Counseling Theory and Practice as it Relates to my Personal View of Counseling
Laura M. Stella
CNL 6010-90
March 26th, 2014
Dr. Eileen Self
Wright State University
Counseling Theory and Practice as it Relates to my Personal View of Counseling
My personal view of counseling aligns best with the behavioral and cognitive behavioral therapy theories. I believe that there are many situations in life where we cannot control what happens to us, but we can choose how we respond to these situations. Behavior therapy focuses on developing client’s skills so that they have increased options for responding (Corey, 2013). Clients experience an increase in personal freedom by reducing destructive behaviors that limit choices, allowing themselves to choose from possibilities that were not previously available in their decision making process (Corey, 2013).
For example, a client who is searching for employment and successfully engages in an interview with an employer, but is not offered a position with the employer, may choose to allow the rejection to overcome him. He may internalize feelings of inadequacy for not being selected, spend hours pondering why he was not sufficient for the position in the eyes of the employer, and even consider giving up on his quest for employment altogether. He may internalize the belief that “because I was not selected for this job opportunity, I will never obtain employment.”
Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) was the first distinct therapeutic approach to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and was developed in the mid 1950’s by Albert Ellis (Ellis, 2002). The client mentioned above would most likely be a good candidate REBT. A REBT therapist would encourage this client to replace his irrational beliefs about his employment situation to rational beliefs that would allow him to be more efficient and move forward to continue his pursuit for meaningful employment. In REBT,...