Psychological counseling: goals and objectives, definition, main areas of assistance

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Psychological counseling is one of the branches of psychotherapy that has appeared in practice relatively recently. It is carried out in the form of a conversation. The demand for this type of therapy initially appeared among people who do not have psychological disorders, but who want to consult with a competent psychologist to solve personal problems.

The areas in which the help of an ordinary person is needed affect all aspects of our lives. These are relationships with the opposite sex, parent-child relationships, work with the inner “I”, the formation of life guidelines, help in communicating with strangers, conflict resolution within the family, and many, many different areas. Boundaries and clear definitions of topics in this area have not yet been laid. What are the goals, objectives and approaches in psychological counseling?

Definition

The foundations of psychological counseling originated in Ancient Greece. Alreadythere were original consultants and reception centers. Only they were called differently, often they were astrologers or clergymen. Psychotherapy as a method of treatment officially appeared at the end of the 17th century. Doctors for the first time began to try to treat with psychological methods. Already in the 19th century, hypnosis was tested on a person. True, this method had a different name - treatment with magnetic fluids. Since 1955, professional psychological counseling has developed.

It was aimed at solving personal and interpersonal problems. Both individuals and groups of individuals can take part in it. Often a couple or an entire family needs help. The essence of therapy is reduced to solving the problems of the individual, its development and the formation of interests that do not contradict it and the environment. Difficulties in everyday life and the inability to control oneself gave rise to the need to create a separate type of psychological assistance. This is how the concept of psychological counseling appeared. The purpose of counseling is determined depending on the needs of the applicants.

Applies to

Professional psychologists engage in dialogues with their clients with the intent to create change in their condition. The subject, goal and objectives of psychological counseling are aimed at helping people who do not value themselves, live according to non-constructive destructive principles. Through a conversation with a psychologist, the client gets rid of negative attitudes. Each specialist in the field of counseling has its own approach to work. The clients of a psychotherapist are often confused people, those who are unlucky in life, who have experienced losses, resentment. Theoretically, everyone can use the services of a psychotherapist-consultant. After all, any of us have some resource areas - those that do not bring satisfaction, but have an impact on the quality of life.

Target

Psychological counseling is designed to help clients comprehend the reality around them. With the help of a specialist, an individual deals with internal problems, sets life guidelines and goals for achievement. In the process, problems of an emotional nature and in relationships with others are solved. Psychological consultation provides an opportunity for the individual to draw his own conclusions about what is happening in his life. Stimulates the desire to act at one's own discretion. The consultant offers the client a model of behavior, and he himself chooses an acceptable one for himself. The practice of personal inferences contributes to the development, self-improvement. The individual is immersed in the atmosphere of his own responsibility for development, and the consultant creates the conditions for the client to readily take up work on himself. At the same time, personal interaction and full support of the client are carried out at all stages of therapy.

The goals of counseling and psychological assistance are as follows:

1. Elimination of the unstable emotional state of the individual.
2. Expansion of consciousness, understanding the role of the individual in his own life.
3. Teaching the client to solve their own problems.
4. Give himfeel that he can help other people realize their own capabilities based on the knowledge that he received from a psychotherapist.
5. Develop the ability to resist life's troubles.
6. Give settings in case of subsequent manifestations of the problem.

Principles of psychological counseling

The therapist initially accepts the person seeking help as an individual person with their own needs. Everyone who comes for the support of a psychologist has the right to a decent attitude and has the value of individuality. Anyone can take responsibility for their own life. Everyone has the right to choose decisions and goals, to follow their own understanding of life. Any pressure and decision for the client is prohibited, they prevent the individual from solving his problems in the most favorable way for him.

Tasks

A consultant psychologist has many important tasks, the main of which is to direct the client to solve his own problem on his own.

• The first task of a specialist is to instill in the client the idea of his own responsibility for the result of his life path. Opportunities in life for development and a full existence are available to different people. But how a person will dispose of them, depending on their own experience and subconsciousness, is an individual decision.
• To convey to the client the importance of a conscious approach to one's own life, to give him an incentive to achieve goals.
• Help uncover negative experiences oncounseling and let go of resentment and life's disappointment. They interfere with development.
• To find, together with the client, a way to solve his problems. The most favorable and acceptable to him personally.
• Develop flexibility with a situational approach, show alternatives in possible behavior.

The main task of a counseling psychologist is to teach the client to cope with complex problems on his own, which echoes the definition of the goal of psychological counseling.

Counseling subject

What the psychologist and the client work on together during the consultation is the fulcrum that is used during a period of personality crisis. Its potential, growth zone. Those positive qualities of a person that need to be developed, repelled from them and used in the process of getting rid of negativity in life. The main problem of people who need psychological counseling is a hidden individuality. They are afraid to be who they really are. The vast majority of clients of a psychologist-therapist believe that there is no order in their minds, they are “wrong”, not like other people. What is the purpose of psychological counseling? It consists in making a person understand his uniqueness, his individual and exclusive role in society.

Counseling Procedure

In the state of the client for the psychologist, only his feelings matter, actions are not discussed. The goals and objectives of psychological counseling are reduced to stabilizationinternal state of the individual. How should a professional psychotherapist conduct counseling?

1. Identify the customer's problem. What did he ask, what worries him, what causes negative emotions.
2. Find out the atmosphere the client is in. To what extent the situation around contributes to recovery or, on the contrary, aggravates the problem and will interfere with the process of psychological assistance.
3. Recognize the characteristics of the client. His ability to obtain a positive result, willingness to change views and relationships with the outside world. To what extent is he able to get help from psychological counseling.
4. Provision by the consultant of all professional opportunities to alleviate the state of the individual. The work of a professional with the personal characteristics of the client.

Where is psychological counseling used?

The widespread use of this method implies many uses. When working with children, psychological counseling is used most often. Its effectiveness in working with adolescents has been proven repeatedly. It has been noticed that when working with children, the goals and objectives of developmental psychological counseling are revealed most fully and expediently. Work is carried out not only with the child, but also, without fail, with his parents. The method is also used when working with student groups. Persons undergoing psychological counseling in this age group are stimulated to develop, undergo adaptation in groups. The study of the behavior and motivation of students has a positive effect on the compilationcurricula. From an economic point of view, the result of the introduction of psychological counseling in this group helps to solve problems associated with disinterest, detachment of students.

Psychological assistance services have been established for older people. Often classes are held in groups or with couples. Social services offer help to those in need in the form of free psychological counseling. In most cases, this assistance is provided to people who have suffered from their own problems with adapting to the outside world. This method of psychotherapy is also used in production. Now the management of large companies prefers to have their own psychologist on staff. Conversations with him are designed to change the psychological attitudes of the company's employees that prevent them from applying their knowledge in the most favorable way. Studies have shown that not the organization of production, but social life in a team for an individual has a dominant role.

The goals and objectives of psychological counseling in the workplace are to improve the morale of employees and harmony within the team. The military used this method very little, given some conservatism in this area. The individual approach in military activity, as a rule, is not used. Although, it is obvious that psychological counseling would help to establish the adaptation of recruits and solve problems in establishing a moral climate within the military group. Often individuals serving in the troops included in the categoryspecial danger (pilots, paratroopers, etc.), experience severe stress, panic attacks. This state contributes to falling out of the educational process. The same applies to those demobilized, who have to get used to normal civilian life again, return to loved ones and build social ties.

Effective Methods

In modern psychotherapy, these methods are used in combination and allow you to cope with the client's problem in the most quick and favorable way:

• Catharsis. Or confession. An open conversation with the counselor gives the individual the opportunity to open up problems. The psychologist is required at this moment to participate and understand. Catharsis reveals the hidden problems of the client to the specialist. In the process of applying this method, role-playing games, drawing are used.
• Persuasion and recommendation. This method places a huge responsibility on the consultant. After all, it is impossible to determine what advice will help an individual cope with his problem in one consultation. The seemingly obvious resolution of the crisis situation may subsequently turn out to be incorrect, since the consultant did not fully listen to the client and did not understand his inner motives. The disadvantage of this method is the bias of some specialists.
• Integrated interpretation. This method allows you to get to the core of the client's problem. The consultant from the position of the client analyzes the situation that has developed in his life. For example, the client told about his problem, in response the consultant begins the phrase with the words: “And you felt…”. That is, he gets used to the role of the client andexplains his emotions from the standpoint of psychoanalysis.

Modern approach in psychological counseling

The purpose and objectives of the modern method is that a person, with the help of a psychologist, morally grows to a state where he can independently cope with problems, both existing and subsequent ones. The therapy is as follows:

1. The psychologist does not work for the client and does not manipulate his mind. He works with the client. The task of a specialist is to free him from personal problems so that he can develop independently and successfully pass his life path.
2. Emotions in the new approach are given more attention. Knowledge about the problem does not lead to its solution. The emotions that an individual experiences at the moment of crisis are important, they determine his behavior.
3. The work is done with the present, not with the past of the individual. The past is important in terms of building a chain that led to the development of the problem. An interesting fact is that if the client's past is not considered in therapy, then personal development is faster and more efficient.
4. The process of psychological counseling is already an experience for the client. The experience of responsibility for his own actions and the result of them in his life.

Main areas of consultation

These include:

• The goal is the client's problem. The study of the crisis situation and its external manifestations, the search for a way to settle it.
• The goal is personalityclient. Analysis of the causes of the individual's problem, search for destructive life scenarios, prevention of their recurrence in the future.
• The goal is to solve the client's problems. A specific search for solutions and options for behavior patterns to destroy a problematic situation in the life of an individual.

In closing

Briefly, the goals and objectives of psychological counseling can be interpreted as stimulating the personal growth of the individual. The task of a counseling psychologist is to convince the client that he is a full-fledged person, through direct evidence, to motivate him for a further successful life.