Commandments of Positive Thinking Essay Example

on making the unconscious conscious, so behaviour is based more on reality and less on instinctual cravings or rrational guilt (Sharf, 2008). Working to bring awareness to the client’s inner emotional world in order to improve their ability to relate to themselves and others while working to resolve repressed conflicts in order to improve the client’s capacity to relate to others and value themselves as they really are.

By deciphering the past, the present can be reshaped to enable the client to work on immediate problems. By helping you understand what led you into therapy in the first place, psychodynamic practitioners give you the tools to keep improving your life--even after you leave the couch. Gordon, 2010)By looking at a client’s past and analysing their repressed memories it is possible to improve their present and future. In person centred therapy the relationship between the therapist and client is of primary importance. The qualities of the therapist must be empathic and respectful, showing no signs of judgement or bias towards the client, striving to continually display unconditional positive regard throughout the therapy session. The client must always be responsible for and capable of reaching their own solution for their problems (McLead, 1993; Nelson-Jones, 1982).

When a therapist creates an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding with their client, the client is then able to move forward and be able to make full use of his potential to use the qualities within themselves that were not fully developed, “in other words by means of this accepting climate, the person will become a full functioning organisme, always in the process of becoming (Rogers, 1961).

the therapist and client focus on the here-and-now, focusing on the moment.

In psychodynamic therapy the therapist remains anonymous by adopting a “blank screen approach “remaining neutral throughout the session. There is little or no disclosure from the therapist, allowing the client to develop projections and transferences towards the therapist without being influenced by the therapist’s responses or body language. Psychodynamic therapy also embraces the idea that the therapist displays empathy, acceptance and understanding of the client but does not include the idea of free will.

This model of therapy is based on the premise that the client will undergo long term analysis, gaining insight by the application of several techniques that will be more fully explored in the following paragraphs. The importance of transference in this model of counselling is integral. I found the example of transference clearly demonstrated in this small excerpt from Michael Jacobs counselling notes – the client announced during a session “My grandfather pays no attention to me while I am talking” interpreted by the therapist as “you are paying no attention to me”(Jacobs,2004, p. 69). The key techniques in person centred therapy are designed to create an environment that facilitates the process of self-awareness in the clients, techniques used to achieve this rely heavily on the therapists ability to build a genuine relationship with the client this is known as congruence, an authenticity and openness, unconditional positive regard and genuine empathic understanding(Squier, 1990).

The use of these techniques help the client to reach a point in which they can start to accept themselves and live in the moment without feeling judged or lacking in anyway, able

to be in touch with their own feelings and manage their own lives and bring about self-driven changes. Psychodynamic techniques are designed to allow clients to gain access to their unconscious, treatment focuses on bringing the repressed conflict to consciousness, where the client can deal with it.

Using techniques such as dream analysis, interpretation, free association, analysis of resistance, transference and countertransference (Corey, 2013, chap. 2). The application of these techniques are designed to lead the client to insight and the eventual assimilation of new material by the ego. There are a number of similarities that can be found between psychodynamic therapy and person centred therapy. Both models of counselling are exploratory and take as their goal the aim of helping the person to develop understanding and find and clarify meaning.

Both methods operate primarily through dialogue and conversation, emphasise the importance of the counsellor-client relationship (rather than with the system or merely with individual behaviour), there is an interest in the rational world which the client resides in. Both methods depend on the skill and interpersonal responsiveness of the therapist (Hardy, Stiles, Barkham, & Startup, 1998; Stiles, Honos-Webb, & Surko, 1998). There is a requirement that the counsellor will have undertaken a significant amount of work on self, through personal therapy (Owen, 1999).

The term therapeutic alliance can be applied equally to both models of counselling. The differences between the models of counselling focus on the two models of counselling’s differing views on human nature. Person centred therapy believes that basically people are good and trustworthy. They are able to move forward in a constructive manner and help themselves become fully

functioning individuals able to live in the here and now. The person centred therapist fosters an egalitarian relationship with the client and is looking to develop a partnership based on sharing and trust.

Whereas psychodynamic therapy believes that people are instinct driven, in constant battle with their drives and desires. The therapist is neutral and favours fixed roles and a “specialisation of labour” (Owen, 1999). Looking at the strengths of person centred therapy, two that stand out to me are-The ability for the client to be able to express themselves in a warm, genuine environment without fear of judgement or bias on the part of the therapist, the client is listened to with an empathic understanding from the therapist and thus feels able to be completely honest and open about what is worrying them and causing problems in their lives.

Person centred therapy has formed the basis for other models of therapy due to the success of its emphasis on the client therapist alliance and allowing the client the space to find themselves (Thorne). Psychodynamic therapy offers a valuable insight as to how early relationships and childhood experiences can have a detrimental effect on a person’s development, by the use of key techniques such as transference, dream analysis, free association and interpretation by the therapist these can be assimilated and new insight and acceptance of themselves will be gained by the client.

If there was a problem in the oral stage of the psychosexual development of the child for example this may be displayed in adulthood by possibly being a smoker or an over eater. Psychodynamic therapy was also fundamental in the

development of techniques to tap into the unconscious of a person and shed light onto their resistances. There are also limitations to both models of therapy.

Person centred therapy is not suited to all clients, if a person does not have the motivation to change and comes to therapy because they have to rather than because they want to (possibly due to a court order or school councillor) there will be no changes made in their lives and their problems will remain as the client will not willingly involve themselves in the counselling process, issues will not be addressed and no positive progress will be made.

Another major limitation of person centred therapy is that it fails to prepare clients for the real world due to the unconditional positive regard of the therapist (Seligman, 2006). The optimistic and empathic environment created by the therapist to bring about growth and positive change in the client is often not present in a client’s everyday life, if the client doesn’t have a strong support system and ability to assimilate to society no progress will be ongoing. Psychodynamic therapy also has its limitations.

The amount of time required to facilitate transference and other key techniques is lengthy and it can be very costly for clients, both time wise and financially, even with the advent of time limited therapy there are significant investments of a client’s dedication required for the therapy to have its optimal outcome (Corey, 2009). There are also limitations in the use of psychodynamic therapy in certain cultural backgrounds and it can be quite polarising to certain groups in society.

I would not

recommend it to certain women or racial groups due to its focus on psychosexual, aggressive foundations and assertions. Psychodynamic therapy has its conception in white, middle to upper socio economic society, other models may be more appropriate for immediate problems faced by other facets of society. After researching this essay I find myself more drawn to person centred therapy than to psychodynamic therapy.

I find the idea of helping a client in an environment of unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding a sound tenet to a therapeutic relationship, to be able to really listen to a person who may feel that they have never truly listened to in their lives would be rewarding and fulfilling to me as well as the client, that we would both benefit from the therapeutic relationship appeals to me.

The ideal that the main goal of therapy is to guide the client towards self-actualization and acceptance of themselves, gaining the ability to grow and ultimately be their own therapist and living their lives with the ability to treat others in a positive accepting manner “The ability of the therapist to move between the worlds of physical, the emotional the cognitive, and the mystical without strain and by a willingness to accept the client with a genuine warmth and congruence” (Thorne).

This resonates with me deeply and would like to be able to find the level of empathic understanding necessary to be a successful therapist in this model of therapy. In conclusion I have found that both models of counselling have similarities, they are both dialogue driven and need the client and therapist to be able to communicate

honestly and openly with each other, Both models are intuitive rather than empirical in their outcomes. The psychodynamic model of counselling is more distant to erson centred in relationship to the neutrality of the counsellor towards the client, the use of ‘blank screen’ process allows them to distance themselves from the client and interpret the client’s disclosures more analytically. The person centred therapy relies on understanding, empathy and genuine warmth as its core condition. While both models of counselling do share the same goal of encouraging the client to experience a greater ability to reach a level of understanding of themselves that promotes growth and acceptance of themselves and those around them.