The aim of this essay is to explore two counselling theories or theorists in depth, comparing and contrasting their background, theory of personality, theory of problems in living and theory of change. It is also necessary to assess their strengths and weaknesses as you see them and to evaluate which counselling situation that they would be most appropriate for. The two theories that I am going to discuss are the humanistic approach of person-centred therapy and the cognitive behavioural therapy approach of cognitive therapy. Carl Rogers agreed with the same main assumptions as Abraham Maslow but added that in order for a person to progress successfully they would require an environment that also gives genuineness, acceptance and empathy. He
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Under the theory of problems in living this can sometimes be seen as unrealistic as people tend to have incongruence in their lives. A person is said to enter counselling in a state of incongruence and it is the counsellors aim to reverse this incongruence (Rogers, 1959). Other problems may occur in the formation of a successful therapeutic alliance as this may not always occur between a counsellor and a client. Rogers (1959) described the relationship between the counsellor and the client as a critical variable. If this critical variable is not present to its full extend then this ultimately may result in an unsuccessful and unbeneficial counselling experience of the client. Client perception between the counsellor and client is also another crucial aspect in counselling. This can cause problems in counselling as the client has to aware of the counsellors unconditional positive regard and empathy towards them. If the client is unable to establish this unconditional positive regard and empathy being displayed by the counsellor then this may result in them being unwilling and reluctant in being fully honest and truthful with the counsellor and thus hinder both the communication and the therapeutic alliance between them (Rogers, 1957; …show more content…
Due to this and its very structured and planned system it is seen as a preferred method of counselling in health professions such as the NHS. However, more evidence does not essentially mean that it is a better form of therapy it just means that there is more to back it up. Another strength I feel that it has is that it focuses on the clients own individual thoughts and helps them to discover the misconceptions they are experiencing for themselves rather than someone else doing it for them. A weakness of cognitive therapy I feel is that in some ways it might not be as “in-depth” as some clients might require to deal with their problem(s) or issue(s) is a prosperous way. It also requires the client to be able to think abstractly, this may cause some problems as it means the client needs to be able to think about thinking. Furthermore, it is also necessary for a good therapeutic relationship to be place; if this isn’t the case then the client and the counsellor could face problems in having a good and beneficial counselling
Under the theory of problems in living this can sometimes be seen as unrealistic as people tend to have incongruence in their lives. A person is said to enter counselling in a state of incongruence and it is the counsellors aim to reverse this incongruence (Rogers, 1959). Other problems may occur in the formation of a successful therapeutic alliance as this may not always occur between a counsellor and a client. Rogers (1959) described the relationship between the counsellor and the client as a critical variable. If this critical variable is not present to its full extend then this ultimately may result in an unsuccessful and unbeneficial counselling experience of the client. Client perception between the counsellor and client is also another crucial aspect in counselling. This can cause problems in counselling as the client has to aware of the counsellors unconditional positive regard and empathy towards them. If the client is unable to establish this unconditional positive regard and empathy being displayed by the counsellor then this may result in them being unwilling and reluctant in being fully honest and truthful with the counsellor and thus hinder both the communication and the therapeutic alliance between them (Rogers, 1957; …show more content…
Due to this and its very structured and planned system it is seen as a preferred method of counselling in health professions such as the NHS. However, more evidence does not essentially mean that it is a better form of therapy it just means that there is more to back it up. Another strength I feel that it has is that it focuses on the clients own individual thoughts and helps them to discover the misconceptions they are experiencing for themselves rather than someone else doing it for them. A weakness of cognitive therapy I feel is that in some ways it might not be as “in-depth” as some clients might require to deal with their problem(s) or issue(s) is a prosperous way. It also requires the client to be able to think abstractly, this may cause some problems as it means the client needs to be able to think about thinking. Furthermore, it is also necessary for a good therapeutic relationship to be place; if this isn’t the case then the client and the counsellor could face problems in having a good and beneficial counselling