FOUNDATIONS OF COUNSELING

1
FOUNDATIONS OF COUNSELING

• By
• Sr.Rekha

2

• The theory and practice of counseling has drawn
  insights from other disciplines, including
  philosophy, psychology, sociology, and the other
  social sciences. These disciplines have provided
  both data and comprehensive hypotheses that
  counselors have used to clarify the theoretical
  structures underlying the whole counseling
  process.
• Generally, there are three foundations to
  counseling theory
• Philosophical Foundations
• Sociological Foundations
• Psychological Foundations

3
Philosophical Foundations

• In a healthy personality the individual has a
  realistic perception of himself he knows what he
  wants and how much he wants it.
• A goal of counseling is to help individuals to
  reach their maximum potential, which can occur
  only when they develop consistent philosophical
  outlooks.
• Psychologists have often argued that philosophy
  has no place in the scientific study of human
  behavior. However, May (1967) points out that
  every scientific method rests on philosophical
  presuppositions.

4
Different Philosophical Positions

• Belief in the dignity and worth of the
  Individual
• One theme is found consistently in the literature
  discussing the philosophy of counseling belief
  in the dignity and worth of the individual, in
  the recognition of the individuals freedom in
  determining his own values and goals, and in the
  clients right to pursue his own life-style
• A number of beliefs have emerged from Western
  civilization philosophies. These beliefs center
  on the concept of individualism. Its first aspect
  is the importance accorded the individual.
• Thus, in Western culture a counselor is
  encouraged to help the client to become more
  independent, more autonomous.

5

• Arbuckles (1975) Philosophical Model about a
  responsible and free individual
• A responsible and free individual is one who has
  narrowed the gap between attitudes and behaviors
  the literal meaning of freedom and responsibility
  changes as the culture changes and a responsible
  individual is one who has no need to impose
  himself or his ideas on others.

6
Blochers grouping of relevant philosophical
systems

• Blocher (1966) has proposed grouping contemporary
  philosophical systems into three major
  categories
• Essentialism
• Progressivism
• Existentialism

7
Essentialism

• Essentialistic philosophies assume that humans
  are the only creatures endowed with reason and
  that their chief function is to use this reason
  in order to know the world in which they live. It
  therefore follows that truth is universal and
  absolute, and the individuals destiny is to
  discover truth by distinguishing between the
  essential and the accidental. It refers to a
  belief in the existence of fixed, unchanging
  absolutes of the good, the true, and the
  beautiful.
• Arbuckle (1975) points out that belief in
  absolute values can pose some difficulties for
  counselors. He asks whether the counselor who is
  firmly committed to absolutistic concepts of
  right and wrong, truth and error, beauty and
  ugliness, can allow a client the freedom to
  develop values in the clients own unique way.

8
Progressivism

• Such systems begin not with the assumptions of
  universal truths but with specific and particular
  experiences. The question What is true? is less
  important than What will work?
• A fact is valued for its usefulness, not its
  universality. As a result, values have no
  existence in themselves. Values are individual to
  the observer, and truth is dynamic in a world
  that is always changing. Certainly such a view
  describes the philosophy that underlies
  behaviorism. The behavioral approach is primarily
  pragmatic .

9
Existentialism

• Existentialism is concerned with human longing
  and with seeking for importance within the
  individuals self. The existential philosophies
  emphasize the view of reality most meaningful to
  individuals. In a sense, it represents an
  approach that is empathic response by the
  counselor, as the counselor attempts to
  reconstruct the personal meaning structure of the
  client.
• To analyze human behavior in philosophical terms
  is to ask serious questions about what a person
  values, whether he or she should value it,
  whether this value fits in with a pattern of
  values, whether the values of something hampers
  or assists other important values. Philosophical
  questions are directly involved when an
  individual faces a problem whether personal,
  vocational, or interpersonal.

10
Sociological Foundations

• Sociology is basically a study of social group
  behavior. A basic premise of sociology is that
  peoples behavior is largely determined by their
  social interactions, their relationships as
  individuals and as group members. Following is
  the description of these influences
• Influence of social organizations on Individuals
  
• Sociologists have examined what impact the social
  structure has on the individual and how the
  individual adapts to these social controls.
  Merton (1957) suggests that individuals can cope
  through five general means conformity,
  innovation, ritualism, retreatism, or rebellion.

11
Socialization processes

• This process transmits values and purposes of the
  group to the individual, teaching the individual
  how to fit into the pattern of that social
  organization. Socialization does not typically
  deal with the uniqueness of individuals rather,
  it focuses on those aspects of an individuals
  development that concern the adaptations and
  adjustments to the culture or society. In effect,
  the socialization processes work primarily to
  further the goals of the group rather than to
  further the development of the individual.
  Because the counselors primary commitment is to
  individual growth and development rather than to
  the facilitation of group ends, the counselor is
  particularly concerned with those socialization
  processes that help the individual develop
  identity, self-awareness, values, and goals.

12
Development of social/cultural values

• Effective counselors should be able to understand
  how an individuals culture influences his value
  structure and how conflicts between individual
  and cultural values influence development. Values
  and gender roles have changed in modern day
  society. At fault is what sociologists call a
  cultural lag that is, habits and beliefs from
  previous times conflict with the cultural
  patterns brought about by new technology

13
Psychological Foundations

• Social Psychology
• Behavior is a product of the perceptual field of
  the individual at the moment of action.
  Contemporary social psychology greatly concerned
  with perceptual processes in human beings. For
  example, when an individual views a situation as
  threatening, he or she acts as if that situation
  were indeed threatening.
• The counselor must understand the nature of the
  individuals perceptual experiences. Therefore,
  the person will behave defensively or
  aggressively, depending on what he sees as the
  best reaction to the perceived threat.

14

• Psychological Foundations Learning Principles
• The behavioral theories tend to emphasize the
  idea that learning is essentially a mechanical
  matter.
• Field theories emphasize on perception eventually
  forced the behaviorists to stop speaking as if
  the stimuli were purely objective and therefore
  equivalent for everyone.
• Cognitive theorists conceptualize learning as an
  active restructuring of perceptions and concepts,
  not as passive responses to stimuli.

15
Thank you