Mental Health- Counselling and Critical Evaluation

Critical Evaluation of Application of Theory 

Learning is a continuous process of personal development which ensures that an individual learning new thing can implement on their self to get a improvement. By regularly seeking improvement over self it become easier to cope with the challenges that an individual face whether it is related to life or professional development (Jung, Wiesjahn, Rief and Lincoln, 2015). This is also considered as counselling which is crucial to people who are seeking for improvement or facing any kind of issue which is affecting them in some manner.

In order to perform counselling effectively an individual must make use of effective strategy or a theory which help in performing step by step actiontoward it. There are number of theories available thatsupport in performing counselling one among them is cognitive behavioural therapy. It is atalking therapy that support and individual to manage their problem by changing the way they think and behave. This is most widely used to treat anxiety and depression,but can also be used as a cure for physical and mental and health problems. this theory is mainly based over a concept that the thoughts, sensations, actions and feelings all are interconnected, and negative thoughts or feeling may trap individual in a vicious cycle (Skovholt, 2017). CBT focus toward dealing with overwhelmed problem in a positive way by breaking the problem into small parts so that it can be treated individually and more appropriately. This support in determining the ways through which the negative pattern can be change in order to bring improvement over the way one feel. The main benefit of adopting CBT model is that it put emphases toward improving the state of mind by focusing over the present issues rather then focusing over the main issue that are being faced by an individual in past. Order assignment help from our experts! 

This therapy is mainly adopted by counsellors as it consider to more effective talking therapy where the counsellor mainly talk with their patients about the issues they are facing and try to present them with the relation that manner in which the thoughts influence the behaviour of an individual and try to figure out solution for making changes in the behaviour. Here the larger problems is being divided into small parts so that it can be solve in more easily, the individuals are being realised about the behaviour that they have to changes in order to break the negative cycle (Grewal, Spielmann, Jone and Hussain, 2014). The duration of therapy mainly remains of around six weeks to six month which mainly depend over the manner in which an individual is recovering from their issues and severity of it. At the starting phase, the patient meets with the therapist and discuss the reason behind CBT and goals are being set over which the structure of CBT depends. Under this the main emphasis is put over the behavioural as well as cognitive approach which is based on the issue which is being faced by an individual. For example, if an individual is suffering from a kind of phobia or anxiety, so it may discover that avoiding certain situation are increasing their fear but confronting with the situation in manageable or gradual manner support that individual in generating believe and confidence on themselves and then the situation ger more sorted. This all happen when that individual discusses it with the therapist and started working on their behaviour.

The main benefit of Cognitive behavioural therapy is that, counsellor can operate in a standardized way, attending a small number of appointments, with a mental health professional (psychotherapist or therapist). CBT makes to more conscious of incorrect or negative thought, so you can perceive and react to difficult circumstances more clearly. CBT may be a very useful method for addressing mental health problems, like anxiety, comment-traumatic stress disorder or an alcohol problem, either alone or in conjunction with other treatments. But not everyone taking advantage of CBT has a mental health disorder (Twomey, O’Reilly and Byrne, 2015). CBT can be an important tool for helping people learn how to handle difficult life circumstances better.

It has been critically evaluated that, CBT has various positive impacts such as it is based upon the cognitive model of emotional response, according to the National Association of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapists. This model informs us that our emotions and actionsas opposed to external stimulation derive from our emotions. Like its counterparts in psychoanalysis, CBT is a target-oriented and issue-focused therapy. Consequently, CBT relies on the situation and living in the moment, instead of on a lengthy study of the developmental context of the topic. Other positive effects are, this is highly engaging, accountable for therapeutic outcome for patient as well as responsible for individual that how they feel and behave (Farrer and et. al., 2014). Although CBT does not function with those with serious mental illnesses or those with learning disabilities, it is a successful type of therapy to help individuals recognize and realize that just by modifying their feelings, they can improve things. It is a major benefit as it allows people to realize that improving their thought processes will lead to a positive outcome. Similar to more conventional therapy, this is a much different form of therapy that usually focuses on attempting to alter or re-evaluate past behaviour or anxiety. On the other argument, CBT has some negative impacts where some critics claim that while CBT only discusses current issues and focuses on particular concerns, this does not discuss the potential root causes of disorders, such as a past unhappiness.

CBT relies on the ability of the person to improve oneself (their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors) and it does not discuss wider challenges in environments or communities that often have a direct effect on the development and very well-being of a person. They have to commit to the process to profit from CBT. A counsellor can assist and guide everyonebut without their support, they can't make certain issues go away. It can waste a lot of your time to host daily CBT meetings and do some additional work among sessions. It may not be appropriate for people with more complex mental health conditions or learning disabilities, due to the standardized nature of CBT. They can encounter initial times when you are more nervous or emotionally distressed as CBT may include facing your feelings and anxieties. From the above discussion, it has been evaluated that Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has some positive as well as negative impact which affect the feeling of individual or make them able o recover themselves from the problem which they face.

Development of Listening and Responding Skills

For performing counselling effectively, a counsellor has to exert some skills that are very much crucial for the success of a session. This mainly includes listening, encouraging, attending, responding and reflecting over the feeling or meanings. The adeptness of listening and responding skills holds up major importance in both caring as well as non caring professions, but it is considered to be most essential quality for a counsellor. As listening and responding are the skills that are crucial for building up relationship with client. This is so because through listening only the counsellor would be able to discern that what actually client is going through and by responding in right manner it become possible to develop a relationship with them so that appropriate problem to their issues can be identified (Thomson and et. al., 2017).

While performing counselling or taking session the counsellors become able to develop their skills and capability with each session as they have to listen with full concentration about the issues of the client in order to extract the appropriate solution from that discussion only. So by performing each session their remains a development of listening as well as responding skills of the counsellor (Ivers and et. al., 2016). These skills are crucial as by demonstrating the responding as well as listening skills will enable the client to feel that they are heard, accepted and understood by the counsellor which support in moving the therapeutic interaction more forward as it indicate three main core conditions such as unconditional positive regard, empathy and congruence. These all support the counsellor to perform well with their client and be able to improve their current skills while practically implementing them.

Despite of this there are number of factors that a counsellor may consider while performing their job which help them in further development. It mainly includes,

Appropriate questioning: - It is considered to be most effective approach for a counsellor for their personal development further. By making appropriate use of questions, counsellor become able to represent their both listening as well as responding skills. Hence, they can focus toward asking the open questions that prompt the client for remain continuer with talking about their issues in more detailed manner. This support in demonstrating that you don’t only hear them but also want to hear so they also support in getting solution quickly by explaining each and every side of their problem. This support in improving the counselling skills by getting an idea regarding several different ways to deal with client.

Active listening: - This is considered as the process of restating all the thinks that client has explained in summarised manner, so that client get an idea that you have understand every thing clearly and heard right whatever they disclosed. By using this approach on regular basis the counsellor would be able to improve their listening skills more effectively by ensuring that situation is perceived in right manner that help in ensuring that right treatment must be provide to client.

Reflective practices: - Under this the counsellor can reflect all the experience they gain while interacting with the client and responses they presented in order to resolve their issues must be personally reflect by them (De Castella and et. al., 2015). This involve reflecting the experience they gain in order to get an idea regarding what get wrong and right so that it can be identified that the area which can be further improved to enhance the quality of services so that in future situations can be deal in more effective manner with the help of evaluating eth past experiences. Need example assignments, Talk to our experts! 

Cultural Identity Influence Approach of Counselling

The cultural identity has a huge influence over the process of counselling as culture directly influence the choice, behaviour, thinking pattern and lifestyle of a individual which varies from person to person. For effectively performing counselling it become crucial to individual to firstly understand the culture of a client so that appropriate treatment can be provided as per their requirement (Pedersen and et. al., 2015). For instance, if it is considered that a counsellor follows the psychology as well as counselling practices of the western culture where individualism culture is being followed by the people. So, in this the theoretical framework of the counselling is being adopted in a manner where more focus is provided to the individual rather than a community or family to which a person belongs. The healthy personal growth in this type of counselling is measured in term how far an individual get independent from their family. This brings up a psychology that a person who is separated from community as well as family remain more focused toward their goals and be able to achieve their personal growth. In such counselling clients are being encouraged for being more competent, rational and assertive. The religion as well as spirituality is considered to be a myth according to culture which hamper the personal growth of an individual.

On the others side, if a discussion be placed regarding the people that follow the culture of collectivism, people live over the principle of harmony within the religion, community as well as family. Under this culture the self-identity of an individual belongs to the community or family to which they belong. This principle mainly requires people to avoid any sort of direct conflicts with people and try to maintain close relationship with them by avoiding vulgar quarrel, supporting other, being gentle and having a friendly attitude. In this culture the principle of harmony requires a stance of carefulness within the social interaction where people are being teach from very beginning that they must remain mild temper, speak slowly and keep smiling. This gap between the culture may affect the practices performed by the counsellor belongs to individualism culture (Root and Brown, 2014). As this act as a obstacle in building up good relationship while performing therapeutic conversation with clients. This is so because in such case the counsellor is being experienced in dealing with a kind of people who like to stay separate from others and remain focuses toward their role and benefit in personal growth. But on other side, client from collectivism consider all the people to which he or she is connected before moving forth which make it quite difficult to judge an individual over different or new scale (Ratts and Pedersen, 2014). Therefore, at this level a counsellor is required to being remain fully integrated with the practical skills as well as knowledge within the psychological counselling along with the multi-cultural issues in order to develop understanding regarding the culture of client and provide them treatment as according to that particular factor. Ask for management assignment help from our experts!         

Conclusion

From the above performed study it can be summarised that counselling plays a significant role within improving the mental health of an individual by providing them recovery from the issues that they are facing. But in order to provide appropriate counselling it is crucial for an individual to be bundled with several set of skills like listening, responding etc. so that the issue can be understand effectively that further help in determining solution. Additionally, the counsellor must also be aware with the cross-cultural practice of counselling so that people belongs top different culture can be treated effectively as culture has a main influence over the situation of people and manner in which they perceive the things. It is recommended that for getting most positive outcome through counselling process an individual must provide this treatment with the help of application of theory such as Cognitive Behavioural theory which support in providing a step by step execution of action.

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