It is much more important that you get on well with a counsellor or psychotherapist, and feel safe with them, than that you agree with their theoretical approach. However, for a look at how the different approaches to counselling and psychotherapy fit together, and to understand a bit about the way I work (Integrative and Transpersonal), you might find the following categories useful.
There are a vast amount of different therapy models and I have only offered a brief overview of some of the schools of therapies, without going into their internal groupings. I've added a few links to some helpful websites that offer a more detailed understanding.
Behind psychodynamic therapy is the idea that the basis for neuroses are developed in childhood. Freud pioneered the idea with his view that neurotic symptoms, dreams and defences are compromises between the opposing demands made on the ego by the id (the uncontrolled, primitive mind) and the superego (society's values and morals, the parent). Feeling anxious is as a result of the ego signalling that it fears being overwhelmed by the id or the superego. This feeling is then redirected or transformed in some way, depending on what defence is used, and thus the true nature of the underlying conflict is obscured. The reason that the long term inappropriate defence mechanisms have been learnt is that they offer a temporary relief from anxiety, however that causes problems.
Melanie Klein expanded on his views with the basics of object relations theory. Neuroses being deemed to be the result of childhood feelings, memories, wishes and experiences within our earliest relationships being repressed and defended against.
The client's attitude towards the counsellor is considered to be the most important part of the treatment. The aim of these therapies is to bring those conflicts, which have been consigned to the unconscious, into consciousness and undo the inappropriate defences. To facilitate this the therapist will adopt a 'blank mirror' approach and eventually the client will develop strong emotional feelings towards them. These emotional responses are those which they actually feels towards other people who are, or have been, important in their lives. This phenomenon is called transference and by pointing out these reactions the analyst can help the client understand how they react to others. To enable the client to understand the transference and how it relates to childhood conflict the analyst interprets it, e.g. tells the client what it means and its significance with regard to what has already been revealed about the client's childhood.
These theories were developed by people like Sigmund Freud; Alfred Adler; Melanie Klein and the many psychologists associated with the Object Relations school.
back to topBehavioural approaches emphasise humans as members of the animal kingdom. They don't pay much attention to ideas about mind and free will, but regard human experience as a battle for survival in a difficult environment, conditioned only by previous experiences. Behaviourists try to weaken and eliminate those habits which damage us or hold us back, and to create and strengthen the ones that assist us in life. The sorts of habits that behaviour therapy may seek to build up are those relating to reducing anxiety, aiding relaxation, assertiveness, self-control, social skills, and sexual functioning.
Behaviour therapy offers a range of techniques that are particularly good in dealing with issues around anxiety, such as specific phobias, obsessions or lack of assertiveness. Behavioural therapists may also apply themselves to group behaviour in specific settings, such as in schools and the workplace.
Some pioneers were Ivan Pavlov; Edward Thorndike and B.F. Skinner. A useful website is learnpsychology.net
back to topThis was partially derived from this behaviourist approach, but is much more interested in the way the mind is involved in how we learn and what we believe. Many different schools are all interested in the links between thinking, feeling and behaviour and work on the idea that modification of one of these interdependencies will alleviate the suffering experienced by a client.
The cognitive element in these approaches rests on the assumption that we all make mistakes when we process information as thoughts, and that by learning to think about things in new or different ways we can change the way we feel and behave. It highlights the idea that a person's core beliefs (often formed in childhood) contribute to 'automatic thoughts' that pop up in every day life in response to situations.
It is the type of therapy that is most likely to be offered by the NHS, mainly because it is time limited and a certain amount of metrics can be obtained on how effective it has been.
The therapy is generally highly-structured and short-term, challenging clients to test their own reality, and change it when they find ideas that will work better for them. Short-term bursts of CBT work in a broader approach can also be very effective.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists website offers helpful insight into this model
back to topWhilst this covers a diverse group of therapies one basic belief of all the humanistic therapies is that self-healing is inherent in human beings and that we strive to realise our potential. This is contrary to the psychodynamic view of life difficulties as a neurotic response to childhood conditioning. They emphasise a genuine belief in the uniqueness of every individual and stress the importance of acceptance and awareness of all aspects of the client in the therapeutic relationship. So their outlook seems somewhat less bleak.
Their philosophy is that a person makes choices in how they react, what they take in and what they reject. As no one else can know how we perceive, the individual is the best expert on themselves. Related to this emphasis on how we perceive and interpret reality is the importance of the person's current moment to moment experience. What we are thinking and feeling now.
When working from this orientation the task of the therapist is to describe, not to analyse, in order that the client may compare their reality and derive their own meanings. The therapist and client can devise a variety of ways of experimenting with a situation, in the present.
Some therapies that are generally regarded as humanistic are Rogerian; Client-Centred; Person-Centred; Gestalt; Existential and Solution-Focused.
back to topThis group of therapies generally try to draw together the most useful parts of the other approaches. They avoid a one-size-fits-all philosophy and are more likely to respond flexibly to the needs of different clients.
The practitioner is likely to have a sound basis in most of the branches of, and certainly all of the orientations I have already mentioned. In all probability, for the bulk of their work, the individual therapist will gravitate towards the models they feel most drawn to. A recent survey of British counsellors and psychotherapists showed that there are now more integrative-trained practitioners than any other group, but that they still only amount to 1 in 5 of the total.
Each study course has its separate syllabus, but my diploma training looked in depth at the work of Freud; Klein; Winnecott and Bowlby, for insight into early life issues. It offered ways of working with mental health disorders, including use of The DSM IV as a means of classification. The course focussed on Client Centred; Transactional Analysis; Gestalt; Existential therapies and the Transpersonal model described below.
back to topTranspersonal Psychotherapy is often described as the forth force in psychotherapy. It has developed in contrast to, but with foundations in, the first force (classical psychoanalytic theory), second force (behavioural theory) and third force (humanistic theory).
Its core belief is that human beings are more than just the sum of their problems and that we all have experiences beyond normal everyday consciousness. The term 'transpersonal' has become a general term for awareness extending beyond the individual, but it remains firmly grounded in an individual's direct experiences, and does not rest upon faith or belief in the unseen.
These approaches began with the work of figures like Carl Gustav Jung, who suggested that that there is a 'collective unconscious', a sort of group memory to which we all have access through our own personal unconscious.
Transpersonal therapists work from a sound integrative base and have a deep respect for the way the inner world emerges through language, metaphor and symbol. The approach works well for dealing with a number of life difficulties but is also useful for people who are reasonably happy but still feel something is missing. Perhaps they want to develop their creativity or spiritual life, or feel that they could put their intuition to better use. It is especially effective around life crises such as bereavement or the traditional 'mid-life crisis' and there is an emphasis on looking forward, whilst not forgetting how we arrived at where we are.
Transpersonal psychotherapists work with a variety of ways to access the unconscious. Working with dreams, body awareness, using artwork or objects, guided meditation, and drawing on stories and myths, may all be brought in. However, I tend to use these as supplements to the traditional 'talking cure', and only where clients are happy to work in this way.
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