The Spiritual Of Counseling Counselors

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Assessing the Spiritual
REBT counselors perform assessments with religious clients for determining whether to retain them in therapy. These assessments also determine the set of therapeutic strategies for clients. Furthermore, REBT counselors must consider their ability to ethically offer services to religious clients (Nielsen, Johnson, & Ellis, 2001). It is essential that REBT counselors understand that religion is multidimensional in the degree of expression. In the initial assessment, the REBT counselors need to address the degree in which clients are connected with their religion and the degree in which religious commitment and practice may be connected to the presenting problem(s). As soon as an REBT counselor determines that religion holds a considerable meaning in the existence of a client, it is acceptable to deduce that the client potentially assesses his world on three essential religious aspects. These including the role of authority of human leaders, scripture or doctrine, and religious group standards. As REBT counselors assess the degree of salient in the life of a client, it befits the counselor to acknowledge that for high salience clients, there could be both positive and negative affects connected with religious devotion.
According to Ellis and Dryden (2000), When religion is personally salient for the client, the REBT therapist may then move to exploration of the extent to which religious belief and practice are clinically significant or specifically connected to the activating event, the dysfunctional emotional and behavioral consequences and the client 's disturbance-causing beliefs. When religious beliefs or behaviors appear linked to clinical disturbance, REBT again emphasizes a very active-directi...

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... exercises. Finally, the focus of this counseling process is for counselors to identify the inconsistencies between clients ' irrational beliefs and the behavioral model of Christ and the truth in Scripture (Johnson, 1993).

The Body
REBT theory is successful in helping clients with a range of clinical and non-clinical problems. There needs to be considerable research in the area of assessing and treating the body with REBT techniques. This is needed, of course, before any definitive conclusions can be drawn regarding the effects of these methods and therapies in the counseling setting. Additionally, the implication for study is that more investigation is needed to determine whether there is difference between therapies and results. More research should involve an assessment of the role and definition of counselors in working with the body and the REBT theory.

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