Chaos Theory is defined as a mathematical and mechanical theory that focuses on the random, unpredictable behavior governed by deterministic laws (citation). I have long held the belief that destiny and “meant-to-be-ness” are concepts that comfort people when they encounter situations that do not turn out favorably for them. I have put my lot and faith in the belief that things do not happen for a reason; things just happen. Applying chaos theory to human behavior is uncommon, but not totally unfounded.
Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of human needs” surmises that people are mostly animalistic; only self-actualization is uniquely human (citation). As basic human needs are met, they move up the ladder to reach self-actualization and begin to make choices based on value-laden thinking. These values arise from within and social interactions. Higher level choices become less linear with age and experience because people perceive reality based on their needs and contexts.
Reality is constantly changing, and its changes affect our mental functioning, which is also constantly changing. Small changes, in reality, can result in very large changes in our experience because our reaction depends on the conditions our minds bring to those changes in reality, and those conditions are, again, constantly changing. The chaos internally makes the choices we make critical. William Glasser’s Choice Theory interests me the most. Choice Theory is based on control, and suggest that we always have some capacity to make choice and exercise control in our lives (citation).—
Chaos is based on the notion that external and internal processes interact in harmony and dissonance simultaneously. For example, the human body is constantly destroying and rebuilding itself. Dependent on the environment and what is ingested, homeostasis (or balance) is the goal. When destruction or production are unbalanced, people feel sick. That is chaos. Choice is the culmination of acting, thinking, feeling, and physiological manifestation of the mental processes. When one component of behavior is changed, the other components change as well. The two easiest components to control directly are acting and thinking. It is virtually impossible for a person to change his or her feelings or physiology directly. When all four components work together, we able to exercise more control over our feelings and physiology (citation).
By choosing to act and/or think differently, our feelings and physiology automatically change. Awareness of the chaos and the choices can help people attend to and change maladaptive behavior. Being able to create meaning from those choices is important, especially for students.
As a school counselor, I will help students see that working hard for things they value is worth the effort and will bring quality to their lives. This can be achieved by developing positive relationships with other students and engaging in proactive learning to demonstrate success and gain confidence (citation).
I understand learning increases and disruption diminishes when students are able to connect, feel a sense of competence and power, have some freedom, and enjoy themselves in a safe, secure environment. Empowering students to self-advocate and self-evaluate allows them to exercise greater ownership of their learning by evaluating their own performance routinely. This also promotes responsibility and helps students pursue goals and become skilled decision-makers by making them more actively involved in the education. By using Choice Theory (mixed with some Chaos Theory) to understand human drive, I will turn to Existentialism, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, and Narrative therapy to help students create or understand the meaning and future implications of the decisions they have made or will make.
Existentialism’s major themes somewhat align with choice theory: client responsibility and freedom. Existentialism is focused on helping the client find philosophical meaning in the face of adversity or anxiety by choosing to think and act authentically and responsibly (citation). In order to work with students and be effective, building a positive, authentic relationship is critical. Central to helping students create their unique identities is providing appropriate space in which to explore the possible identities that suit their existential needs and authentic identities. Students need the opportunity and safe space to express the feelings regarding what it is like being students (citation).
This can be done by focusing on the positive attributes that the client brings to his or her family, friends, school, and community. Leveling the power differential with a young client can strengthen the student’s self-concept. I can show am willing to this by being willing to trade places with a student during a session (citation). This will allow the student to teach the counselor about what it is like to be a student in today’s world. This gesture, again, allows the student to see the counselor in a light very different from his usual adult evaluators and builds a bridge of empathy with both sides contributing. This, in effect, shows deep respect for the student and create a way of gaining entry into their world.
In today’s academic world of assembly line learning and high stakes testing, students can approach counselors with a myriad of problems, related and unrelated to academic success. Solution-focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) can provide counselors with guidance on how to help students focus on critical thinking and self-empowerment. SFBT has a few assumptions that can work well in a school-setting: Clients are experts on their own lives and the client’s own goal drives the activities. Also, a key part of effective work with children is to make their strengths and abilities more evident to them and the adults in their lives (citation). The uses of scaling questions can be used to assess goals, progress, or even motivation to change or take action. The miracle question can help setting goals, reducing the blame of problems, and developing solutions separate from the problem. Exception-seeking can help students understand that the intensity of problems fluctuates constantly. Since SFBT has a positive orientation, the effects can spread beyond a student’s initial problem and prevent or lessen the impact future problems.
Narrative therapy is useful because, similar to SFBT, it has a positive orientation. It does not focus on placing blame or judgment; it aims to separate the individual from the problem, allowing the individual to externalize their issues rather than internalize them (citation). With the proliferation of social media, students are constantly bombarded with images and notions that mischaracterize and mislabel them. These mislabeling can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies that are not truly indicative of who a student may be. Narrative therapy relies on the individual’s own skills and sense of purpose to guide them through difficult times (citation).
As students progress from concrete thinking to abstract thinking, the growth of grey interrupts black versus white thinking. Narrative therapy state that there is no “objective reality” or absolute truth, meaning that what is true for us may not be the same for another person, or even for ourselves at another point in time (citation). This challenges students to see things from multiple perspectives and develop empathy for others. And since narrative therapy grounds itself in storytelling and language, as a counselor, I can help not only students but other school staff see that people who speak different languages may have radically different interpretations of the same experiences. This can be extremely helping when interacting with multilingual families.
Finally, I understand that school counselors are not only there is assist with students’ needs, but with the school as a whole. The academic environment shifts and changes daily. Different students have different perspectives; different teachers teach differently; different administrators have different goals. All these forces interacting with each other is chaotic. However, at the end of the day, we are a result of the choices we make. Choice theory presents me with a clear theoretical orientation grounded in the framework of CBT. Being able to exercise my ability to make choices, I will include therapy techniques from SFBT and Narrative Theory to ground my school counseling practice and be a beacon of light for those who need it.