Lecture
In counseling there is one more necessary stage - the concluding one, without which the effectiveness of even the most successful intervention can be significantly reduced. It involves 1) summarizing the conversation (a brief recap of everything that occurred during the session); 2) discussing questions concerning the client's further relationship with the counselor or with other necessary specialists; 3) the counselor's farewell to the client.
Summarizing the conversation allows one to look at what took place during the counseling interaction from the outside, focusing attention on the central, key moments of the counseling. Reflecting on what has happened helps prevent the client from forgetting or misunderstanding ideas, paths of change, or a decision that had seemed remarkable, which is one of the main mechanisms of resistance to psychological influence. It often happens that a person who worked actively during the session can hardly recall what the conversation was even about. To avoid this, the counselor very briefly retells the content of the conversation in three to four sentences. In constructing summarizing phrases, the following expressions can be used: "We talked about…", "Our conversation today was devoted to…", "In the course of our conversation we concluded…". It is important that everything the counselor mentions was in fact discussed during the session.
The client may have questions or some unspoken ideas that the summarizing allowed them to formulate. For this, the counselor can hold a brief pause to give the client the opportunity to react to the end of the conversation.
Many clients seeking psychological help for the first time are oriented toward a single visit. Within the course of one counseling session it is practically impossible to achieve the goals set by the client. However, the client may form an idea of possible ways of independent work aimed at the desired changes. Unless there are some special grounds, the counselor should not insist on subsequent meetings. The client can be invited to reach out if necessary, being provided with the information needed for this: contact details, session times. It is important that the client know that the possibility of seeking help exists.
It often becomes clear during a session that there is a need to obtain help from specialists of another profile (psychiatrists, physicians, educators, lawyers). It is best when a psychologist works with such specialists in collaboration. This allows overall effectiveness of the help provided to be significantly increased.
One of the options for concluding the first conversation is making a decision about the next meeting. For more effective, purposeful, and constructive work, the counselor should clearly formulate exactly which tasks will be addressed during subsequent meetings. It is necessary to ask about the client's wishes, regarding which aspects of their situation they would like to focus on first.
+To help the client work on themselves more actively and independently, homework assignments offered by the counselor at the end of the session can help. Usually, what is chosen as homework is something that, in the opinion of both parties, would be useful to correct, change, or understand more deeply through observation or practice. Homework can be done in writing, for example, in the form of keeping a journal. Sometimes it is enough simply to ask the client to think about something or to do something.
Saying goodbye to the client should not look formal, although in many ways it is a ritual act. Where possible, a few warm words can be said to the client in farewell.
Not one of the theoretical orientations or schools of psychological counseling reflects all the possible situations of interaction between counselor and client. Therefore, let us consider the most general model of the structure of the counseling process, called the eclectic model (B. E. Gilland and colleagues; 1989). This systemic model, encompassing six closely interrelated stages, reflects the universal features of psychological counseling or psychotherapy of any orientation.
Exploration of problems. At this stage the counselor establishes contact (rapport) with the client and achieves mutual trust: it is necessary to listen attentively to the client speaking about their difficulties, and to show maximum sincerity, empathy, and care, without resorting to evaluations or manipulation. The client should be encouraged to consider the problems that have arisen in greater depth, and their feelings, the content of their statements, and their nonverbal behavior should be noted.
Two-dimensional definition of problems. At this stage the counselor strives to precisely characterize the client's problems, establishing both their emotional and cognitive aspects. Clarification of the problems continues until the client and the counselor reach an identical understanding; the problems are defined in specific terms. A precise definition of the problems allows their causes to be understood, and sometimes points to ways of resolving them. If difficulties or ambiguities arise when defining the problems, one should return to the exploration stage.
Identifying alternatives. At this stage, possible alternatives for solving the problem are elicited and openly discussed. Using open-ended questions, the counselor encourages the client to name all possible options that they consider suitable and realistic, helps put forward additional alternatives, but does not impose their own solutions. During the conversation, a written list of options can be drawn up to make them easier to compare. Alternative solutions to the problem should be found that the client could use directly.
Planning. At this stage, a critical evaluation of the selected alternative solutions is carried out. The counselor helps the client work out which alternatives are suitable and realistic in light of past experience and current readiness to change. Drawing up a plan for a realistic solution to the problem should also help the client understand that not all problems are solvable. Some problems require too much time; others can only be solved partially by reducing their destructive, disorganizing effect on behavior. The problem-solving plan should provide for the means and methods by which the client will test the realism of the chosen solution (role-playing, a "rehearsal" of actions, etc.).
Action. At this stage, the problem-solving plan is consistently implemented. The counselor helps the client organize their actions with regard to circumstances, time, emotional costs, and an understanding of the possibility of failing to achieve the goals. The client must come to understand that partial failure is not a catastrophe and that they should continue implementing the problem-solving plan, linking all actions to the ultimate goal.
Evaluation and feedback. At this stage, the client, together with the counselor, evaluates the level of goal achievement (the degree to which the problem has been resolved) and summarizes the results achieved. If necessary, the solution plan may be refined. When new or deeply hidden problems arise, it is necessary to return to the previous stages.
This model, reflecting the counseling process, only helps to better understand how a particular counseling session unfolds. The real counseling process is significantly broader and often does not follow this algorithm. The distinction between stages is conditional, since in practical work some stages merge with others, and their interdependence is more complex than shown in the presented scheme.
Here it is worth emphasizing once again what was mentioned above — in the counseling process, what matters is not so much the schemes (although a general idea and understanding of how counseling proceeds is essential) as the professional and human competence of the counselor. It consists of many elements, which will be discussed below. Let us list the general rules and attitudes of the counselor that structure the counseling process and make it effective:
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There are no two identical clients or counseling situations. Human problems may only appear similar from the outside; however, since they arise, develop, and exist in the context of unique human lives, the problems themselves are in fact unique. Therefore, every counseling interaction is unique and unrepeatable.
In the process of counseling, the client and the counselor are constantly changing in accordance with their relationship; in psychological counseling there are no static situations.
The client is the best expert on his or her own problems, so during counseling one should help the client take responsibility for solving their problems. The client's own view of their problems is no less important, and perhaps even more important, than the counselor's view of them.
In the process of counseling, the client's sense of safety is more important than the counselor's demands. Thus, in counseling it is inappropriate to pursue a goal at any cost, disregarding the client's emotional state.
In striving to help the client, the counselor is obliged to "engage" all of his or her professional and personal capabilities; however, in each specific case he or she must not forget that he or she is only human and therefore is not able to bear full responsibility for another person, for that person's life and difficulties.
One should not expect an immediate effect from each individual counseling session — the resolution of problems, as well as the success of counseling, does not resemble a straight line rising evenly upward; it is a process in which noticeable improvements alternate with setbacks, because self-change requires much effort and risk, which do not always and not immediately end in success.
A competent counselor knows the level of his or her own professional qualifications and personal shortcomings; he or she is responsible for observing the rules of ethics and for working for the benefit of clients.
Various theoretical approaches may be used to identify and conceptualize each problem, but there is not and cannot be a single best theoretical approach.
Some problems are essential human dilemmas and are in principle unresolvable (for example, the problem of existential guilt). In such cases, the counselor must help the client understand the inevitability of the situation and come to terms with it.
Effective counseling is a process that is carried out together with the client, but not instead of the client.
1. Preparatory stage. At this stage, the psychologist-counselor becomes acquainted with the client based on the prior appointment recorded in the registration log, as well as from information about the client that can be obtained from third parties, for example from the staff member of the psychological consultation service who took the client's request for a consultation. At this stage of the work, the psychologist-counselor also prepares personally for conducting the consultation, doing practically everything that was discussed in the previous section of this chapter. The time the psychologist-counselor spends at this stage is usually 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Adjustment stage. At this stage, the psychologist-counselor personally meets the client, becomes acquainted with him or her, and attunes to working together with the client. The client does the same on his or her part. On average, this stage, if everything else has already been prepared for conducting the consultation, may take from 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Diagnostic stage. At this stage, the psychologist-counselor listens to the client's confession and, based on its analysis, clarifies and refines the client's problem. The main content of this stage consists of the client's account of himself or herself and of his or her problem (the confession), as well as psychodiagnostics of the client, if there is a need to carry it out in order to clarify the client's problem and find its optimal solution. It is not possible to determine with sufficient precision the time required to carry out this stage of psychological counseling, since much in determining it depends on the specifics of the client's problem and his or her individual characteristics. In practice, this time amounts to at least one hour, excluding the time required for psychological testing. Sometimes this stage of psychological counseling may take from 4 to 6–8 hours.
4. Recommendation stage. Having gathered, at the previous stages, the necessary information about the client and their problem, the psychologist-consultant at this stage works together with the client to develop practical recommendations for solving the problem. Here these recommendations are clarified, refined, and specified in all essential details. The average time usually spent on this stage of psychological counseling is from 40 minutes to 1 hour.
+5. Control stage. At this stage the psychologist-consultant and the client agree with each other on how the client's practical implementation of the practical advice and recommendations received will be monitored and evaluated. This is also where they decide how, where, and when the psychologist-consultant and the client will subsequently be able to discuss any additional questions that may arise in the course of carrying out the recommendations developed. At the end of this stage, if the need arises, the psychologist-consultant and the client may agree with each other on where and when they will meet next. On average, work at this final stage of psychological counseling takes 20–30 minutes.
Summing up everything said above, it can be established that going through all five stages of psychological counseling may, on average, take (excluding the time allotted for psychological testing) from 2–3 to 10–12 hours.
To improve their own communicative skills, the psychologist-consultant is advised to master the following brief forms of speech etiquette, which may prove useful to them when meeting clients at a psychological consultation.
Forms of greeting a person and forms of inviting them into the room:
– Hello.
– Please come in.
– Good afternoon.
– Please come in.
– I am glad to welcome you.
– Please...
– Welcome...
Forms of expressing joy upon meeting:
– What a pleasant meeting!
– Glad to see you!
– You've finally come, I'm so glad!
– Very glad to see you!
Forms of introduction:
– I want (would like) to get acquainted with you.
– Let's get acquainted.
– Let's introduce ourselves.
– Allow me to introduce myself. My name is...
– And what is your name? Please introduce yourself. Forms of addressing a person with a question:
– Please tell me...
– Would it trouble you to tell me...
– Excuse me, could you tell me...
– May I ask you...
– Would you be so kind as to tell me...
– Could you tell me...
The procedure for calming the client, neutralizing the effects of any complexes they may have, and removing psychological barriers to communication may include technical methods that create for the client an atmosphere of physical and psychological comfort and ensure their psychological safety. These methods might include, for example, the following:
– Give the client the opportunity to be alone for a while, for example, to sit alone for two or three minutes without talking to anyone. During this time, the psychologist-consultant may busy themselves with some task right there in the consultation room, or step out of the room for a few minutes.
– Play quiet, pleasant music in the consultation room while the client is in it and is getting ready for the upcoming conversation with the consultant.
– During the conversation, hand the client some pleasant, appealing small object, such as a toy.
– Suggest that the client do something with their hands while talking with the psychologist-consultant, under the pretext of, for example, doing the psychologist-consultant a small favor or providing some help.
The actions described above can be applied in practice in a wide variety of combinations, both individually and in various combinations with one another.
Emotions and feelings in counseling and psychotherapy, as Bugental (1987) put it, are like blood in surgery: they are inevitable and perform a cleansing function, stimulating healing. Feelings are very important in the counseling process, but they are not an end in themselves, although it is precisely strong feelings — fear, pain, anxiety, pity, hope, and others — that help in achieving goals.
Recognizing and reflecting the client's feelings appears to be one of the most important counseling techniques. These processes are more than technique; they are an essential component of the relationship between two people. Reflecting feelings is closely related to paraphrasing the thoughts expressed by the client — the difference is only that in the latter case attention is focused on the content, whereas in reflecting feelings it is focused on what is hidden behind the content. Wishing to reflect the client's feelings, the consultant listens attentively to their disclosures, paraphrases individual statements, but also attends to the feelings expressed by the client in these disclosures.
It is important to pay attention to the balance of facts and feelings in a counseling conversation. Often, carried away by the urge to interrogate, the counselor begins to ignore the client's feelings.
For example:
Client: My husband and I have been friends since childhood and got married after graduating from university. I thought — how wonderful married life would be! But it turned out to be completely different...
Counselor: How many years have you been married?
In this case, it gives the impression that the counselor is more interested in the formal fact of the marriage's duration than in how the client is experiencing her married life. The continuation of the conversation could have been clearly more productive had the counselor let her continue her disclosure, or, noticing a lengthy pause, asked: "What does "completely different" mean to you?"
In counseling there is a rule that when asked about feelings, a client often talks about facts from their life, but when we ask only about life events, there is practically no chance of hearing anything about feelings. This rule clearly points to the priority of questions about feelings and to the essential role of reflecting feelings in counseling. This is a necessary condition for maintaining the counseling contact in client-centered therapy.
By reflecting the client's feelings, the counselor focuses attention on the subjective aspects of the client's disclosures, seeking to help the client sort out their feelings and/or experience them more fully, more intensely, more deeply. Reflection of feelings means that the counselor acts as a kind of mirror in which the client can see the meaning and significance of their feelings. Reflecting feelings fosters interpersonal, emotional contact, because it shows the client that the counselor is trying to understand their inner world. Effective reflection of feelings helps the client better understand their often contradictory feelings and thereby facilitates the resolution of inner conflicts.
For example:
Client: This is difficult not only to talk about, but even to think about. It has been a long time since I have had any relationships with men, and now I don't know how to feel about the opportunity that has appeared.
Counselor: It's sad to see how you fear and avoid the very thing you say you would like.
Client: Without a doubt. I don't know whether he's right for me. He seems very sweet and has everything I could want. I don't know...
Counselor: Your feelings are in turmoil right now. You can't decide whether you truly want this man.
Client: Yes. And it's always like this when I think about it. If someone cares about me and is good in every way, I run from him; when someone doesn't want me, I want him. What a mess! Will I ever be able to change this?
Counselor: You feel confused, wondering whether you should always try to run away when someone cares about you.
The wish to reflect feelings presupposes recognizing them. To do this, one must pay attention not only to the content of the client's story, but also to their emotional tone, posture, and facial expression. It is equally important to remember that feelings may be hidden not only in what is told, but also in what is left untold, so the counselor must be sensitive to various hints, silences, and pauses.
When reflecting feelings, one should take into account all of the client's emotional reactions — positive, negative, and ambivalent; directed at themselves, at other people, and at the counselor. For an accurate reflection of feelings, it is important to use a rich vocabulary of concepts that capture the various nuances of feeling.
In counseling, it is important not only to reflect feelings but also to summarize them. This makes it possible to determine the emotional tone of the conversation and to synthesize the emotional aspects of the client's experience. Very often in conversation we encounter contradictory, and sometimes even polar, feelings toward situations or objects of love that matter to the client. Here, summarizing feelings is very valuable for showing the client the genuine unity of opposites in the emotional sphere.
Speaking of feelings in counseling, several generalizing principles can be formulated, covering not only the reflection of the client's feelings but also the expression of feelings by the counselor:
The counselor must identify feelings, both their own and the client's, as fully and accurately as possible.
It is not necessary to reflect or comment on every feeling of the client — any action by the counselor should be purposeful within the context of the counseling process.
Be sure to pay attention to feelings when they:
- cause problems in counseling, or
- can support the client, help them.
In the first case, fear, anxiety, anger, and hostility stand out in particular. For example, a client's anger can block normal communication, so their attention should be drawn to this feeling ("Today you seem rather angry"), so that discussing it helps remove an obstacle to maintaining the counseling contact. Such discussion is also meaningful for the client, since it helps them accept the normality of their negative feelings and also reduce their intensity. It is important to help the client express negative feelings also because it is easier for the client to control feelings that are openly expressed. In the second case, we provide the client with emotional support. For example, if a client who finds it hard to leave work early arrives at the counseling session on time, this should be noted: "How good that you were able to come on time!" Or when a client with prolonged depression says she managed to get out of bed, tidy up her room, and make herself lunch, we, recognizing the significance of the event, should share her joy at this successful "progress" in overcoming the depression.
The counselor should also express his or her own feelings that arise in the counseling situation. Their emergence represents a kind of resonance to the client's experiences. As C. Rogers put it, "what is most personal is most general." By listening closely to feelings that arise during counseling as a reaction to the client's behavior, the counselor can obtain much valuable information about him or her. Expressing feelings helps maintain deep emotional contact, under which conditions the client better understands how other people react to his or her behavior. However, the counselor should express only feelings related to the topic of the conversation. Sometimes the client himself is eager to learn about the counselor's feelings. To the fairly common question, "I would like to know how you feel about me" — there is no need to rush to answer. It is better to respond to such a question with a question: "Why are you asking me this?", "What do you think about it?" In counseling, the client's feelings are always more significant than the counselor's.
Sometimes it is necessary to help clients control their feelings, especially when they are too intense. This applies to both positive and negative feelings.
Document 13: Reflecting content: paraphrasing and summarizing32
To reflect the content of a client's disclosures, it is necessary to paraphrase his or her statements or summarize several statements. In this way the client becomes convinced that he or she is being listened to attentively and understood. Reflecting content also helps the client better understand himself and sort out his thoughts, ideas, and attitudes. According to Hill (1980), this is the most widely used counseling technique regardless of the counselor's theoretical orientation.
Paraphrasing is most appropriate at the beginning of counseling, because it encourages the client to discuss his or her problems more openly. However, on the other hand, it does not sufficiently deepen the conversation. Ivey (1971) identifies three main purposes of paraphrasing:
to show the client that the counselor is very attentive and is trying to understand him or her;
to crystallize the client's thought by repeating his or her words in condensed form;
to check whether the client's thoughts have been understood correctly.
When paraphrasing, one should keep in mind three simple rules:
The client's main thought is paraphrased.
The meaning of the client's statement must not be distorted or replaced, nor should anything be added from oneself.
One should avoid "parroting," i.e., verbatim repetition of the client's statement; it is preferable to express the client's thought in one's own words.
A well-paraphrased thought of the client becomes shorter, clearer, and more specific, which helps the client understand for himself what he wanted to say.
Examples of paraphrasing:
Client: I don't know how to go on living. Sometimes I think I should drop everything and go to work, and sometimes it seems I should continue studying, but I don't know what to choose.
Counselor: You are experiencing an inner struggle over further self-determination in life, and it is difficult for you to decide which of the two paths is more correct today.
Client: This year misfortunes have followed one after another. My wife was ill, and then that accident which was the last straw, and now this operation on my son... It seems to me that the troubles will never end.
Counselor: It seems that the problems will never end, and you are asking yourself whether it will always be this way.
Summarizing expresses the main idea of several loosely connected statements or of a long and confused statement. Summarizing helps the client organize his thoughts, recall what has been said, encourages consideration of significant topics, and helps maintain the sequence of counseling. Whereas paraphrasing covers only the statements the client has just made, summarizing covers an entire stage of the conversation or even the entire conversation. Ivey (1971) points out the situations in which summarizing is most often used:
when the counselor wants to structure the beginning of the conversation in order to link it with previous conversations;
when the client speaks at great length and in a confused manner;
when one topic of the conversation has been exhausted and a transition to the next topic or the next stage of the conversation is planned;
when there is a desire to give the conversation a certain direction;
at the end of a session, when there is a desire to emphasize the essential points of the conversation and to give an assignment for the period until the next session.
According to V.V. Stolin, complaints spontaneously voiced by a client can be structured as follows:
I. The locus of the complaint, which is divided into:
— subject-related (who is being complained about),
— object-related (what is being complained about). By subject-related locus, there are five main types of complaints (or their combinations):
a) on the child (his behavior, development, health...);
b) on the family situation as a whole (in the family «everything is bad», «everything is wrong»);
c) on the spouse (his/her behavior, characteristics) and marital relations («there is no mutual understanding, no love», etc.);
d) on oneself (one's own character, abilities, characteristics, etc.);
e) on third parties, including grandparents living with or apart from the family.
According to the object locus, the following
types of complaints can be distinguished:
a) about a disturbance of psychosomatic health or behavior (enuresis, fears, obsessions);
b) about the role behavior (inconsistency with sex, age, status) of the husband, wife, children, mother-in-law, mother-in-law, etc.;
c) about behavior in terms of its conformity to mental norms (for example, norms of a child's mental development);
d) about individual mental characteristics (hyperactivity, slowness, «lack of willpower», etc. in the child; lack of emotionality, decisiveness, etc. in the spouse);
e) about the psychological situation (loss of contact, closeness, understanding);
f) about objective circumstances (difficulties with housing, work, time, separation, etc.)34.
Self-diagnosis is the client's own explanation of the nature of a particular disturbance in family life, based on his ideas about himself, the family, and human relationships. Self-diagnosis often expresses the client's attitude toward the disorder or its presumed bearer. The most common self-diagnoses are:
a) «Malicious intent» — negative intentions of the person who is the cause of the disturbances, or (as a variant) an indication of this person's failure to understand certain truths, rules, and unwillingness to understand them;
b) «Mental anomaly» — classifying the person in question as mentally ill;
c) «Organic defect» — qualifying the person in question as congenitally deficient;
d) «Genetic programming» — explaining certain behavioral manifestations by the influence of negative heredity (with regard to the child, usually heredity from the divorced spouse or the spouse with whom the client is in conflict; with regard to the spouse, from relatives with whom there are conflictual relations);
e) «Individual uniqueness» — understanding certain behavioral features as a manifestation of stable, established personality traits (rather than specific motives in a situation);
f) «One's own incorrect actions» — an assessment of one's own present or past behavior (including as a parent or spouse);
g) «One's own personal inadequacy» — anxiety, uncertainty, passivity, etc., and, as a consequence, incorrect behavior;
h) «Influence of third parties» — parents, spouse, grandmothers, grandfathers, teachers, whether current or having occurred in the past;
i) «Unfavorable situation» — divorce, school conflict, fright for the child; overload, illness, etc. — for oneself or the spouse;
j) «Referral» («I was referred to you by...» followed by the name of an official body, school director, or other manager).
III. Problem — is an indication of what the client would like to change but cannot.
The same authors identify the following most common problems:
1) Not sure, want to be sure (in a decision, an assessment, etc.).
2) Don't know how, want to learn (to influence, persuade, defuse conflicts, compel, endure, etc.).
3) Don't understand, want to understand (the child, his behavior; the spouse, his parents, etc.).
4) Don't know what to do, want to know (whether to forgive, punish, treat, leave, etc.).
5) Don't have, want to have (willpower, courage, patience, abilities, etc.).
6) Know how it should be done, but cannot do it, need additional incentives.
7) Cannot cope on my own, want to change the situation.
In addition, global formulations are also possible: «Everything is bad, what should I do, how do I go on living?»35
It is necessary to distinguish between the client's problem and the object locus of the complaint, formulated as the problem of the person in question. If it is a matter of the husband, wife, or child not understanding, not knowing how, etc., this does not mean that the client wants to understand, find out, etc.
IV. Request — a specification of the form of help the client expects from the consultation. Usually the problem and the request are related in meaning. For example, if the client formulates the problem: «Don't know how, want to learn», then the request is most likely to be «teach me». However, the request may also be the same as the problem.
The following types of requests can be distinguished:
1) A request for emotional and moral support («I am right, aren't I?», «I am a good person, aren't I?», «My decision is correct, isn't it?»).
2) A request for assistance in analysis («I am not sure I understand this situation correctly, could you help me figure it out?»).
3) A request for information («What is known about this?»).
4) A request for skills training ("I can't do this, teach me").
5) A request for help in working out a position ("What should I do if he is being unfaithful to me?", "Can I punish my child for this?").
6) A request to influence a family member or to change him in the interests of the person concerned ("Help him get rid of these fears", "Help him learn to communicate with other kids").
7) A request to influence a family member in the client's own interests ("Make him more obedient", "Help me break his stubborn will", "Make him love and respect me more").
A spontaneously presented complaint has a definite storyline, that is, a sequence in which life's collisions are laid out36.
The overt and covert content of a complaint can be analyzed according to the same parameters described above. Sometimes there is no covert content in a complaint. When it is present, it does not coincide with the overt content. The mismatch can occur with respect to the locus. For example, the locus of the complaint is the child and his behavior, while the covert content is the position and behavior of the father, who is not taking a sufficiently active part in raising the child.
A discrepancy may also occur with respect to self-diagnosis: the text voices an explanation of the problems in terms of one's own mistaken actions, while the covert content, conveyed through intonation, facial expressions, pantomime, and gestures, points to other causes (for example, to the interference of third parties who brought about these mistaken actions).
The mismatch may concern the problem itself. For example, it is openly stated: "I don't know, I want to know." Meanwhile the covert content is: "I don't know how, I want to know how."
And finally, a discrepancy is observed in analyzing the request: the overt content of the request is a plea for help: "What should I do if he is being unfaithful to me?", while the covert one is a request to exert influence in one's own interests: "Help me keep him."
It should be noted that covert content is not unconscious repression but merely content left unspoken.
Tactically, it is correct, already at the first meeting, to make attempts to bring covert content into the open (by formulating questions accordingly). As a rule, clients' reaction in this case is positive.
Unlike covert content, the subtext of a complaint may be unconscious or repressed, so revealing it to the client at the first meeting may disrupt rapport.
J. Grinder and R. Bandler describe a number of mechanisms that affect the processes of language modeling in people: generalization, deletion, and distortion. Put simply, any text (message) presented by a client to a counselor usually has a number of "defects" and is, in a psychotherapeutic sense, imperfect.
Deletion is the first of the "defects" in question. For example, if a client tells the counselor, "I'm afraid", he is omitting part of the message. According to Grinder and Bandler, he is omitting part of his own experience (world).
Counselors and psychotherapists should be able to notice instances where deletion occurs and help the client restore the omitted material. Specific questions (clarifications) serve to restore the omitted material.
Generalization is another process that can impoverish the client's model through the loss of details of the original experience. For example, a specific painful experience, "My wife doesn't love me", is generalized into the representation, "Women don't love me."
Special questions likewise serve as a means of establishing a connection between the generalized model and the experience. In this example: "Which women exactly?", "Whom exactly are you talking about?"
Distortion is the last process that hinders a clear picture of the problem situation for both the client and the counselor. Presuppositions serve as an example of how the process of distortion is reflected in language. For example, when a client states, "I'm afraid my son is becoming as much of a slacker as my husband", the counselor must accept as true the situation expressed by a different sentence: "My husband is a slacker" (in this example, the first sentence is the more surface structure, and the second is its presupposition).
In a counseling situation, having identified the presupposition, the counselor can present it to the client by addressing her with the question: "In what way does your husband show his laziness?"
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What stages are distinguished in the process of psychological counseling?
What are the main stages of conducting psychological counseling?
What are the counselor's tasks at the stage of psychological preparation?
What methods can a counselor use to create a state of working readiness for conducting psychological counseling?
How should a client be greeted at a psychological counseling session? What is the technique for meeting a client?
What actions does the counseling psychologist take immediately after meeting with the client?
How should the counseling psychologist begin a conversation with the client?
What words is the counseling psychologist recommended to use when addressing the client at the beginning of the conversation?
How should the counseling psychologist behave during the client's confession?
What specific techniques can the counseling psychologist use to relieve the client's psychological tension?
What is the technique of verbal support of the client by the counseling psychologist?
How can the problem of the counseling psychologist remembering what the client tells them about themselves and their problem during the confession be practically solved?
What does the procedure of empathic listening to the client include?
What does the technique of «paraphrasing (repetition)» mean? When and under what circumstances is it used in the practice of psychological counseling?
What is the counseling-psychological definition of the technique of «summarizing»? In what cases is the counseling psychologist recommended to use it?
What does the technique of emotional support of the client by the counseling psychologist consist of?
Why is it recommended that the counseling psychologist practically master and learn to use, in their speech addressed to the client, the individual features of the client's own speech?
What technical techniques does the counseling psychologist use during the client's confession?
What actions on the part of the counseling psychologist and the client does the stage of questioning the client and obtaining additional information involve?
What does the procedure of clarifying the client's thought consist of?
When and why does a need arise in counseling for a special psychological study of the client using psychological tests?
What should the counseling psychologist and the client do at the stage of interpreting the problem and making a decision?
Why is it desirable to offer the client not just one, but several different ways of solving their problem?
Why should the final choice of practical recommendations for solving the problem be made by the client personally, rather than by the counseling psychologist?
What is the procedure for clarifying the details of the decision made?
What are the tasks and content of the stage of forming a new behavioral model and optimizing the client's personal self-regulation mechanisms?
What are the basic rules that the counseling psychologist should follow when offering the client practical recommendations for solving their problem?
Why is it desirable for the counseling psychologist to provide the client with means of effectively monitoring the correct implementation of the recommendations received?
What purpose do personal meetings between the counseling psychologist and the client serve after the consultation has practically been completed and the client has received the required recommendations for solving their problem?
What are the tasks of the final stage of psychological counseling?
What words should the counseling psychologist say to the client upon completion of the consultation?
Practical Exercises
1. Imagine that you are preparing to conduct a psychological counseling session. Describe and explain the necessity of each of the steps you are planning.
2. Imagine that you are a practicing counseling psychologist. What will you do at each stage of psychological counseling?
3. How will you conduct the procedure of meeting a client with someone, recalling and applying everything that a well-prepared counseling psychologist should do in this case? Act out the entire scene of meeting a client at a psychological consultation with someone, taking on the role of the counseling psychologist. Address someone as a potential client using the typical phrases of speech etiquette appropriate to the moment of meeting a client at a psychological consultation.
4. What practical actions should a counseling psychologist take before the client's confession begins, including in these actions, in particular, the procedure for removing the client's psychological barriers and the procedure for the client's general emotional attunement to the psychological consultation?
5. Suppose your client's confession has already begun. Demonstrate in practice the procedure of empathic listening.
6. Demonstrate in practice the techniques of active listening to the client. Use the paraphrasing technique in communication with several people.
7. In conversation with one of your acquaintances, openly express verbal support to them, demonstrating in practice the corresponding procedure of psychological counseling.
8. Recall and try out in practice the procedure for clarifying the client's thought.
9. Try out the generalization technique in practice in conversation with people.
10. Try to practically use the peculiarities of different people's speech in communicating with them, as well as to copy their manner and style of communication.
11. One of your acquaintances may be experiencing minor difficulties at this period of life. Imagine that you are a counseling psychologist, and a person with a problem similar to the one your acquaintance is facing has come to see you. Suppose the client has finished their confession, and as the counseling psychologist you must determine the essence of their problem and, together with the client, find its optimal solution. How could you assess the client's problem, and what solution options could you propose? Justify each of the proposed options by considering its advantages and disadvantages. How can the procedures for finding a mutually acceptable solution and for clarifying the details of the decision made be implemented in a dialogue with the client?
12. Suppose the psychological consultation you are conducting is already nearing its end and the solution to the problem troubling the client has already been found. Show in practice how the concluding procedure of psychological counseling works.
Tests-Assignments
1. Arrange in the correct sequence the stages of psychological counseling identified by R. Kociunas
2. Arrange in the correct sequence the stages of psychological counseling identified by Yu. E. Aleshina.
3. Arrange in the correct sequence the stages of psychological counseling identified by G.S. Abramova
4. Arrange in the correct sequence the stages of psychological counseling identified by V.Yu. Menovshchikov
5. Choose the number of the correct answer.
The optimal positioning of the counselor and client relative to each other is when they sit
A) exactly facing each other
B) not exactly facing each other, but slightly at an angle
C) on the same side of the table
D) diagonally
6. Choose the number of the correct answer.
The most optimal distance between partners is -
A) 50 – 120 cm
B) 0 – 45 cm.
C) 150 – 300 cm.
D) 200 – 400 cm.
7. Complete the sentence.
The process of providing psychological help must always be preceded by …, which allows one to bring oneself into a state of optimal professional ...
8. Complete the sentence.
The agreement between the counselor and the client on what tasks they will address in the counseling process, and how responsibility for their resolution will be distributed between the counselor and the client, is called ...
9. Complete the sentence.
A sincere, emotionally rich, detailed account by the client about themselves and their problem …
10. Choose the correct answers.
The main methods used by the psychologist during the client's confession stage are:
11. Choose the correct answer.
Psychodiagnostics of the client, when necessary to clarify their problem, is carried out at the stage of:
12. Match the corresponding items.
|
Locus of the complaint |
Content of the complaint |
|
A. Subjective
|
1. Complaint about a psychological situation |
|
2. Complaint about the spouse |
|
|
3. Complaint about difficulties with time |
|
|
B. Objective |
4. Complaint about the child's behavior |
|
5. Complaint about a psychosomatic health disorder |
|
|
6. Complaint about one's own character |
13. Complete the statement.
… are variants of more constructive positions of the client toward their problems.
14. Complete the statement.
A verbally expressed hypothesis is …
15. Complete the statement.
The moment of considering alternative solutions to the problem situation arises when the problem …
16. Complete the statement.
… is the formation of mental operations that reduce the initial uncertainty of the problem situation; in its process, the stages of search, adoption, and implementation are distinguished.
17. Complete the statement.
The typical structure of a person's behavior during … is the division of the original problem into a set of simpler intermediate tasks according to the plan of … .
18. Choose the correct answer.
The consistent implementation of the client's problem-solving plan, when the counselor helps the client build activities to achieve the set goals taking circumstances into account and provides adequate psychotechnical support for developing new behavioral models using selected means, is carried out at the stage of:
19. Choose the correct answer.
The stage of psychological counseling ends with
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