Topic 7 DQ 1

There are 12 basic assumptions to which most family therapists adhere to, which are discussed in Chapter 14. With all you have learned in this course, what is your understanding now of why theory is essential in any client/counselor relationship? Tie your answer in with sources to support your discussion.

Establishing a theoretical orientation is important in counseling practice as counseling theories provide a general framework for counseling practice. In addition to providing a framework for resolving client issues and understanding how these issues occur, counseling theories also offer a vital framework for any client/counselor relationship (Kivlighan et al., 2015). To begin with, counseling theory is essential in any client/counselor relationship since it guides counselors on how to establish effective therapeutic relationships with clients (Kivlighan et al., 2015). In this case, different counseling theories provide frameworks for building effective relationships with clients by proposing how counselors should behave in order to build trust with their clients. In simple terms, counseling theories dictate what counselors should do to build good therapeutic relationships with clients, which facilites effective treatment. On the other hand, counseling theory is essential in any client/counselor relationship since it guides counselors on how to resolve various issues relationship challenges, dual relationships, that may arise during counseling (Kivlighan et al., 2015). In simple terms, a counseling theory indicates the limits of the client/counselor relationship and the various ways of resolving issues that may compromise the client/counselor relationship.

Topic 7 DQ 2

Pick an extension, adaptation, or spin-off of one of the prominent counseling theories. Why do you think the creator of the altered or enhanced theory made it as opposed to just following the original theory? Include a discussion of one example of how this theory differs from the original.

Although Erikson’s psychosocial theory and Freud’s psychoanalytic theory differ, the former is more of an adaptation of the latter. In fact, Erikson seems to have enhanced Freud’s psychoanalytic theory to come up with Erikson’s psychosocial theory (Darling-Fisher, 2018). An example of how Erikson’s psychosocial theory differs from the original theory is that while Freud’s psychoanalytic theory argues that human behavior is the result of the interactions among three parts of the mind: the id, ego, and superego, Erikson’s psychosocial theory argues that human personality is influenced by social forces as an individual passes through the life stages (Darling-Fisher, 2018). In simple terms, Erikson formulated his theory by adding these stages of social forces that play a major role in governing an individual’s overall behavior. From my perspective, Erikson made his theory as opposed to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory because he believed that the social forces that occur as one passes through the life stages are more important than just the interactions between the three components of the mind as Freud’s psychoanalytic theory suggested (Darling-Fisher, 2018).