Professional Documents
Culture Documents
contents:
1. Introduction
2. Psychological Counseling
3. An Introduction to Psychotherapy
1.Introduction
In this chapter, at first we will present what is psychological counseling, with the
characteristics, the forms, and the principles of psychological counseling, and we focus on an
important point that is the technology of psychological counseling. At the second part, we will
grasp the basic concept of psychotherapy, and the basic technique and the classification of
psychotherapy. The important content at this part is the main methods of psychotherapy, so we
will expound the five main psychotherapies in detail. Finally, we also will introduce the difference
2.Psychological Counseling
Greeks were the first to identify mental illness as a medical condition, rather than a sign of
malevolent deities. While their understanding of the nature of mental illness was not always
correct (c. g. , they believed that hysteria affected only women due to a wandering uterus), and
their treatments rather unusual (e. g., bathing for depression, blood-letting for psychosis), they did
Modern psychological therapies trace their history back to the work of Sigmund Freud in
Vienna in the 1880s. Trained as a neurologist, Freud entered private practice in 1886 and by 1896
he had developed a method of working with hysterical patients which he called "psychoanalysis".
A large part of Freud's counseling style was centered on his ability to help the patients process
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their current behaviors by dealing with their past.
include: ① have confidence in themselves, and have hope with their lives; ②caring for their
family, like to have a close person; ③like their jobs, satisfied with their family; ④ to maintain a
wide range of interests and activities; ⑤bring into play to their potential benefits, but also take
advantage of opportunities; ⑥know their weaknesses, but also willing to accept the help from
others; ⑦can accept failure, frustration, and willing to face the difficulties; ⑧to accept changes in
the environment, and adapt to it; ⑨constantly enrich themselves, promote self-growth; ⑩enjoy
of relations the counselor provides a certain amount of psychological atmosphere and conditions,
makes the clients to changes, and makes a choice to solve their own problems, and form
C. R. Rogers considered that psychological counseling is a way through direct contact with
individuals, continue to provide psychological assistance and try to change their behavior and
attitude.
the self-help process, the educational process and the growth process through establishing
relationships.
knowledge, through a variety of techniques and methods to help callers solve psychological
any problems they face in their lives, such as dissatisfaction with life or a loss of direction or
purpose.
The client must always be willing and accepting of the process of counseling as no one can be
forced to go and be effectively counseled. Counseling is a job that the counselor and client must
perform together. In other words, the counselor couldn't do anything to client to make the client
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better alone. They need to trust each other. Counselors are bound by law to keep the client's
problems private, and the client must feel safe enough to tell the counselor his/ her true feelings
and thoughts.
After the client decides to get help, the counselor and client together would make a choice to take
which type of counseling is best suited to solve the problem. Counseling services, which must be
confidential, should be chosen to meet the client's needs. These services can be classified into
Small groups or large groups of clients have similar problems, for join discussions, guidance, or
The counselor contacts and interacts the client directly for the counseling.
The counselor understands the psychological problems of the client by their parents, friends,
conversations.
(3) Letter counseling Give psychological advice and support to the client who seek answers of
(4) Rubric counseling A type of psychological counseling through the press, radio, television and
(5) On-site counseling The counselor answers questions of the client who came to seek
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(2) To help the client enhance the ability of social adaptation.
(3) To explore the development of self-direction, and promote future development with the client.
process enables you and the person you are working with to build a relationship, assess the
situation, set goals and come up with a plan to bring about your desired results. This progression is
known as the counseling process. There are five stages of the counseling process, including
interventions and termination. Each stage of the counseling process builds upon the former. As
moving through each stage, it takes patience and practice to counsel a client effectively. The five-
stage model is derived from the work of Hackney and Cormier, in 2001.
The setting in which the counseling takes place obviously either facilitates or hinders the
process. So, first, it is necessary to avoid distractions such as background noise and interruptions;
establish privacy by ensuring others cannot overhear; and choose surroundings that suit the other
person. By finding a setting that is non-threatening and conducive to conversation and by putting
the other person at ease, the counselor creates an atmosphere where open communication can take
place.
An informed assessment happens when both counselor and counselee gather information in
order to figure out what's "really" going on so that the counselor can assess what needs to do next
in order to change the situation, or build up the client's coping skills to better deal with a
problematic situation.
In this step, the counselor needs to recognize, understand and meet the client's needs, and
tries to help the client to explore their issues and better understand themselves, their situation and
feelings, and in a new perspective. A good therapist should be able to help the client define
specific problems which are strongly affecting the client. Rather than simply listening and
reflecting, counselors have a duty to help the client define specifics. Looking at the specific issues
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2.5.4 Initiating Interventions
After assessment and goal setting, the following question should be considered, "How will the
counselors accomplish these goals?" Interventions are designed to help individuals rethink risky
behavior, work through problematic issues, address unhealthy lifestyles practices, learn new skills
and build strengths. The discussion of the intervention provides a description of the methods
2.5.5 Termination
When any relationship ends, including a counseling relationship, there are many emotions
that those individuals involved in the relationship may experience. That is this somewhat artificial
aspect can lead to a myriad of emotions for both counselor and client that must be acknowledged
and worked through by both individuals. The termination stage is the final stage of counseling, but
How a counselor closes the counseling relationship can have a significant impact on client's
view of his or her experience in counseling and the likelihood of their practicing what has been
learned in counseling after sessions have concluded. In some cases, the “end" of counseling is not
always the end, and follow-up is deemed appropriate by the counselor and client to serve as a
check to see if change has been maintained and to allow for clients to revisit old issues or work on
Because no genuine therapy can occur unless clients trust in the privacy of their revelations to
their therapists, professionals have the responsibility to define the degree of confidentiality that
can be promised. Counselors have an ethical and legal responsibility to discuss the nature and
In addition, clients have a right to know that their therapist may be discussing certain details of
the relationship with a supervisor or a colleague. Although most counselors agree on the essential
value of confidentiality, they realize that it cannot be considered absolutely. Some times the
confidential information must be divulged, and there are many instances in which keeping or
therapists must consider the requirements of the law, the institution in which they work, and the
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clientele they serve. Because these circumstances are frequently not clearly defined by accepted
There is a legal requirement to break confidentiality in cases involving child abuse, abuse of
the elderly, abuse of dependent adults, and danger to self or others. All mental health practitioners
and interns need to be aware of their duties to report in these situations and to know the limitations
of confidentiality.
Here are some other circumstances in which information must legally be reported by counselors:
(1) When the therapist believes a client under the age of 16 is the victim of incest, rape, child
(2) When the therapist determines that the client needs hospitalization.
(4) When clients request that their records be released to them or to a third party.
In general, the counselor's primary obligation is to protect client disclosures as a vital part of
the therapeutic relationship. Informing clients about the limits of confidentiality does not
The psychotherapy is the treatment of personality disorders and mental disorders with
psychological theories and methods. The technology and methods of psychotherapy include
hypnosis, psychoanalysis, behavior modification, biofeedback, qigong, yoga, sports, music and so
on.
Although more people seek out therapy now than in the past, people usually turn to trained
mental health professionals only when their psychological problems become severe or persist for
extended periods of time. When they do, they can turn to several types of therapists.
(1) A clinical social worker is a mental health professional whose specialized training in a
school of social work prepares him of her to work in collaboration with psychiatrists and clinical
psychologists.
(2) A clinical psychologist is required to have concern treated his or her graduate school training
(3) A counseling psychologist also typically has obtained a PhD. or PsyD. He or she usually
provides guidance in areas such as vocation selection, school problems, drug abuse, and marital
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conflict.
(4) A psychiatrist must have completed all medical school training of an MD degree and also
have undergone some postdoctoral specialty training in mental and emotional disorders.
(5) A psychoanalyst is a therapist with either an MD or a PhD degree who has completed
specialized postgraduate training in the Freudian approach to understanding and testing mental
disorders.
②proposing a probable etiology (cause of the problem), that is, identifying the probable origins of
③making a prognosis, or estimate, of the course the problem will take, with and without
treatment;
④prescribing and carrying out some forms of treatment, designing a therapy to minimize or
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(3) Humanistic therapies
experience, and master the basic techniques of psychotherapy at the same time.
Technique of hearing
The hearing technique in the psychological therapy is not only the method for therapist to
receive the client's speech, but also the way to understand the information conveyed in their
speech, and need their speech, and need to make appropriate feedbacks.
(1) Clarification —Therapists need to clarify two part of the content, first, to clarify the part
which the client does not state clearly; second, confirm the accuracy of content which therapists
have heard.
(2) Reflect —Use the therapist's words to express information transmitted by the client, but
(3) Emotion —Mainly used rearrangement the emotional part of information transmitted by
the client.
(5) Specific—The therapist knows the specific information related to client's experience and
also to master the more actively technology in order to guide the treatment direction.
(1) Question
The therapist should ask questions appropriately. Questions are divided into open questions and
closed questions.
(2) Interpretation
The therapist uses the theory to identify the emotions and contents which underlying in the
(3) Infoming
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(4) Immediacy
Therapists describe what occurs at this time during the treatment, involving emotion,
This is where you make a summary of what the client has said, and you say it back to the client,
to ensure that you understand what is said. This also makes the client to know that you are
(5) Self-betrayal
themselves.
(6) Confrontation
herapists use language to describe the feeling of clients, significant differences, contradictions,
Freud considers that the cause of mental disorder is in early life and the legacy of
Psychoanalytic theory proposed that all human individuals and social behaviors are rooted in
some kind of soul desires and motivations. Psychoanalysis is a clinical technique, it is through the
interpretation of dreams, free association and other means to discover the motives underlying the
Psychoanalytic therapy is to draw the childhood trauma and pain experience out which suppressed
in the subconscious, make it become conscious, then analyze and explain it, so that clients can get
a kind of new comprehension of emotional experience, which can make the symptoms disappear.
The principal procedure used in psychoanalytic to probe the unconscious and release repressed
material is called free association. Freud maintained that free associations are predetermined, not
random.
When a person is asleep, the superego is presumably less on guard against the unacceptable
impulses origination in the id, so a motive that cannot be expressed in waking life may find
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expression in a dream. In analysis, dreams are assumed to have two kinds of content: manifest
(openly visible) content that people remember upon awakening and latent (hidden) content the
actual motives that are seeking expression but are so painful or unacceptable that they are
expressed in disguised or symbolic form. Therapists attempt to uncover these hidden motives by
using dream analysis, a therapeutic technique that examines the content of a person's dreams to
discover the underlying or disguised motivations and symbolic meanings of significant life
(3) Resistance
A psychoanalyst attaches particular importance to subjects that a client does not wish to
discuss. At some time during the process of free association, a client will show resistance-an
inability or unwillingness to discuss certain ideas, desires, or experiences. Such resistances are
During the course of the intensive therapy of psychoanalytic, a client usually develops an
emotional reaction toward the therapist. Often, the therapist is identified as a person who has been
at the center of an emotional conflict in the past, most often a parent or a lover. The client takes
refers to what happens when a therapist comes to like or dislike a client because the client is
perceived as similar to significant people in the therapist's life. The therapist becomes a "living
mirror" for the client and the client, in turn, for the therapist.
(5) Interpretation
Interpretation consists of the analyst's pointing out, explaining, and even teaching the client the
meanings of behavior that is manifested in dreams, free association, resistances, and the
therapeutic relationship itself. The functions of interpretations are to enable the ego to assimilate
new material and to speed up the process of uncovering further unconscious material.
Behaviorism considers that all human behaviors (with a few exceptions of genetic behaviors) are
acquired through learning. The normal and abnormal behaviors are the results which were
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enhanced by acquired environmental. Behavior therapy is based on behavioral learning theory, in
behavioral procedure developed by Joseph Wolpe, one of the pioneers of behavior therapy. Clients
imagine successively more anxiety-arousing situations at the same time that they engage in a
behavior that competes with anxiety. Gradually, or systematically, clients become less sensitive to
Using systematic desensitization therapy for treatment should include three steps: first,
relaxation training; second, to establish the level of anxiety event; third, implementing systematic
desensitization.
Flooding therapy is a form of exposure therapy, which refers to either in viva or imaginal
exposure therapies, even though the client experiences anxiety during the exposure, the feared
Aversive therapy uses counter conditioning procedures to pair these stimuli with strong noxious
stimuli such as electric shocks or nausea-producing drugs. In time, the same negative reactions are
elicited by the tempting stimuli, and the person develops an aversion that replaces his or her
former desire.
method. It was developed on the basis of a new type of behavioral therapy, psychotherapy
techniques.
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Biofeedback therapy using modern physiological science instruments, through patients'
feedback in the human body physiological or pathological information, so that after special
training patients can control and do psychological training consciously, free to regulate their own
body functions through visceral learning, thus eliminating pathological processes, recovery their
Humanistic psychotherapy was stressed that clients should find a better way to deal with reality
contradictory and find the method to solve the problems of real life by themselves.
can change their concept, the basic attitude and behavior patterns with self-exploration and self
understanding, and then rely on mobilization of internal potential to cure their disease.
As developed by Carl Rogers, client-centered therapy has had a significant impact on the way
many different kinds of therapists define their relationships to their clients. The primary goal of
Therapists do not keep their knowledge a secret or attempt to mystify the therapeutic process. The
process of change in the client depends to a large degree on the quality of this equal relationship.
As clients experience the therapist listening in an accepting way to them, they gradually learn how
to listen acceptingly to themselves. As they find the therapist caring for and valuing them (even
the aspects that have been hidden and regarded as negative), clients begin to see worth and value
in themselves. As they experience the realness of the therapist, clients drop many of their
pretenses and are real with both themselves and the therapist.
1) Congruence or genuineness:
Congruence implies that therapists are real; that is, they are genuine, integrated, and authentic
during the therapy hours. They are without a false front, their inner experience and outer
expression of that experience match, and they can openly express feelings, thoughts, reactions,
and attitudes that are present in the relationship with the client.
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The second attitude therapists need to communicate is deep and genuine caring for the client as
a person, or a condition of unconditional positive regard. The caring is nonpossessive and it is not
contaminated by evaluation or judgment of the client's feelings, thoughts, and behavior as good or
bad. If the therapists' caring stems from their own need to be liked and appreciated, constructive
One of the main tasks of the therapist is to understand clients' experience and feelings
sensitively and accurately as they are revealed in the moment-to-moment interaction during the
therapy session. The therapist strives to sense clients' subjective experience, particularly in the
here and now. The aim is to encourage clients to get closer to themselves, to feel more deeply and
intensely, and to recognize and resolve the incongruity that exists within them.
Empathy is a deep and subjective understanding of the client. Empathy is not sympathy, or
feeling sorry for a client. Therapists are able to share the client's subjective world by tuning in to
their own feelings that are like the client's feelings. Yet therapists must not lose their own
separateness.
Cognitive therapy considers that human's cognitive process decided to person's mood and
behavior, mental disorder is a result of individual's distortion, unreasonable, negative thinking way
To treat mental disorder, change the bad mood and behavior, we must change the original wrong
cognitive concept.
In human cognitive activities, there are five kinds of thinking lead to bad cognition. Includes
all-ornone thinking.
(1) Beck's theory of logical errors The main representative of cognitive therapy Beck said:
"maladaptive behavior and emotions, are derived from maladaptive cognitive. Thus, the strategy
of cognitive therapy is to rebuild the cognitive structure." Beck pointed out that the root causes of
psychological distress and obstacles from the way of abnormal or distorted thinking. By the
discovery and excavation of these thinking, and to analyze and critique, then replace them with a
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reasonable and realistic way of thinking, it can relieve the suffering of the patient, making them
Beck pointed out that those called distorted cognitive thinkings which lead to false assumptions
3) The over-extended;
From Beck's analysis to the several emotional distress can be seen in the patient with a
common feature, that is some self-centered and extreme way of thinkings. The patients explain
everything relevant from their own perspective, and link all the things with themselves, so they
can not make an objective reasoning and judgment. In addition, they are also have extreme and
absolute thinking, carry on one-sided, arbitrary and excessive generalization inference to things,
Beck proposed five specific cognitive therapy techniques in 1985 are as follows:
Because mental disorder triggered automatic way of thinking, and constituted a part of the
habit of thinking of the patient, most of patients can notrealized it. Therefore, in the course of
treatment, we must first learn to help the patient find and identify these automated thinking
process.
Cognitive errors are the patient's abstract concepts and common mistakes, such as some non-
rational thinking. These errors are more difficult to identify, so therapists should help the patient
3) Reality testing:
The reality testing is to consider the patient's automatically thinking and misconceptions as a
hypothesis, and encouraged the patient to test the hypothesis in strict design patterns or situations,
to made the patient realize that the original concept is not realistic, so that to consciously corrected
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it, which is the core of cognitive therapy.
4) The decentering:
The decentering is making the patient to realize that they are not the center of attention. The
reason of many mental disorders is the patients feel that they are the center of others' attention, and
their words and deeds will be evaluated by others. They often felt powerless and vulnerable. The
therapist can allow the patient to have some slight changes in behavior, and then require the
patient to record the number of adverse reactions of others, and they will found that very few
people pay attention to their change, so they will naturally recognize concept of irrational
Most of patients believe that their depression or anxiety will always continued and
unchanged, but in fact, these emotions have beginning, peak and subside in the process, and will
not last in one situation forever. Let the patients to experience this change in mood fluctuations
and make them believe they can master the bad mood fluctuations by self-monitoring, thereby
Therapist should to guide or teach the patients when they are in tensions, anxiety or fears,
they could say "SWAP" to themselves. "SWAP" means, "stop" (stop, s), "wait a minute" (wait, w),
"focus attention" (absorb, a), when the patients feel adapt to the surrounding environment and feel
more comfortable, then they can slowly "forward to continue" (proceed, p).
3. 5. 4. 2 Rational-emotive Therapy
One of the earliest forms of cognitive therapy was the rational-emotive therapy (RET)
developed by Albert Ellis. Common features of RET procenent, we dures are the focus on the
"here and now", a directive or guidance role of the therapist, a structuring of the psychotherapy
sessions and path, and on alleviating both symptoms and patients' vulnerability.
The main contents and methods of RET are ABCDE model. “A" is an activating event. “B" is
a rational or irrational belief about the activating event and “C" is the consequence of the
interaction of both A and B. “D" is disputes or arguments against irrational beliefs. “E" is for new
effect or the new, more effective emotions and behaviors that result from more reasonable thinking
about the original event. If the person has irrational or faulty beliefs about the activating event, the
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consequence will be unhealthy negative emotions and behaviors that can lead to depression,
The primary focus of this treatment approach is to suggest changes in thinking that will lead
changing irrational thinking patterns that cause emotional distress into thoughts that are more
Family therapy refers to the family as a whole for the object, in view of the psychological
Family therapy, also referred as couple and family therapy, marriage and family therapy,
family systems therapy, and family counseling, is a branch of psychotherapy that works with
families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. It tends to view
change in terms of the systems of interaction between family members. It emphasizes family
The different schools of family therapy have a common belief that, regardless of the origin of
the problem, and regardless of whether the clients consider it an “individual" or “family" issue,
involving families in solutions often benefits clients. This involvement of families is commonly
accomplished by their direct participation in the therapy session. The skills of the family therapist
thus include the ability to influence conversations in a way that catalyses the strengths, wisdom,
In the field's early years, many clinicians defined the family in a narrow, traditional manner
usually including parents and children. As the field evolved, the concept of the family is more
commonly defined in terms of strongly supportive, long-term roles and relationships between
systems theorists, have been applied to a wide range of human behaviours, including
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and Psychotherapy
By comparing and analyzing the definition of psychological counseling and therapy, there are
unemployment, interpersonal relationship problems, learning and education about youth, marriage
and so on. Scope of application of psychotherapy is mainly some of neurosis, mental disorders and
mental disease.
more time-consuming, need to talk several times or even longer. Psychotherapy should make
(5) Psychological counseling emphasizes guidance and support, the psychotherapy need to
Psychological counseling and psychotherapy theory. Behavior therapy, CBT and so on often used
interpersonal relationship between therapist and client, and to consider that it is the necessary
The counselor uses reasonable listening, emotional response, perceiving identification and the
appropriate ensure skills, to provide the necessary psychological support for clients.
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To secrecy the conversation with the client, not open to the public about the client's name, to
reject any surveys about the client, and respect the reasonable demands of the client.
To inspire and guide clients to talk their psychological problems, and help them to face their
Help clients comfort and encourage with their mood in the process of psychological
counseling.
Inspire and encourage clients to play their own potential, to promote their psychological growth
Chapter Summary
psychotherapy. And also describes the major psychological treatment, and the links and
differences between psychological counseling and psychotherapy, as well as the basic principles of
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