Counseling and Psychotherapy Theories in Context and Practice Study Guide

John Sommers-Flanagan, Rita Sommers-Flanagan

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781118235065
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Psychotherapy
• Index: Psychology

EXPAND AND REINFORCE YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY THEORIES

This supplementary resource to Counseling and Psychotherapy Theories in Context and Practice, Second Edition will further deepen your understanding of three key components of counseling and psychotherapy theory and practice: self-awareness, knowledge, and application and skill development.

This Study Guide offers:

• A pre-test and post-test in each chapter that will orient you to key theoretical principles and evaluate how well those principles fit with your values and beliefs
• An opening and closing professional development essay written by a student, practitioner, or faculty member who is active within the counseling or psychology professions
• Multiple-choice practice tests for each chapter to reinforce important theories and concepts
• A comprehensive short-answer question review for each chapter
• Practice activities designed to help students experience and practice implementation of each theory
• Critical reflections on each theory
• Crossword puzzles to keep learning fun
• A glossary of key terms for each chapter

Instructor Site: www.wiley.com/go/counselingtheories

Student Resource Site: www.wiley.com/go/counselingtheories

CHAPTER 1

Learning About Psychotherapy and Counseling

Let’s begin with an imaginary trip.

Pretend you’re about to embark on an interesting journey . . . somewhere. Pick any destination you like. You may need to look at a map to see all your options. The whole world is available to you (that’s one nice thing about imaginary trips!). Once you’ve selected your destination, read on.

Write your destination here:

Now . . . write down at least three to four qualities of the destination that you find attractive. This should be easy:

1. __________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________

4. __________________________________________________

Next, make a list of at least three to four things about yourself that make you a good fit for the destination you chose; this might be more difficult. Be sure to focus on your internal (e.g., values, interests, beliefs) qualities.

1. __________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________

4. __________________________________________________

Given that you’ve already studied counseling, psychology, or social work, you probably already know where we’re going with this imaginary trip, but just play along anyway. Take a look at the desirable qualities of your destination and your list of values and interests. Hopefully, you can detect a match. Trips, whether imaginary or real, are usually more enjoyable and meaningful if your destination includes at least some of your personal values and interests.

If you’re reading this study guide, then you’re embarking on a different kind of trip. This trip is about your professional future. Like the imaginary trip we just discussed, hopefully the professional domain of counseling and psychotherapy is a good match for your personal values, interests, and beliefs. However, rather than assume there’s a good match between you and professional counseling and psychotherapy, let’s reflect on whether you possess some of the core values and interests that people who are successful in this professional path typically hold (Norcross, 2002; Skovholt & Jennings, 2004).

1. Do you have an interest in helping others?

2. Do you find listening to and helping others to be enjoyable or meaningful?

3. Do you feel empathy for others—your friends, family, even strangers?

4. Are you able to be honest with yourself about your personal limitations?

5. Are you able to gently give others feedback about their personal limitations?

6. Can you make mistakes, admit them, and then work to avoid them in the future?

7. Are you inclined to apologize and take personal responsibility for your mistakes?

8. Do you have good interpersonal skills?

9. Are you able to establish and maintain healthy boundaries between yourself and others?

10. Are you intrigued—at least a little bit—about what causes people emotional pain and suffering and does the idea of tracking down the origins of personal problems and helping people overcome these challenges pique your interest?

Just like the journey to your imaginary destination, your answers to the preceding 10 questions may not be perfectly clear. You may find yourself wondering if you’re able to handle some parts of your upcoming counseling and psychotherapy journey. Our purpose in asking these questions is not to discourage you from pursuing a career in counseling and psychotherapy . . . but instead, to encourage you to proceed with eyes wide open and to regularly check to see if your destination is a good fit for your interests, values, and beliefs.

We hope that counseling or psychotherapy is a good fit for you and that this is the start of an enriching and meaningful life journey. We also hope that you’re ready for an excellent adventure.

Getting Ready

Take a few minutes to complete the counseling and psychotherapy beliefs pretest. This pretest will help you develop greater awareness of your current beliefs about counseling and psychotherapy (and it just happens to include a review of material from Chapter 1 of your accompanying textbook).

A score of 100 could mean you are or will be the perfect fit for a psychotherapy or counseling career. A score of 0 suggests that you should consider immediately closing this book and going to talk with your academic advisor about switching your career path. Seriously, you’d be better off in engineering, landscape design, or joining the professional bowling tour (although the last of these options might involve too much direct human contact).

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Counseling and Psychotherapy Beliefs Pretest

This pretest assesses your current attitudes toward core counseling and psychotherapy issues. Read and briefly reflect on the following statements. Then, circle the number that best represents how much you agree or disagree with each statement.

1. Understanding why people suffer, how they change, and how to help them live more satisfying and gratifying lives is a fascinating and important professional task.

2. There are many different approaches to conducting counseling and psychotherapy.

3. Although there are many contemporary counseling and psychotherapy methods, all approaches involve clients talking and therapists listening in an effort to understand.

4. Although there are many contemporary counseling and psychotherapy methods, all approaches involve some form of therapist teaching and client learning.

5. Counseling/psychotherapy involves processes or procedures that are very effective; in other words, most individuals who come for therapy have positive outcomes and experience personal benefits.

6. Professional practice in counseling or psychotherapy is guided by general ethical principles and specific ethics codes.

7. Counselors and psychotherapists should have awareness, knowledge, skills, and motivation for working with ethnic minorities and clients with diverse characteristics (e.g., clients who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered; clien...