Integrating Theories Of Counseling

Integrating theories is an important skill to know. If there is no theoretical basis for what a counselor should be looking for, even if there are many bases to look at, that makes for a counselor who may be lacking in the fundamental trainings and may not be able to do their job correctly. It can be daunting, to say the least, to integrate theories into the way that a therapist practices. There is a wealth of information that can be found to help with the integration process. The main concern is how it works for the therapist as well as the client. Many times, there may be different approaches that could work in conjunction together to help the client to the best of the therapist’s ability and could result in greater outcomes for the
The thoughts of the client are important in trying to be able to help them. The way a client thinks about their life is a way that says how they feel about themselves or their families. Cognitive theory also goes into detail about schemas and automatic thoughts which can be a major component to the problems that a client may be suffering from. Schemas are ways of thinking that comprise a set of core beliefs and assumptions about how the world operates (Sharf, 2011). This is simply saying that schemas are thoughts and beliefs that help people function every day. There are positive schemas and negative schemas, and it is the negative schemas that can cause the most distress to a client. It could be something as simple as a young child mistaking a cow for a dog as the child knows that a dog has four legs and the cow has four legs as well. However, it could also be a problem with trusting people if a child has learned from a young age to not trust anyone because of the experiences they have had in their lives. Another component of cognitive theory is automatic thoughts. Automatic thoughts are ideas that happen without thought, as the name suggests, and can lead to emotional responses which can be either good or bad. The key to this type of therapy is to know how to challenge the beliefs that a client has to be able to change the
This theory is based on the thoughts of reinforcements. Positive reinforcements, for example saying thank you, makes a person want do a behavior again as they are getting rewarded. Negative reinforcements are given to remove or decrease a behavior, for example using an umbrella in the rain to keep yourself dry (Sharf, 2011). These can also be used in the changing of thought processes such as with phobias. By using a process of systematic desensitization, the clients are taught to relax instead of being overcome by fear. For example, is a client has a phobia of worms, systematic desensitization will help a client be able to be around their fear in small steps such as looking at a picture first and then gradually moving up to the actual fear stimulus. This can be helpful in cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder as well as other behavioral disorder in changing the behaviors that are causing the client the most problematic