1. Counseling Theories
Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes

2. Overview
• Counseling Theories
– Person-Centered Therapy (Carl Rogers)
– Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (Albert Ellis)/Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
– Reality Therapy (William Glasser)
• Personality Theories
– Psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud)
– Individual Psychology (Alfred Adler)
– Erik Erikson
• Learning Theories
– Classical Conditioning
– Operant Learning (Stimulus-Response Theory)
– Social Learning

3. Purpose
• By understanding the origins of distress, we are
better able to deal with distress.
• Counseling Theories assert that problems stem
from ineffective relationships or thoughts in
adulthood.
• Personality Theories speculate that distress
stems from more innate, long standing problems
often starting in childhood
• Learning Theories emphasize the fact that
distress and behavior is learned from exposure to
rewards and punishments

4. Theories: Person Centered
• Humans are good and forward moving unless
they are blocked
• Blockages often occur from a lack of
unconditional positive regard which leads to
low self esteem and low self efficacy
• By creating a nurturing, positive environment,
people will naturally move in the right
direction.

5. Theories: Person Centered
• 6 necessary conditions required for change:
– Therapist-Client Psychological Contact: a relationship
between client and therapist in which each person's
perception of the other is important must exist.
– Client incongruence, or Vulnerability: incongruence
exists between the client's experience and awareness
causing vulnerability/anxiety increasing motivation.
– Therapist Congruence, or Genuineness
– Therapist Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR)
– Therapist Empathic understanding
– Client Perception of the therapist's UPR and empathic
understanding.

6. Theories: REBT/CBT
• Focuses on changing the current evaluations
and/or reactions
• Distress is caused by a combination of the
event and the person’s perception of the
event
• By using the A-B-Cs, people can evaluate their
beliefs and reactions (consequences) to
events.

7. A-B-C
– A= Activating Event
– B= Beliefs/assumptions about/interpretations of an
event
– C= Consequences
– D= Dispute irrational beliefs
• What is the evidence for my beliefs?
• What are other possible explanations for what happened?
– E= Evaluate reactions/consequences for effectiveness
• What are the implications of my believing this way, and do
they make it worth holding on to my beliefs?
• How useful are my beliefs? Do I or others get any benefits
from holding on to them, or would we benefit more if we
held other beliefs?

8. CBT/REBT: Irrational Thoughts
• Irrational Idea 1 - It is a dire necessity to be loved or
approved by almost everyone for virtually everything
he or she does.
• Irrational Idea 2 - One should be thoroughly
competent, adequate, and achieving in all possible
respects.
• Irrational Idea 3 - Certain people are bad or wicked,
and should be severely blamed and punished.
• Irrational Idea 4 - It is terrible, horrible, and
catastrophic when things are not going the way one
would like them to go.
• Irrational Idea 5 - Happiness is externally caused and
people have little or no ability to control their
emotions.

9. Irrational Thoughts cont…
• Irrational Idea 6 - If something is dangerous or fearsome,
one should dwell on it
• Irrational Idea 7 - It is easier to avoid facing many life
difficulties and self-responsibilities than to undertake more
rewarding forms of self-discipline.
• Irrational Idea 8 - The past is all-important and because
something once strongly affected one’s life, it should
indefinitely do so.
• Irrational Idea 9 - People and things should be different,
and it is catastrophic if things do not immediately change.
• Irrational Idea 10 - Maximum human happiness can be
achieved by inertia and inaction or by passively "enjoying
oneself."

10. CBT/REBT: Irrational Thoughts
1. Emotional perfectionism: I should always feel happy,
confident, and in control of my emotions.
2. Performance perfectionism: I must never fail/make a
mistake.
3. Perceived perfectionism: People will not love and accept me
as a flawed and vulnerable human being.
4. Fear of disapproval or criticism: I need everybody’s approval
5. Fear of rejection: If I’m not loved, then life is not worth living.
6. Fear of being alone: If I’m alone, then I’m miserable
7. Fear of failure: My worth depends on my achievements
8. Conflict phobia: People who love each other shouldn’t fight.
9. Emotophobia: I should not feel angry, anxious, jealous etc.
10.Entitlement: People should always be how I expect

11. CBT/REBT: Irrational Thoughts
• all or nothing thinking
• overgeneralization
• mental filter – dwell on the bad and let it discolor everything
• discount the positives
• jumping to conclusions/overgeneralization
• magnification
• emotional reasoning –we FEEL bad so we believe we are
• shoulds
• labeling – we label ourselves negatively instead of trying to learn
from the situation or thinking about the best way to overcome it
• blame – we hold other people responsible for our pain or blame
ourselves entirely for every problem
• mind reading
• catastrophizing - we expect disaster.
• personalizing - we think that everything people do or say is some
kind of reaction to us

12. CBT/REBT: Irrational Thoughts
• Control Fallacy - If you feel externally controlled, you see
yourself as a totally helpless victim of fate. Conversely, it
can hold you responsible for the pain and happiness of
everyone around you.
• Fallacy of Fairness –Life is not fair.
• Fallacy of Change - You expect that other people will
change to suit you if you just pressure or cajole them
enough.
• Fallacy of Being Right - Being wrong is unthinkable, and
you will go to any length to demonstrate your rightness.
• Heaven's Reward Fallacy - You expect all your sacrifice and
self-denial to pay off, as if there were someone keeping
score. You feel bitter when the reward does not come.

13. Theories: Reality Therapy
• Focus on the present
• Avoid discussing symptoms and complaints. These are the
ineffective ways that counselees choose to deal with problems.
• Focus on what counselees can do directly-act and think.
• Spend less time on what they cannot do directly: changing their
feelings and physiology.
• Avoid criticizing, blaming and/or complaining
• Remain non-judgmental, but encourage people to ask: Is what I
am doing getting me closer to the people I need?
• Teach that excuses stand in the way of making needed
connections.

14. Reality Therapy cont…
• Focus on specifics. Who are counselees are
disconnected from
• Help them make specific, workable plans to
reconnect with the people they need. Follow
through on what was planned by helping
them evaluate their progress.
• Be patient and supportive but keep focusing
on the source of the problem,
disconnectedness.

15. Personality Theories: Psychoanalysis
• The conscious mind is what you are aware of at any
particular moment, your present perceptions,
memories, thoughts, fantasies, feelings
• Working closely with the conscious mind is what Freud
called the preconscious, what we might today call
"available memory.“
• The largest part by far is the unconscious. It includes
all the things that are not easily available to
awareness, including many things that have their
origins there, such as our drives or instincts, and things
that are put there because we can't bear to look at
themthe unconscious is the source of our motivations

16. Psychoanalysis cont…
The id, the ego, and the superego
– The id (instinct)works with the pleasure principle to take
care of needs immediately
– The ego helps the person searches for objects to satisfy
the id’s wishes
– as the ego struggles to keep the id happy, it meets with
obstacles in the world. It keeps a record of consequences.
This record of things to avoid and strategies to take
becomes the superego.
• There are two aspects to the superego:
– conscience, which is an internalization of punishments and warnings.
– The other is called the ego ideal. It derives from rewards and positive
models presented to the child.

17. Psychoanalysis cont…
• The defense mechanisms
• When the Id/superego conflict becomes
overwhelming, the ego must defend itself.
• The techniques are called the ego defense
mechanisms
– Denial
– Sublimation
– Displacement
– Humor
– Reaction Formation

18. Personality Theories: Adler
• Striving for perfection is a single "drive" or motivating
force behind all our behavior and experience
• Since we are not perfect, our personalities are accounted
for by the ways in which we do -- or don't -- compensate or
overcome our failures
• Adler felt that there were three basic childhood situations
that most contribute to a faulty lifestyle.
– Disabilities. If someone doesn't come along to draw their
attention to others, they will remain focused on themselves.
– pampering. Many children are taught, by the actions of others,
that they can take without giving.
– neglect. They learn inferiority because they are told and shown
every day that they are of no value; They learn selfishness
because they are taught to trust no one.

19. Personality Theories: Erickson
• We develop through a predetermined eight
stages.
• Progress through each stage is determined by
our success in all the previous stages.
• Each stage involves certain developmental
tasks
• If a stage is managed well, we develop a
certain virtue or strength

20. Erickson’s Stages
• hope - Basic Trust vs. Mistrust - Infant stage. Does the child
believe its caregivers to be reliable?
• will - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt - Toddler stage. Child
needs to learn it is safe to explore the world.
• purpose - Initiative vs. Guilt - Kindergarten - The child can do
things on his own. If "guilty" about making choices, the child
will not function well.
• competence - Industry vs. Inferiority - Around age 6 to
puberty. Child comparing self worth to others.
• fidelity - Identity vs. Role Confusion - Teenager. Questioning
of self. Who am I, how do I fit in? If the parents continually
push him/her to conform to their views, the teen will face
identity confusion.

21. • love (in intimate relationships, work and family) -
Intimacy vs. Isolation - Young adult. Who do I want to
be with or date, what am I going to do with my life?
Will I settle down?
• caring - Generativity vs. Stagnation - the Mid-life crisis.
Measure accomplishments/failures. Am I satisfied or
not? The need to assist the younger generation.
Stagnation is the feeling of not having done anything
to help the next generation.
• wisdom - Ego Integrity vs. Despair - old age. Some
handle death well. They reflect on the past, and either
conclude at satisfaction or despair

22. Learning Theories: Classical
Conditioning
• Classical conditioning involves presentations
of a neutral stimulus along with a stimulus of
some significance (usually an unconditioned
stimulus)
• Classical conditioning is most important in
helping us understand why seemingly neutral
stimuli evoke a response from a client

23. Learning Theories: Operant
Conditioning
• Operant conditioning is the use of
consequences to modify the occurrence and
form of behavior (Treatment planning)
• Reinforcement is a consequence that
increases a behavior. +/-
• Punishment is a consequence that decreases
a behavior. +/-
• Extinction is the elimination of a behavior by
removing the reward.

24. Learning Theories: Social Learning
• People learn from one another, through
observational learning, imitation, and modeling.
• People can learn by observing behavior and the
outcomes of those behaviors.
• Learning can occur without a change in behavior.
• Cognition, awareness and expectations of future
consequences can have a major effect on the
behaviors that people exhibit.
• Reciprocal causation: The person, the behavior,
and the environment can have an influence on
each other.

25. Social Learning cont…
4 conditions that are necessary before an
individual can learn
– Attention: the person must first pay attention to
the model/situation
– Retention: the observer must remember the
behavior that has been observed.
– Rehearsal: the third condition is the ability to
replicate the behavior.
– Motivation: Learners must want to demonstrate
what they have learned.

26. Social Learning cont…
• Self Regulation
– Set goals and standards
– Self-observe
– Judge yourself
– React, revisit and reinforce

27. Implications of Social Learning Theory
• Students often learn a lot by observing others.
• Describing the consequences of behavior can effectively
increase the appropriate behaviors and decrease
inappropriate ones.
• Modeling can be used in conjunction with shaping
• Expose people to a variety of other
models/behaviors/lifestyles
• People must believe that they are capable or have a
sense of self-efficacy.
• Help students set realistic expectations
• Teach self-regulation techniques

28. Summary
• There are a multitude of theories
• Most boil down to clients lacking self
confidence or motivation to do the correct
behaviors
• By helping people identify obstacles to their
behaviors or motivation, we can help them
improve their quality of life.

29. Further Reading
• Personality Theories:
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/persconten
ts.html