Comprehensive Exam Review

1. Comprehensive Exam Review Click the LEFT mouse key ONCE to continue

2. Helping Relationships Part 1 Click the LEFT mouse key ONCE to continue

3. A helping relationship is a process in which one person (i.e., the counselor or therapist) helps another person (i.e., the client or counselee) to resolve a problem, concern, or difficulty and/or foster personal growth or development. The most effective helping relationships are based on counseling theories, which are systematic ways of viewing and operationaliz-ing the helping process.

4. There is not a standardized method for differentiating among (i.e., classifying) counseling theories. However, for presentation purposes here, the theories presented will be grouped as either individual or family counseling theories. Note that most individual counseling theories can be applied to group counseling and most family counseling theories can be applied to marriage counseling.

5. Each counseling theory has a formal name and typically also is associated with the person who had primary responsibility for development of the theory. The following are the major counseling theories that underlie helping relationships in the counseling profession.

6. Major Individual Counseling Theories

7. Each of the following major individual counseling theories is introduced by formal title and primary proponent. Then, the following major elements of each theory are presented: View of Human Nature Role of the Counselor Counseling Goals Major Techniques

8. Psychoanalytic Theory - Sigmund Freud Freud's view of human nature is considered to be dynamic (i.e., that there is an exchange of energy and transformation). Catharsis is considered to be a release of this energy. Freud saw the personality as composed of a conscious mind, a preconscious mind, and an unconscious mind.

9. The conscious mind has knowledge of what is happening in the present. The preconscious mind contains information from both the unconscious and the conscious mind. The unconscious mind contains hidden or forgotten memories or experiences.

10. In Psychoanalytic theory, the personality has three parts: id, ego, and superego. The id is present at birth, is part of the unconscious, and is the site of the pleasure principle (i.e., the tendency of an individual to move toward pleasure and away from pain). The id does not have a sense of right or wrong, is impulsive, and is not rational. It contains the most basic of human instincts, drives, and genetic endowments.

11. The ego functions primarily in the conscious and preconscious minds and serves as a moderator between the id and the superego. It is the site of the reality principle (i.e., the ability to interact with the outside world with appropriate goals and activities). The superego sets the (ideal) standards and morals for the individual and operates on the moral principle that rewards the individual for following parental and societal dictates. Violation of superego rules results in feelings of guilt.

12. Freud proposed stages of personality development. The Oral Stage is centered on the mouth as a source of pleasure. The Anal Stage is centered on the anus and elimination as a source of pleasure. The Phallic Stage is centered on the genitals and sexual identification as a source of pleasure.

13. The Oedipus Complex, as part of the Phallic Stage, is a process whereby a boy desires his mother and fears castration from his father. In order to become an ally of the father, the boy thus learns traditional male roles. The Electra Complex, as part of the Phallic Stage, is similar but less clearly resolved in the female child, involving desire for the father and competition with the mother. In order to become an ally of the mother, the girl learns traditional female roles.

14. The Latency Stage is characterized by little sexual interest and development of social, academic, and physical skills. The Genital Stage begins with the onset of puberty and is characterized by (initial) interest in establishment of sexual relationships.

15. Freud believed Ego Defense Mechanisms protect the individual from being overwhelmed by anxiety, and considered them normal and operating on the unconscious level. Repression is whereby the ego excludes painful or undesirable thoughts, memories, feelings, or impulses from the conscious. Projection is whereby the individual assigns undesirable emotions and characteristics to another individual.

16. Reaction Formation is whereby the individual expresses the opposite emotion, feeling, or impulse from that which causes anxiety. Displacement is whereby energy generated toward a potentially dangerous or inappropriate target is refocused to a safe target. A positive displacement is called sublimation, whereby the frustrating target is replaced with a positive target. Regression is whereby the person returns to an earlier stage of development.

17. Rationalization is whereby an individual creates a sensible explanation for an illogical or unacceptable behavior, thus making it appear sensible or acceptable. Denial is whereby an individual does not acknowledge an event or situation that may be unpleasant or traumatic. Identification is whereby a person takes on the qualities of another person to reduce the fear and anxiety toward that person.

18. The primary role of the counselor who uses Psychoanalytic theory is to encourage transference to give the client a sense of safety and acceptance in which to explore difficult material and experiences from the past, and thus to gain insight into and work through unresolved issues. The counselor is an expert who interprets for the client.

19. The primary goals for Psychoanalytic-based counseling include helping the client to: Bring the unconscious into the conscious. • Work through a developmental stage that was not resolved or where the client became fixated. Adjust to the demands of work, intimacy, and society.

20. Primary Psychoanalytic techniques include the following: Free Association, wherein the client verbalizes thoughts without censorship, no matter how trivial the thoughts or feelings may be to the client. Dream Analysis, wherein the client relates dreams to the counselor, who interprets the obvious or manifest content and the hidden meanings or latent content.

21. Analysis of transference, wherein clients are encouraged to attribute to the counselor those issues that have caused difficulties with significant authority figures in their lives. Analysis of resistance, wherein the counselor helps the client gain insight into what forms the basis of a hesitation or halting of therapy. Interpretation, wherein the counselor helps the client gain insight into past and present events.

22. Individual Psychology - Alfred Adler The Adlerian concept of social interest is the individual's feeling of being part of a whole, spanning both the past, present, and the future. Adler believed that people were mainly motivated toward a feeling of belonging. He did not believe that social interest was innate, but rather a result of social training.

23. Adler believed that people strive to become successful and to overcome personal areas that they perceive as inferior, a process of personal growth he referred to as “striving for perfection.” Those who do not overcome feelings of inferiority develop an inferiority complex, while those who overcompensate for feelings of inferiority develop a superiority complex.

24. Adler believed that a person's conscious behavior is the mainstay of personality development. Adler also believed that a person is as influenced by future (desired and/or expected) goals as by past experiences. Thus, Adlerian theory emphasizes personal responsibility for how the individual chooses to interpret and adjust to life's events or situations.

25. Maladjustment is choosing behavior resulting in lack of social interest or personal growth. Misbehavior takes place when the person becomes discouraged or when positive attempts at good behavior fail to achieve needed results. Encouragement of good behavior is the recommended antidote to misbehavior.

26. Adler espoused that the birth of each child changes the family substantially and that the birth order of the children in the family influences many aspects of their personality development. Characteristics of birth order positions include the following: Oldest children usually are high achievers, “parent pleasers,” conforming, and well behaved.

27. Second born children usually are outgoing, less anxious, and less constrained by rules than are firstborns, and they also usually excel at what the first born does not. Middle children often have a feeling of being squeezed in and are concerned with perceived unfair treatment. They learn to excel in family politics and negotiation, but can become manipulative.

28. Youngest children usually are adept at pleasing or entertaining the family and run the risk of being spoiled. However, they also usually are adept at getting what they want through their social skills and ability to please, and are often high achievers through modeling of older siblings’ positive behaviors.

29. Only children or children born seven or more years apart from siblings usually are like first born children. Children with no siblings often take on the characteristics of their parents’ birth order because the parents are the only role models. They may mature early and be high achievers, but also may be slow to develop social skills, expect pampering, and be selfish.

30. Adler believed that a child's interpretation of life events is determined by interactions with family members before age five, which teach the child to perceive events and situations through subjective evaluations of themselves and their environment. • Perceptions that guide children's behavior are called fictions.

31. Children may make mistakes based on these fictions, such as the following: Overgeneralizing, whereby the child believes that everything is the same or alike. Misperceptions of life and life's demands, whereby the child expects more accommo-dation than is reasonable and interprets failure to achieve accommodation as never getting any breaks.

32. False or impossible goals of security, whereby the child tries to please everyone to gain security and avoid danger. Minimization or denial of personal worth, whereby the child believes that s/he cannot be successful in life. Faulty values, whereby the child adopts a "me first" mentality with little or no regard for others.

33. Adler believed that life takes courage and a willingness to take risks without knowing the outcome and that a person with a healthy lifestyle contributes to society, has mean-ingful work, and has intimate relationships. Adler espoused cooperation between the genders (as opposed to competition) and that well-adjusted people live in interdependent relationships with others in a cooperative spirit.

34. The role of the Adlerian counselor is as a diagnostician, teacher, and model. Adlerian counseling is very cognitive, with an emphasis on the examination of faulty logic and empowering the client to take responsibility for change through a (re)educational process.

35. The Adlerian counselor encourages the client to behave "as if" the client were who the client wished to be, and often provides the client with "homework" assignments outside the sessions. Adlerians are eclectic, with emphasis on encouragement and responsibility.

36. The goals of Adlerian counseling focus on helping the client to develop a healthy life-style and social interests. The Adlerian counselor assists the client to achieve four goals of the therapeutic process: establishing a therapeutic relationship, examining style of life, developing client insight, and changing behavior. Client behavior change is the result of taking personal responsibility for behavior.

37. Commonly-used Adlerian counseling techniques include the following: Confrontation, whereby the counselor challenges the client’s private logic and inconsistent behavior. Asking "the Question,” whereby the counselor asks the client how life would be different if the client was “well.” Parents are often asked, “What would be the problem if this child was not the problem?”

38. Encouragement, whereby the counselor supports the client by stating belief in the client's ability to take responsibility and change behavior. “Spitting in the client's soup,” whereby the counselor points out the purpose of the client's behavior, after which the client may continue the behavior but cannot do so without being aware of the motivation for engaging in the behavior.

39. Acting "as if," whereby the counselor instructs the client to behave "as if" there were no problem or as the person that the client would like to be. “Catching oneself,” whereby the counselor helps the client learn to bring “self-destructive” behavior into awareness and then stop it. Task setting, whereby the counselor helps the client set short-term goals that lead toward attainment of long-term goals.

40. Person-Centered Counseling - Carl Rogers Rogers viewed human nature as basically good and that if given the appropriate environment of acceptance, warmth, and empathy, the individual would move toward self-actualization. Self-actualization is the motivation that makes the individual move toward growth, meaning, and purpose.

41. Person-centered is considered a phenomenological psychology whereby the individual's perception of reality is accepted as the “true” reality for the person. Person-centered theory is often referred to as a “self theory” due to Rogers' emphasis on the self being a result of the person's life experiences and the person's awareness of comparisons to others as the same or different.

42. Rogers believed that most people were provided conditional acceptance as children, which lead them to behave in ways that would assure their acceptance. However, in their need for acceptance, the individual often behaved in ways that were incongruent with the real self. The greater the incongruity between the real self and the ideal self, the greater the isolation and maladjustment for the person.

43. The role of the counselor in Person-Centered counseling is to create an environment in which the client is safe to explore any aspect of self and to facilitate exploration through a special “I-Thou” relationship of warmth, unconditional positive regard, and empathy. Diagnosis and psychological testing are discouraged because they are incompatible with the philosophical view of the individual as unique and place the counselor in a position of evaluation and authority.

44. Goals in Person-Centered theory relate directly to the individual as the counselor facilitates client movement toward: realistic self-perception, greater confidence and self-direction, a sense of positive worth, greater maturity, social skill, and adaptive behavior, better ways of coping with stress, and full functioning in all aspects of their lives.

45. There are three distinct periods in which different techniques were stressed in Person-Centered Counseling: Nondirective (1940 - 1950) - the counselor focused on listening and creating a permissive atmosphere and did not provide interventions, but did communicate acceptance and clarification. Reflective (1950 - 1957) - the counselor emphasized being non-judgmental, while also responding to the client's feelings and reflecting affect accurately.

46. Experiential (1957 - 1980) - the counselor emphasized EWG: Empathy, Warmth, and Genuineness. Empathy is the ability of the counselor to understand the emotions of the client and to communicate correctly this understanding. Warmth is the ability of the counselor to convey an unconditional acceptance (i.e., positive regard) of the client's personhood. Genuineness, or congruence, is the ability to be who one really is without assuming roles or facades.

47. The Person-Centered counselor helps the client through accurate reflection of feelings, keeping the client focused on the concern, and clarification of feelings and information. The counselor uses open-ended questions or phrases to help clients gain insight into experiences and necessary changes in their lives.

48. Existential Counseling - Viktor Frankl and Rollo May Existentialists believe that individuals “write their own life story” by the choices they make. Psychopathology is defined by Existentialists as neglecting to make meaningful choices and accentuating one's potential. Frankl indicated that each person searches for meaning in life, and that while the meaning may evolve, it never ceases to be.

49. According to Frankl, life's meaning can be discovered in three ways: by doing a deed (e.g., accomplishments or achievements), by experiencing a value (e.g., beauty, love, nature, and arts), or by suffering (e.g., reconciling ourselves to fate). Anxiety is viewed as both a motivational force that helps the client to reach his/her potential and, conversely, as a paralyzing force that prevents clients from achieving their full potential.

50. Each client is considered to be in a unique relationship with the counselor, one focused on an authentic and deeply personal, shared relationship between the counselor and client. In the Existential counselor role, the counselor models how to be authentic, realize personal potential, and make decisions, with emphasis on mutuality, wholeness, and growth.