Counseling Psychology

Counseling Psychology is a specialty within professional psychology that maintains

a focus on facilitating personal and interpersonal functioning across the life span.
The specialty pays particular attention to emotional, social, vocational,
educational, health-related, developmental concerns.
Counseling psychologists help people with physical, emotional and mental health
issues improve their sense of well-being, alleviate feelings of distress and resolve
crises. They also provide assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of more severe
psychological symptoms.
Long with clinical psychology, counseling psychology is one of the most common
and widespread psychological specialties.Because the two are so similar, clinical
psychology and counseling psychology are often mistaken for each other.
Although these two areas are very similar, they are also somewhat different as
well. Clinical psychologists and counseling psychologists both treat wide variety of
mental and emotional problems, for instance. However, Counseling psychologists
typically focus on individuals whose symptoms are less severe, such as those
coping with everyday stresses and adjusting to life's rollercoaster ride. Clinical
psychologists, on the other hand, often treat patients with more serious
symptoms and disorders.
Clients served by counseling psychologists include individuals, groups (including
couples and families) and organizations. Counseling psychologists work with
individual clients of all ages, such as children who have behavioral problems; late
adolescents with educational and career concerns or substance abuse problems;
adults facing marital or family difficulties, career changes, or overcoming
disabilities; and older adults facing retirement. They work with groups to assist
them in finding solutions to many of these same problems, as well as to improve
the personal and interpersonal functioning of group members. Counseling
psychologists also consult with organizations (e.g., businesses) and work groups to
help provide a work environment in which people can succeed, and to enhance
the ability of organizations to increase productivity and effectiveness.
Across all stages of development (i.e., childhood, adolescence, adulthood and
older age), counseling psychologists focus on:

Healthy aspects and strengths of clients (whether being seen as individuals,

couples, families, groups or organizations.
Environmental/situational influences (how cultural, gender and lifestyle
issues shape peoples experiences and concerns).
Issues of diversity and social justice (e.g., advocacy).
 The problems addressed by counseling psychology are addressed from
developmental (lifespan), environmental and cultural perspectives. They include,
but are not limited to:
School and career/work adjustment concerns.
Making decisions about career and work, and dealing with school-work-
retirement transitions.
Relationship difficulties-including marital and family difficulties.
Learning and skill deficits.
Stress management and coping with negative life events.
Organizational problems.
Dealing with and adjusting to physical disabilities, disease or injury.
Personal/social adjustment.
The development of ones identity.
Persistent difficulties with relating to other people in general.
Mental disorders.
The procedures and techniques used within counseling psychology include, but
are not limited to:
Individual, family and group counseling and psychotherapy.
Crisis intervention, disaster and trauma management.
Assessment techniques for the diagnosis of psychological disorders.
Programs/workshops that educate and inform the public about mental
health, school, family, relationship and workplace issues so that problems can be
prevented before they start or reduced before they get worse.
Consulting with organizations.
Program evaluation and treatment outcome (e.g., client progress).
Training.
Clinical supervision.
Test construction and validation
Anyone interested in becoming a counselor must be healthy themselves.
Counseling is challenging work and maintaining ones own physical and mental
health is critical for success in the profession. Counselors must also be open-
minded, nonjudgmental, tolerate ambiguity, and be lifelong learners.
Counseling psychologists are interested in answering a variety of research
questions about counseling process and outcome. Counseling process refers to
how or why counseling happens and progresses. Counseling outcome addresses
whether or not counseling is effective, under what conditions it is effective, and
what outcomes are considered effectivesuch as symptom reduction, behavior
change, or quality of life improvement. Topics commonly explored in the study of
counseling process and outcome include therapist variables, client variables, the
counseling or therapeutic relationship, cultural variables, process and outcome
measurement, mechanisms of change, and process and outcome research
methods.
Therapist variables include characteristics of a counselor or psychotherapist, as
well as therapist technique, behavior, theoretical orientation and training. In
terms of therapist behavior, technique and theoretical orientation, research on
adherence to therapy models has found that adherence to a particular model of
therapy can be helpful, detrimental, or neutral in terms of impact on outcome.
Client characteristics such as help-seeking attitudes and attachment style have
been found to be related to client use of counseling, as well as expectations and
outcome. Stigma against mental illness can keep people from acknowledging
problems and seeking help. Public stigma has been found to be related to self-
stigma, attitudes towards counseling, and willingness to seek help.