DIFFERENT TRADITIONS

OF COUNSELLING I.
HISTORY AND COGNITIVE APPROACH
 THE HISTORY OF COUNSELLING

• The beginning – in the second part of the 19th

century fast social, economical, ideological,
scientific changes
• Employment problems
• 1. The trials for solution were directed toward
vocational counselling so called guidance.
• 2. The other direction of counselling roots in mental
health movement.
 HISTORY OF COUNSELING

The Vocational Guidance Movement

• Lysander S. Richards and Vocophy: The first to envision the role of a

counselor or “vocopher” in helping people choose professions.

• Frank Parsons: “The father of the guidance movement,” and credited

with being the first true counselor. He used a scientific process to help
people choose careers.

• Jessie B. Davis: Brought vocational counseling into the schools.

 HISTORY OF COUNSELING

The Vocational Guidance Movement (continued)

• Anna Y. Reed and Eli Weaver: In the early 1900’s they established
counseling services based upon the concept of Social Darwinism.

• National Vocational Guidance Association: Established in 1913, it

advocated counseling in regard to career choice.
 HISTORY OF COUNSELING
The Mental Health Counseling Movement

• Dorothea Dix: In the early 1800’s, she advocated for the establishment
of institutions that would treat people with emotional disorders in a
human manner.

• Clifford Beers: Founded the Mental Hygiene Movement in the early

1900’s after his own experiences within a mental hospital.

• William Healy, M. D. : In 1908, he established the first community

psychiatric clinic.

“Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2004”

 HISTORY OF COUNSELING

The Mental Health Counseling Movement (continued)

• Wilhelm Wundt: In the late 1870’s, in Germany, he founded the first

experimental psychology laboratory and studied the human mind.

• William James: He carried on Wundt’s work regarding the human mind

in the United States.

• Granville Stanley Hall: He proposed a scientific approach to the study of

social problems. He also founded the first psychology lab in the United
States.

“Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2004”

 HISTORY OF COUNSELING

The Mental Health Counseling Movement (continued)

• David Spence Hill: He organized the first guidance and counseling

services in New Orleans and used Simon Binet’s appraisal instruments
to provide vocational counseling for kids in school.

• James Cattell: He was the first person to focus on ways to measure

intelligence in the 1890’s.

• Binet-Simon Test: In 1905, this test was used in France to determine

intelligence.
 HISTORY OF COUNSELING

The Mental Health Counseling Movement (continued)

• L. M. Terman: Revised the Binet-Simon test to be used in the United

States. It was called the Stanford-Binet as Terman was from Stanford
University. At this time the term IQ (Intelligence Quotient) began to be
used.

• Army Alpha and Beta Tests: These were used during WWI to help
decide placement for soldiers. This ushered in the proliferation of
standardized testing.
 HISTORY OF COUNSELING

The Development of Professional Identity

• E. G. Williamson: Developed what some consider to be the first theory of

vocational counseling and utilized a directive counselor-centered
approach which came to be known as the “Minnesota point of view.”

• Dictionary of Occupational Titles: This was published in 1938 and

provided counselors with a basic resource to match people with
occupations.

• The American Counsel of Guidance and Personnel Association

(ACGPA): Formed in 1934. It name changed in 1939 to the Council of
Guidance and Personnel Associations (CGPA).
 HISTORY OF COUNSELING

The Development of Professional Identity (continued)

• National Defense Education Act of 1958: This was the government’s

response to Sputnik. The act provided for resources to determine which
youths of America had mathematical and scientific talent that could be
nurtured for use in the American space program.

• WWII: Counselors were needed during WWII for testing and placement
of soldiers. As soldiers returned with “battle neuroses” more counselors
were needed to treat them.

• Veterans Administration: Began hiring counselors in earnest to help

returning soldiers cope with personal and vocational issues. They
provided training and opened numerous positions.
 HISTORY OF COUNSELING

The Development of Professional Identity (continued)

• The National Institute of Mental Health: It provided training stipends for

doctoral students.

• Carl Rogers: Developed a nondirective counseling approach called

client-centered (now person-centered). He also identified core conditions
for counseling that is utilized by many theories and approaches today.
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL
TRADITION
“BIG” NAMES ASSOCIATED WITH COGNITIVE
BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

1. Epictetus, Greek philosopher. Observed that

people are not disturbed by things that happen
but by the view they take of things that
happen.
2. Albert Ellis, Ph.D. “grandfather of cognitive
behavioral therapy.”
3. Aaron Beck, MD, a psychiatrist (University of
Pennsylvania)
Mental health problems - can have both
psychological, social and somatic
dimensions. These issues often make it
hard for people to manage their lives and
achieve their goals.

Therapists/mental health professionals

are expected and legally bound to respect
client privacy and client confidentiality.
THE COGNITIVE MODEL OF DEVELOPMENT

• As individuals develop, they think about their

world and themselves in different ways.
• Their beliefs and assumptions about people,
events, and themselves are cognitive
schemas.
• Individuals have automatic thoughts that
are derived from these beliefs that they are
not aware of.
• How individuals shift from adaptive beliefs to
distorted beliefs is referred to as cognitive
shifts in Beck’s system.
COGNITIVE THEORY OF PERSONALITY

• Beck believes that psychological disorders

are caused by a combination of biological,
environmental, and social factors.
• Rarely is one of these a cause for a disorder.
In understanding a disturbance, Beck uses a
cognitive model of development that
includes the impact of early childhood
experiences on the development of
cognitive schemas and automatic thoughts.
• Beliefs and schemas are subject to cognitive
distortions, a key concept in cognitive
therapy.
SCHEMAS OR COGNITIVE SCHEMAS:

• Ways of thinking that comprise a set of core beliefs

and assumptions about how the world operates.
 AUTOMATIC THOUGHTS:

• Notions or ideas that occur without effort or choice,

that can be distorted, and lead to emotional
responses. Automatic thoughts provide data about
core beliefs.
 COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS

• Automatic thoughts are subject to cognitive

distortions. Cognitive therapists have identified
a variety of cognitive distortions that can be
found in different psychological disorders.

• Cognitive distortions: Systematic errors in

reasoning, often stemming form early childhood
errors in reasoning; an indication of inaccurate
or ineffective information processing.
 ALL-OR-NOTHING THINKING:

• Engaging in black-or-white thinking. Thinking in

extremes, such as all good or all bad, with nothing
in the middle.
 SELECTIVE ABSTRACTION:

• Selecting one idea or fact from an event while

ignoring other facts in order to support negative
thinking.
 MIND READING:

• Believing that we know the thoughts in another

person’s mind.
 NEGATIVE PREDICTION:

• Believing that something bad is going to happen

even though there is no evidence to support this
prediction.
 CATASTROPHIZING:

• Exaggerating the
potential or real
consequences of
an event and
becoming fearful of
the consequences.
 OVERGENERALIZATION:

• An example of distorted thinking that occurs when

individuals make a rule based on a few negative or
isolated events and then apply it broadly.
 LABELING:

• Creating a negative view of oneself based on

errors or mistakes that one has made. It is a type of
overgeneralizing which affects one’s view of
oneself.
 MAGNIFICATION:

• A cognitive distortion in which an imperfection is

exaggerated into something greater than it is.
 MINIMIZATION:

• Making a positive event much less important than it

really is.
 PERSONALIZATION:

• A cognitive distortion in which an individual takes

an event and relates it to himself or herself when
there is no relationship. An example would be,
“Whenever I want to go skiing, there is no snow.”
Wanting to go skiing does not cause a lack of snow.
THEORY OF COGNITIVE THERAPY

• In cognitive therapy, client and therapist

combine to examine thinking patterns and
behaviors and change them so that the
client can function more effectively.
• The focus of therapy is often on distorted
thinking. Assessment is quite detailed, more
so than in REBT.
• Techniques challenge the clients distorted
thoughts and replace them with more
effective thinking.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL
THERAPIES:

1. Thoughts cause Feelings and Behaviors.

2. Brief and Time-Limited.

Average # of sessions = 16 VS
psychoanalysis = several years

3. Emphasis placed on current behavior.

4. CBT is a collaborative effort between the
therapist and the client.
Client role - define goals, express concerns,
learn & implement learning
Therapist role - help client define goals, listen,
teach, encourage.

5. Teaches the benefit of remaining calm or

at least neutral when faced with difficult
situations. (If you are upset by your
problems, you now have 2 problems: 1) the
problem, and 2) your upsetness.
6. Based on "rational thought." - Fact not
assumptions.
7. CBT is structured and directive. Based
on notion that maladaptive behaviors are
the result of skill deficits.
8. Based on assumption that most emotional
and behavioral reactions are
learned. Therefore, the goal of therapy is to
help clients unlearn their unwanted reactions
and to learn a new way of reacting.
9. Homework is a central feature of CBT.
 RATIONAL EMOTIVE THERAPY OR
RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

A form of cognitive-behavioral therapy in which somebody

is encouraged to examine and change irrational thought
patterns (irrational thinking) and beliefs in order to
reduce dysfunctional behavior.

What is irrational thinking?

What types of thinking are problematical for human
beings?
 THE SELF-DEFEATING RULES (IRRATIONAL BELIEFS)

Ellis suggested that a small number of core beliefs underlie

most unhelpful emotions and behaviours. Core beliefs
are underlying rules that guide how people react to the
events and circumstances in their lives. Here is a sample
list of such of these:
1. I need love and approval from those around to me.
2. I must avoid disapproval from any source.
3. To be worthwhile as a person I must achieve success at
whatever I do.
4. I can not allow myself to make mistakes.
5. People should always do the right thing. When they
behave obnoxiously, unfairlyor selfishly, they must be
blamed and punished.
6. Things must be the way I want them to be.
7. My unhappiness is caused by things that are outside my
control – so there is nothing I can do to feel any better.
8. I must worry about things that could be dangerous,
unpleasant or frightening – otherwise they might happen.
9. I must avoid life’s difficulties, unpleasantness, and
responsibilities.
10. Everyone needs to depend on someone stronger than
themselves.
11. Events in my past are the cause of my problems – and they
continue to influence my feelings and behaviours now.
12. I should become upset when other people have problems,
and feel unhappy when they’re sad.
13. I shouldn’t have to feel discomfort and pain.
14. Every problem should have an ideal solution.
 HOMEWORK
Probably the most important REBT strategy is
homework. This can include such activities as:
Reading
Self-help exercises
Experiential activities
Journaling
Thought Stopping
Intentional Reframing
Therapy sessions are really ‘training sessions’,
between which the client tries out and uses what they
have learned.
 ABC’S OF REBT

A →B → C → D
A = Activating Event
B = Beliefs, Thoughts, Attitudes, Assumptions
C = Consequences, Feelings, Emotions,
Behaviors, Actions
D = Dispute
 CBT EFFECTIVE FOR USE WITH

● Self / Personal Growth

● Individual Clients
● Groups
● Marriage / relationships
● Family
● Workplace
● Varying Intellectual ability/learning impairments
CAUTION: Cognitive therapies do not appear to
work as well with those who are cognitively
impaired.
 PRINCIPLES OF REBT
The basic aim of REBT is to leave clients at the completion of
therapy with
●The freedom to choose their emotions, behaviours and lifestyle
(within physical, social and economic restraints)
A method of self-observation and personal change that will help
them maintain their gains.
● Realistic thoughts, emotions, and behaviours that are in
proportion to the events and circumstances an individual
experiences.
● A Here and Now orientation.
●Finally, the emphasis is on profound and lasting change in
the underlying belief system of the client, rather than
simply eliminating the presenting symptoms. The client is
left with self-help techniques that enable coping in the long-
term future.
 VIDEO DEMONSTRATION

• Gloria + Albert Ellis

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odnoF8V3g6g