Psychotherapy Practice: The Application of the Personal Theory

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Overall approach of personal theory
Philosophy and assumption of personal theory
Key Concepts
Therapeutic Goals
Techniques and Procedures
Comparison
Conclusion
Reference List

Abstract

In my opinion person centered theory is a client centered therapy whereby the client is expected to play a major role in the therapeutic process. In this case the client becomes his/her own therapist and he / she is expected to make choices that lead informed decisions and hence move towards making positive changes in life. I expect the clients to apply supreme understanding of their innate behaviors so that they are able to develop a therapeutic guide for themselves. Developing a clear understanding of an individual’s personal theory results in an enhanced decision making process based on a therapeutic procedure which includes the contribution of a therapist. Understanding of personal attributes promotes the ability of intervening more efficiently even when a client’s personality is so different with the therapist’s personality. This helps the therapist to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their clients. The objectives of this research are to develop an individual theory which focus on personal theory and indicate how the theory improves therapeutic process. Secondly is to assess how the developed theory can be applied in order to help their clients who require counseling sessions. Understanding of a personal theory helps a therapist to better understand the interests of a client, their moral values, experiences, background, likes and dislikes. This helps a therapist to identify the client’s problems easily so that they can counsel them appropriately and come up with a definitive solution. Individual’s background and life experiences greatly influence the way of life of such an individual. When a therapist understands them s/he is able to offer unconditional advice to a client, thereby promoting trust between him/her and the client. Clients are also encouraged to understand their own personal theory as it may help them to make better options concerning the kind of therapies they would go for. This also helps them to better understand settings of their surrounding environment, create awareness of their values and ability to intervene more properly when other people have clearly different values with their own. The application of personal theory is fundamental in counseling of clients in order for therapists to achieve therapeutic goals. It motivates aspects of management and communication interaction geared towards an individual or others.

Introduction

I believe that proper understanding of individual personality is the key to a successful therapeutic process of counseling. Individuals understand themselves better and can easily identify what is appropriate for them. The aim of Person centered theory that I am developing is to help individuals to make discrete choices that help them to make informed decisions and to move towards making positive changes in life. With the understanding that personality involves supreme understanding of the innate behavior of human beings, I believe that the theory will be of great help to individuals seeking personal counseling. I expect therapist understands the personality of clients their so that they can help them to develop therapeutic measures which are appropriate to the clients. Application of this theory will help in identification of subtle human characteristics such a leadership, charisma and sympathy. Individuals will able to assess whether their purpose is geared towards self-development, assisting others or other fields which related to humans and how they behave. The theory encourages understanding of personal typology, personal traits, ways of thinking and learning techniques. The aim of the research is to develop a personal theory that explores my perception on individual counseling and its application in the therapeutic process of personal counseling.

Overall approach of personal theory

Development of this takes an integrative approach whereby ideas are borrowed from Carl Rogers a psychologist. The ideas of the psychologist are lose to I have in mind on personal counseling which involves mostly the client as opposed to letting the therapist play a major role in the counseling process. My theory mainly emphasize on individual ability to grow in the positive direction with the help of an external therapist. It requires therapists to trust individuals and their inner being as they continue to strive in order to achieve self- actualization which eventually help them to build positive characters. Therapist need to have a clear understanding of personal theory helps therapists achieve their goals in the field of counseling. They need to understand the general personality of their clients in order to give a correct diagnosis and management of their problem (Dean & Sweeney, 1992, p.627). In order to promote counseling the theory make use various approaches such as seeking to know the clients more, motivating the clients, use of different counseling styles and diversification of learning techniques. Understanding of the client’s personality makes the task of counseling easier (Strauman, 2006, p.451). An individual’s background and life experiences influence their personality development.

The theory will seek to know the interests, expectations, and life experiences likes and dislikes of the clients in order to improve the competence of a therapist in the counseling process. The more a therapist understands their clients the more s/he will be able to relate the therapeutic process to the client’s personal life (Fleeson, 2001, p. 1011). The more s/he understands about their background the clear s/he understands why they behave the way they do and hence more able to an informed decision regarding their therapy. Motivation of clients during the whole therapeutic process by positive encouragement helps increases their determination towards positive improvement. Positive encouragement portrays supportive nature of the therapist, clients are become more open to share their personality attributes with the therapist. I realize that for some clients therapists would be the only source of consolation and so it is more likely that they will listen and adhere to the advice given by them. In the personal theory therapist encourage positive personality characteristic while at the same time they also try to discourage negative traits in a professional manner (Strauman, 2006, p.451).

In the process of developing the theory monitoring and evaluation clients used for the study will be done in order to assess the progress in the therapeutic process. In my theory I encourage use of different counseling styles to help the therapist to identify the most appropriate styles of counseling. The clients would also be able to assess different counseling styles and decide on the most appropriate, a style which they feel that they can comfortably adopt. Different cultures exist and so are the individual personalities hence I do not assume that particular personality styles are fit for all clients. When this theory is adopted I am confident that better outcomes will be realized in the therapeutic process, the clients are at ease with the therapist. As a therapist endeavors to better understand the personality of his/her client, there is the likelihood of a strong bond developing between the tow, often accompanied by a certain element of trust. The client is confident in confiding with the therapist even when it comes to sensitive issues and in turn the therapist is able to help (Markon et al, 2005, p.139).

Philosophy and assumption of personal theory

Mental health is as a continuum which outlines the emotional wellbeing, the ability to live a total and inspired life and the suppleness to handle life’s inevitable problems. I also term it as the individual’s ability to strike a balance of all life’s activities and the capacity to show feelings and to a variety of demands in life. Mentally well individuals are able to withstand normal stress in life, perform productively and in turn make positive contributions towards the development of their community. However, I rule out mental wellbeing as a mere lack of mental disorder due to varied opinions from different cultures, social and religious perspectives (Strauman, 2006, p.451). Different communities have varied definition of mental health based on their cultural believes and practices, there mental well being is socially developed and defined differently. Also different nature and causes of mental illness exists and this calls for intervention measures (McCrae et al, 2005, p.269). Individuals experiencing mental disorders suffer from anxiety disorders and as a result, they respond to particular situations with fear; they also experience mood disorders which entails constant feelings of extreme sadness or extreme happiness. Another disorder experienced is psychotic disorder which entails distorted awareness and hallucinations. Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and adjustment disorders may also be experienced by mentally ill individuals. Mental dysfunctional is associated with conditions or situations that affect the mind of a human being negatively. Individuals are unable to strike a balance in handling life’s experiences; they are unable to cope up with even normal life stresses. Continuous difficult experiences in life may eventually lead to mental dysfunction. In some individuals mental dysfunction develops within a short time or almost immediately after a difficult experience while in others the conditions develop slowly and eventually explode (Strauman, 2006, p.451). Possible causes of mental dysfunction may include an encounter with a strange situation for instance many patients who are admitted to intensive care unit in a hospital may become confused and develop mild mental disorders during their stay. A sudden sickness particularly when it is severe may cause mental disorder, diseases associated with brain infections such as meningitis and encephalitis cause confusion and eventually mental illness.

Illegal drugs such as heroin and bhang when abused for long may lead to mental disorders. Some medications may cause mental illness as well if not used as per the doctor’s prescription. Sudden withdrawal of illegal drugs and even alcohol may develop some confusion that may eventually lead to mental illness. Low levels of blood sugar cause hypoglycemia which if not corrected lead to confusion associated with mental illness. Severe head injury may cause brain damage leading to mental dysfunction. Self esteem is fundamental element in human being, individual with positive self esteem appreciate the self worth and strife to develop their personality in a positive way. However, individuals with negative self esteem develops negative personality, they mostly underrate themselves and fear taking up responsibilities as they think that they are incompetent ( Leigland, 2002, p.273).

Personal growth takes place when an individual makes a firm decision to promote his/her personal development. Though this also happen with the help of a therapist it chiefly depends on individual clients. This takes place when an individual clearly understands themselves; he/she is able to identify his/her interest, life experiences and abilities. When a therapist also understands these factors concerning their clients they are better placed to discover problems and device best ways of managing them. Individuals need to work on their awareness level and to improve on their attitudes. Positive attitude boost positive personal growth, individuals are able to change behaviors that are retrogressive and adopt progressive ones (Strauman, 2006, p.451). They are able to appreciate life challenges and take them as learning opportunities rather than lean on them in agony and despair. Individuals believe in themselves and their potentials which give the morale to move on towards personal growth. Positive encouragement by their therapist boosts their determination further. Clear understanding of individuals’ abilities helps them to develop these skills; a therapist is then able to understand strengths and weaknesses (Kosslyn et al, 2002, p.341). They encourage clients to work on their strengths and discourage the weaknesses in a professional way. This is enhanced by setting of goals both by the clients and the therapist. Every day activities are geared towards achievement of the set goal, these goal are time bound so as to motivate the therapist and clients to work harder. Clients are required to create a self-development plan together with a system of their personal progress. Constant and continuous cause of actions is followed by clients and therapists. The theory makes use of practical issues; therapist must understand his/her personality and in turn the personality of clients. This makes it easier for him/her to handle the clients; the commitment put in understanding the client’s personality is the same zeal which is applied in changing the client’s negative personality (Larson et al, 2002, p.217). When clients fully understand their personality they are able to address characters which affect their personal development negatively and build on those that promote their personal development positively.

Personal theory can be modified to models which simplify its usage further, Myers Briggs Type Indicator Model (MBTI). The model helps individuals in developing and understanding themselves and understanding others. It also helps them to understand what motivate others and their strengths and weaknesses (Dean & Sweeney, 1992, p.627).

Key Concepts

My theory consists of at least six concepts whose main aim is to help the client achieve a complete therapeutic change. The first concept is to enhance individual contact between the clients and therapist. When therapists view clients as competent and reliable it increases clients confidence and they are more able to control their behaviors in order to achieve positive changes. The second concept is to help both client and therapist to develop genuineness in the therapeutic process. Personality synopsis is geared towards helping persons to change and develop their lives positively. In order to achieve this client should be the center of efficient change; they should genuinely share their personal experiences with therapists. The third concept involves unrestricted positive regard which requires the therapist to believe that each client is good and must seek to show this understanding to the client. Developments of this trust help the client to open up and disclose all information without hindrance. Otherwise the client may feel unworthy and fail to disclose negative facet of his/her personality. However, I hold to the fact that appreciating the client does not mean agreeing with all their actions, rejecting of negative actions should be done in humane and professional manner. The fourth concept is development of a nonjudgmental attitude; the theory discourage therapist from passing judgment about their clients without giving every problem a professional consideration (Larson et al, 2002, p.217). The fifth concept is the disclosure which entails sharing of individual information. The therapist must be willing to share even his personality with the client in order to help them to share their information too. Sharing of information among individuals is thought to be at the same level that is the client would be more open if the therapist is also open otherwise they shy off. Therefore when therapist maintains a secretive nature about their personality it encourages clients to withhold vital information which could be important in the success of therapeutic process (Larson et al, 2002, p.219). The sixth concept of my theory entails reflection which is an important factor in understanding of the self worth is not the ability to interpret instead reflection is more appropriate. Reflection shows that the client and therapist are paying attention to the therapeutic process. They take time to think about what they say or hear and also comprehend the fundamental thoughts and feelings. Reflection also permits the clients to listen to their own feelings in a different manner. People’s beliefs turn out to be more real when offered back by a different individual. When these concepts are applied in the therapeutic process, therapy turns out to be more of a self –exploration procedure whereby therapist acts as a guide instead of a director. The client already has an answer but the therapist help him/her to find it. Practically the therapist avoids acting like s/he knows more than the clients; therapist may begin by disclosing some personal information. Therapist may disclose his education background, therapeutic ideas, his family and his future goals. This engages the client and prepares him to open up (Markon et al, 2005, p.140).

Therapeutic Goals

The goals of my client centered therapy are geared towards exploration of individual personality traits as a major drive of individual change. This would be enabled by helping the client to make decisions that are more fitting to their real selves. Specific goals include evaluating the client in order to understand their interests, life experiences, likes and dislikes. The other goal is evaluation of the client’s needs, when the therapist understands the above factors in client’s life s/he is able to identify the client’s requirements. Another goal is to device appropriate therapeutic measures which should address the client’s needs adequately (Larson et al, 2002, p.219). Therapists should use their professional abilities and experiences to help clients come up with solutions to their problems. My goal of personal theory in therapy also include seeking to understand personal meaning, means of coping with anxiety and taking the responsibilities of decision which individuals make in order to enhance a satisfying life. Other goals are to increase self esteem and improved openness to life experiences. Therapeutic relationship that is between the therapist and clients is a significant contributor to the success or failure of therapy. Good and close relationship between the two parties promotes success of the therapeutic process whereas a distant and shaky relationship makes achievement of therapeutic goal difficult. Therapist should be close to their client and encourage a relaxed relationship in order to put both parties at ease of disclosing their personal information (McCrae et al, 2005, p.270).Client should be committees to the therapeutic process; therapist should motivate their clients by being their best friends so as to enhance realization of therapeutic goals. Accepting clients the way they are relating to them freely helps them to realize their full potential in life. A person centered approach which appreciates the clients as being the key authority of their life experiences. Letting the client to take led of their own lives in order to help them achieve full potential for personal growth. A relationship that creates favorable conditions increases chances of achieving positive development in personal growth. Accepting the clients, giving the unconditional positive regard and therapist avoiding being judgmental to their clients (Larson et al, 2002, p.221). Therapist should handle client’s issues politely even if they appear as a matter of common sense to them that is appreciating client’s personal defaults in a sympathetic manner. Promotion of a relationship whereby clients feel free to disclose their thoughts and emotions whether they are positive or negative. This should take place without fear of being rejected or condemned. Essentially a relationship that creates an environment whereby the client is able to explore and show his concerns. Without having to behave in a particular manner or meet some specific requirements in order to earn positive appraisal from the therapist. A good relationship that enables the therapist to accurately understand the client’s emotions and thoughts and their meaning as of the clients own outlook. Finally a true and authentic relationship whereby therapist usually presents with a transparent professional façade rather than a detached professional façade to avoid speculations of what the therapist is up to by the client. Relationship between the client and therapist is a fundamental factor in therapeutic process. It determines whether the process will be successful or not, therapy involves two parties the client and the therapist (Kosslyn et al, 2002, p.341)

Techniques and Procedures

In order to enhance clients move towards positive growth an authentic relationship between the client and therapist is paramount, a caring and an understanding therapist motivates clients to be more open to the therapy. The technique I intend to use places most of the responsibilities of the therapeutic process under the client. The therapist just takes a nondirective task of helping the client to achieve his/her goals in the therapy. Therapist informs their client that they are the key players in the therapeutic process; encourage them to take initiative working towards positive personal development. Personal centered technique allows the clients to be the key players in the therapeutic process. They are expected to understand their personality and come up with ways of addressing them. (Markon et al, 2005, p.141).

Individuals are the best therapist of their own problems; once they are able to realize their defaults they are in a better position to identify corrective measures as opposed to any other individual. This technique promotes ability of the client to agree with the ideal and actual self, better understanding of self, decreased feeling of insecurity and guilt and increased positive attitude and comfort in relating with others. Clients are motivated to express their thoughts and emotions the time they occur. The therapist is viewed as a colleague by his clients rather than an instructor, this also enhances good relationship between the client and therapist hence clients are able to freely disclose their personal information. This technique also promotes a supportive environment established by a good personal association between the client and the counselor. The process takes a form of a discussion rather than instructive form of the therapist giving directions to the client. However, the therapist pays key attention in order to understand the client’s personality clearly so as to recommend an appropriate therapy (Leigland, 2002, p.274).

The key factor to the success of a therapy is not the therapist qualifications and skills but rather his/her attitude towards the client. Therapist should view the clients as people in need of positive personal development, treat them with empathy, avoid judging them and give regards to them unconditionally (Leigland, 2002, p.274). Therapeutic process may take five stages, in stage one therapist are required to connect with their clients by actively talking and listening to them. The makes the two parties to be familiar with each other and creates an environment whereby they can comfortably share their personal experiences. The second stage involves identification of problem and solving it on a cognitive way. Interaction between the therapist and client helps in identification of personal problem affecting the client, the therapist helps the client to resolve the problem by providing professional therapeutic measures. At this stage the client is encouraged to develop an individual responsibility of primarily changing his behaviors. The third stage involves resolving of any underlying factor that influences the client’s behaviors negatively. For instance drug abuse, therapist may help the client with techniques on how to cope up with withdrawal effects (Leigland, 2002, p.274). The clients may also be encouraged to involve themselves in alternative activities in order to keep them occupied. Therapizing of any underlying issue is the fourth stage; after the therapist connects with the client he is able to provide therapy to problems which affect the client positive personal development. The final stage entails monitoring and evaluation of client progress in order to notice any loop hole. This also helps the client and the therapist to analyze whether they headed towards right direction in order to achieve the set goals (Leigland, 2002, p.274).

Comparison

Personal theory involves understanding of individual personality so that a therapist can be able to identify any underlying personal development problem. After achieving this, the therapist is able to assist the client accordingly by coming up with appropriate therapeutic measures. As opposed to other theories, personal theory apples a person centered technique to address personal problems that affect their clients (Ackerman, 1997, p. 171). It is necessary that clients fully comprehend their individual interests, experiences, dislikes and likes. By understanding these factors they are expected to be able to realize any personal development problem and at the same time come up with ways of resolving them. The theory also seek to understand individual differences that is what makes a particular person to be different fro others and possibly unique. A therapist in the personal theory plays only a facilitation role, whereby they help the client improve on their personal development by guiding them on how to identify personality problems and how to correct (Ackerman, 1997, p. 171). Other theories gives the therapist a leading role, s/he is supposed to identify the client’s personality problem and independently also provide therapeutic measures. The nature of human characters is clearly explained, other theories mostly seek to understand the underlying cause of personality problems without seeking to understand the personality traits of individual clients. The effects of their outcome on individual are temporal rather than in permanent as is the case with the personal theory. When a therapist understands individual characters he/she is able to understand the causes of underlying personality problems better. The therapist may decide to help the client by first changing their undesirable personality traits first before addressing the key individual problem (Ackerman, 1997, p. 176). For instance if a family man has failed to fulfill his family responsibilities because he id an alcoholic the therapist will most probably starts with addressing the alcoholic nature of the family man and later his irresponsible behaviors.

Eysenck’s model of personality is closely related to personal theory; the theory explains the cause of personality by exploring genetics of characters. Two personality elements which included extraversion and neuroticism are described in this theory. The model also makes use of at least five broad personality traits such as openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and agreeableness. The personal theory also seeks to understand these individual traits so as to give appropriate therapeutic process to their clients. Both theory use psychometric scales to rate the achievements made by these theories in the attempt to improve personality development of specific clients (Ackerman, 1997, p. 198). However, Eysenck model of personality used a scientific methodology to examine personality psychology which was not applied in the personal theory. Another personality theory is the social cognitive theory which postulates that personality traits are influenced by individual’s environment. However this explanation was considered to be too shallow to explain all facets of human personality. The theory partly relates to personal theory as it also concerned with personality traits though it does not apply the client therapist approach (Fleeson, 2001, p. 1013).

Conclusion

The process of developing personal theory was successful and I believe that clients who adopt it will achieve a complete therapeutic change. Application of personal theory is fundamental in the therapeutic process, as it helps counselors/therapists to understand client’s personality traits. The major role of the therapist is to promote situations for change instead of doing particular changes in order to realize specific changes. In order to realize this, a genuine relationship between the client and the client is important. Developing a clear understanding of individuals personal theory results in an enhanced decision making process based on therapeutic procedure which includes therapist take and client interaction. Understanding of personal attributes promotes the ability of intervening more efficiently even when the client’s personality is so different with the therapist personality. This helps the therapist to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their clients. Clears understanding of personal characters helps the therapist to understand why people behave the way do and appropriately handle their personality problems. Therapists are able to relate client’s mental disorders with their life experiences, interest and general behavior. The relationship helps in correction of the disorder before it gets out of hand. Person centered theory has improved the field of counseling and psychotherapy as therapists are able to understand their client better and vice versa. Individuals are also helped to understand themselves better and word towards developing a positive personality.

Reference List

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Leigland, S. (2002). On Cognition and Behaviorism. American Psychologist, 55, 273 – 274.

Markon, K.E., Krueger, R.F & Watson, D. (2005). ‘Delineating the Structure of Normal and Abnormal Personality: An Integrative Hierarchical Approach’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88 (1): 139 – 157

McCrae, R.R., Lockenhoff, C.E & Costa, P.T.Jr. (2005) ‘A Step towards DSM-V: Cataloging Personality – Related Problem in Living’, Europe Journal of Personality, 19 (4): 269 – 86

Strauman, T.J. (2006). Social Cognition, Psychodynamic Psychology, and the Representation and Processing of Emotionally Significant Information. Journal of Personality. Volume 62 Issue 4, Pages 451 – 458

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