PSYC 526: Clinical Counseling Basic Flashcards
Active Listening
A psychotherapeutic technique in which the therapist listens to a client closely, asking questions as needed, in order to fully understand the content of the message and the depth of the client’s emotions.
Biopsychosocial
This term refers to a systematic integration of biological, psychological, and social approaches to the study and treatment of mental health.
Capping
Capping is done either via a question or a statement and it is intended to help move clients away from emotion-drawn discussions into more cognitive-based dialogue. The therapist will often revisit the emotion-based topic at a later time.
Clarification
A basic counseling technique in which the therapist asks the client to clear up vague/ambiguous thoughts, feelings, or behaviors to ensure that the therapist fully understands what the client has said. This is done in clear terms and without indicating any sort of approval or disapproval.
Client Expectancies
This is what the client expects/hopes, or doesn’t expect/hope, to get out of treatment. Client expectancies are a common feature of therapies and wildly influential in client progress/engagement in treatment.
Confrontation
A basic counseling technique in which the therapist calls attention to a difficult situation, realization, or contradiction involving client beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors. This technique should only be used after a strong therapeutic alliance/rapport has been established.
Congruence
This refers to a match between one’s psychological attributes and their behaviors. It was a concept coined by Rogers and used in client-centered therapy due to his theory that many clients entered treatment due to a lack of congruence in their lives. Rogers worked to model this ability of being genuine and consistent in his verbal and nonverbal behaviors.
Encouraging
A minimal statement or nonverbal cue that encourages the client to continue talking about the subject they’re currently focused on. This technique demonstrates that the clinician is listening and allows the client to continue talking without interruption.
Engagement
The effort the client makes during therapy to achieve their desired treatment goals. This term was coined by Rogers and referred to their active participation in treatment as client engagement is essential for treatment success.
Fixed vs. Growth Mindset
A fixed mindset refers to a permanent and unchangeable thought pattern. Whereas a growth mindset refers to a thought pattern that allows room for learning, change, and patience throughout the process.
Hierarchy of Needs
A concept developed by Maslow that focused on meeting basic human needs and progressing toward self-actualization. It is theorized that physiological needs must be met first, secondly safety, thirdly love/belonging, fourthly esteem, and fifthly self-actualization. Clients cannot meet later needs if the former are not established.
Holding vs. Shifting the Focus
There are basic counseling techniques that guide the direction of the therapeutic discussion. Holding the focus refers to purposely maintaining focus on the discussion at hand. Shifting the focus refers to purposely moving away from the current discussion and toward something more therapeutic/productive for the client.
Immediacy
This skill is used when the therapist provides the client with feedback in the moment of what they are experiencing – their experience of the session, the client, or what the client is saying. To utilize immediacy appropriately, the feedback needs to be anchored in the current content of the moment.
Interpretation
A term used in psychotherapy that refers to an informed explanation from the therapist that is meaningful to the client’s behaviors or feelings. The therapist takes the information from the client and interprets or offers a new explanation about what is being discussed.
Logical Consequences
This is a behavioral term that refers to actions or reposes that naturally happen after a behavior occurs. Logical consequences may serve to alter a problem behavior and can also help understand the consequences of behaviors experienced by the client.