Counselling Assignment 5

For this part of the assignment I am using examples from a 50 minute session recorded within the learning environment. I play the role of the counsellor, and another student plays the role of the client. In order for me to answer the learning outcomes, I have watched the DVD recording.

The decision to take this course was rooted in a deepening interest in psychotherapy, self–development, the welfare of other people and in a desire to gain a theoretical base to enrich my current arts and health practice.

Stereotyping is a normal part of every one’s life. Humans, by nature, classify things. We name animals and classify them by common characteristics but stereotyping can have negative repercussions, and everyone does it. In a recent study it was proven that everyone has an unconscious need to stereotype (Paul). In Junteenth and The Invisible man, Ralph Ellison argues that stereotyping can cause mayhem by making the people become something they are not.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy is widely short-term and concentrates on enabling clients to deal with very particular problems. Often six weeks to six months sessions of course depending upon the problem it is pacifically goal directed and places great weight upon self-help as a long term coping tool that the client can take away with them and successfully use. Cognitive-behavioural therapy believes that clients can learn the wrong ways of developing and making sense of information during their cognitive development. This can often lead to distortions in the way they identify reality, it’s the job of the therapist to enable them to work this out.

How does Person-centred counselling, influence the understanding of the development of concept of self? (245 words)

Stereotypes can be defined as sweeping generalizations about members of a certain race, religion, gender, nationality, or other group. They are made everyday in almost every society. We develop stereotypes when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all the information we would need to make fair judgments about people or situations. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or group has certain characteristics. Quite often, we develop these ideas about people who are members of groups with which we have not had firsthand contact. Stereotyping usually leads to unfair results, such as discrimination, racial profiling, and unnecessary violence, all behaviors which need to be stopped.

Another skill I used within this session is a technique also known as paraphrasing. Paraphrasing refers to stating in one’s own words what they think the client means helping to ensure their understanding and interest in the client (DeVito, 2010). I felt that I demonstrated this when the client said “As the term progresses I get lazier, but at the beginning of the semester I am productive, and it feels rewarding when I do, do well and I feel better about myself and everyone is proud of me as well when I get the results and stuff, but there’s this thing that comes into my mind that said I can’t do this and maybe I start rethinking about staying in uni and I start considering dropping it, so I can have more free time.” I reply by saying “Ok so you are saying that it is kind of a relief when the work is done, however you are finding it hard to kind of keep up, and maybe you don’t

Carl Rogers (1902-87) was the founder of the client-centred or person-centred approach to counselling and therapy. (McLeod 2001)

Ego: In this second developmental stage, compromises in instinctive responses to environmental circumstances begin to develop. The ego mediates with the id by considering the rules of the real world and the consequences of actions taken in that world.

The importance of diversity in counselling has been the subject of much research over the last 50 years Patterson (1996) and is aimed at preventing inequalities among different population groups regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, social class, age, physical abilities and religious beliefs/beliefs. (Patterson, 1996)

Stereotypes are deeply embedded in every society in numerous ways. The dictionary definition of a stereotype is “one that is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type.” Stereotyping or Labeling is a technique that “attempts to arouse prejudices in an audience by labeling the object of the propaganda campaign

This essay will attempt to highlight and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the three main theories of counselling within the module covered this term. The three approaches in discussion are psychodynamics, cognitive behavioural and humanistic.

Repeat back to the client what they have said, and ask them if you have

“Therapeutic building blocks” (Young, 2001, p. 30) is a phrase used to describe the helping relationship and the components of that counseling relationship. The ability to facilitate the client into relaying their story is the basis of therapy for change. I have listed my therapeutic helping skills below, and have described an example of each.

Stereotyping is commonly underestimated in its power. The use of stereotypes is a major way in which we preconceive decisions on people just by their appearance. The Oxford Dictionary (2010) defines ‘stereotypes’ as “the widely but fixed and oversimplified image or an idea of a particular type of a person or a thing”. The dictionary of Cambridge (2012) also adds, that this set of ideas, that people have, are frequently wrong (p.703). Psychologists Craig McGarty, Vincent Y. Yzerbyt and Russell Spears (2002) identify three principles: First, stereotypes are “aids to explanation”, meaning that they help the perceiver make sense of a situation. The second principle is the “energy-saving devices”, intimating that stereotypes reduce the effort