of the id

Defense Mechanisms

Endopsychic conflicts emerge between personality structures

Defense mechanics are employed

Occur unconsciously

Distort reality enabling time for ego to strengthen

Types of Defense Mechanisms

Projection

Reaction formation

Fixation

Regression

Repression

Conscious-Unconscious

Psychosexual Stages of Development

Oral stage

Anal stage

Phallic stage

Oedipus complex

Electra complex

Latency stage

Genital stage

Psychotherapy Process

Opening phase

Counselor obtains important history from client

Understanding of client’s unconscious conflicts

Development of transference

Projecting thoughts and feelings onto counselor

Psychotherapy Process

Working through

Toward gaining insights

Resolution of transference

Work toward termination

Working through resistance

Psychoanalysis Techniques

Free association

Dream analysis

Confrontation and clarification

Interpretation

Ego-Analytic Position

Noninstinctual factors are emphasized

The ego is autonomous from the id

Ego facilitating adaptation to the environment through coping skills

Psychosocial and interpersonal variables are emphasized

Later stages of development are important

Psychopathology occurs when the needs associated with developmental tasks are not met

Brief Approaches to Counseling

Garske and Molteni’s (1985) six factors promoting change in brief psychodynamic psychotherapy

A contract is established with the client

A statement of goals and objectives is established

The analyst takes an active approach

The analyst interprets links between the client’s current problems and relationship with analyst

The time-limited approach arouses issues relating to separation

The termination phase of therapy is characterized by working through problems associated with separation and individualization

Alfred Adler

Born in 1870

Medical degree from University of Vienna

Colleague of Freud’s, but relationship conflictual

Founded “individual psychology” theory

Emphasis on early experiences with family of origin: family constellation

Adler’s Theory of Personality

The creative self

Center from which all life movement generates

The concept of teleologial movement

All behaviors in terms of movement

Behavior understood from an interpersonal perspective

People do not behave in isolation

The psychology of use

All behavior has a use that propels an individual toward a goal

Adler’s Theory of Personality

The phenomenological psychology

Understanding from client’s internal frame of reference

Emphasis on social interest

Tendency toward affiliation

Motivating force

The lifestyle

Basic orientation to life

Recurrent patterns/themes

Adler’s Theory of Personality

A holistic psychology

Understand overall individual

Cannot be separated

Striving for significance

Individual strive to avoid inferiority

Striving for superiority feelings

The family constellation

Birth order

Family size

Adlerian’s Psychotherapy

Mosak and Maniacci (2011) summarized major goals of Adlerian psychotherapy

Increasing clients’ social interest

Helping clients overcome feelings of discouragement and reducing inferiority feelings

Modifying clients’ lifestyle in terms of views and goals

Addressing faulty motivation

Helping clients feel a sense of equality with others

Assisting clients to become contributing members of society

Adlerian’s Psychotherapy Techniques

Phase 1: Establish relationship

Listening skills

Winning respect and offering hope

Encouragement

Phase 2: Analysis and assessment

Phase 3: Promoting insight

Phase 4: Reorientation

Carl Jung

Born 1875 in Switzerland

Earned medical degree, specialized in psychiatry

Religious underpinnings

Colleague of Freud, but disagreed with his underlying tenets

Integrated religion, mythology, archeology, literature, history, and philosophy into the study of psychology

Jung’s Theory of Personality

The ego, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious

Collective unconscious

Archetypes

Personality Types

Extroverted

Outgoing

Introverted

Introspective

Personality is also differentiated on four factors

Thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition

Jung’s Theory of Counseling

Emphasis on unconscious

Utilizes dream analysis

Goal to help self-emerge

Gain insight to structures of personality

He was cautious about using techniques

Introduction to Counseling: An Art and Science Perspective

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