exam 2 C5 Insight Approaches

Question 1

Theory as Blueprint for Action

Answer 1

Counselors’ choices all flow from a theoretical model of what people are like, what defines mental health, and what conditions are likely to be most conducive in facilitating change
Counselors have quite complex and well-developed theories of:
Metaphysics (how the world works)
Ethics (how people should act)
Logic (cause–effect relationships)
Ontology (meaning of human existence)
Epistemology (how people know)
These theories guide what a counselor does with a particular client at a particular moment

Question 2

TherapyPsychoanalytic

Answer 2

Analyst may do nothing but listen for months
Carefully thinking about everything the client says, searching for hidden meanings and clues as to what may be the client’s unconscious fantasies and desires
When confident in having figured out these secret impulses and their causal relationship to the client’s present problems, the analyst will reveal them to the client

Question 3

Psychoanalytic Therapy

Answer 3

Explanations, called interpretations, are repeated over the course of many subsequent sessions until the client no longer fears knowledge of what lies in the unconscious, and the client’s symptoms abate

Question 4

Freud and Psychoanalytical Theory

Answer 4

Freud introduced the concept of different levels of awareness that motivate behavior
Several regions of the mind:
Conscious mind, which contains those thoughts and feelings that are always accessible
Preconscious mind, which holds elements on the edge of awareness that, with minimal effort, can be made immediately accessible
Unconscious mind, which harbors the secrets of the soul

Question 5

psychoanlytic: Stages of Personal Development

Answer 5

As a medically trained physician, Freud had a particular interest in neurology and the instinctual basis of behavior
Viewed the development of human personality as following a series of biologically determined stages, each an expression of the pleasure principle
Child’s insatiable urge to reduce tension and maintain psychic equilibrium by self-indulgence in oral, anal, or genital preoccupations

Question 6

Structure of the Psyche

Answer 6

Id:
Source of all energy and instinctual drives
Often referred to as a “seething cauldron” of angry feelings, sexual desires, and infantile wishes
Unconscious
Ego:
Contact between the id and reality
Capacity for rationality and logic
Superego:
Concerned primarily with moral issues
Nature of right and wrong
Can be our conscience
Can also be unnecessarily harsh and punitive

Question 7

Ego’s Job

Answer 7

Deals with the impulses of the id, the “critical parent” superego, and the laws and rules of society
Must enable the person to function normally while struggling with all of these forces
When the ego fails, we experience anxiety
Too much anxiety makes us sick, and in need of therapy

Question 8

Theory as Blueprint for Action

Answer 8

Counselors’ choices all flow from a theoretical model of what people are like, what defines mental health, and what conditions are likely to be most conducive in facilitating change

Question 9

Defense Mechanisms:
repression, projection

Answer 9

Repression
Selective exclusion of painful experiences of the past from conscious awareness
A form of censorship used to block traumatic episodes
Projection
Art of putting onto another person those characteristics unacceptable to yourself
Accusing someone of being angry when we are feeling

Question 10

Defense Mechanisms: denial, sublimation

Answer 10

Denial
Distortion of reality by pretending truths, feelings, or events are not really happening
In contrast to repression, denial occurs on a preconscious rather than unconscious level
Sublimation
Disguised conversion of forbidden impulses into socially acceptable behaviors
Athletes may unconsciously choose their profession as a way to release aggression

Question 11

Defense Mechanisms: reaction formation,rationalization

Answer 11

Reaction formation
Used to counter perceived threats, substituting an opposite reaction for the one that is disturbing
A mother who unconsciously feels angry at her 2-year-old daughter puts on a show of always adoring her
Rationalization
Intellectual misuse of logic to over explain or justify conflicting messages
“It doesn’t matter if I type the paper or not; I’ll probably flunk the class anyway.”

Question 12

Defense Mechanisms: regression

Answer 12

Regression
Retreat to an earlier stage of development because of fear
Any flight from controlled and realistic thinking may constitute a regression
When we return home for the holidays and act as though we were children again, we have “regressed”

Question 13

Defense Mechanisms: fixation

Answer 13

Fixation
Tendency to remain at one level, interrupting the normal plan of psychological development
Generally a defense against anxiety and results from the fear of taking the next step in psychological development

Question 14

Attachment Theory

Answer 14

Emphasizes the importance of parents’ ability to provide a secure base for children to explore the world, feeling safe and secure that support and help is available as needed
The degree to which a parent can provide this consistent, available base for his or her child shapes a child’s unconscious expectations regarding interpersonal relationships in general
–Behaviors known as attachment styles

Expectations lead to predictable behaviors in close relationships of all kinds
*Reflected not only in how infants relate to their parents but in how they interact with significant others throughout their lives

Question 15

Limitations of
Psychoanalytic Theory

Answer 15

Extremely complex and dense
–Requires years of specialized training
*Overemphasis on the role of insight and insufficient emphasis on making life changes
*Puts the clinician in a position of power over the client because of its reliance on clinician’s expertise in making sense of the client’s unconscious motives and feelings
Concepts of the various psychoanalytic therapies are difficult to research and support empirically
*Tends to ignore effects of social and cultural factors in the causes of clients’ concerns
*Not useful for persons in crisis who require immediate relief of symptoms
*Traditionally criticized as strongly culturally and gender biased in treatment approaches
Theory and techniques naturally lend themselves to personal experimentation
*Interpreting dreams helps in understanding our unconscious desires
–Other techniques include hypnosis and free association
*Crucial that we be entirely honest about our desires, wishes, and motives

Question 16

Adlerian Therapy

Answer 16

Become aware of prejudices
*Stop being afraid of making a mistake
*Cultivate the courage to be imperfect
*Enjoy the pleasure in an activity

–All problems are basically social problems and emerge from the need to belong and find a place in the group

–Adler says “life is movement and that individuals have the power to change interactions by what they do and Behavior is directed toward goals that are inferred from the consequences of behavior

People are holistic beings and incapable of being reduced to discrete units

Question 17

Gestalt Therapy

Answer 17

We learn to focus our attention on those events, situations, or stimuli that provide internal psychological equilibrium, even though we may thereby distort reality
*Focuses on the what and how of behavior and on the central role of unfinished business from the past that interferes with effective functioning in the present
Stuck
–The inability to resolve issues and thereby avoid dealing with the “now”
*Polarization is another key Gestalt concept
–Refers to the various partsof the self that are in conflict
Hot seat
–“What is your most common fantasy?”
–“What in your life are you most ashamed of?”
–“Which person in the group are you most attracted to and why?”
Resentment expression
–Make a list of things about which you consciously feel guilty. Change the word guilt to resentment
*“I feel guilty because I do not spend enough time with my children” becomes “I resent having to spend time with my children”
*Owning the projection
–Client is encouraged to apply his or her projections to himself or herself
*Demonstrates how we sometimes avoid our negatively perceived qualities and traits by putting them onto others
Double chairing
–Helps people experience opposite poles of the self
–Counselor explores a problem with a client and identifies the opposing feelings
–Two chairs are set up, and the client is instructed to take one and talk to the empty chair from one (specified) pole of the issue

Question 18

Existential Therapy

Answer 18

Definiton: Existentialism: A way of being that encourages a person to use and accept anxiety constructively. Often People create bars by refusal or inability to accept responsibility for their choices and feeling trapped bc not recognizing their freedoms.
ROLE of a counselor to help the client find the meaning in their suffering and to help them to make choices which would lead them to greater freedom.
Counselor assists client in expanding their choices and freedoms to develop in new ways, and with this focus on issues of freedom and accompanying feelings of exhilaration and anxiety.

Yalom writes about death as the primary savior of humankind
bc Motivates an intense appreciation of life’s value. and by confronting our own vulnerability, we are made aware of what is truly important
Insight-oriented theory
*focuses on the main goal to help people find personal meaning in their actions, lives, and suffering
*Examines choices and consequences
*Confronts with fears of death, alienation, and aloneness
*Emphasizes on taking responsibility for actions and life
Quests for greater authenticity, honesty, and identity
*Compatibility with other, more action-oriented theories
*Search for a personal philosophy to guide daily life

Question 19

Limitations Of Existential Therapy

Answer 19

Described as an abstract, ambiguous, mystical theory difficult to apply to the circumstances of everyday living
*Not often appropriate for clients of low to average intelligence or with severe emotional and cognitive disturbances
*Clients in a crisis or unable to meet economic needs are not concerned with existential angst or phenomenological non-being

Question 20

Personal Applications for the Counselor on Existential Therapy

Answer 20

Thinking about death and our eventual demise is terrifying
–According to the existentialist, it is actually death that saves us and motivates us to live more intensely and passionately
–If at any moment your heart could stop beating, what choices are you making to become more intensely involved in living and to accept responsibility for your decisions?

Question 21

Attachment Theory and the Therapeutic Relationship

Answer 21

New model for understanding and categorizing our client’s relationship issues
*Systematic approach to thinking about what goes on between client and counselor in the therapeutic relationship
*New ways to conceptualize the counselor’s role and tasks in treatment

Question 22

Person-Centered Therapy

Answer 22

Believes human are growth oriented and tend toward self-actualization ( believes people beings are intrinsically good and trustworthy)
Focus of counseling content is on affect and the exploration of feelings
*Universal goals of counseling are to help people be more free, intentional,permissiveness, and warmth
ethical, contemplative, and human
Roger says”Every individual exists in a continually changing world of experience of which he is the center”
*An important vehicle for change is the therapeutic relationship that exudes qualities of trust, openness, and acceptance,
*Client or student has the primary responsibility for course of treatment or study

Question 23

Active Listening

Answer 23

**Important for everyone to know bc will foster an open and honest relationship and provide an opportunity for emotional catharsis (which is releasing any pent pressure from out the body) and the definition is communication with empathetic understanding of verbal and nonverbal messages and simple to learn but the most difficult to master for a counselor*

The counselor:
–Communicates from a posture of empathic understanding
–Intently attends to a client’s verbal and nonverbal messages
–Interprets the surface and underlying meanings
–Formulates a response that demonstrates a deep-level understanding of the client’s experience
The most difficult counseling skill to master, but is relatively simple to learn
–Fosters an open and honest helping relationship
*Beginner listens carefully to the underlying feeling that is expressed and then communicates back what is heard
–Even if the reflection is inaccurate and ignores the client’s actual messages, it still encourages further self-exploration
Helps the client feel reassured that he or she is deeply understood and accepted
*Clarifies a client’s feelings so the situation may be viewed more objectively
*Provides opportunity for emotional catharsis, bringing relief of pent-up tensions and pressure
*Encourages the client to move from superficial concerns to deeper problems

Question 24

Limitations of
Person-Centered Therapy

Answer 24

May give too much responsibility to the client and reduce the role of the counselor as expert
–Clients don’t often know what they are feeling
*May be somewhat naive in its view of clients as naturally evolving and able to pursue lofty goals that may not be possible to reach
*Does not respond to the difficulties encountered in the process of translating feelings into action
Narrow in its focus on feelings and tends to ignore thoughts and behavior
*May overemphasize the importance of relationship factors, which may be a necessary but insufficient condition for therapeutic change
*Not useful for clients who are in crisis and require directive intervention
Tends to be more useful for highly verbal clients
*May over focus on issues of freedom, autonomy, and independence
*May ignore the psychological impact of social oppression and marginalization experienced by ethnic minorities, gay men, and lesbians
Clients from non-European cultures that do not place high value on self-disclosure and insight might be uncomfortable with its nondirective approach and with the counselor’s emotional genuineness

Question 25

Benefits of Person-Centered Therapy

Answer 25

Create greater self-awareness
–Helps create a growth orientation and encourages an active attitude toward life and personal growth
*Appreciate the importance of genuineness, unconditional regard, acceptance, and empathy in dealing with others
–May help stifle or mute the critical voice inside your head
Take more responsibility for your own education and life experiences
–Emphasizes self-empowerment
*Recognize the importance of exploring your feelings and sharing them with others
–You can practice in your own life what you want for your clients

Question 26

Narrative Therapy

Answer 26

A highly interactive, egalitarian, and collaborative process
*A conversation between counselor and clients based on counselor’s belief that clients are the experts on their problems
–Counselor’s primary role is to facilitate the creation of new stories or perspectives through careful listening and intense curiosity

Question 27

Narrative Therapy Techniques

Answer 27

Externalizing conversations
–Counseling process often begins with “externalizing the problem”
*Naming the problem
–Counselors help clients come up with a one-word name or short phrase for their complaints
*Facilitates clients’ experiencing often complicated problems as a single external entity
Identifying unique outcomes
–Importance of listening for times in clients’ recounting of their stories when their problems did not exist, or when they had found a way to solve them
*Use of therapeutic documents
–Create new documents for the client that serve as “counter-documents” and facilitate clients’ developing alternative stories
Maintaining a collaborative relationship
–In keeping with narrative therapists’ insistence that clients, not counselors, guide the therapeutic process, they often engage in discussions on how the treatment is going

Question 28

Limitations of Narrative Therapy

Answer 28

Tends to use its own unique vocabulary (“languaging,” “re-storying”) or common words in unusual ways (“thin” or “thick” stories)
–Can make the theory hard to comprehend
–Makes an effective exchange of ideas with clinicians who work with another model more difficult
Can be argued that encouraging people to externalize their problems helps them avoid personal responsibility for them
*Insistence on an egalitarian relationship denies a hierarchical relationship that is inherent to the counseling relationship
*Has yet to demonstrate how it can be culturally sensitive with clients who feel safer with counselors they perceive as experts