As I think about graduating and becoming a professional in the mental health field, I have considered the various counseling theories discussed in class and evaluated which ones I feel I would be interested in using. I am planning to work with people who have severe mental illness, most likely in a mental health ward of a hospital. I anticipate encountering some individuals who have gone through therapy and felt like they were in a rut and hopeless, as it did not work for them, and I believe that Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) could make a huge impact on their lives. As Marsha Linehan first intended, DBT focuses on treating those who are chronically suicidal (Murdock, 2017). Unlike other therapies, DBT strives to allow the client to accept …show more content…
A strong relationship between the client and therapist is very important, as the client needs to feel validated by others to be able to start validating themselves. The goal of DBT is to learn how to regulate intense emotions and to get the client to trust themselves (Murdock, 2017). I think helping someone feel more in control of their own emotions can greatly help them function better and get back on track to their regular …show more content…
I believe that we are genetically dispositioned to have certain traits, but our environment also impacts how those traits shape us as human beings. I believe that the therapist and client need to have a close and trusting relationship, and that the therapist be a guide to teach various techniques to improve the client’s well-being. I personally need guidance, instruction is helpful to me and I believe if someone is in a difficult point in their life and feels helpless, teaching them techniques like mindfulness and distress tolerance can allow them to be in the right mind to get better. I like distress tolerance because we can’t always control our environment and what is happening around us, but we need to be able to control how we handle ourselves during those events. I think this is a practical theory as it teaches skills that everyone can learn to use and that with practice we are able to apply these skills to everyday life. We aren’t always willing to change and sometimes we don’t have the means to do so, but if we take the first step towards accepting where we are in the present moment, we can feel better about our situations and thus use the energy focused on our emotions that were all over the place to moving towards our other goals and our
Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) mainly focuses on the present of the client whereas Psychodynamic therapy largely focuses on the past of the client. I personally think that even though the past of the client may be responsible for his/her present condition, the problems affect clients’ daily routine. Therefore the focus of the therapy must target client’s present conditions. I find this interesting because unlike Psychodynamic therapy, CBT enables the therapist to become aware of clients’ immediate problems. It is significant because this may affect the client in such a way that he/ she might have to rely on therapist’s interpretation of their unconscious thoughts. For instance, CBT therapist might ask the client about past incidences if they are relevant to the therapy however the major focus will be on how the client’s current situation is affected. I believe that it is more effective
... By scheduling an activity that the client can participate in and complete, it can give them a sense of mastery in a specific task. This can be beneficial for the client to feel accomplished. Another technique that I feel can be beneficial in therapy is role-playing. Role-playing can be helpful for a client to learn how to dispute irrational beliefs by becoming aware of negative feelings towards theses beliefs (Tan, 2011). In addition, role-playing can help the client to overcome their emotions and practice coping skills that are more effective. The last technique I would incorporate into therapy would be relaxation training. I would suggest ways that can help the client relax including, deep breathing, meditation, yoga, a massage or exercising. By getting the client to have methods to relax, I think it can help with managing their thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
These seven powerful principles give the therapist the ability to connect with the client and empathetically personalize treatment per their clinical experiences to the client’s needs. By applying these seven powerful principles the therapist; values each client as one of a kind, purposefully listens to recognize the client’s feelings, displays controlled and objective emotional immersion, shows genuine acceptance, displays a non-judgmental front, projects autonomy, and values privacy. These principles are the building blocks to successfully creating a powerful yet empathetic therapeutic alliance (Kilpatrick, et al., 2009).
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a comprehensive cognitive-behavioral treatment developed by Marsha M. Linehan for the treatment of complex, difficult-to-treat mental disorders. Originally, DBT was developed to treat individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD; Carson-Wong, Rizvi, & Steffel, 2013; Scheel, 2000). However, DBT has evolved into a treatment for multi-disordered individuals with BPD. In addition, DBT has been adapted for the treatment of other behavioral disorders involving emotional dysregulation, for example, substance abuse, binge eating, and for settings, such as inpatient and partial hospitalization. Dimeff and Linehan (2001) described five functions involved in comprehensive DBT treatment. The first function DBT serves is enhancing behavioral capabilities. Secondly, it improves motivation to change by modifying inhibitions and reinforcement. Third, it assures that new capabilities can be generalize to the natural environment. Fourth, DBT structures the treatment environment in the ways essential to support client and therapist capabilities. Finally, DBT enhances therapist capabilities and motivation to treat clients effectively. In standard DBT, these functions are divided into modes for treatment (Dimeff & Linehan, Dialectical behavior therapy in a nutshell, 2001).
CBT offers the client an opportunity to look at the presenting problem from a rational approach and use rational techniques. A therapist conducting CBT will adopt a multi-purpose role of being an active, educator, and encouraging clients to actively participate in the therapeutic process. As mentioned previously, CBT will tend to focus on the clients current functional problem. The processes will intel exploration of the interrelationship between thoughts, feelings, beliefs, attitudes, goals and behaviors. The main premises of CBT are is assumption, that an individual’s emotional reaction is produced by his or her thoughts and beliefs about a particular situation.
In regards to the questions and answers, I feel as though my personal approach to counseling is based off of my own priorities I set forth in myself that follow more closely to the aspects of Reality Therapy, and Adlerian Therapy. Though Reality Therapy primarily focuses on the present, it still has some grounding in the past but not as much as Adlerian does. Even knowing this I still feel these two therapies are more closely related to my own belief system. I am in agreement with Reality Therapy, in that we are responsible for the choices we make. I trust that we can exercise great control over our lives, over how we can change to better ourselves, and to better our relationships with those around us. I feel that we all as a society are influenced by basic needs: belonging, survival, freedom, and power, and that these needs can be used as motivational tool when working with clients.
Psychodynamic therapy, focuses on unconscious mind and how past experiences, inner thoughts, fears, and emotions The main goal of psychodynamic therapy is for clients to be self-aware of the past and how it effects who they are in the present. This type of therapy focuses on the underlying problems and emotions that influenced the client’s behavior. (Psych Central, 2016)
To explain, the client should not be inferior to the counselor; the environment should be two people discussing an issue and ways to make a difference. A therapist should occasionally share similar experiences; therefore, sessions should make clients feel comfortable. To add, the client should feel safe due to the positive atmosphere the therapist brings to the session. The goal is to finally give the client a chance to be heard, regularly people are muted and feel like they are insignificant to society. Similarly, to Person-centered therapy where communication with the client is unconditionally positive. The therapist needs to genuinely care about the client needs for them to fully express themselves successfully. Furthermore, clients should be encouraging to make their own choices which model how to identify and use power responsibly. Hence, this will help the client feel more confident in everyday life when making a meaningful
Furthermore, my goal is to let client fix their problems on their own through insight and guidance from the therapist. I envision a successful therapeutic process being when a client follows their goals and achieves positive outcomes in their lives. I seek to gain a therapeutic process with my clients by building rapport, trust, and helping them gain insight. When my clients are stuck and need motivation, I plan to remind them about their goals and the positive things that will come with change. If family is important to a client, informing the client about their family and their happiness may help motivate them to continue to
.... This is where the freedom comes in. If the Therapist were to force something on the client by saying this is what's wrong, and here is how you fix it, they might head in the right direction at first, but not because of their own will. By allowing them to make a conscious effort to help themselves it will mean more and last longer. In reading this book I learned a lot about the way existential therapy works, and how I can go about helping people that come to me for advise. Not only do I understand that people have the freedom to make there own choices, but also now I understand that people have the freedom of responsibility which allows them to change their lives and better themselves.
Although, this session ended with amazing results, I feel as though I need more practice with this type of therapy. I have to continue to practice on allowing the patient to come up with their own solutions. I found it hard not giving advice to my client, because I already knew the situation. However, in the end I found myself very proud, because even though this was not a real therapy session, but the client was able to find a real solution to her problem. This experience is one that teaches the therapist restraint, it allows one to step back and listen. It also gives the client the opportunity to reach a solution themselves without someone giving them the answer to their
DBT is effective when working with clients experiencing anxiety disorder and depression. Individuals in DBT therapy are taught to notice, rather than react to thoughts and behaviors. DBT teaches clients to accept their emotional reactions and learn to tolerate distress while being mindful of their present experiences. DBT has four stages for therapy. In stage one the pre-commitment stage is where the therapist explains what types of treatment the client will receive. In this stage the client must agree to stop all self harm behavior and work toward developing other coping skills. In stage two the goal is to assist the client into controlling her emotions. Stage three and four involve assisting the client to gain the ability to develop self respect (Waltz, 2003).
The therapist must be aware of individual values and beliefs in order to develop an understanding of why the client responds to certain life-stressors. For e...
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of treatment that focuses on examining the relationships between thoughts, feelings and behaviors (NAMI, 2012). It is designed to modify the individual’s normative dysfunctional thoughts. The basic cognitive technique consists of delineating the individual's specific misconceptions, distortions, and maladaptive assumptions, and of testing their validity and reasonableness (Beck, 1970). By exploring thought patterns that lead to maladaptive behaviors and actions and the beliefs that direct these thoughts, people with mental illness can alter their thought process to improve coping. CBT is different from oth...
Behavioral Therapy is considered a major landscape of psychotherapy consisting of a wide variety of therapeutic techniques that impact the change in a person’s problem behavior. Behavior has four defining themes in behavior therapy; scientific, action-oriented, present-focused, and