Systems, Strategies, and Skills of Counseling and Psychotherapy

PREFACE PURPOSES OF THIS BOOK I have been a counselor educator for more than 20 years, have taught many courses on systems and strategies of counseling and psychotherapy, and have supervised hundreds of women and men seeking to become counselors or psychologists or to be licensed or certified in those professions. Many of the students and professionals I have taught and supervised have complained that their years of training had left them ill-prepared for clinical work. To some extent, their concerns reflected the understandable self-doubts of beginning clinicians who recognize the importance of their work and want to help their clients as much as possible. However, I have also heard them worry about how to integrate theory and practice, when to use the treatment approaches they have learned, and what they should actually do when facing clients. I have designed this book to address some of those concerns. My objectives include providing a clear, concise, meaningful, coherent, and useful overview of both well-established and emerging approaches to counseling and psychotherapy. In addition, I have worked to bridge the gap between theory and practice and to teach the salient skills associated with each treatment system. For example, rather than present each treatment approach in isolation and separate theory and practice, I group treatment systems according to whether their primary focus is on background and context, emotions and sensations, thoughts, or actions. These four areas of focus can be represented by the acronym BETA (background, emotions, thoughts, actions). Introductory chapters on each of these areas help readers to understand the commonalities among theories in each of these groups and determine which approach is best suited for them and their clients. Each chapter includes a skill development section that teaches one or more key skills associated with the treatment system under review. For example, Chapter 3, which introduces theories emphasizing background, teaches readers how to conduct an intake interview; Chapter 22, on brief solution-based therapy, teaches goal setting; Chapter 7, on the developmental/psychodynamic theorists, introduces interpretation; and Chapter 15, on theories emphasizing thoughts, teaches ways of eliciting and disputing dysfunctional cognitions. By Chapter 25, which presents the last section on skill development and teaches the process of termination, readers should have developed the basic clinical skills they will need as counselors or psychotherapists. This book focuses primarily on systems of counseling and psychotherapy that are designed for treatment of individuals. Many of these approaches, of course, are also useful in the treatment of groups and families, as we discuss throughout the book. However, treatment approaches that are used almost exclusively in group or family counseling are beyond our scope and should be covered in separate courses and texts on couples and family treatment and group therapy. ORGANIZATION OF THIS BOOK This book consists of 7 parts and 26 chapters. Later in the preface, I will discuss ways to use this book in courses on theories and techniques of counseling and psychotherapy. Part One, which includes Chapters 1 and 2, presents the BETA acronym (background, emotions, thoughts, actions) around which this book is organized. These chapters introduce client and clinician characteristics associated with successful counseling and psychotherapy regardless of the clinician's theoretical approach. Ethical considerations essential to effective treatment are also reviewed. In addition, I introduce the Diaz family--Edie, her husband Roberto, and their daughter Ava--who appear throughout the book to illustrate treatment systems and strategies. Skill development sections in Part One focus on role induction, self-assessment, and development of a sound therapeutic alliance. Part Two focusSeligman, Linda is the author of 'Systems, Strategies, and Skills of Counseling and Psychotherapy ', published 2000 under ISBN 9780130200600 and ISBN 0130200603.