Chapter 12: Using Theory To Increase Self-Awareness

Question 1

Describe the role of theory in counselling

Answer 1

Understanding theory and working with in a coherent theoretical framework is one the central ingredients for working as a counselor. All counsellors need to be able to explain what they are doing and why, and theory helps us do that.

Research shows that working within a coherent framework of theory and skills is important for good therapeutic outcomes – exactly which theory you work with is less important. Just needs to be a bona fide or a tried-and-tested theory backed up by evidence.

Question 2

A set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based; an idea used to account for a situation or justify a course of action.

A set of ideas and principles based on practice and experience which has been systematically put together to try to explain what counselling is and how it works.

Answer 2

Counselling theory

Question 3

What are some common characteristics that all theories share?

Answer 3

An underlying philosophy

A language for looking at the self

• how we relate within ourselves (internal self)
• what happened in our past (personal history)
• how we relate to others (patterns of relating)

A theory for describing what “goes wrong“ for people

A theory about how the counsellor can work with what “went wrong“ to help the client and bring about change

Question 4

What are the three main theoretical traditions or the three main “schools“ of counselling from which all other approaches stem?

Answer 4

Psychodynamic counseling, humanistic counseling, cognitive-behavioral therapy

Question 5

What are the origins of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 5

Began with psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud, the father of psychotherapy. Known for the unconscious, free association, past memories and buried emotions. Origin of the “talking cure”

Question 6

What is the basic philosophy of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 6

People are driven by unconscious drives and shaped by early unresolved childhood experiences. If these early experiences can be brought into consciousness and worked with dynamically in therapy, then a person has more choices in the present and will be less unhappy or less neurotic

Includes the conscious mind, pre-conscious mind, and unconscious mind

Question 7

According to psychodynamic counseling, this part of the mind contains all our thoughts, perceptions, and things that are in our awareness. This includes feelings and dreams.

Answer 7

Conscious mind

Question 8

According to psychodynamic theory, this is closely linked to our conscious mind. It consists of all the things that we are not consciously thinking about in the present but which we can call to mind without difficulty. This includes memories and stored knowledge

Answer 8

Pre-conscious mind

Question 9

According to psychodynamic theory, this larger, submerged part of the iceberg holds all the memories that the conscious mind does not want to remember or acknowledge. Freud believed that it holds significant information which is so disturbing that we have to keep it out of our awareness because it would be damaging to the self if it was fully known

Answer 9

Unconscious mind

Question 10

Although we may be unaware of the powerful information that is held in the unconscious, it can still “slip out“ in what is termed the ______ _____. Such as calling your partner by your exes name or saying the wrong word. These slips provide a link to the unconscious mind. He also believed that dreams were the ____ ____ to the unconscious because they offered a means of expression for the unconscious if they could be interpreted and worked with

Answer 10

Freudian slip; royal road

Question 11

The psychodynamic view of the internal self. Freud developed a theory about how the psyche or mind is structured. He saw the mind as being divided into three competing parts:

Answer 11

The id, the ego, and the super-ego

Question 12

According to psychodynamic theory, this is the early instinctual part of the mind which is intent on self gratification or the “pleasure principle“ and driven by unconscious drives both towards life, love, and sex on one hand and death on the other. It has no morals, no core values, and no concept of danger or excess.

Answer 12

The id

Question 13

According to psychodynamic theory, this is your conscience where all the messages that you have received from your parents and significant others are stored. It is that little voice inside you telling you not to do something because it is wrong, which echos the morals, values, and social conventions you learned as a child. It is all about doing what is right and sensible. It tries to check risky impulses and ask like a censor to the id

Answer 13

The super-ego

Question 14

According to psychodynamic theory, this acts like a mediator between the two voices of the id and the super-ego. Sees the whole picture and draws on logic and reason to work out how to balance the demands of the other parts and arrive at a reasonable response based on the reality of the situation

Answer 14

The ego

Question 15

The id and the super-ego are in constant conflict and there are times when the ego is unable to cope with the competing demands. Freud suggested that the ego develops a range of ______ to stave off difficult feelings like depression and anxiety.

Answer 15

Defences

Question 16

And ego defence mechanism which means subduing someone or something by force. It works at an unconscious level to stop uncomfortable thoughts or feelings from bubbling up. The thoughts and feelings do not disappear completely as they lurk in the unconscious and still affect what we do but helps us deal with the immediate discomfort.

Answer 16

Repression

For example, repressing guilty feelings of attraction toward your friends partner but unconsciously flirting with them anyway

Question 17

And ego defence mechanism where you project onto someone else your uncomfortable thoughts or feelings because you don’t want to face the fact that these are actually your own thoughts or feelings

Answer 17

Projection

For example, when you take a dislike to someone but rather than admitting to disliking that person you persuade yourself that they don’t like you

Question 18

And ego defence mechanism where you block the reality of the situation from your awareness

Answer 18

Denial

For example, a smoker denying that smoking is bad for their health

Question 19

An ego defence mechanism when we take out frustration or anger on something else rather than the real object of our frustration

Answer 19

Displacement

For example, coming home after a bad day at work and taking it out on your partner or yelling at the TV

Question 20

An ego defence mechanism when you try to explain your feelings away in a cold and detached way, rather than deal with the rawness of your emotions

Answer 20

Intellectualization

For example, focussing on all the practicalities of splitting up with your partner, rather than engaging with how you are feeling about the end of your relationship

Question 21

An ego defence mechanism which involves the person explaining away a situation rather than acknowledging the reality

Answer 21

Rationalization

For example, a student might blame their poor mark for an assignment on the teachers bias, rather than facing the fact that they have not done enough work

Question 22

What is the psychodynamic view of personal history?

Answer 22

Proposes that early development has a direct effect on who we are and the kinds of psychological problems that we are likely to encounter in later life. These early childhood experiences, which Freud divided into five psychosexual stages of development, shape our personality by the age of five. He suggested that each psychosexual stage needs to be successfully negotiated and that if any particular stage is not well negotiated, a person becomes stuck, or fixated, at that stage as an adult

Question 23

According to this psychosexual stage of development, the infants mouth is a source of pleasure and frustration

Answer 23

Oral stage : birth to one year

Success in this stage builds trust, a lack of care fosters distrust

Fixation at this stage could lead to problems with eating, drinking, or smoking

Question 24

According to this psychosexual stage of development, the toddler learns to control his bowel movements

Answer 24

Anal: 1 to 3 years

Success develops a sense of competence and ability to achieve, whereas struggles foster issues around criticism, power, and independence. Fixational at the stage me result in compulsive behaviors or obsessions

Question 25

According to this psychosexual stage of development, children start to develop an awareness of gender difference. Includes the Oedipus and Electra complex. Essentially, children develop an unconscious desire for the parent of the opposite sex coupled with a destructive desire towards the parent of the same sex which is seen as a rival for their affection. These unconscious feelings have an influence on sexual development in later life

Answer 25

Phallic stage: 3 to 6 years

Successful negotiation allows the child to identify with the same sex parent and start to adopt their characteristics and to comply with social norms. Inappropriate negotiation can lead child identify with the opposite-sex parent. May struggle with issues around gender, sexuality, identity, and relationships

Question 26

This psychosexual stage is a quiet period free from sexual activity. Children go to school and start to develop relationships with their peers and start to develop interests and hobbies while learning about the world

Answer 26

Latency stage: six to puberty

Successful negotiation allows for the development of relationship, interests, and good social skills and self confidence

Struggle in this stage leads to a lack of developing of interests and hobbies. May lead to a lack of social skills and poor confidence in later life

Question 27

This psychosexual stage is the final stage of sexual development and Freud believed this is where there is a strong desire for sexual pleasure with the opposite sex, rather than self-pleasure

Answer 27

Puberty

Successful negotiation results in a loving relationship and a range of interests. Unsuccessful negotiation can lead to sexual perversions and deviant sexual interests

Question 28

Describe the psychodynamic view of patterns of relating

Answer 28

Freud‘s fundamental idea was that our relationships with our parents and significant others set the pattern for how we relate to others as adults. These patterns, which are laid down in early childhood, or unconsciously carried through into the present day relationships in ways that are unhelpful and repetitive.

The most important concept he developed to explain this phenomenon was “transference“. Transference is when the client unconsciously relates to someone “as if“ that person was someone from the clients past. The client transfers thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from a significant past relationship onto a present a relationship without even realizing it

Question 29

Describe the origins of the person-centered approach

Answer 29

Developed by Carl Rogers in the 1930s because he became dissatisfied with psychoanalytical and behavior models which seemed to reduce human beings to either machines that go wrong or people unconsciously repeating patterns from their past.
Rogers developed an optimistic and holistic approach which valued the meaning and subjective experience of each client. Approach is based on the idea that if a certain quality of the therapeutic relationship can be established, the client will be able to change in ways which foster their growth and potential

Question 30

What is the basic philosophy of the person-centered approach?

Answer 30

That all humans have the capacity to grow and, given the right conditions, can reach their full potential. Rogers called this positive and constructive urge the actualizing tendency and he likened it to the way a potato puts out shoots towards the light, even when it is kept in dark, unpromising conditions.
Saw humans as essentially trustworthy and capable of finding their own direction.

Question 31

The person-centered view of the internal self. Roger saw the self as being composed of the ______ ____ and the ____-_____

Answer 31

Organismic self and the self-concept

Question 32

According to Rogers, this is the early, true, honest, and uncontaminated self which does not have to conform to the expectations of others or be moderated or changed to fit in with social norms.

Answer 32

The organismic self

Rogers believed that essentially we can rely on our organismic self to tell us what we need from the world around us and from other people. If we have received unconditional acceptance from others, we will be able to trust our organismic self and Flourish

Question 33

According to Rogers, this is the idea of the self that we develop over time in response to the expectations of others and because of pressures to fit in and behave in certain ways

Answer 33

Self-concept

When we are young, our self-concept is fairly fluid and changeable but it becomes more fixed over time. Sometimes it is based on reality but often it is formed by the ideas, expectations, and social pressures of others. The self-concept is far removed from the organismic self.

If we have a fairly good sense of self based on the reality of who we are, we are more likely to be acting from an authentic sense of self. If what we believe about ourselves not based on reality, we will be living with an inauthentic sense of self

Question 34

The person-centered view of personal history. Rogers believed that our self-concept is formed by the ______ __ _____ put on us by other people. He also believed that the tension between a persons organismic self and their self-concept is what causes unhappiness and emotional difficulties

Answer 34

Conditions of worth

Question 35

When love and approval become increasingly conditional on what is acceptable and valuable to others, these messages are called:

Answer 35

Conditions of worth

Conditions of worth are necessary because eventually we all have to become socialized in order to live together in an ordered world that respects the rights of others. However, conditions of worth act as a restriction on our organismic self because, instead of doing exactly what we want, we have to adjust our behaviour to meet the conditions that bring us love and approval. This not only sets up an inner tension and alters our self-concept but also creates the patterns for the way we behave in relationships with other people

Question 36

Some examples of conditions of worth and the formation of a self-concept that affect patterns of relating include:

Answer 36

Hearing that big boys don’t cry, girls are caring and look after others, boys are competitive, girls are cooperative

Question 37

Person- centered view of patterns of relating. The constant process of looking outside yourself for confirmation and reassurance that what you are doing is right and trying to fit in would mean you get increasingly out of touch with your organismic self. Rogers called is having an:

Answer 37

External locus of evaluation

This means looking to a place outside yourself in order to make a judgement about something. One of the goals of person-centered counselling is to develop an internal locus of evaluation – in other words, to find a place within yourself that you trust, to reach your own judgements

Question 38

What are the origins of cognitive-behavioral therapy?

Answer 38

The origins of the behavioural approach come from the work of people like Pavlov and skinner. The cognitive strand comes from the work of Erin beck and Albert Ellis who were interested in how our thoughts influence our feelings.
Shared a belief that our thought processes and the meaning that we give to events are the key to understanding ourselves and changing the way we feel.

In sum, the cognitive part is how we think and the behaviour part is what we do. Cognitive behaviour therapy therefore looks at how the way we think informs what we believe and in turn how we feel and behave

Question 39

What is the basic philosophy of the cognitive-behavioral approach?

Answer 39

That humans create their own meaning by the way they think about things and the meaning they derive from experience, and this in turn affects the way they feel. Therefore, looking at how we think can change how we feel and how we behave

Question 40

What is the cognitive behavioural therapy view of the internal self?

Answer 40

CBT does not have a language for the different parts of the internal self but is very focussed on the relationship between what we think and what we feel — in other words, between our cognitions and our emotions.

According to beck, these are called automatic thoughts

If you have positive and rational automatic thoughts, this will support you towards achieving goals and ideals, adapt to new situations, and remain flexible about how to respond to the world. On the other hand, if your thoughts are irrational or negative then the opposite will be the case. You will tend to have an unrealistic and distorted view of reality, and your thoughts and therefore behaviours will work against you in achieving goals and adapting to different situations

Question 41

What is the CBT view of personal history?

Answer 41

Albert Ellis proposed that any irrational belief stems from a core “must“ statement or “musturbation”. Three core must statements that are irrational:

1. I must do well; if I do not perform well then I am no good
2. Other people must be nice to me, and if they are not they are not good people
3. I must have what I want and life must be easy, otherwise I cannot cope

Question 42

What is the CBT view of patterns of relating?

Answer 42

Believes that people repeat the patterns they are familiar with in their responses to events and in their relationships with other people. In CBT terms, this means continuing self-defeating patterns that have to be examined and unpacked.

Question 43

One way of breaking down a repeating pattern when relating to people in the CBT approach is the ABC model:

Answer 43

This model teaches how irrational beliefs cause discomfort and self-defeating emotions in response to events.

A: activating event – Something Happens
B: belief – your belief about the event or situation
C: consequences – your emotional reaction to that belief

The outcome of the situation depends on the belief you hold in the first place. Once you have identified and understood the rational thoughts, you have to work out why the rational thoughts are untrue and replace them with a more rational explanation.

CBT is about identifying a rational thoughts in order to change them for more rational ones. Part of this philosophy is to continually question what you think

Question 44

Provide a summary of how to use theory to increase self-awareness

Answer 44

There are many different theories about the person

Theory helps us understand ourselves

No single theory holds all the answers

The psychodynamic approach is focussed on bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness

The person-centered approach is focussed on how exploring conditions of worth cause tension with the organismic self

Cognitive behavioural therapy approaches are focussed on identifying irrational beliefs and changing these to rational beliefs