Counseling Psychology

An Integrated Positive Psychological Approach

Ruth Chu-Lien Chao

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781118468111
  9781118468128
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781118468104
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychotherapy
• Index: Psychology

Counseling Psychology: An Integrated Positive Approach introduces a new dimension in counseling psychology which includes both symptom treatment and positive psychology; this unique approach guides readers to enhance clients' positive potential, rather than focusing solely on the treatment of clients' negative symptoms.

• An integrative counseling approach which maximizes graduate students' understanding of counseling theories and positive psychology
• Enables counselors to tailor integrative counseling to multicultural clients, helping graduate students and mental health professionals become culturally sensitive
• Discusses how clients manage day to day living, and can even thrive despite severe symptoms

 

PART I
Conceptual Framework

1
Introduction: Toward an Integrative Approach in Counseling

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Learning Objectives

• Discover the importance of theory.
• Review the development of deficit model of the traditional counseling theories.
• Consider the necessity of positive psychology in counseling.
• Understand the importance of culturally appropriate counseling.

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In the world of various theories in counseling, counselors and scholars face a challenge regarding how to apply theories to explain clients’ symptoms. Before selecting the “best theory,” this book explores a fundamental question behind it, “why do we need a theory?”. Prochaska and Norcross (2010) say,

Without a guiding theory …, clinicians would be vulnerable, directionless creatures bombarded with literally hundreds of impressions and pieces of information in a single session. Is it more important to ask about color preferences, early memories, parent relationships, life’s meaning, disturbing emotions, environmental reinforcers, thought processes, sexual conflicts, or something else in the first interview? (p. 4)

Thus a solid theory is basic and essential to practice. Theory is key to integrating practical applications which can otherwise become directionless. Theories also enable counselors to become competent to identify and use the most appropriate assistance to resolve their clients’ bewilderingly varied problems. Meanwhile, conversely, with practical experiences in mental health services, counselors become able to evaluate critically the theoretical knowledge. It is the purpose of this book that readers will understand how to integrate theory and counseling, thereby enriching both, and thus become skilled in providing coherent and effective services to clients.

Successful integration of theory and practice requires careful consideration of the relationship between the two. Handling theory independently of practice prevents their integration and hinders the application of theory to practice. Actually, the integration of theory and practice advances the current trend of training of mental health professionals. When education and training focus only on either research or practice, this education fails to meet the fundamental requirements of the current training trend (Belar & Perry, 1992).

Thus integration of theory and practice in this volume elucidates three assumptions: (a) integration of traditional counseling theory with positive psychology, (b) multicultural contextualization of such integration, and (c) indispensability of integrating theory and practice. Let us expand on each of these assumptions.

The first assumption in this book is that traditional counseling theory can at most describe the mechanisms of people’s psychological distress. Unfortunately, such explanation still fails to promote people’s well-being and strengths, and their symptom-free status does not equate to positive affects (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Therefore, this book introduces and incorporates positive psychology to complement traditional counseling theory, and to fill the gaps it leaves. Positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. In counseling, the principles of positive psychology assist clients to manage their problems and even thrive against their distress (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005). Positive psychology is founded on the premise that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play. This integration highlights the main purpose of this book: while traditional counseling theory demystifies clients’ psychological issues, positive psychology provides the indispensable conceptualization to promote positive emotions of clients. With the two approaches together, people are able to move to a happier and fuller life.

The second assumption in this book is contextualization of this integrative approach into the clients’ multicultural backgrounds. To counsel multicultural clients effectively, counselors should possess multicultural counseling awareness, knowledge, and skills (Sue & Sue, 2012). Multicultural competence in part entails approaching the counseling process from the context of the personal culture of the client (Sue, Arrendondo, & McDavis, 1992; Sue & Sue, 2012). Professional ethics compel counselors to ensure that their cultural values and biases do not override those of the client (American Counseling Association, 2005). To date, many books on traditional counseling theories and techniques are still based on Western culture (Arredondo, Toporek, Brown, Jones, Locke, Sanchez, & Stadler, 1996). It is apparent that the major reason for therapeutic ineffectiveness for multicultural clients lies in the monoculturalism of Western counseling to them (Sue, 2004). Unfortunately, most books on counseling theories treat multicultural counseling in a single chapter and it is often still treated as ancillary and not an integral part of counseling theories. That is, if anything at all is included about multicultural and cross-cultural issues, they tend to be treated as a chapter in the later part of the book, or a few brief paragraphs at the end of each chapter. These arrangements demonstrate a sad reality: multicultural cultural competence or counseling multicultural clients is still seen in isolation (and as unnecessary) from the overall presentations of most books on counseling theories.

This book plans to set up a new direction to contextualize the integration of counseling theories and positive psychology and to make such integration sensitive to multicultural clients’ needs. Thus, it is believed that to multiculturalize counseling theories, counselors need to be aware of their racial biases, have multicultural knowledge, and possess culturally sensitive skills (Arredondo, Toporek, Brown, & Jones, 1996).

Importantly, it is hoped that this book will serve as an agency for social justice in counseling (Landrine & Klonoff, 1996; Pettigrew, Tropp, Wagner, & Christ, 2011). Social justice mission in counseling endorses an application of theory–practice integration to the clients’ contexts. The American Psychological Association indicated that sensitivity to clients’ contexts is an ethical consideration (American Psychological Association, 2010). Such application requires being sensitive to clients’ cultural contexts, and this sensitivity is an index to practitioners’ multicultural counseling competence. Counselors who want to have more multicultural counseling competence need to work on two tasks. First, they deepen their multicultural training. Second, they contextualize their integration of theory and practice. Having knowledge about clients’ backgrounds and providing services with culturally sensitive skills are important aspects for multicultural counseling. These culturally sensitive skills are consistent with the American Counseling Association’s (2005) Code of Ethics. Thus, being multiculturally competent is an integral part of professionals’ ethical conduct.

Furthermore, contextualizing mental health services has an important self-reflective ramification. Contextualizing counseling inevitably obliges counselors to reflect on their own worldviews and cultural values, as they provide services which are theory–practice integrated. Imbalanced focus between clients’ cultural backgrounds and practitioners’ own cultural values may hinder their therapeutic relations and therapeutic effectiveness (Kearney, Draper, & Barón, 2005). To apply in practice the integration of theory and practice to culturally diverse clients, it might be helpful for both white and racial/ethnic minority counselors to reflect on how relevant their own cultural values are to their services to multicultural clients. For white counselors, it would be important for both themselves and their clients to reflect on their respective privileges and how likely they are to inherit the racial biases of their forebears (White & Parham, 1990). That is, it would be a critical awareness for whites to understand how they have directly or indirectly benefited from individual, institutional, and cultural biases on being members in majority (Helms, 1990). For racial/ethnic minority counselors, it might be useful to examine how they themselves are struggling to work through marginalization or discrimination in their own life (Sue & Sue, 2008; Vinson & Neimeyer, 2003).

The third assumption of integration in this book highlights the role of practitioners as consumers of research, according to the principle that science without practice would be abstract, and practice without science could be blind. Stoner and Green (1992) posed the question: “What scientific knowledge bases form the foundations of the professional practice of psychology, and how should a knowledge base influence practice?” (p. 158). Thus, counselors incorporate relevant knowledge into professional practice. And yet, it requires sensitive skills to judge what specific components of theoretical variables are to be integrated, and how they are to integrate. These crucial themes will be discussed in each chapter throughout this book.

Moreover, to provide effective counseling, counselors should be equipped with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. For this reason, in this book there will be a case study and application for major theories. This assumption indicates that counselors well versed in knowledge and practice will be knowledgeable of theory and skilled in counseling. Such theoretical knowledge facilitates an evaluation of psychotherapy outcomes. Thus, the delivery of effective services in clinical practice may depend on counselors’ knowledge of empirical studies and specific theoretical approaches. This highlights the importance and necessity of considering case studies after each theoretical exploration; the case study represents the integration between science and practice. Furthermore, it is hoped that counselors are able to appreciate scientific research in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a chosen service, and vice versa to meet the clients’ needs effectively.

Historical Background

The journey of treatment or psychotherapy can be traced back thousands of years. In ancient Greece, mental illness was regarded as a medical disease, more than a visitation of malevolent deities. While ancient Greeks’ understanding of the nature of the mental illness was not always correct in the present perspective, they did recognize the value and importance of treatment or psychotherapy. In the Middle Ages, supernatural causes were believed to be the reason for mental illness, and thus the use of torture was popular to gain confessions of demonic possession. However, some physicians also began to support the use of psychotherapy to treat patients. For example, Paracelsus (1493–1541) was credited with providing the first clinical/scientific mention of the unconscious, and advocated psychotherapy for the treatment of mental illness (Webster, 2008). Despite scattered information about “talking” in the treatment of emotional problems, the English psychiatrist Walter Cooper Dendy was an important figure in treating mental illness from a psychological perspective. Dendy (1853) first introduced the term psychotherapeia to refer to the “helpful influence of a healer’s mind upon that of a sufferer.” Within this term psychotherapeia he described the growing belief in the benefits of talking with the patient suffering from emotional problems.

Although the history of psychotherapy or counseling is quite ancient, counseling as a profession is a relatively new occupation, traceable back to some events in the twentieth century. Counseling as a profession arose in response to societal problems that plagued the United States at the turn of the nineteenth century, such as industrial revolution and urbanization. The advent of World War I and World War II further stimulated the development of psychology as a science and an occupation. Additionally, the US government furthered progress in professional counseling by formally sponsoring counseling services. After World War II, a deficit model of treating people led to remarkable progress in treating a variety of mental illnesses.

In recent decades, mental health services have been controlled and developed not by new ideas, but by economic issues. Traditionally, psychotherapy was a long process, often involving years of treatment. As mental health services became more widely available, emphasis was placed on briefer forms of treatment. This trend was further driven by the arrival of managed care insurance plans and limitations to coverage for mental health issues in Western countries. Today, virtually all therapeutic modalities offer some sort of brief therapy designed to help the persons themselves deal with their own distinct problems. Another influence came from government-sponsored grants such as the National Institute of Health which tended to fund research on treating existing illness more than preventive intervention or enhancement of well-being (Seligman, 2001). At present, the new integration approach presented in this book has two scenarios, enumerated as follows.

Integration I: Counseling in Positive Psycholog...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• PART I: Conceptual Framework
• PART II: Integration of Counseling Theories and Positive Psychology
• Appendix
• References
• Index
• End User License Agreement