In the field of counseling, human behavior is complex and multifaceted because no single theory or idea is comprehensive enough to predict human nature or behavior on its own or under all circumstances. Psychological counseling theories attempt to explain the human nature of how we become, who we are, why we feel, act and think in these ways as well. It also predicts human behavior such as what motivates us and provides principles and practices for making these changes in our lives. “Psychoanalytic therapy is based largely on insight, unconscious motivation, and reconstruction of the personality” (Corey, 2016). Counselors, particularly, should always be open to an integrative approach within counseling and should strive to incorporate several theories and strategies into their practices, that will enable them to work efficiently with many diverse clients on all three levels of human experience such as thinking, feeling, and behaving.
For me, coordinating several techniques and speculations into my counseling practice appears to be extremely legitimate. From my understanding, the existential, person centered, and feminist therapies create a solid foundation in which I can address a diverse client population with an assortment of issues.
Basic Philosophies
The basic philosophy of human development in counseling is that therapists should always keep an open mind to new options. They should help clients build healthy coping skills within a supportive environment, so that they can handle life’s stresses in a more productive manner. In order to be an extraordinary counselor, one must have the personality characteristics of an effective counselor. Gerald Corey (2016) lists several personal characteristics such as having an identity, respecting and appreciating themselves, openness to change, being authentic, sincere and honest, having a sense of humor, appreciating the influence of culture, and having a sincere interest of the welfare of others. In addition, successful counselors are able to make choices that are life-oriented, they generally live in the present, they make and admit mistakes, and become deeply involved in their work and derive meaning from it (Corey, 2016). As a counselor, I would want to help my clients discover that they are not alone, but rather that they have choices, in which can empower them to create a true meaning and purpose in their lives. However, I would certainly acknowledge that not everyone has equal opportunities to make choices that they feel is correct, due to their environmental life or culture. According to the book, “Culture is, quite simply, the values and behaviors shared by a group of individuals. It is important to realize that culture refers to more than ethnic or racial heritage; culture also includes factors such as age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, and socioeconomic status” (Corey, 2016). It is significant to encounter and respect one’s values as well as providing a safe and inviting environment, in which the client can explore the compatibility between their values and behaviors. While working with these clients, I will help them recognize their life circumstances and counsel them in any way that is adaptable with their worldviews. Additionally, by encouraging my clients to take responsibility for their lives, I will also provide them with structure as well as direction in coping with these difficulties. Many individuals can recognize when something is wrong in their lives such as not feeling a particular way or being in a state where all they feel is hopelessness. The first step is seeking a positive change. There is a significant amount of people that will be caught up in the negative outlooks and not know how to break these specific patterns that lead to unconstructive emotions and behaviors. Personally, I believe that a counselor can assist a client and act as an accomplice, guide, and teacher to help them address their concerns, express various feelings, formulate goals, and develop action plans that will allow them to live their life more freely. I feel that the integration of person centered and existential therapies gives me a diverse theoretical base in counseling clients as well as the feminist therapy. These approaches all me to consolidate effective therapeutic techniques that fit my personality and overall counseling philosophy.
Key Concepts
From an integrative point of view, there are many key concepts from several counseling theories to combine to become one. First, the existential theory is essentially an experiential approach to counseling rather than a firm theoretical model, it stresses core human conditions. Interest is on the present and on what one is becoming in the future. This approach has a future orientation and stresses self-awareness before action. This theory explains the basic aspects of human development such as, “(1) the capacity for self-awareness, (2) freedom and responsibility, (3) striving for identity and relationship to others, (4) the search for meaning, (5) anxiety as a condition of living, and (6) awareness of death and nonbeing” (Corey, 2016). The existential theory is pointed to understand the way the client sees the world and to help them make choices based upon new insights that occur in their life. Increasing self-awareness is the central goal of the existential therapy, which also allows clients to discover that there are various possibilities that exist where none were recognized before. You have to become self-aware to know which path in life you want to take. As humans, we have freedom of choice (free will) because we are each capable of self-reflection and self-awareness. The greater we recognize our self-awareness, the greater our freedom of choice will be. With this awareness, we become free beings, who are responsible for creating the choices we choose, therefore, influencing our own destiny. According to Corey (2016), it is critical that therapists reach a sufficient depth and openness in their own lives to allow them to venture into their client’s lives without losing insight of their own. Encouragement and supportive challenges are used to help a client to take responsibility for how they are now choosing to be, to decide how they want to be different, and to make wise choices. In the person centered therapy (PCT), the client has the potential to become aware of problems and the means to resolve them. Faith is placed in the client’s capacity for self-direction. The mental health is a congruence of ideal self and real self. I would integrate this concept to balance the self-awareness and resolve problems in the counseling practice. Utilizing the key concepts from the person centered therapy will allow me to address the self-awareness that is taken place and then eventually solve it on my own. I believe that other humans can’t physically and mentally help us, but rather suggest advice for a more positive environment. Unlike many other counseling approaches, the person centered therapy is directly challenged towards clients to resolve their own difficulties and gain the insights necessary to restructure their lives simply by establishing a meaningful relationship with an understanding, accepting therapist. According to Corey (2016), Carl Roger’s, an American psychologist, who developed this humanistic approach, assumes that people are essentially trustworthy, that they have a vast potential for understanding themselves and resolving their own problems without directly intervening on the therapist’s part, and that they are capable of self-directed growth. Although, in this case, the main source of successful psychotherapy is the client, it is crucial that the therapist remains genuine, real, have unconditional positive regard, and empathy in order to create a growth-promoting environment and for personality changes. Additionally, using the concepts of the feminist therapy in my practice will also keep me aware of external situations with men and women and how gender socialization leads to the lack of gender equality. Feminist therapists aim to empower everyone to create a world of equality. By making oppression “transparent is the first step, but the ultimate goal is to replace sexism and other forms of discrimination and oppression with empowerment for all marginalized groups” (Corey, 2016). Through the usage of the feminist principles, it can further engage in my research to have a multicultural counseling approach that values many diverse clients.
Goals and Outcomes of Therapy
The ultimate goal of my counseling practice is to help clients advance in their coping skills, improve relationships, promote decision-making, and facilitate behavior change. By gaining awareness, many people are able to recognize the issues that they have. Being a counselor, I would also help them combat faulty thinking and gain healthy coping skills to empower them and make them believe that they are worthy human beings. This integrative approach to therapy incorporates the existential, person centered, and teminist therapies and makes a well-rounded practice that can serve a variety of clients. These goals help people see that they are free and become aware of their possibilities. It is significant to challenge them to recognize that they are responsible for events that they formerly thought were happening to them. In addition, it is also helpful for clients recognize blocks to growth and experience aspects of one self that were formerly denied or distorted. It is crucial to find the meaning in life and to experience life fully. These goals would apply to many people such as a black or white, middle-class couple that is having marital problems after having children and going through many role changes in their lives. The existential therapy principles could serve this couple by realizing the self-awareness and what each of them is doing to each other. It could also benefit one or both individuals if they were having a transition in life crisis due to becoming parents. The person centered therapy could benefit them by realizing what the problems are about and then talking about them together. Some possibilities of solutions could be writing in a notebook of what they don’t like about each other and then talking about it, then letting it go. The feminist therapy could potentially be applied to any given situation where the client feels marginalized due to their race, gender, religion, culture, or sexual orientation. The goals within the existential therapy would coordinate with both persons centered therapy and feminist therapy in which it would allow me to challenge and change the faulty belief patterns with clients, no matter if they were struggling with feelings of inequality or not.
Therapeutic Relationship
I see the therapeutic association with my client as the most significant part of the therapeutic process. The relationship is important in itself because the quality of this person-to-person encounter in the therapeutic situation, is the stimulus for a positive change. “By being congruent, accepting, and empathic, the therapist is a catalyst for change” (Corey 2016). The person centered therapy approach stresses the problem of oneself, in which the “therapist’s attitude of genuine, caring, respect, acceptance, support, and understanding, the clients are able to loosen their defenses and rigid perceptions and move to a higher level of personal functioning” (Corey 2016). I will exercise the empowerment and egalitarianism principles of the feminist therapy in my interactions with my client as well. As I work with various clients, I will strive to understand how they view the world so that I can better serve them. I will constantly re-evaluate my values and beliefs so that I can remain unbiased. I will practice good self-care and empathy in order to be effective in sessions with the clients I serve.
Techniques, Interventions and Strategies
There are a wide variety of techniques and methods that I would incorporate into my therapeutic practice, however, I cannot add them all. When studying the use of techniques of each theory, it will often “depend on the purpose of therapy, the setting, the counselor’s personality style and the unique qualities and needs of the client” (Corey 2016). The existential therapy framework does not prescribe techniques, but rather allows counselors to choose techniques from other approaches and incorporates them into issues that are acknowledge such as “freedom and responsibility, identity & relationships, meaning and meaninglessness, and living and dying” (Corey 2016). By developing the ability to view life with astonishment, it can help people view the life experience as a beautiful journey rather than a trial. The existential psychotherapy involves teaching people in therapy to grow and embrace their own lives and create their own destiny’s. The person centered therapy techniques are quite similar to the existential therapy considering self-awareness, but more complex. This approach uses very few techniques but stresses the attitudes of the therapist and a “way of being”. As a therapist, I would strive for active listening, reflection of feelings, clarification, “being there” for the client, and focusing on the moment-to-moment experiencing of the client. According to Corey (2016), this theory is not technique-oriented. There are no techniques or strategies that are basic to its practice and most all directive techniques are considered avoided. Clients are considered their own best change agents. As a counselor, this is one of the hardest techniques due to the lack of recommendation made by the counselor and rather the client making solutions to their problems instead. Within the feminist perspective, I will utilize consciousness-raising techniques, which will improve the influence of society as a whole in their lives. Some examples of these techniques would include consciousness-raising, gender-role analysis, assertiveness training, reframing, relabeling, and a lot of social action (Corey, 2016). The goal of choosing from various strategies and techniques is to be able to benefit clients and think about their values and beliefs. Our goal is to empower these people and gain self-determination rather than social acceptance. It is critical that I practice each therapeutic circumstance according to each individual client and their life situation, cultural background, personality and spiritual or religious beliefs.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Developing any type of integrative theoretical approach in counseling is the most challenging for any therapist. Not a single theory or idea is comprehensive enough to predict human nature or behavior on its own or under all circumstances, so counselors will continue to strive to create a comprehensive approach that feels natural to them and makes them comfortable. In addition, they need to make sure it meets their client’s needs and can be used in several ways of client populations and issues. While in my counseling practices, I will integrate the existential, person centered, and feminist theories and techniques to meet the client’s obligations and several other issues. While using the existential theory, it will allow me to understand the way the client sees the world and to help them make choices based upon new insights that occur in their life, while also becoming self-aware. It will also allow spiritual or religious contemplations to be examined within the structure of the therapy and worked on as an issue or used to enable clients to understand the world and provide a technique for adapting. Existential theory contributes a new dimension to the understanding of death, anxiety, guilt, frustration, loneliness, and alienation. I will use the person centered therapy to stimulate the growth within an individual by providing congruence, empathy and unconditional positive regard. I will correlate the two therapies into one by considering each factor, but also letting the client figure out what his/her problems are. Lastly, I will utilize the feminist therapy standards and techniques to address issues of disparity that my clients may have and provide more support to diverse client populations. I will also create an egalitarian relationship with clients in setting goals and choosing strategies in order for them to feel more comfortable. My ultimate goal as a counselor, is to help clients make positive choices, cope with internal and external stresses and overcome any obstacles that they may have. I want to give people hope and to turn someone’s life around; I want them to walk out of therapy and say, “Because of you, I am a better person today”.