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SOME PRACTICAL DEFINITIONS OF COUNSELLING by Dr Jim Byrne Updated: 3rd May 2013 In simple terms, counselling involves one person (the counsellor) helping another person (the client) to work through some difficult or painful emotional, behavioural or relationship problem or difficulty. That is the form of individual counselling. Dr John McLeod described counselling like this: "Counselling is a wonderful twentieth-century invention. We live in a complex, busy, changing world. In this world, there are many different types of experience that are difficult for people to cope with. Most of the time we get on with life, but sometimes we are stopped in our tracks by an event or situation that we do not, at that moment, have the resources to sort out". If we cannot find ways to sort this out in our family, with our friends, or with a priest or doctor, etc., then "Counselling is a really useful option at these moments". John McLeod, An Introduction to Counselling, 2003. Here is my basic video description of counselling: A counsellor may also see a couple, especially a married or cohabiting couple, to help them with their relationship. And some counsellors help whole families to work on their relationship problems. See also my Couples Therapy page.
Review: (This) is a highly intelligent book which treats the reader as an intelligent inquirer. I have recommended the book to other professionals, such as lawyers, who deal with counsellors and counselling. I have put it on my reading lists in the post-graduate counselling degrees conducted at my University. At the same time, I have recommended it colleagues who boast years of experience. McLeod covers mainstream approaches to counselling such as psychodynamic, person-centered, CBT, systemic, feminist and narrative. He recognises that conselling approches do not come from nowhere, but reflect specific socio-cultural context. His engaging accounts of these contexts and of the individuals who articulated approaches which grew from them, provide a solid base from which to consider each theoretical development. At the same time, McLeod is interested in what elements tie counselling together. What are the root metaphors used by most counsellors most of the time? McLeod is also deeply interested in counselling as an ethical pursuit. He is concerned with the nature of social and interpersonal power and with the moral principles which should guide theory and practice. He covers research, supervision, training and skills acquisition, the politics of counselling and the nature of counselling organizations. He even ventures into predictive statments for the next fifty years. This book is an impressive achievement. The amount of information and the breadth and depth of ideas is deceptive because each chapter reads so well. I have been in the business for twenty five years. I couldn't put it down! Available from Amazon: An Introduction to Counselling, by Dr John McLeod ~~~ The Counselling Blog: Every week, I write a ‘counselling blog', which looks at various aspects of counselling in general, and especially the core theories of Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy (CENT), and CENT Couples Therapy. Please take a look and see what you think: here: The Counselling Blog.*** ~~~ The six main counselling services provided by Dr Jim Byrne: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id2.html The Institute for CENT Counselling: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id112.html The Counselling Research page: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id134.html ~~~ Here's a little video clip showing the experiences of some former counselling clients: ~~~ CENT ebook No.6 is now available:
The main aim of this book is to spread happiness. Not just any old hedonistic happiness, excitement, or thrill seeking; but rather pro-social, moral, sustainable happiness, in line with the insights of Positive psychology, Buddhist psychology, Stoic philosophy and various forms of Rational and Narrative therapy, and the two major systems of writing therapy (the scientific and the artistic). In this book you will find a twelve week program which is designed to help you to manage your life in such a way that you can reduce your unhappiness and increase your happiness. You will learn simple techniques that can produce almost immediate improvements that will astound you. Available here: Creating Joy: How to be much happier, right now! ~~~ Counselling is concerned with a number of different tasks. These can be summarized as follows: "The term ‘counselling’ includes work with individuals and with relationships, which may be developmental, crisis support, psychotherapeutic, guiding or problem solving … The task of counselling is to give the client an opportunity to explore, discover and clarify ways of living more satisfyingly and resourcefully”. (BAC, 1984, cited in McLeod, 2003). The CENT view of counselling is that, most often, counselling is concerned with "...helping the client to come to terms with past or present reality, and often a very unpleasant reality from the client's past". (Byrne 2011a and 2011b)*. * Byrne (2011a) Appendix M to the CENT e-book on Anger Management; Byrne (2011b) CENT Paper No.13, on Completing your Experience... ~~~ The six main counselling services provided by Dr Jim Byrne: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id2.html The Institute for CENT Counselling: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id112.html The Counselling Research page: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id134.html ~~~ This is part two of the two-part video begun above, in which six clients discuss their counselling relationships: ~~~
This is a popular introduction to the theory and practice of Cognitive Emotive Narrative Therapy (CENT), which is a highly effective new philosophy of life, and psychological system of therapy. This book was designed to answer the most common questions asked by counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists, counselling and therapy students, counselling and therapy clients, and self-help enthusiasts, about the nature of CENT: how to learn it; and how to apply it in practice, to individual counselling, couple's therapy, and self management. The main aim is to demonstrate CENT counselling in practice; and in the process you will learn something about how to integrate and apply CBT/REBT, Transactional Analysis (TA), Attachment Theory, Object Relations and Zen philosophy and Moral philosophy. For further information on this book, please click here. ~~~ Counselling takes place in a confidential meeting, in a quiet room, and is subject to a code of ethics which specifies what the counsellor can and cannot morally do in that context. (See the Accreditation and Ethics page). Of course, we have to 'bite the bullet' and acknowledge that, in the past, there have been cases of a few unscrupulous counsellors and therapists exploiting and abusing their clients (mainly financially and sexualy). Potential clients of counselling and therapy should be warned of this possibility, so they can defend themselves better against this small possibility. See Personal Safety in Counselling.*** Here is an illustration of a counsellor and client engaging in CBT counselling:
For an example of writing therapy with Jim Byrne, please see CENT Paper No.20, The anatomy of a failed marriage: How to complete an undigested adult (marital) relationship failure, using writing therapy.*** ~~~ The six main counselling services provided by Dr Jim Byrne: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id2.html The Institute for CENT Counselling: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id112.html The Counselling Research page: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id134.html ~~~ The following video clip shows a counselling role play designed to illustrate some basic listening skills: ~~~
In this manual, I want to do two things: (1) To present a basic understanding of the Rational-Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT/CBT) approach to dealing with anxiety’; and (2) To provide a set of exercises for you to do so that you can learn how to analyze your problems with anxiety; identify solutions; and implement those solutions so as to eliminate your anxiety. In that way, you can become your own “counsellor”, in the area of anxiety and fear, because you can learn to fix your own emotional and behavioural problems. For further information, please go to How to control your anxiety... ~~~ The next video clip shows a role-played counselling session where Duncan Lawrence demonstrates the use of paraphrasing and clarification: ~~~ The six main counselling services provided by Dr Jim Byrne: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id2.html The Institute for CENT Counselling: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id112.html The Counselling Research page: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id134.html ~~~ Counselling and psychotherapy come in many forms There are, of course, different approaches to counselling, with some being quite passive, listening forms of counselling; while others are more analytical of the sources of the presenting problem; and others quite philosophical and into teaching the client the philosophical wisdom of the ages.
'Theory and Practice of Counselling is a very thorough introduction to the whole subject a knowledge of which is useful if not essential in the health, occupational family and personal development sectors, as well as many other caring professions' - The Psychologist 'Richard Nelson-Jones' book has become so much a part of the counselling theory literature; it is hard to imagine discussing the topic without reference to it. This Third Edition gives testimony to its continued value. It is hard to fault this book, its readability and detailed referencing, alone, will mean that it will suit a wide readership? If you have to buy only one book on counselling and therapy, this is it' - Professor Philip Burnard, Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 'Richard Nelson-Jones takes this complex subject and explains the whys and hows of each different type of therapy about as well as it can be done. There is no better introduction' - Amazon Review 'This book will be useful to the student, one book to cover all the course topics; to the practicing counsellor, to improve their work and to the lecturer, who wants to learn how to explain theories simply to their students. Richard Nelson-Jones writes in a way that makes it hard to put down, a compliment more often associated with fictional rather than academic books. Do not worry about the price it will save you buying three other similar books' - Amazon Review Available from Amazon: Theory and Practice of Counselling and Therapy, by Richard Nelson-Jones ~~~ The Existentialist Approach to Counselling Professor Mick Cooper from the University of Strathclyde talks about his existential approach to counselling, which involves a concrete exploration of day to day challenges, and how to tackle them and cope with the inevitable hassles and difficulties. He advocates 'focusing on the concrete'. ~~~ There is now a well researched and documented argument that all systems of counselling and psychotherapy are broadly equivalent in terms of the outcomes they achieve. Ever since Smith and Glass (1977)[1] produced their meta-analysis on the subject, there has been a strong and growing body of research evidence that all systems of counselling and therapy produce broadly equivalent outcomes, and that the outcomes are produced by ‘common factors', such as the nature of the relationship, and the promotion of re-thinking and re-deciding. (Wampold[2] and Messer[3]).[1] Smith, M.L. and Glass, G.V. (1977) Meta-analysis of psychotherapy outcome studies, American Psychologist, 32: 752-760. [2] Wampold, B.E. (2001) The Great Psychotherapy Debate: Model, methods, and findings. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. And: Wampold, B.E., Ahn, H., and Coleman, H.K.L. (2001) Medical model as metaphor: Old habits die hard. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 48, 268-273. [3] Messer, S. and Wampold, B. (2002) Let's face facts: Common factors are more potent than specific therapy ingredients. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. 9: 21-25. This 'equivalence of outcomes' is discussed further on the *Counselling Research* page.*** ______________________________________ The Person Centred Approach to Counselling Carl Rogers was the father of non-directive counseling, in the USA, where he could not practice more active forms of psychoanalysis or psychotherapy, because he did not have a psychology degree. He therefore created a system which depended upon active listening to help the client to clarify their own issues, and extending three core conditions towards the client: genuineness; empathy and non-possessive caring. Professor Robert Elliott of the University of Strathclyde talks to the Counselling Channel's Niall O'Loingsigh about the Person Centred approach of Process Experiential Emotion Focused Therapy. This is a two part video; scroll down for part 2. Here's Part Two: ~~~ ~~~
~~~ The Cognitive (CBT) Rational (REBT) Approach to Counselling and Therapy The CBT/REBT approach is probably the most active-directive, and educative, of the counselling approaches. Here is an example of a satisfied client describing her experience of CBT counselling for grief at the loss of her husband.
This book offers both a wide range of critical perspectives from around the world, and substantial responses to them. It represents the first attempt to engage in print with the controversies and complexities that have exercised - sometimes painfully - the therapy and counseling world, as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has risen to such cultural prominence as Western governments take a serious interest in the psychological therapies as instruments of public policy-making."Against and For CBT" will be essential reading for psychotherapists, psychoanalysts and counselors of each and every approach who are concerned with understanding the phenomenon that is 'CBT and its discontents'. It will be core reading both on IAPT/CBT and contrasting modality training courses that wish to encourage critical engagement with the meaning and cultural context of therapeutic help in the modern world.Professor Andrew Samuels writes: 'This welcome new collection - provides us with many cogent and convincing arguments for, at the very least, questioning the epistemological underpinnings and the methodological validity of the 'evidence-based' ideology in which CBT and its supporters have become accustomed to basking - This splendid new book - promises to open up a crucial and long-overdue dialogue, and introduce the associated 'battle for the soul' of therapy work itself'. Professor Stephen Palmer writes: 'CBT is constantly developing , aquiring and integrating new ideas, many underpinned by research, and adapting to the requirements of the day. Unlike some approaches, it is not moribund, nor held back by dogma. Its commonsense, pragmatic approach will continue to have wide appeal, regardless of how it is viewed within the counseling and psychotherapy professions. Available from Amazon: Against and for CBT: Towards a constructive dialogue ~~~ The six main counselling services provided by Dr Jim Byrne: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id2.html The Institute for CENT Counselling: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id112.html The Counselling Research page: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id134.html ~~~Long before the REBT approach was created, in the period 1957-'62, by Dr Albert Ellis, a highly creative form of counseling and therapy was created by Dr Eric Berne. This was Transactional Analysis (TA), which took Freud's concept of the 'ego' and broke it down into some existential states, which he called the 'Parent', the 'Adult, and the 'Child', ego states. Berne understood human functioning in terms of social transactions, and the measure of neurosis was the nature and intensity of the psychological 'games' that an individual played.
~~~ If you value the content of this website, and want to show your support and appreciation for our free information and public education role, then please donate to the upkeep of this website:
Thank you for your generosity. ~~~ Impact Therapy, (created by Professor Ed Jacobs at the University of West Virginia, by integrating REBT, TA and Gestalt Therapy), is a highly active form of counselling and therapy. This is how Ed describes the work of the Impact Therapist:
I have been trained in REBT/CBT, plus TA, behavioural, psychodynamic and humanistic processes (thirteen systems
in all) - and my counselling and therapy work was supervised by Dr Ed Jacobs (for three years, up to February 2011).
I see my work as a combination of
an empowering relationship and a teaching/learning encounter. For some schools of counselling, the relationship is primary.
For example:
~~~ The six main counselling services provided by Dr Jim Byrne: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id2.html The Institute for CENT Counselling: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id112.html The Counselling Research page: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id134.html ~~~
The purpose of this book is to teach the reader what stress is, and how to combat it. It is written in the form of a
self-help manual, with spaces for self-reflection exercises. However, it could also be used by counsellors, counselling students,
and interested others, as a means to learn, understand and present the CENT approach to Stress Management
in counselling, coaching and therapy contexts. ~~~ Here is an illustration of a role played counselling session using the relational approach: Attachment theory suggests that the quality of care given to each of us by our parents in the first few years of life determines our 'attachment style' for all future relationships - whether secure or insecure. By analogy, we can say that a client in counselling and therapy needs a 'nurturing parent' relationship with their counsellor or psychotherapist, based on sensitivity and concern, care and attention. It is not sufficient to relate to the client as a 'thinking machine'. Non-possessive love is a key component of counselling and psychotherapy.
~~~ There are sixteen videos on various forms of counselling, here. ~~~
~~~ All systems of counselling and therapy are broadly equivalent in terms of outcomes achieved by clients For a number of years, I misunderstood the implications of the findings of Smith and Glass (1977), who found that all the therapies they investigated were "broadly equivalent", in that they each produced significant gains for the client. So, although the results tend to be listed hierarchically, and REBT is in the second position on their list, this variation in scores is not in itself sufficiently significant to place REBT in a league separate and apart from the therapies lower down the list. And there is now broad consent, in some research quarters, that all the major therapies that are designed to be therapeutic are broadly equivalent in their effectiveness. (See in particular the work of Professor Bruce Wampold)[1]. Therefore, it might be more productive to look at how and what we could each learn from the other, rather than competing in a zero sum game. Here is the abstract from Smith and Glass (1977) Meta-analysis of psychotherapy outcome studies, *American Psychologist*, September 1977, 752-760: "Results of nearly 400 controlled evaluations of psychotherapy and counseling were coded and integrated statistically. The findings provide convincing evidence of the efficacy of psychotherapy. On the average, the typical therapy client is better off than 75% of untreated individuals. Few important differences in effectiveness could be established among many quite different types of psychotherapy. More generally, virtually no difference in effectiveness was observed between the class of all behavioral therapies (systematic desensitization, behavior modification) and the non-behavioral therapies (Rogerian, psychodynamic, rational-emotive, transactional analysis, etc)". Page 752. In their conclusion, Smith and Glass say this: "The results of research demonstrate the beneficial effects of counseling and psychotherapy. Despite volumes devoted to the theoretical differences among different schools of psychotherapy, the results of research demonstrate negligible differences in the effects produced by different therapy types. Unconditional judgements of superiority of one type or another of psychotherapy, and all that these claims imply about treatment and training policy, are unjustified". Page 760. ~~~ The five main counselling services provided by Dr Jim Byrne: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id2.html The Institute for CENT Counselling: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id112.html The Counselling Research page: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id134.html ~~~ [1] Wampold, B.E. (2001) The Great Psychotherapy Debate: Model, methods, and findings. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. And/or: Messer, S. and Wampold, B. (2002) Let's face facts: Common factors are more potent than specific therapy ingredients. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. 9: 21-25. ~~~
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We appreciate your generosity and support. ~~~ See the CENT Counselling e-books page.*** ~~~ ♣ For information about the nature of CENT counselling, please take a look at 'What is CENT?' ♣ Or, take a look at the Counselling and therapy all over the world... page ~~~ The six main counselling services provided by Dr Jim Byrne: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id2.html The Institute for CENT Counselling: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id112.html The Counselling Research page: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id134.html ~~~ ~~~ Part Two In the UK there are 99 organizations representing counsellors, and each of
them varies somewhat in their emphasis on what counsellors do. Forty-six of those counselling organizations are (or have been
- directly or indirectly) in negotiations with the British government about professionalization of the field. "Counselling takes place when a counsellor sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the client is having, distress they may be experiencing or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life, or loss of a sense of direction and purpose. It is always at the request of the client as no one can properly be 'sent' for counselling". This is a particularly 'non-directive' and 'non-interventionist' approach to defining counselling. Much of this definition would be acceptable to many counsellors in the UK today, although clarifying options for clients is increasingly common, and helping them to reach decisions of their own. For example, in the Egan Model (or the Skilled Helper model) of counselling, the central questions are: 1. Where are you up to right now? 2. Where are you trying to get to?3. What actions could you take to bridge that gap between where you are and where you want to be? And, again in the Egan model, the counsellor helps the client to see beyond their 'blindspots', and to identify their resources. And, in the Reality Therapy model, the questions are: 1. What do you want? 2. What are you doing (or have you been doing) to get what you want? 3. Let's evaluate how well that is going. 4. Let's produce a new plan, (if the current one is not working well). The CENT counselling approach goes well beyond this type of intervention, in recommending: meditation, critical thinking skills training, the study of REBT and TA models. CENT also focuses on the relationship as a 'secure base' for the client; and we use sensitivity and emotional availability as expressions of caring for the client. (See 'What is CENT counselling?, here) ~~~ In addition, we have the concept of "therapy", which comes from the Greek word for "healing".
And counselling and therapy, which overlap significantly, can be said to be in the business of "healing the life"
of the client. Or helping the client to "heal themselves". No attempt to distinguish counselling from therapy has
been particularly successful, and it is best to see "counselling and therapy" as a unified field of endeavour. (See:
Nelson-Jones, 2002, Essential Counselling and Therapy Skills, pages 4-5). And as Ed Jacobs says: "Impact therapists feel free to have a wide range of responses, including reflection, clarification, questioning, summarizing, probing and teaching". (Page 61). As practiced by Jim Byrne, counselling and therapy (and coaching), amount to helping the client to identify the source of their emotional or behavioural problems; and/or to refine their understanding of their practical problems; and/or to clarify their goals in relation to some developmental challenge; and/or to overcome their emotional, behavioural or relationship difficulties or problems. To understand how he operates as a counsellor is to perceive him as a "(relatively) wise philosopher who teaches what he has used to heal his own life, and to gain mastery over his own affairs". But he does this with one eye on the emotional component of the relationship with the client. And he is increasingly concerned with questions to do with how securely or insecurely the client is attached to significant others, and how to help them to develop secure attachments in all their significant relationships. To clarify this emphasis on feeling, emotion and affect, here is a final clip: What is Counselling? Part 2: ~~~ To support our public educational role, please make a donation:
~~~
~~~ Part Three The relationship between counsellor and client: Attachment theory in counselling and psychotherapy
Firstly, we can say that attachment theory has identified what is essential for healthy psychological development of every individual: (a) Initially, Dr John Bowlby gave emphasis to the idea that the parents should be accessible to the child at all times of need; and: (b) Later on, he emphasized that parents must be responsive as well as accessible. (This change was prompted by the research findings of Mary Ainsworth, who described the importance of the parents' sensitive responsiveness to the child's nonverbal signals). Secondly, when babies receive the attention they crave, they prove to be less needy than those babies who do not receive sensitive responsiveness when they cry. From this I infer that client's who get the kind of attention they need, will move on through their therapy much quicker, and more surely, than those clients who meet with cool and less responsive therapists. Third, Attachment theory suggests that collaborative communication is about getting to know the mind of another human being. (We may not consciously know that that is what is happening, and we might not use those verbal labels, but that, it seems, is what is nonverbally, and non-consciously, happening).
Fourth, it seems important to help the client to "feel felt" - that is, to see their nonverbal affective behaviours reflected in the nonverbal affective responses of the therapist. If the client cries, the therapist may reflect this by showing a sad face, ‘marked as' a reflection. Therapeutic communication needs to be collaborative - or shared - as well as contingent (each stimulus is shown a specific response; and each response produces a new reflection). In this process of collaboration and revealing the connections between stimulus and response, the therapist must aim for a high level of affective attunement: or ‘getting the client's emotional state' and reflecting it back in a different register. This process of providing affectively attuned responses to the client, which helps them to feel felt, probably depends upon intuitive right-brain communication, which depends less on words than on reading faces and body language, and responding with a good reflection of what is sensed. There is recent research from Germany that seems to suggest that this might be best facilitated by the kind of ‘mindfulness' which comes from having the therapist practice regular meditation. (Footnote[4]) When a client gets repeated experiences of this kind of emotionally attuned responsiveness, this may generate positive expectations of ‘feeling felt' - feeling understood and accepted by others - which may sediment into a secure model of a sensitive relationship; a working model of secure attachment. Or, as David Wallin puts it, "such experiences are lessons in how to have a comfortable and effective relationship - with oneself and one's emotions as well as with others". (Page 107). Of course, we must not create unrealistic expectations here. Counsellors and therapists, like mothers and fathers, are imperfect and error-prone humans. We cannot always ‘get it right' for our clients. But we should aim high. We should aim to get close to understanding where our client is coming from 5 times out of every 6; and we should learn how to track down and resolve any misunderstandings that arise between us. Clients can learn from us that misunderstandings can be resolved, and "distress can be weathered because it can be relieved", as David Wallin puts it. ~~~
~~~ More later. Meanwhile, you might want to take a look at the Attachment Theory and Counselling page. Or take a look at the page about Dr David Wallin's book on Attachment in Psychotherapy. Or follow my blog - 'Jim's Counselling Week - which discusses Attachment in Counselling and Therapy from time to time: Jim's Counselling Week. ~~~Further information: # What is TA counselling, as used in CENT? # What is Narrative counselling? # Introduction to the Six Windows Model of CENT counselling # The I-CENT Publications page ~~~ There are sixteen videos on various forms of counselling, here. ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ If you like the content of this page, why not share it
with your social networks? Click the button that follows: Thank you! :-) ~~~ |
Creating Joy: How to be much happier, right now!
CENT e-book No.5: How to Control Your Anxiety: A rational approach using REBT/CBT
Returning to the section of Chapter 7 of Dr David Wallin's book on 
The client needs to know which of their statements or actions produces which responses in the therapist. The therapist
must be transparent in showing the contingency (or dependence) of a particular response upon a particular stimulus
from the client. This is what helps the client to construct a model of ‘what is going on' in the mind of the other,
reflected in their own mind.