Theories of counseling are the framework for the interpretation of the feelings, thoughts, and actions of clients and selection of approaches to helping clients through their treatment journey. The paper will first review the various theories of counseling. The paper will proceed to discuss the cognitive-behavioral therapy framework in details paying attention to the role of the counselor, therapeutic goals, relationship issues, as well as cultural diversity in cognitive-behavioral therapy framework.
Theories of Counseling
Cognitive Theory
There are five basic theories of counseling named as Psychoanalysis, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, and the holistic, integrative theory. Nelson-Jones (2010) describes Behavioral Theory is based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through the learning process . Ivan Pavlov’s classing conditioning experiment provides a perfect illustration of therapy based on behavioral theory. In his experiment, a dog was able to learn the response of salivating at the sound of a bell, from a repeated introduction of food immediately after the sound of a bell. Similarly, the operant conditioning developed by B.F. Skinner demonstrates the power of punishment and rewards in correcting negative behaviors and encouraging desired behaviors.
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Behavioral Theory
According to Jones -Smith (2012), a behavioral therapist working with the behavioral theory framework seeks to modify a client’s behavior through both positive and negative reinforcement. Cognitive Theory was developed in the late 1960s by a psychotherapist named Aaron Beck. In the cognitive theory framework, counseling is centered on helping the client develop positive thinking that can change how they feel and behave. The framework links the present situation to the distorted thinking of the past and is most often combined with the behavioral therapy. Smith describes cognitive behavioral therapy as most suitable in dealing with anxiety and mental illness.
Humanistic Theory
According to Nelson-Jones (2010), Humanistic Approach is more focuses mainly on the present situation and on assisting the clients to attain their maximum potential. Less attention is paid to the negative forces of the past; rather it dwells on the goodness of all individuals and stresses on self-growth that leads to self-actualization. Gestalt therapy seeks to compare the present on goings in the life of a client against the therapy process. An existentialist seeks to help their client to find meaning by concentrating on the client’s responsibility, free will as well as self-determination.
Integrative Theory
Neenan and Dryden (2010) describe Integrative Therapy as entailing the incorporation of various theories. The approach may also integrate non-traditional approaches such as guided imagery and hypnotherapy alongside the traditional talk therapy. The main purpose of the integrative therapy framework is to apply the strategy that best suits the situation and the client.
The role of a counselor in Cognitive-behavioral Counseling Framework
A counselor can suitably apply the cognitive framework when working with depressed individuals as well as those who have deeply developed negative thinking patterns. A cognitive counselor needs to understand that the complex cognitive process entails ideas, attitudes, values and mental pictures that accumulate in to make up both the conscious and the subconscious thoughts that determine the direction of an individual's life. Some decisions made based on an individual’s conscious and subconscious mind may get away without causing issues while others may develop negative thought patterns. In the cognitive counseling framework, the counselor pays attention to the perceptions and thoughts that impacted the client's behaviors and feelings. Having understood that clients fail to recognize their thoughts as inaccurate, the counselor helps clients to identify the negative thoughts and re-examine them.
The counselor establishes means of reassessing the negative thoughts and leading the client to a more positive and flexible thinking pattern that will consequently impact the client’s behaviors. Reevaluation process provides the counselor with the opportunity to help the client think realistically, and improve their behavior as well as emotional functionality. Similarly, the counselor has a role in assisting the client to build positive thinking skills that will be useful to them long after the counseling process. According to Jones-Smith (2012) , a counselor may decide to use the cognitive theory along with the rational emotive behavior therapy and employ the simple ABC theory frame work. ABC is an acronym for Activating event, Beliefs, and Consequences.
Through ABC the counselor will help the client identify the negative event and the client’s perception of the event. Similarly, the counselor will lead the client through the process of evaluating beliefs related to the event as well as the consequences of the belief. The rational emotive behavior therapy is most suitable when dealing with individuals with anxiety disorders shyness, constant need of approval and phobia. In such counseling process, the therapist assumes a directive role in which he or she challenges the rational beliefs of the client and assigning them tasks to help them overcome the negative thinking pattern.
Therapeutic Goals of Cognitive-Behavioral Counseling
Cognitive counseling is conducted to promote a client’s emotional intelligence as well as their self-awareness by helping them learn how to identify their emotions as either unhealthy or healthy feelings. By the end of the counseling process, clients are also able to understand the idea that distorted thoughts and perception largely leads to painful feelings. Similarly, the counseling is conducted to reduce symptoms by examining the present situation of the client and solving the problem. Short and Thomas (2014) note that clients also can exercise more self-control as they learn techniques for the identification and rectification of the distorted patterns of thinking. Moreover, cognitive counseling aims at the prevention of similar emotional distress in future as well as promoting individual growth through changing the negative core beliefs, which in most cases are the main source of the client's problem.
Relationship Issues
The link between a therapist and a client is a significant element of cognitive therapy with both primary and secondary importance. Both the technique and the relationship between the client and the therapist are equally important to the success of a counseling process. Jones-Smith (2012) notes from the review of various research articles that a cognitive behavioral therapy largely depends on the collaboration between the therapist and the client. In such therapy, both the counselor and the client establish the goal of the counseling program, as well as success terms, assignments, and ways of maintaining the success. For a successful counseling program, the therapist has to be honest and open and communicate explicitly and clearly to the client. Similarly, the therapist has to ensure that they provide clients with honest feedbacks.
The therapist has to be sensitive to any relationship issue that might arise during the program as some the issues may be as a result of the negative schemes already existing in the mind of the client. To develop a positive relationship that will enhance the counseling process, the therapist has to work towards building a relationship based on trust at the initial stages of the therapy. Jones-Smith (2012) asserts that a sudden change in the relationship between the client and the therapist may become frightening and uncomfortable to the client. Therefore, the counselor has to ensure that relationship issues caused by the client’s negative schemas are dealt with gradually as the counseling program proceeds. Although cognitive-behavioral therapy causes changes through therapeutic approaches, understanding the significance of relationship largely influences the objectives as well as the usefulness of the approaches. The relationship, to a cognitive therapist, is a secondary factor in the counseling process.
Cultural Diversity in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
When working with a culturally diverse client, the therapist needs to ensure that the counseling program provides access to the client and that the selected techniques are compatible with the culture of the client. The counselor should, therefore, adopt the counseling techniques to fit their client's culture. The therapist is highly encouraged to modify the therapy to consider the client's peculiar ethnocultural background as well as their expectation for the counseling process. Interpersonal skills employed throughout the counseling process must be relevant to the styles, language, and metaphors as well as values in the client's culture.
The counselor has to ensure that the therapy emphasizes on the unique nature of each client. The treatment has to be modified to provide for the needs of the client. According to Short and Thomas (2014), a culturally diverse therapy should aim at empowering the client within their cultural context. A client empowerment therapy is based on the idea that a client is in control and can cause changes that can assist in the formation of a collaborative relationship that adheres to their specific cultures.
The therapist has to apply therapy techniques based on the identified behaviors and the conscious process, rather than abstract theories and unconscious processes. According to Neenan and Dryden (2010) , the strategy is particularly helpful when the counseling process is done with the aid of an interpreter or in a second language. The therapist has to be sensitive to the fact that a second language may cause emotional distress, and that using abstract theories may result to misunderstandings between the client and the therapist. Similarly, the framework chosen must consider assessment throughout the counseling process. Assessment will track client's progress. The client's family can be asked on the progress of the client.
In a nutshell, the paper has explored various elements of a cognitive-behavioral theory. The main role of a therapist in a cognitive behavioral counseling is to help the client identify and re-examine the negative perception and work towards development positive techniques that aim at changing negative perceptions and subsequently change behavior. The relationship is of key importance to a cognitive-behavioral counseling hence the counselor has to work toward winning the trust of their client and make them comfortable. Moreover, the therapy framework is modified to suit meet the cultural needs of the client.
References
Jones-Smith, E. (2012). Theories of counseling and psychotherapy: An integrative approach . Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications.
Neenan, M., & Dryden, W. (2010). Cognitive therapy in a nutshell . Sage.
Nelson-Jones, R. (2010). Theory and practice of counselling and therapy .
Short, F., & Thomas, P. (2014). Core Approaches in Counselling and Psychotherapy . Routledge.
