Comparison of Humanistic Counseling Techniques to Cognitive Behavioral and Neo-Psychoanalytic Approaches

Counselling Techniques

Comparison of Humanistic Counselling Techniques of Cognitive (behavioral) and Neo-Psychoanalytic Approaches

Counselling and Its Roles

Counselling Techniques

Humanistic Counselling

Cognitive / Behavioural Counselling

Neo-Psychoanalytic Counselling

Comparison of Humanistic Counselling Techniques to Cognitive (Behavioural) and Neo-Psychoanalytic Approaches

Similarities ofofumanistic Cobehavioralechniques to Cognitive (Behavioural) and Neo-Psychoanalytic Approaches

Differences between Humanisticbehavioralg Techniques to Cognitive (Behavioural) and Neo-Psychoanalytic Approaches

Counselling is a broad subject and as such, constitutes different areas of study application and practice. Additionally it is classified using a variety of methods one being the techniques applied with reference to the practices of counselling. This paper explores the different aspects of counselling with main reference to specific techniques and their association with one another. The counselling techniques in focus here are the Humanistic, cognitive and Neo-psychoanalytic approaches whose use in the field of psychology is widespread. The section opens with an introduction, which presents an overview of what the paper entirely, entails. In this section, the paper also presents specific reason for which counselling is significant and the reason for which it emerges as a significant tool for positive change. Additionally, the paper explores the aspect of counselling as an aspect of psychology and the roles it plays. The counselling techniques follow with a brief definition of the term counselling. Also in this section, the paper addresses the different part of specific approaches to counselling, giving in depth description of the techniques. With reference to Humanistic Counselling, Cognitive / Behavioral and Neo-Psychoanalytic Techniques the paper provides definitions, features and sub-sections where applicable. The section that follows provides explores the Comparison of Human Counselling Techniques to Cognitive (behavioral) and Neo-Psychoanalytic Approaches. Here the paper addresses the different ways in which the Humanistic Counselling Techniques complements the Cognitive/behavioral counselling approach and the Neo-Psychoanalytic counselling technique. Additionally, the paper addresses the different means by which the Humanistic approach differs from the Cognitive and Neo-Psychoanalytic mechanisms. Different aspects of counselling psychology come into play here. This discussion concludes with a summary of all the contents that are, handled within the paper

Introduction

Counselling can be an effective means of enhancing change within individuals and situations, depending on the facts that present shortcomings in their relationships. The fact that it involves the generation and sometimes, maintenance of an association with another individual with whom you have no agenda with one another makes it a significant tool for change: and change to the better. Moreover, such an association creates room for those who seek counselling to have a rediscovery of who they truly, are, coupled with the capacity to achieve positive changes. There exist diverse problems and issues that require exploration through counselling. The nature of these factors varies from one issue to the other and so do the counselling processes and outcomes. Because of this, this aspect of psychology constitutes a variety of techniques and encompasses the likes of Humanistic Counselling, Cognitive counselling and Neo-Psychoanalytic counselling. Considering the use of these techniques in counselling, they possess a number of similarities, which define them. On the other hand, the techniques possess a wide range of differences considering the circumstances under which clients seek the services of the psychologists.

Counselling and Its Roles

Counselling is a confusing term sometimes. This is because it holds different meanings for different individuals and situations. Among the numerous definition of this term includes the one, which describes it simply as the act of extending advice to an individual or individuals with the aim of handling and finding solutions to personal or social issues and especially in a professional setting. Others would consider it as the process of support and directing clients, in particular, by a skilled individual on a certified basis, to determine mainly personal, social, or emotional problems and complications. Counselling has a variety of roles and depends on the scenarios under which the professional provide these services. For instance in an education or career scenario, counselling may help clients clearly define the problems that affect that as regarding their education and career goals, find means of achieving success in these scenarios and identify the areas in which they can perform to the maximum. In this case, counselling may emerge as a factor for individual or professional improvement. The role of the counselor here is to facilitate positive change and personal improvement on the part of the individual. In this context, counselling acts a powerful tool for conveying the sagacity of self-efficiency and empowerment within clients.

Counselling helps in the assessment of problems that clients present to the professional counselor. In addition, it uncovers the actual problems that individual have and which may be, expressed in other indefinable characteristics. Problems, especially those related to psychological disorders are difficult to fathom superficially. The services of counselors are therefore, necessary in such cases. Counselling paves the way through which individuals' underlying problems emerge. Moreover, it enables the management or treatment process to become a reality. Counselling, among other things, gives clients the capacity to discover several factors in their feelings, attitudes, and overall lives. This is because the phenomenon enables the clients to become open and talk freely. Because of this, counselling helps enhance more effective functioning among clients beyond the counselling sessions. It helps clients perform better when they are, left on their own to handle the issues they face in life.

Counselling Techniques

With the ever increasing knowledge and occurrence of psychological conditions in the society, the studies and acts that focus on the prevention and management of psychological issues and their outcomes. Counselling entails the skilled and principle application of relationship to enhance personality knowledge and emotional approval and growth and the best possible advancement of personal resources. The process has the goal of providing a prospect for working towards a life that is not only pleasurable but also productive. Counselling appears in a variety of forms with each of the relationships vary based on the nature of the need that emerge in the process. Additionally, other parameters like the need for personal development and the provision of the resolution to explicit issues and whose nature also governs the nature of counselling that practitioners advance. It is also imperative to understand that decision-making, personal insight development, career establishment, knowledge advancement, and the individual or group's ability to survive during crises are also subject to counselling whenever such need arises.

This aspect of psychology extensively, involves working through the emotions, inner feelings, or conflicts with the view of enhancing relationships with other and different environments. Counselling in many cases occurs in sessions with the counselor and the client(s) talking through and attempting to find solutions to the existing issues. The role of the counselor in these sessions includes facilitation where he or she controls most of the events that unfold in the process. Counsellor's works in manners that respect the values of the client, his or her self-determination, and the resources. The client on the other hand, requires cooperating by presenting the counselor with true information about his thoughts, feelings, and attitudes among other things.

Mechanisms for conducting counselling vary and, governed by diverse parameters. This is because the problems that clients present and the issues that emerge during the process are different for individuals, groups, and environments. The natures of situations under which the clients seek the services of the clients generally determine whether a counsellor would use one technique of counselling or the other. Among the counselling techniques known for the works of psychology include, Humanistic Counselling Techniques, Neo-Psychoanalytic counselling approach and the cognitive or behavioral counselling approach among others.

Humanistic Counselling

Humanistic mechanisms in counselling are significant in helping counselling clients settle on different choices from among a variety that are presented to them. Humanistic counselling in exploring the client's issues and attempting to find solutions provides the client with extensive freedom to be himself/herself, in the counselling situation as probable. In this form of counselling, the role of the counselor hinges towards the acceptance of the clients in whatever way he or she appears in addition to providing the client with direction on how to perceive his or her choices objectively. What is more, the practitioner takes care not to impose his/her views and choices of the clients with the aim of influencing the client's behavior towards a certain direction. Among the aspects of humanistic counselling include, gestalts techniques, active listening, and non-confrontational questions.

Non-confrontational questions in humanistic counselling constitutes the use of open ended queries and serves to help the client explore deeper into the issues at hand and his or her thoughts about them. These questions present an opening point for deeper contemplation and leaves out the counselor's standpoint. Because of this, the client gets that chance to independently, express the thought without the practitioner influencing them. Active listening facilitates this approach to counselling by aiding the client with the identification of his/her personal feelings and thoughts. The counselor achieves this by summarizing for the client the subtexts or the composition of what he or she is expressing. Active listening makes the client able to perceive what the counselor also sees. The importance of this visibility is in the way it helps clients accept themselves just as they are. In some instances, active listening presents the clients with proper capacities in realizing their own thoughts and attitude beyond the therapy sessions. It is however important for counselors to note that, while applying active listening, they should take care of rewording the emotional content and not focus on repeating such content word for word. This is because repeating the content verbatim may translate to, not actually, listening, an aspect known as a glib.

With reference to gestalt technique, this relates to a division of this form of counselling which focus on assisting the client put together his/her thoughts, experiences, and feelings. This is a mean of understanding and judging the clients' behavior as they usually correspond to the feelings, emotions, experiences, values, and thoughts. The gestalt mechanism applies two common approaches, which are, the psychodrama and the free association approaches. The former entails dialoguing with portions of the self, for instance, the inner child. With this approach, counselors may request the clients to change from one chair to another. This enables the client to converse from the perspective of each such characteristic or to put down in writing dialogues between these features. With the free associating approach, the counselor asks the client to mention the first phrase of word that pops out of their mind as a rejoinder to some phrases, expression, or unfinished sentences.

Cognitive / Behavioral Counselling

Cognitive Behavioral Counselling technique, abbreviated as CBT entails the characteristics of both the cognitive and behavioral therapies. Cognitive counselling entails the process by which counselors help clients learn how to recognize and reinstate warped feelings and attitude, eventually altering the associated consistent conduct towards them. This form of counselling more often than not, focus on the present and is a treatment, which hinge towards finding solutions to problems. Cognitive therapy, per se, a function with the view that distress limits one's ability to recognize their distorted personal thoughts. It actually acts as a factor for identification and reassessment of such thoughts. In addressing these issues, behavioral counselling cause individuals to attain more flexible thinking approaches and help them achieve positivity. Moreover, the therapies arm the clients with the capacity to face challenges rather that evade them. As for Behavioral Counselling technique, the effectiveness comes in the ability of the approach to facilitate behavior modification among clients. Behaviors under which this kind of counselling applies include phobias, addictions, and anxiety disorders among others. Basing on the belief that behavior can be reconditioned or unlearnt since, it is in the first place, learnt this category of therapy focuses not on the past to establish the logic behind the behavior in question. It therefore looks at the present of the situation.

Cognitive behavioral Counselling, in combining the principles and practices of the two forms of counselling mechanisms, entails the way individuals in under counselling conduct themselves together with how they respond to the behaviors or thoughts in question. Like behavioral counselling, it looks at the here and then and not the trigger of the problem. It then splits overwhelming issues two minor portions with the view of making them feasible to handle. Cognitive/Behavioral Counselling eventually classifies these smaller bits of problems under, physical feelings, emotions, thoughts, and actions. This technique of counselling explains that each of these portions has the capacity of affecting one another, for instance, the way an individual thinks about thins has the ability to determine one's feelings, emotions, physical reactions and finally, general conduct. Cognitive behavioral Counselling is based on the opinion that people learn obstructive traditions of thoughts and conducts through an extensive period. Nevertheless, recognizing these thoughts and their ability to challenge individual's behaviors and feelings are given room for the individuals to confront unconstructive ways of thoughts. This leads to constructive judgment and behavioral changes. Cognitive behavioral counselling can take place with one individuals, couples, families, or groups and depends on the problem and the comfort of the client.

Neo-Psychoanalytic Counselling

This mechanism of counselling approach follows the frame of Carl Jung and Alfred Adler whose break from Freud's psychoanalytical psychology led to the advancement of neo-psychoanalytical psychology. This approach to counselling relates to different aspects of personality. Other theories that support this form of counselling include Erik Erikson's Ego Psychology, Karen Horney's Feminine Psychology, Harry Stack Sullivan, and Erich Fromm Psychology. According to Alfred Adler's neo-psychoanalysis, all individuals are born with some form of inferiority. This causes individuals to strive for superiority thus governs individual emotions, behaviors, and thoughts. People who strive to make very big successes in life general do so because of the intense sense of inferiority that lies deep within. This category of Neo- Psychoanalytical Counselling parental styles and the birth order of a child determined the kind of adult one develops to become.

According to Carl Jung's theory, communal unconscious governs personality. The counselling approaches synonymous to this principle perform under the notion that, children and adults, in their thoughts, fears and behaviors, exhibit traits that are outstanding, related across period and traditions, an aspect he termed as collective unconsciousness. Erikson on the other hand, believed that personality was a product of the ego since it aids in the establishment and maintenance of the sense of identity. According to this psychology, a strong sense of identity emanates from acceptance of a position and exposure to practicable purposes for change and development. Weak egos, conversely, relate to trying moments, poor personality development and identity crisis. He supported the Freudians theory of development, which instituted the Trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, Initiative vs. Guilt, Industry vs. Inferiority, Identity vs. Role Confusion, Intimacy vs. Isolation, Generativity vs. Stagnation and Integrity vs. Despair.

According to Karen Horney, neo-psychoanalytical approach is called the feminine psychology and demonstrates that men balance their inability for carrying children in their wombs by striving for success and success in other realms. In addition, Personality is rather a factor of cultural and societal background and not biological differences. This theory also handles the problem of neurosis citing it as a way that victims counterproductive and maladaptively deal with relationships. It identifies three ways in which neurotics, who obtain the disorder from childhood, act namely, moving toward people, moving against the people, and moving away from people. Harry Stack-Sullivan approach anxiety represents an internal variance between the superego and the id and exists only because of social contacts. The theory demonstrates the use of approaches like defense mechanisms, which individuals apply in diminishing social anxiety, for instance selective inattention. An example of this is in a mother-child association where the former express anxiety over child nurture to their offspring using diverse means. Because of the former's inability to handles this, he/she get anxious too, leading to the learning of the selective inattention. The child therefore starts to reject or ignore relationships that produce the same emotions. Adults apply this in evading distressing circumstances. Personification, to Harry, also constitutes defense mechanism, in a theory, which believes in childhood experiences as a factor of adult personality.

These approaches of counselling that emanate from these theories rely on the belief that the root cause of behavior is important to the management of the conditions. To this counselling approach, conducting an analysis of the underlying triggers of feeling and conducts through the exploration of the unconscious and conscious mind is significant in the counselling process. Among other factors, this approach uses the free associating approach and transference together with different mechanism to aid clients knows how their minds function. One of the most common neo-psychoanalytic approaches to counselling is the Adlerian technique. Counselors apply this approach with an understanding that individuals have the tendency of always 'becoming', the reason for which human beings keep moving towards the future. Human concerns hinge, more towards the subjective goal as opposed to the objective past. Individuals are always seeking superiority failure to achieve which people develop self-defeating conducts. Additionally, such failures can lead to dissuasions, which subsequently trigger conditions like, suicide, substance abuse, neurosis, criminal conduct, and psychosis. Counselors, in this respect, focus on helping the clients establish the mistaken goals with the view of doing away with self-centeredness, isolation, and egotism. Other approaches of treatment and management of related conditions include encouraging the patients to establish meaningful and healthy interpersonal relationships. Therapy sessions involve active listening and questioning on the part of the counselor. With this, they are able to complete, know the clients as a path to responding to the clients' faulty behaviors and goals.

Comparison of Humanistic Counselling Techniques of Cognitive (behavioral) and Neo-Psychoanalytic Approaches

Counselling entails, a broad range of topics, and thus a wide range of discussion on the subject continues to emerge. Categorizing this subject also comes with a wide variety of parameters with one of them being the mechanisms through which counselors accomplish their tasks. The techniques for counselling are numerous with the humanistic, cognitive, / behavioral and neo-analytical constituting the major classifications of the approaches. Like other facets of the subjects. These techniques present a number of similarities. On the other hand, they differ in some respect and the paper explores the contrast between Humanistic Techniques against Cognitive / Behavioral and Neo-Psychoanalytic methods.

Similarities of Humanistic Counselling Techniques to Cognitive (behavioral) and Neo-Psychoanalytic Approaches

The fact that, Humanistic, cognitive / Behavioral and Neo-psychoanalytic Counselling techniques share goals is evident. Like many other techniques of counselling, these approaches aim to extend psychological support to the clients. Irrespective of the fact that these techniques have different principles and beliefs, their goal of providing the clients with the capacity to readjust to fitting life through the provision of a variety of resources cannot be undermined. These approaches aim to solve problems of different characteristic as presented within the clients with the view of facilitating, among other things, decision making. Moreover, both the techniques aid those who seek the services of counselling professionals gain some form of understanding and insight, enhance individual effectiveness, attain self-actualization and achieve a positive mental health. By working through the emotions, inner feelings, or conflicts of the victims, these forms of counselling help clients enhance relationships with others and different environments and thus become more realistic and productive that before.

The other similarity emerges in some of the notions that the theories that govern these therapy techniques advance. The belief that individuals have the ability to make choices and achieve self-consciousness is common across all these counselling techniques. This is irrespective of the fact that the achievement of these capabilities is limited among many individuals. As humanistic counselling demonstrates, counselling entails active listening where the counselor helps to translate the clients, their actual thought and thus enhancing their visibility and the ability to understand who they really are. Because client becomes able to fathom their individual though, they gain the ability to understand their behavior, not only within the therapy session but also while on their own. This technique applies the gestalt method which focuses on assisting the client put together his/her thoughts, experiences, and feelings. At the same level, cognitive behavioral counselling gives room for the clients to confront unconstructive ways of thinking causing them to gain constructive judgment and behavioral changes. Neo-psychoanalytic approach, like the two embarrasses the aspect of self-awareness and choices by showing that unconscious self-centeredness makes individuals prone to psychological problems. As such the counselling procedures emphasize on helping the clients make out the mistaken goals and reject self-centeredness, isolation, and egotism. Additionally it encourages the patients to make the choice of establishing meaningful and healthy interpersonal relationships.

Both Humanistic and Cognitive Behavioral and Neo-Psychoanalytic techniques encourage self-acceptance and aids the clients avoid unconstructive over generalized behaviors like self- judgement among other thoughts. According to all the theories that support these techniques of counselling, major psychological problems emanate from a feeling of non-appreciation from within the individuals. The internal thought, emotions, and feelings lead people into thinking they have shortcomings or try to escape from problems, which in the actual sense do not exist. In Humanistic Counselling technique, counselors focus on helping the patient identify the behavioral shortcomings that come from negative thinking. In a sense, it engages the patient to separate from the tendency of pressuring himself into being perfect since such only lead to self-destruction. With Neo-psychoanalytic approaches, counselors centered on aiding the clients establish the mistaken goals with the view of refraining from with self-centeredness, isolation, and egotism.

Some of the tools and procedures that the counselors use in the counselling procedures among the approaches relate. Both the forms of managing psychological issues rely on some forms of theories or beliefs. These theories and beliefs help provide explanations for the existence of the problems that affect their clients and pave the way from the management of the same conditions. The other tool that is common among the procedure is the listening part. All the counselors in the sessions provide extensive room for the patients to speak as a means of getting to understand the patients and the issues affecting them. In addition, this mechanism engages the clients in the session making them feel significant in the process and hence enhancing their capacity to cooperate and therefore, assist the counselors in finding a solution for their problems. Moreover, the need for the creation of any positive relationship between the client and the counselor is widespread in the three techniques.