Psychology Subject

What, in your opinion, are some of the possible cross-cultural limitations of the person-centered approach to counseling?

There are many possible cross-cultural limitations of person-centered approach to counseling. One of them is the possibility of the counselor putting too much emphasis on the core conditions that surrounds their subjects or the unconditional understanding that they show their clients. It holds back their sole purpose on actually helping their clients.  Another limitation is the counselor forgets his or her own power as a professional. He becomes client centered that it hinders him to communicate clearly to his patients. We must all understand that clients can be demanding in some ways and not all counselors are understanding and accepting.

It is also an error if the counselor thinks that all should focus on self-actualization for their clients to be able to cope with their problems. Clients-especially of different cultures or backgrounds will always have various limitations. For example, a 9 yr old African American girl from the upper middle-class section of Washington DC will have a different response regarding the death of her parents while a similar 9 yr old African American girl from the lower class section will also have a different reaction to the same situation. Same goes with the various tribes in Kenya, their key values are collective; it focuses on the family or the community. In addition, young people cannot take decisions alone-older tribe members must aid them. Counselors should not only focus on the clients development but to also to the things that is appropriate to the environment where they belong.

Briefly describe the four steps that Das articulated for the process of logotheraphy by Frankl

1. The first thing that the counselor should do is to be able to make the client realize that he is not a victim; counselors must divert their attentions from the immediate problem. This is also called dereflection.
2. The next step is attitude modulation. During the inevitable suffering, finding meaning in the situation through a different point of view is undoubtedly the easiest way where the client could understand the reason why such circumstances are occurring in his life. For example, having a death of father who is the breadwinner in their family; the members could approach this situation by courageously bearing what cannot be changed and moving on or continue on being at the cusp of despair.
3. Openness to new meanings is the third step. The counselor should enable the individual to look to the future and not identify too closely with their past. This step is connected closely with step two, understanding someone’s situation opens the doors to having new meanings for it.
4. Last step but also the most important is the counselors helping the clients make new goals-both short term and long term-so that their lives would have form and structure to follow. Having goals-and following them will stop the feeling of boredom and block the feeling of futility for the client. Also, by helping the client find his guidance within will also make them independent from their counselors.

Describe a hypothetical counseling scenario (client’s presenting concern) in which you would appropriately use the Gestalt empty-chair technique.

A highschool student living in Miami, Florida suddenly finds out that his parents are getting divorced. This news creates various emotions that he cannot actually decipher and thus creating an imbalance with his sense of meaning of his environment. Forcing him to create various misdemeanors like fighting, skipping class, etc. Though quite wary at first, the student seeks out the counselors help. In the counseling session, the counselor then asks the student to face the empty chair, tell him, and pretend that his father or mother is sitting in that exact empty chair three feet away. He would tell them what he feels regarding their divorce and how it is affecting him.

With this, the counselor also encourages the student to shift back and forth between chairs so that he could easily clarify his own feelings regarding his situation. In addition, through this, the counselor could easily understand where the client is coming from. When the empty chair has been addressed, the counselor can process the feelings with the student and take him through solving the problem by discussing about alternative solutions to the problem. The empty-chair technique could also be of use by regarding the grief itself as the chair and the student will express how it is affecting his life. Through discussion of these emotions or unresolved feelings, the student will experience relief in expressing such emotions and will gain support from the counselor.