THE ESSENTIAL OF CAREER COUNSELING APPROACH

Compiled by Mamat Supriatna

GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING DEPARTMENT INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION 2008

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CONTENT

1
Career Counseling Traditional Approaches
(1 21)

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Assessment in Career Counseling
(22 - 26)

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Personal Theory of Counseling
(27 - 32)

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1 Career Counseling
Traditional Approaches
Introduction: Your text divides career development theories into "traditional" and "emerging" theories. We could use a similar framework to divide approaches to career counseling, at least career counseling with the objective of making a realistic and satisfying career decision. Often people dissatisfied with their work situation, and stressed by it, need what could be called "career adjustment counseling." Often this form of career counseling relies heavily on the same strategies of personal counseling, especially with clinical issues involved. This unit looks at traditional approaches to counseling for career decisions. It was written some time ago, and is in need of updating. Take this into consideration as you review its contents. Your text and related readings will help you to see instances in which it requires updating. Traditional Views of Career Counseling An approach to career counseling has been defined by Crites (1969) as "a relatively well-articulated model and method of assisting individuals in making decisions about their lifelong roles in the world-of-work and in solving problems which arise in the course of the choice process." This definition is for the most part clear; its only ambiguity is the meaning of "relatively well-articulated." When Crites (1974) attempted an overview of the major approaches to career counseling, he found five that were relatively well articulated. This condition has not changed since then. Crites began with an historical investigation into vocational psychology, concluding that vocational guidance rather than counseling predominated until the 1930s and 1940s, when trait-and-factor counseling began to take form. In the late 1940s, client-centered counseling was applied to career decision-making; a decade later followed contributions from a psychoanalytic framework. At about the same time, Donald Super (1957) proposed a developmental framework with implications for counseling. Finally, Crites (1974) noted the application in the late 1950s of behavioral principles to career information-seeking and decision-making. Thus, he concluded that historically there are five approaches. Later, Crites (1976) articulated his own synthetic approach to career counseling. Of the approaches named, only trait-and-factor counseling was developed specifically for career problems. It remains the best-developed approach and is the standard to which other approaches are compared. We will therefore treat this approach at length, along with the behavioral approach to career counseling, which
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also seems to be well-articulated. The remaining approaches, those less well articulated in terms of career work, will receive less attention. While newer, less well-developed theories of career counseling are important to learn, this unit reviews 3 traditional aproaches. The reader will recognize that these approaches developed in the 1960's and 70's.

Client-Centered Approach
The most significant statement of client-centered career counseling does not come from Carl Rogers, nor is there any systematic statement of it as an approach to career issues in the 1940s or 1950s. During that period client-centered counseling seems to have emphasized social-emotional adjustment, of which career decisionmaking and career adjustment were part. No special constructs or procedures were offered for career counseling. According to Crites (1974), Patterson (1964) articulated the best statement of client-centered theory as applied to career counseling. It emphasizes outcomes and counselor characteristics consistent with the approach. The goals of counseling are self-congruence and implementation of the self-concept. Counselor-offered congruence, empathy, and unconditional positive regard remain the principal therapeutic elements in the counseling dyad (Rogers, 1957). Patterson (1964) stresses that career counseling, especially when the use of tests and occupational information is considered, must remain a relationship built on client self-direction. If the client requests occupational information or the administration of standardized tests, then the use of both would be consistent with client-centered counseling. In summarizing this approach, Crites (1974, 1981) views its most important contribution to career counseling as heightened counselor sensitivity to the client's role in decision-making and recognition of how an occupational role can affect a person's self-concept. In reality, there is little in client-centered counseling specific to career decision-making and coping with work-related problems.

Psychoanalytic Approach
Early psychoanalytic contributions to career counseling come for the most part from Edward S. Bordin and his associates at the University of Michigan
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(Bordin, 1968); (Bordin, 1990); (Bordin, & Kopplin, 1973); (Bordin, Nachmann, & Segal, 1963). Bordin (1968), in particular emphasized the interplay between a client's general personality and vocational decisions, an approach Crites (1974) labels "psychodynamic." The label may be appropriate, since Bordin's view of career counseling goes beyond psychoanalytic concepts to a synthesis of psychoanalytic and other developmental theories. For example, he cites Roe, Rogers, and Super as important contributors to vocational counseling (Bordin, 1968). At the core of his approach is the assumption that internal (intrapsychic) factors explain the difficulties clients have in making career decisions. As one would expect, Bordin and others incorporate in their writing about career counseling only a handful of the many concepts in psychoanalytic theory. They call their approach a developmental one with developmental goals. They view life in cycles that include a series of transition points; people move from one stage to another, climbing from one plateau (stable period) to the next. A vocational decision usually marks a point of transition. When personal hangups (intrapsychic blocks) or developmental deficiencies interfere with these decisions, the pain of increased anxiety will motivate the client to seek counseling. While it will begin with the career decision problem, the psychodynamic approach will evolve quickly into personal counseling. In fact Bordin (1968, p. 729) describes vocational counseling as a form of "self-confrontation;" career indecision is really a symptom of something else. Bordin, like so many others, views a career choice as an expression of one's self-concept or self-identity. Of all the things, then, that make career decision-making difficult, an incomplete or faulty sense of identity is the most common. Bordin and Kopplin (1973) have developed a diagnostic system that attempts to categorize career-decision problems. A simplified version of the categories follows. The synopsis omits elaboration as well as subcategories, which warrant separate investigation. 1. Synthetic difficulties. Situations in which insufficient cognitive review has occurred for the client to see career options clearly. 2. Identity problems. Cases in which self-perception is associated with the choice problem.

3. Gratification conflict. Instances approach/approach conflicts occur.

in

which

approach/avoidance

and

4. Change orientation. Cases in which self-dissatisfaction and the desire to change personally become portrayed as a career choice. 5. Overt pathology. Circumstances in which personal functioning is insufficient to allow career choices or even to do work. 6. Unclassified problems. Problems not fitting in the above categories. In an attempt to use the above system, Bordin and Kopplin (1973) classified 82 college student cases. Of these cases, 59% were diagnosed as related to identity problems, a result they explained by reminding the reader that identity formation is one of the most significant developmental tasks for late adolescence and early adulthood. Their heavy reliance on the work of psychoanalytic and developmental theorist Erik Erikson is evident. Erikson's ideas on identity (1946, 1956, 1963, 1968) are cited frequently in the literature on psychodynamic career counseling. The counseling process for this approach has been described by Bordin (1968) as one in which the counselor attempts to optimize the client's selfconfrontation at that transition point in life marked by the career decision. It is to be hoped that the client expresses minimal (only therapeutic) anxiety during this process. Three stages in this process can be observed; thorough exploration of the problem, contract setting (making the decision), and working through the developmental problems making the decision difficult. Counseling usually begins with a superficial and cognitive review of the career-decision problem. We would probably find it difficult to discriminate this beginning from that of trait-and-factor counseling, to be described later. As the process continues, though, the counselor skillfully integrates personal counseling with the career-decision problem. For example, one would expect the psychodynamic career counselor to promote investigation of dependency needs and methods of handling and expressing aggression. both will have eventual relevance to a career choice, since work can provide gratification of both. Examination of client fears and wishes would be appropriate and relevant. Eventually the critical decision point would be reached: in some way counselor and client negotiate whether or not counseling will go beyond the career
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decision and strive for some degree of personality change. We assume that in most cases of synthetic difficulties (cognitive review of career options) this would not be necessary. However, as discussed earlier, most career-choice problems in adolescents are identity related and thus require personal counseling. If a contract is made to do psychodynamic personal counseling, working for change follows a path similar to face-to-face psychoanalytically-oriented therapy. The techniques used in this last stage are primarily interpretations aimed at insight or increased self-understanding. Tests, especially interest inventories, would be used and interpreted. The view of the counselor remains keyed to developmental issues such as parental/identity figures, and so forth. Ego strength is evaluated and enhanced through therapeutic interpretations. After counseling, the less conflicted client with increased psychic energy and a stronger ego should have less difficulty making the career decision. Evidence exists that identity problems are related to career choice issues (Galinsky, & Fast, 1966; Hershenson, 1967). However, the appeal of psychodynamic career counseling depends on one's overall attraction to psychoanalytic theory, ego psychology, and the modern treatments associated with them. Important to note is Bordin's broad experience as a clinician and practicing therapist, in contrast to the rooting of many other approaches in the thought of educators and researchers. Clinically trained, practicing therapists, the majority of whom subscribe to some form of analytically-based therapy (Garfield & Kurtz, 1976), may be interested in using this career counseling approach in treatment settings such as mental health centers, private practice, and others not traditionally involved directly with career problems. Developmental Approach In his review of career counseling, John Crites (1974, p. 17) calls the developmental approach "the most comprehensive and coherent system of assisting clients with career problems which has yet been formulated." While not as old as trait-and-factor counseling, the developmental approach begins with the early writing of Donald Supper. In terms of counseling process and objectives, the developmental approach is a composite of both client-centered and trait-and-factor techniques (Crites, 1974). The goals of counseling are essentially the general objectives of promoting career development. Paralleling the developmental stages of Super, the goals become more
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specific as they are defined by the next developmental step appropriate for the client. At each developmental stage, though, there may be several competencies that may be worked on consistent with career-development theory. More of a developmental approach will be manifested later in the discussion of Crites' comprehensive approach to career counseling.

Trait-and-Factor Approach
Dating as far back as the 1930s, trait-and-factor counseling is the traditional approach to career decision-making and the standard by which all other forms of career counseling are measured. although dominant in the history of vocational psychology, it has been much criticized for numerous reasons. Still, it seems that counselors of many different orientations, when faced with psychologically selladjusted clients wanting to make educational or vocational decisions, turn almost instinctively to an approach similar to what we will describe as trait-and-factor. Because of its widespread use, this approach will receive a more detailed description than others. The trait-and-factor approach to counseling is based on trait theory which essentially states that people can be understood in terms of the traits they possess. Traits are stable characteristics, believed to be finite in number, than enable people to respond consistently to similar situations. Examples of commonly understood traits are intelligence, ambition, aptitude, and self-esteem. While traits are internal to the person and unobservable in that sense, they can be measured by observing behavior that reveals them. Standardized assessment, especially self-report devices, has been the means by which we learn about traits. Factors are statistical representations of assumed traits. By doing advanced correlational techniques (factor analysis), statistical evidence is gained for believed traits. In a counseling context, then, if one can learn about clients' traits that are relevant to work, one can help clients select employment best suited to them. It soon becomes clear why trait-and-factor counseling has been described as "matching people to jobs" and criticized as "the square-peg, square-hole theory." Historical background. Much of the development of this approach emanated from the University of Minnesota. In the 1920s Donald G. Paterson began an effort to bring scientific rigor to the vocational guidance approach of Frank Parsons. Parsons, called the father of vocational guidance, proposed that self-knowledge and

knowledge of the world of work, with "true reasoning on the relations of these two groups of facts" (Parson, 1909), p. 5, would provide assistance in career planning. As a student and later colleague of Paterson, E. G. Williamson would further develop trait-and-factor counseling and then become its best representative. In Williamson's major publications (Williamson, 1939, 1950, 1965), one finds a detailed description of its methods and objectives. It is important to note that Williamson's approach, later expanded to include other counseling problems, began with career decision-making specifically in mind. This is quite the reverse of most other approaches. Trait-and-factor counseling is also the only counseling approach with its origins in education, designed to assist high school and college students in planning for the future. Counseling goals. Future planning and the making of related decisions best represent the goals of trait-and-factor counseling. While often discussed in connection with client self-actualization or personal growth, the element of decisionmaking as an objective remains strong. An objective, intermediate to the decision, is increased self-understanding. In particular, educational and career decisions provide direction for the counseling. Williamson (1950) often mentions an individual's social responsibility; the decisions made, if effective, not only are personally satisfying but also make a social contribution. Counselor characteristics. As we shall see, trait-and-factor counseling is direct and straightforward in its procedure; it was at one time what came to be called directive counseling. Consistent with this terminology, the counselor is direct, freely giving opinions and suggestions without exerting control or limiting the client's right to make the ultimate decision. The counselor is viewed as a wise person, a teacher, experienced in living, mature enough to have a workable set of values; knowledgeable about careers and how people make decisions, effective in assessing human traits and behaviors. Since standardized tests are important counseling tools, the counselor is skilled in their use, especially in their interpretation. One might further expect that the counselor would enjoy disseminating information, making predictions, and so forth. E. G. Williamson himself was Dean of Students for many, many years at the University of Minnesota. Maybe the stereotype of a kindly dean with psychological training represents many trait-and-factor counselors.
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The counseling process. As we shall see, trait-and-factor counseling is intended for normal adolescents and adults with adequate intellectual capability. We would expect many counselors of this orientation to refer severely disabled clients to other therapists. Trait-and-factor counseling is a direct, rational activity: To feel good, you must think clearly. It is information-based: Knowledge about oneself and the world of work makes effective career decisions more probable. Testing is usually one important part of the process. Williamson (1950) describes the counseling process as having six flexible steps: 1) analysis, 2) synthesis, 3) diagnosis, 4) prognosis, 5) counseling, and 6) follow-up. To complete these steps it is clear that the counselor does more than interview the client; much important work is done between sessions. Usually in the first interview the client presents the career decision problem, and together with the counselor, explores personal information related to it. The counselor may explain the process of choosing a vocation, thus structuring the counseling activity. Early in the process most clients complete a battery of tests, assigned by the counselor and taken between interviews. Earlier in its history the assigned test battery was to be comprehensive, including interest, aptitude, and personality testing. Since a prognosis was to be made, there was an effort to estimate probability of success in various occupations using multiple regression procedures. In recent years, the practice of prediction from statistical formulae has declined, and with it "saturation testing." Career interest assessment remains, though, an important part of the counseling process. Using interview data, test results, and school records, the counselor attempts to profile the client's assets, liabilities, and possible maladjustments. In counseling, these conclusions are presented to clients in an educational atmosphere. The counselor may also help the client to learn new skills, change attitudes, and plan to change environments or select new ones. Planning a program of action, especially for career exploration, is very important. The techniques used are intended to promote rapport and deal directly with the issues at hand. The counselor advises, explains, persuades, serves as a model, and makes referrals to appropriate sources as needed. To some this may sound more like advising than counseling; if so, it would be a very personalized form of advising,

with great care taken to generate as complete a picture as possible of all factors related to the decision. This is not often done in normal academic advising. Evaluation. As with most dominant approaches in a field whose members differ widely in ideology, critiques of trait-and-factor counseling have often been emotional and severe. Anyone who has been a counselor since the 1970s has no doubt heard references to this type of counseling as "three interviews and a cloud of dust." In the first interview the career decisions are explored and tests assigned; in the second, the tests and general measurement concepts (use of percentiles, for example) are explained; the third interview discusses potential career choices along with sources of career information. Although three sessions may be sufficient for some clients, most seem to need more time to assimilate all the information required, to learn more career information-seeking behaviors, and to receive a heavier dose of support to help control some of the anxiety associated with important career decisions. We have seen appeals to career counselors to refrain from putting clients into an information overload, to be sure to develop an interview style that achieves active client participation, and to recognize that readiness for decision-making is more complex, involving more than content knowledge recall. Of course, E. G. Williamson recognized these complexities, and said so in his numerous publications over his professional career of almost 50 years. Unfortunately, many practitioners did not seem to hear him. It seems that trait-and-factor counseling has also responded to other criticisms as it has matured. Overtesting is less common today. Very early criticisms that this approach viewed career choice as a one-time event have diminished considerably as proponents have acknowledged the necessity of viewing career choice as a developmental process. Still, for some the practice of trait-and-factor counseling seems to be an oversimplified and therefore invalid attempt at people/job matching. Behavioral Approach With all that has been published applying behavioral principles to career counseling and career development, it is difficult in a unit of this size and nature to represent fully all it has to offer. Thus, to introduce behavioral career counseling the points to be treated are primarily those of John D. Krumboltz, Carl E. Thoresen, and their students from Stanford University (Krumboltz, 1976; Krumboltz & Thoresen, 1969). As one would expect, behavioral career counseling had as a goal the
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development of a scientifically precise approach to career decision-making, both in theory and in practice. Utilizing learning concepts from academic psychology, career decision-making was to be understood as a product of instrumental learning, teachable both inside and outside the counseling relationship through structured activities. Career-related behavior (such as career information-seeking and job interview behavior) was understood as resulting from the reinforcing or nonreinforcing consequences of an individual's past behavior. Most of the behavior required in career choice and development is rather complex in nature, including more than one type of behavior, but if carefully studied it can be broken down into its component parts. The client can then learn the complex behavior in simple steps. The approach we will describe, however, is not merely operant conditioning applied to career problems; cognitive factors do intervene in the learning process. Such mediating cognitions, though, can be studied and modified, according to this approach, with precision similar to that observed in conditioning experiments (Meichenbaum, 1977). Important to note is the preference for putting the technology of behavior modification and cognitive restructuring in the hands of the client. The behavioral approach may be simple understood as the counselor teaching clients selfcontrol skills (Mahoney, & Thoresen, 1974; Thoresen, & Mahoney, 1974). In an attempt to develop a more comprehensive theory of career selection, many cognitive variables, along with some performance abilities and emotional predispositions, are labeled as task-approach skills (Krumboltz, Mitchell & Jones, 1978). They include work habits, mental sets, perceptual and thought processes, performance standards and values, problem orienting, and emotional responses. Counseling goals. True to form, the behavioral approach constantly requires counseling goals to be specific and observable (Krumboltz & Baker, 1973). This emphasis, typifying the precision sought in practice, also simplifies the evaluation of results. for example, if a client says something vague, such as, "I want to find a job I'll like," the counselor and client work to translate that goal into observable behavior, such as setting up a certain number of interviews with local employers for the coming week. In counseling, a number of specific intermediate goals may relate to increasing skill levels in areas important to career decision-making. These include value clarifying, goal-setting, predicting future events, alternative generating,
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information-seeking, estimating, reinterpreting past events, eliminating and selecting alternatives, planning, and generalizing (Krumboltz & Baker, 1973). The client's circumstances will dictate which of these areas are emphasized. In all cases the client decides the goals for counseling. If a counselor's value system or competence in a specific area will not allow agreement with the client's chosen goals, then a referral is in order. Counseling process. Krumboltz and Baker (1973, p. 240) outline the counseling process as follows: 1. Defining the problem and the client's goals 2. Agreeing mutually to achieve counseling goals 3. Generating alternative problem solutions 4. Collecting information about alternatives 5. Examining the consequences of the alternatives 6. Resolving goals, alternatives, and consequences 7. Making the decision or tentatively selecting an alternative contingent on new developments and new opportunities 8. Generalizing the decision-making process to new problems The sequence listed is flexible and should not be viewed as a recipe. Much of this process is consistent with behavioral models for decision-making (Gelatt, 1962). We have already discussed goal-setting. The process of alternative generating is a form of brainstorming in which as many options are listed as can come to mind. Initially no alternatives should be eliminated due to apparent non-feasibility. Most clients benefit from learning more about the decision-making process and gaining information on careers. The behavioral career counselor will use reinforcement techniques and both live and recorded models in helping the client learn information and develop skills useful in career decisions. Simulation techniques, represented by the Job Experience Kit (Krumboltz, 1970), were developed. One thing that may change during counseling is the client's career
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interests. Behavioral counselors view interests not as inborn traits, but as learned characteristics, subject to modification by life experience. Finally, the process undertaken by a client in career decision-making cultivates skills applicable to other life choices. It is therefore recommended that attention be given to generalizing this skill to other issues, further increasing the benefit of career counseling. Evaluation. In a critique of Krumboltz view of career decision-making Holland (Holland, 1976) reminded us that approaches based on precision and comprehensiveness are not always the most practical for actual use with clients. This objection may apply to behavioral career counseling. The use of performance objectives and live and recorded models may be too costly for individual counseling. Highly structured interactions and practice experiences as described are not always economical or useful in counseling situations. Furthermore, the behavioral explanation of career decision problems may provide no more precision than any other system. for example, reinforcement histories relevant to decision-making ability depend, like histories in other approaches, on client report after the fact. Although such criticisms can be made, one certainly cannot conclude that this system is any less practical than others. While at times abstract, the concepts used in this approach are relatively easy to understand. Due to their popularity in counselor education, the concepts and practices of behavioral counseling are taught by many skilled educators. An important advantage of the behavioral approach comes from the easy translation of its methodology back and forth between counseling and structured guidance experiences in both small groups and classrooms. Learning this system may well help the counselor to develop a comprehensive career development program. Thus, consistency and uniformity of practice are possible.

Synthesis: Crite's Comprehensive Approach After having reviewed what he considered to be the major approaches to career counseling, Crites (1974, 1976, 1981) published another major article and later a book in which he presented a synthesis of career counseling, relying not only on other approaches but also on some of his own earlier efforts. He felt that no one
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counseling approach was comprehensive enough to provide an adequate guide for practice. However, each system he reviewed did make significant contributions to the practice of career counseling. Thus, a synthesis of leading approaches may provide the best basis for both theory and practice. In attempting his synthesis Crites (1976) arranged a taxonomy of career counseling approaches, comparing and contrasting them according to theory and method. Theoretical contributions were further divided into issues of diagnosis, counseling process, and proposed outcomes. He felt that career counseling methods could be understood best when subdivided into interview techniques, method of test interpretation, and use of occupational information. In each of these areas, Crites presented a synthesis of his own and other counseling approaches. He drew on and enriched much of what trait-and-factor and developmental career counseling had to offer. Diagnosis. Crites believes that a practical diagnosis answers the what and why of the client's problem in making a career decision. In generating the diagnosis, both test and interview information is useful. He recommends the use of the Career Maturity Inventory (developed by Crites) for its precision in assessing career choice attitudes and competencies. It provides important information regarding the client's decision-making readiness and style. Crites calls this diagnosis a decisional diagnosis, common in trait-and-factor counseling. This is diagnosis of the realism of an expressed choice from a determination of differences between that choice and the client's aptitudes and interests. Process. In surveying the career counseling process generally, Crites identifies the three commonly recognized stages of problem-solving. First the counselor/client team gathers background information regarding the problem; second, the team clarifies and states the problem; finally, it discusses and executes solutions. The middle stage is the longest. Crites also presents recommendations regarding the quality of the relationship between counselor and client. He thinks the career counseling relationship at best is a modified combination of the paternalism of trait-and-factor counseling and the laissez-faire orientation of early client-centered counseling. The counselor shares experiences and knowledge with the client but accepts the client's perception of events as valid. While career decision counseling may be more cognitive and straightforward than personal-social counseling, it can be an extremely

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therapeutic and growthful experience. Thus, we would assume that the process includes the use of many different techniques. Outcomes. Crites repeatedly emphasizes that the diagnosis in counseling determines the outcomes. For counseling to be purposeful from beginning to end, diagnosis and outcome must be related. Thus, development of the maturity necessary for career decisions often becomes an outcome. Strongly emphasized in the discussion of outcome is the connection between career-related outcomes and overall adjustment. Client movement toward personal growth and fuller functioning is an imperative during counseling. Increased self-esteem, stability, and other indexes of enhanced adjustment would therefore be anticipated or at least desired outcomes. Interviewing. To achieve desired outcomes, Crites recommends a broad repertoire of interviewing techniques. In the beginning of counseling, when problem background is being explored, reflective counselor responses seem in order. Crites sees the middle stage of counseling as the period in which the counselor becomes more interpretive, relating present to past behavior. As actual problem resolution begins in the final stage of counseling, the technical aspects of trait-and-factor and behavioral counseling seem appropriate. Thus, Crites' view of interview techniques appear consistent with contemporary positions interviewing strategy, probably most thoroughly organized by Cormier and Cormier (Cormier, & Cormier, 1991). Test Interpretation. Crites acknowledges that test interpretation has a long tradition in career counseling, especially for predicting career satisfaction. However, he documents the declining interest in tests and their use, suggesting that a new approach to interpretation might retain the usefulness of tests as an important source of feedback but eliminate the confusion and error common in their past use. He calls this approach "interpreting the tests without the tests." In the past, the trait-and-factor approach called for the administration of a comprehensive test battery, later to be interpreted at a single session. As one might imagine, the large amount of test information was difficult for clients to understand and remember accurately. Much confusion and error resulted. Crites recommends using Career Maturity Inventory (CMI) results and interview data to make a decisional diagnosis; interview data to make a dynamic diagnosis; and aptitude and interest assessment to make the differential diagnosis mentioned earlier. The counselor makes use of standardized tests but never formally interprets them to the client. Rather, while interviewing the client, the counselor can
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introduce test results into the dialogue at appropriate times. This assumes that the counselor can remember all that testing information.and retrieve it at will. For example, if a client is seriously considering the occupation of bank teller, results of an interest inventory, such as the Career Assessment Inventory may be discussed to reveal similar or dissimilar client interests compared to bank tellers. The interpretation of test results are woven into the ongoing effort to make career decisions. Use of occupational information. Crites identifies the use of occupational information as the most underdeveloped method in career counseling. He claims that its value in making career decisions has been minimal mainly because occupational information is poorly integrated with other aspects of career counseling, even the use of self-information by the client. It does not necessarily follow that Crites favors counselors' disseminating occupational information during interviews; this practice puts the counselor too much in the role of expert rather than collaborator. Crites sees the reinforcement of information-seeking by the client between sessions as the counselor's best alternative. In this respect Crites may be advocating behavioral strategies as a useful career counseling method for supplying occupational information. Evaluation. Both Holland (1976) and Roe (Roe, 1976) have written critiques of Crites' approach. The former notes that Crites may have overemphasized diagnosis, especially since that activity has moderate support at best from both research and practice. Crites' description of the counseling relationship and the parallels between career and personal development is also criticized by reviewers, especially Holland, who asserts that individual counseling is an uneconomical treatment compared to other career decision-making programs (e.g. The SelfDirected Search). Notes, of course, in the reviews is the heavy reliance upon the Career Maturity Inventory and its associated decisional diagnosis. Such criticisms are to be anticipated since at present structured guidance activities seem to predominate in the field. The approach of Crites is a promising contribution to those more or less full-time counseling practitioners who leave structured guidance activities to colleagues more interested in such forms of service. One might suspect that many counselors may never become enthusiastic about using the Career Maturity Inventory as broadly as recommended in this approach. However, Crites has an advantage over many other theorists in that his
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theoretical system describes in detail the components of career decision-making. Thus, decisional diagnoses merit investigation by researchers and experimentation by practitioners. The coherence of his views warrant testing. However, little of this has happened since they were proposed. A later version of his theory (Crites, 1981) provides little modification; it does not address the criticisms mentioned earlier.

Career Counseling: Common Elements In concluding an overview of dominant approaches for facilitating career decisions through counseling, one must evaluate what each contribution offers and what general conclusions can be drawn from the sum total of these contributions. Clear-cut conclusions are not evident, since multiple points of view seem to raise more questions than they answer. By way of conclusion, then, we will direct attention toward questions commonly raised about counseling for career decisions. Is there a dominant approach to career counseling? If there is a dominant approach, it has to be a trait-and-factor approach matured through developmental contributions. This approach is not viewed as a general counseling approach that would be applicable, for example, to personal/social problems. Thus, few counselors in general practice call themselves by its name. We imagine that most practitioners would label their orientation otherwise, but nevertheless adopt strategies that are essentially trait-and-factor in origin when confronted directly with a career decision problem. If the three-interview format of traditional trait-and-factor counseling does not work, the counselor might revert back to his or her stated theoretical approach to explain why little movement resulted from the trait-and-factor approach tried at the outset. It seems that in the majority of instances trait-and-factor counseling is the chosen technique when the problem presented is clearly a career decision dilemma. What we have called "a trait-and-factor approach matured through developmental contributions" essentially summarizes Crites (1976, 1981) comprehensive approach. The rigid reliance on tests as predictors of career satisfaction is certainly not popular and thus represents a part of the trait-and-factor approach that is largely unacceptable to most active counselors. However, Holland's approach is essentially trait-and-factor, and does rely on interest assessment heavily. Apparently, this is an exception.
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From the consumer's point-of-view, however, if clients were asked to describe what they thought career counseling would be like, their conceptions would most resemble trait-and-factor counseling. This approach, then, in addition to being popular among counselors, has evidently been popularized with the public and remains consistent with client expectations. To approach career choice problems otherwise may result in some client resistance. Is career counseling really different from personal counseling? As this unit has so far discussed, the approaches of psychodynamic, clientcentered, and Crite's comprehensive theory all minimize differences between career and personal problems and emphasize the similarities. The trait-and-factor and developmental approaches note differences in treating career decision problems and more general client personal-social problems. One can observe clearly on many high school and college campuses that career counseling represents a special service provided at offices or centers where personal counseling of any duration rarely occurs. In fact, many institutions may designate an entirely different place for one to receive personal counseling. It is evident that many educational institutions view career and personal counseling as distinctly different enterprises. From this review it seems difficult to make this distinction consistently. At times a counselor can deal very little with issues beyond a career decision; the focus is on such things as career-decision involvement, extent and accuracy of occupational information, and so on. In Bordin and Kopplin's (1973) diagnostic system, such instances present "synthetic difficulties;" problems in which accumulated knowledge needs to be sorted for cognitive clarity. Direct, cognitivelyoriented career counseling seems appropriate for these clients, who are mainly adaptive and not manifesting significant psychopathology. Since millions of people fall into this category, one could easily be employed working only with them, leaving the more psychologically disabled and career confused to others. In fact, the specialized career counselor may not be competent to do personal counseling in the vein, however, the clinical counselor who lacks background in straightforward career counseling may not be as able to help the more normal client with career decision problems. Is special training required for career decision counseling?

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We have just speculated that specific training in career counseling may increase the overall competence of clinical counselors. This hypothesis assumes that many counselors, even those who are generally well-trained, possess training deficiencies that specialized career counselors do not have. These deficiencies pertain chiefly to diagnostic training specific to career decisions. Full-time career counselors are more likely to be certified in the use of the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) and to have much more experience with interest inventories and the more recent measures of career maturity, such as the Career Maturity Inventory. Also, they are most familiar with career development theory and theories of job satisfaction. This kind of specialized background certainly can be expected to increase one's competence to perform counseling for career decision-making. We would recommend this background as a useful adjunct to mental health counselors, social workers, and clinical psychologists, as well as counseling psychologists and school counselors. If a clinical psychologist, for instance, recognizes the importance of a career decision in a therapy case and does not have the appropriate background, the psychologist might be wise to request a consultation with a school counselor or someone else more specifically trained in the area of career decisions. Generally, the counseling psychologist with doctoral training and specialized background in career counseling is the most capable consultant and referral source. In addition to aptitude and interest assessment, special training in occupational information or, more appropriately, the process of career exploration seems necessary to achieve efficiency in counseling for career decisions. Knowledge of the ONET, Dictionary of Occupational Titles, and Occupational Outlook Handbook enriches the counseling process. Crites (1974, 1976, 1981) is probably correct in the view that the use of occupational information is a specialized technique in career counseling. Such specialized techniques require special training. Rarely does a counseling practitioners do individual or group counseling exclusively, spending all their professional time in an interviewing room or office with clients. The variety of a counselor's job normally includes consultation work. Consultation for career development and decision-making requires an extensive background. Thus, the usual combination of counseling with consultation in the specific areas of career decision-making demands specialized training. Is career guidance more effective than counseling in promoting career decisions?
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The tone of this question may suggest that structured learning activities, commonly termed guidance, are in competition with the less structured and more individualized process of counseling. In truth, guidance activities and counseling are complementary; both are of unique and essential value to a complete program. Sometimes errors in judgment occur in selecting and timing the use of each. In the early stages of career decision-making, usually a phase of general career exploration, structured experiences seem most appropriate and cost effective. The subsequent phase of sorting and collating a vast array of personal and occupational information also seems most efficiently managed in a guidancetechnique format. Also, for a person who has made appropriate career decisions and seeks simple confirmation of them, a programmed guidance experience is the method of choice. For many young people, these guidance services, usually available on a general basis in school settings, will supply all that is needed to facilitate an appropriate career decision. For other young people the decision-making process is more complex and difficult; occupational and general assessment information acquired through guidance programs are not sufficient to their needs, and individualized assistance through counseling is indicated. Some young people who approach adulthood and the termination of formal education recognize with seriousness and considerable anxiety the importance of the impending career decision. This anxiety frequently is of such magnitude as to diminish the benefit they gain from even the best structured guidance activities. The counseling relationship can provide the potential to channel this age-appropriate anxiety therapeutically into individualized and supportive exploration of relevant internal and external factors, to promote appropriate decision-making, and hence to increase emotional equilibrium. Counseling may also be the process most beneficial to persons already at the terminal phase of a career choice when, following ample information-seeking and exploration, they have narrowed the selection to a few equally attractive though uniquely different options. At this point, subjective data generated through counseling, evaluated and integrated with occupational data, may help resolve this traditional approach/approach conflict. Counseling may also be indicated for an individual with very limited realistic career opportunities, confusion or conflict regarding career choices versus other life factors of high value (such as geographical ties, family concerns, or financial considerations), or lack of any cohesive careerinterest pattern even partially identified through some programmed device.

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As an individual matures into adulthood, counseling seems increasingly to be the preferred form of career-decision assistance. A primary reason for this situation is the paucity of well-developed structured guidance programs for adults. Also, adults tend to present particularly complex career decision problems, in that they generally have some work experience and are likely to be exploring career options due to dissatisfaction with their current employment situation. Thus, they need to both gain an understanding of their current dissatisfaction and consider alternatives consistent with their enhanced self-understanding. At some future time, organized, structured guidance activities may be available to assist adults in this common dilemma. At present, however, counseling, with its flexibility and individual emphasis, must be seen as the treatment of choice. A Practical Theory of Career Counseling For most counselors-in-training, the study of counseling theory is intended to serve as a basis for the development of their own personal approaches to counseling. While some may hop to find an existing theoretical approach to adopt in its entirety, most counselors recognize early that their view or theory of counseling will be unique to them, usually some mixture of concepts from several of the published approaches. To aid in the formation of a conceptual system or theory to explain career counseling, the reader begin by generating answers to the following questions. 1. What is your basic philosophy on human nature and the reasons people work? 2. What sort of career-related problems are common among clients? Which ones are treatable through counseling? 3. Are there any prerequisites clients must possess in order to qualify for counseling? Any circumstances or personality factors that exclude clients from career counseling? 4. Based on problems or needs of clients, what are reasonable goals for career counseling? What are the terminal goals? What are intermediate of process goals? 5. What personal characteristics must the counselor posses in order to be effective in career counseling? Special beliefs? Special skills?

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6. Based on the characteristics of both clients and counselors, what is the nature of the relationship between them? 7. Are there any special diagnostic procedures used in career counseling? 8. Are there any special techniques used in career counseling that support or replace techniques to other forms of counseling? 9. How can the changes that occur in the client be described from the beginning, middle, and late phases of career counseling? 10. How are outcomes in career counseling evaluated? After entertaining so many questions, one can see how complicated and exhausting the development of a comprehensive career counseling theory can be. No doubt considerable background is required to be successful. In order to get that background, the counselor-in-training might consider the following: 1. Read as much as possible regarding general counseling theory and theory specific to career counseling. 2. Anchor a reading of theory in actual counseling practice. Before taking practicum, gain vicarious experience through the study of written cases. Seek out experienced counselors; ask them to describe their counseling in cases that exemplify aspects of theory. 3. When beginning to see real clients, keep careful notes. Record data as objectively as possible, but leave sections or even a special diary for forecasting what will happen to a client. This practice will test one's theory. Follow up predictions to verify them with evidence. While counseling, reread some texts on counseling theory. 4. Observe and study other people besides clients being treated. Do not treat these people; see what happens to them, what events help or hinder the attainment of their goals. Were observed results consistent with one's theory? 5. Seek out supervisors and colleagues interested in the discussion of theory and case studies. Allow them to play the 'devil's advocate" as you discuss your own counseling cases. Try not to be defensive.

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6. Write down thoughts at different periods in one's professional career. Save them and compare versions. Risk sharing thoughts with other counselors. 7. When confused or frustrated by the hardships associated with being a helper, do not cover up or defend the confusion by paying lip service to anti-intellectualism. Recycle through some of the steps suggested earlier. do not let others with deficiencies in their understanding of counseling persuade you to compromise your own.

Discussion Questions 1. Compare and contrast three approaches to career counseling with regard to the use of diagnosis, testing, and occupational information. 2. Explain the apparent popularity of trait-and-factor career counseling. 3. Describe how counseling and structured group work (guidance) complement one another. References Bordin, E. S. (1968). Psychological counseling (2nd. ed.). New York: AppletonCentury-Crofts. Bordin, E. S. (1990). Psychodynamic model of career choice and satisfaction. In D. Brown, & L. Brooks (Ed.), Career choice and development (pp. 102-144). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Bordin, E. S., & Kopplin, D. A. (1973). Motivational conflict and vocational development. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 20, 154-161. Bordin, E. S., Nachmann, B., & Segal, S. J. (1963). An articulated framework for vocational development. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 10, 107-116. Cormier, W., & Cormier, L. S. (1991). Interviewing strategies for helpers: Fundamental skills and cognitive behavioral interventions (3rd ed.). Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole.

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Crites, J. O. (1969). Vocational psychology: The study of vocational behavior and development . New York: McGraw-Hill. Crites, J. O. (1974). Career counseling: A review of major approaches. The Counseling Psychologist, 4, 3-23. Crites, J. O. (1976). Career counseling: A comprehensive approach. The Counseling Psychologist, 6, 2-11. Crites, J. O. (1981). Career counseling: Models, methods, and materials . New York: McGraw-Hill. Galinsky, M. S., & Fast, J. (1966). Vocational choice as a focus of the identity search. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 13, 89-92. Garfield, S. L., & Kurtz, R. (1976). Clinical psychologists in the 1970s. American Psychologist, 31, 1-9. Gelatt, H. B. (1962). Decision making: A conceptual frame of reference for counseling. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 9, 240-245. Hershenson, D. G. (1967). Sense of identity, occupational fit, and enclulturation in adolescence. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 14, 319-324. Holland, J. L. (1976). A new synthesis for an old method and a new analysis of some old phenomena. The Counseling Psychologist, 6, 12-15. Krumboltz, J. D. (1970). Job Experience Kit. Chicago: Science Research Associates, Inc., Krumboltz, J. D. (1976). A social learning theory of career selection. The Counseling Psychologist, 6(1), 71-81. Krumboltz, J. D., & Baker, R. D. (1973). Behavioral counseling for vocational decisions. In H. Borow (Ed.), Career guidance for a new age Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Krumboltz, J. D., Mitchell, A. M., & Jones, G. B. (1978). A social learning theory of career selection. In J. M. Whiteley, & A. Resnikoff (Ed.), Career counseling Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole.
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Krumboltz, J. D., & Thoresen, C. E. (1969). Behavioral counseling: Cases and techniques . New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Mahoney, J. J., & Thoresen, C. E. (1974). Self-control: Power to the person. Monterey, Calif.: Brooks/Cole. Meichenbaum, D. H. (1977). Cognitive behavior modification . New York: Plenum. Parson, F. (1909). Choosing a vocation . Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Patterson, C. H. (1964). Counseling: Self-clarification and the helping relationship. In H. Borow (Ed.), Man in a world of work (pp. 434-459). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Roe, A. (1976). Reactions to Krunboltz and Crites. The Counseling Psychologist, 6, 16-17. Rogers, C. R. (1957). The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 21, 95103. Super, D. E. (1957). The psychology of careers . New York: Harper & Row. Thoresen, C. E., & Mahoney, M. J. (1974). Behavioral self-control . New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. Williamson, E. G. (1939). How to counsel students: A manual of techniques for clinical counselors . New York: McGraw-Hill. Williamson, E. G. (1950). Counseling adolescents . New York: McGraw-Hill. Williamson, E. G. (1965). Vocational counseling: Some historical, philosophical, and theoretical perspectives . New York: McGraw-Hill.

www.hre.wvu.edu/rtunick02/Career%20Counseling.htm

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2 Assessment in Career Counseling

Prediger, Dale J. "In choosing an occupation one is, in effect, choosing a means of implementing a self-concept" (Super, 1957, p. 196). What might be called "Super's Dictum" has an antecedent in ancient Greek thought: "Know Thyself." It was formulated in the early days of the career development revolution that eventually swept away square-pegsquare-hole thinking about assessment. Current thinking regarding the role of assessment in career development and counseling represents an extension of Super's Dictum and a revitalization of trait and factor theory. Since the content of assessment in career counseling (e.g., interests, abilities, career certainty) is well-covered by other digests in this series (also see Kapes, Mastie, & Whitfield, 1994), this digest focuses on the process--specifically, the contribution of assessment procedures to career exploration and planning. (Super's Dictum on choosing an "occupation" encompasses the "trial occupational choices" characterizing exploration and planning.) Because these career development tasks are experienced by everyone, this digest addresses assessment for the many (e.g., via career planning courses) rather than intensive, problem-focused career counseling. Basic Considerations 1. "Trait and Factor Theory: The Foundation for Assessment"

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Assessment procedures used in career counseling have their roots in tests used for diagnostic screening and personnel selection (hiring). As a result, the "test'em and tell'em" approach to test use and the focus of scores on arbitrary decision points (e.g., helping Pat choose a career at 10:20 a.m. on Tuesday, March 17th) were major problems at one time. Trait and factor theory was and continues to be blamed for these problems. However, there is nothing inherently wrong with assessing human traits. Indeed, assessment is part of human nature; for millennia, we have "sized-up" strangers and acquaintances. Misinterpretations and misapplications of trait and factor theory are now widely recognized and there have been several recent attempts to place trait assessment into the context of career development theory (e.g., see Chartrand, 1991; Rounds & Tracey, 1990). 2. "Self-Concept: The Basis for Career Choice" According to Super's Dictum, an occupation gives one the chance to be the kind of person one wants to be; hence, career choices are based on self-concepts projected into career options. It follows that a major task in career counseling is to elicit and inform self-concepts--not a simple process (Betz, 1994) unless one prioritizes components according to career relevance. Faulty self-concepts are likely to result in flawed plans and choices. Herr and Cramer (1992) said it this way: "The major concern in a career [development] model is the clarity and accuracy of the selfconcept as the evaluative base by which to judge available career options" (p. 155). 3. "Assessment: A Primary Means for Self/Career Exploration" Given today's complex array of career options, one of the most difficult developmental tasks persons face is the identification and exploration of options congruent with their characteristics. Assessment can provide focus to career exploration. In the process of assessment and career exploration, counselees will develop insights about themselves and the work world that will inform their selfconcepts. In a nutshell, the major role of assessment in career counseling is "self/career exploration"--a complementary process. 4. "Transformation of Assessment Data: Requirement of Helpful Assessment" Assessment data (standard scores, percentile ranks, etc.) must go through a series of transformations if they are to be helpful in career counseling. First, data must be transformed into counseling information--i.e., career options worthy of exploration. Next, a short list of options must be transformed into action--i.e., self-evaluated activities and experiences. Finally, self-evaluations and self-concepts must be transformed into career plans. Because of the research and technology involved (see below), counselors should require that test publishers take primary responsibility for the first transformation. Counselors and counselees share responsibility for the other two. 5. "Data-Information Transformation: Bridge to Reality"
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In a 30-year-old text on test interpretation fundamentals (many of which are ignored today), Goldman (1971) described the following three models for transforming assessment data into counseling information--for "bridging the gap" between a score and its real-world implications. "Clinical interpretations: Bridge for those with time." The labor-intensive clinical interpretation model (see Goldman, 1971, for specifics) is shaky at best--unless counselors are very well trained and have a light load. It is often supported by little more than a list of scores; a vague understanding of measurement error, "validity coefficients," and "hit rates"; specific knowledge about a few occupations and a mystical reliance on counselor/counselee intuition. While intuition can contribute to assessment for career counseling, counselors should expect publishers of assessment instruments to help them "bridge the gap" between scores and their implications. "Success predictions: Bridge to nowhere." Presumably, the prediction model can forecast levels of occupational success. Presumably, a counselor can say (for example): "Pat, based on your test scores, chances are about 59 out of 100 that you will be moderately 'successful' as a counseling psychologist and 27 out of 100 that you will be highly 'successful. Now, as for flight attendant and pediatrician,..." Unfortunately, research indicates that so-called "actuarial methods" can never provide predictions of occupational success for enough occupations and with enough precision to be of use in career exploration (e.g., see Goldman, 1994; Prediger, 1974). Nevertheless, the latest claim is that success predictions based on general mental ability (formerly called IQ) can be provided "and compared" across nearly all occupations. This is despite the facts that: (a) "success" is defined differently from occupation to occupation (b) defensible measures of level of success are often unavailable (e.g., for counseling psychologist, pediatrician); (c) predictor-success correlations are available for relatively few occupations; and (d) when available, prediction errors are large. Attempts to predict occupational choice are also unwarranted. Besides, what counselor would want to say (for example): "Pat, chances are 73 out of 100 you will become a nurse, [etc.]"? According to Zytowski (1994), the prediction model "is the failed relationship" (p. 222) between tests and career counseling. "Similarity estimates: Bridge to the work world." The similarity model ("you look like a person who") can be used to survey the work world in order to identify occupational options warranting exploration. (For over 60 years, interpretations of the Strong Interest Inventory Occupational Scales have been based on this model.) The goal of the similarity model is "not" to predict level of success or to find the "ideal career." Rather, the goal is to say (for example): "Pat, here are some occupations that attract people who are similar to you in several important ways. You may want to check them out." Research shows that observed differences among career groups are of sufficient magnitude to provide focus to career exploration (e.g., see Prediger, 1974; Rounds & Tracey, 1990; Zytowski, 1994). Counselors should expect publishers of

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assessment instruments to provide them with an interpretive bridge based on similarity model research. Improvised, armchair "structured searches" should be questioned. 6. "Informed Self-Estimates: Key to Ability Assessment" Unfortunately, test scores are seldom available for many work-relevant abilities--e.g., sales, leadership/management, organization, creative/artistic, social interaction. Too often, work-relevant abilities that can't be assessed by paper-andpencil tests are ignored. But career exploration based only on abilities for which there are tests not only misses important abilities, it does not take account of the powerful role of self-concepts in occupational choice (recall Super's Dictum). Ability selfestimates bring work-relevant self-concepts to the attention of the counselee and the counselor. Elsewhere, I have discussed how "informed" self-estimates of abilities can be used to facilitate self/career exploration (Prediger, 1994). To be accurate, selfestimates must be informed by experience--including the ability "estimates" provided by test scores, if they are available. 7. "Comprehensive, Articulated Assessment: A Goal" Career development theory makes it hard to defend career exploration based only on interests, only on abilities, or only on job values (e.g., see Lowman, 1993). Nevertheless, some counselors still take a piecemeal approach to career assessment-e.g., interests in Grade 9; abilities 3 years later. Counselors may also face the problem of interpreting interest, ability, etc. assessments based on different norms, profile formats, and work world structures. Some publishers are responding to these problems with comprehensive, articulated assessment programs. Counselors should expect nothing less. 8. "Development of Possibilities into Realities: A Requirement" One of the career counselor's primary functions is to help counselees develop career possibilities into realities--that is, to facilitate personal growth (e.g., building the abilities needed for a preferred career path). In conjunction with other information about the counselee, assessment information can suggest where growth would be helpful and how it can be effected. Summary Trait and factor theory, (now "person-environment fit theory") has been revitalized by career development theory. Recognition of the importance of the selfconcept in career exploration provides the basis for a closer relationship between assessment and counseling. References

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Betz, N. E. (1994). Self-concept theory in career development and counseling. "Career Development Quarterly," 43, 32-42. Chartrand, J. M. (1991). The evolution of trait-and-factor career counseling: A person x environment fit approach. "Journal of Counseling & Development," 69, 518524. Goldman, L. (1971). "Using tests in counseling" (2nd ed.). New York: AppletonCentury-Crofts. Goldman, L. (1994). The marriage is over... for most of us. "Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development," 26, 217-218. Herr, E. L., & Cramer, S. H. (1992). "Career guidance and counseling through the life span" (4th ed.). New York: HarperCollins. Kapes, J.T., Mastie, M.M., & Whitfield, E.A. (Eds. 1994). "A counselor's guide to career assessment instruments" (3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA: National Career Development Association. Lowman, R. L. (1993). The inter-domain model of career assessment and counseling. "Journal of Counseling and Development," 71, 549-554. Prediger, D. J. (1974). The role of assessment in career guidance. In E. L. Herr (Ed.), "Vocational guidance and human development" (pp. 325-349). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Prediger, D. J. (1994). Tests and counseling: The marriage that prevailed. "Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development," 26, 227-234. Rounds, J. B., & Tracey, T. J. (1990). From trait-and-factor to person-environment fit counseling: Theory and process. In W. B. Walsh & S. J. Osipow (Eds.), "Career counseling: Contemporary topics in vocational psychology" (pp. 1-44). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Super, D. E. (1957). "The psychology of careers." New York: Harper & Brothers. Zytowski, D. G. (1994). Tests and counseling: We are still married, and living in discriminant analysis. "Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development," 26, 219-223. ERIC Identifier: ED389966 Publication Date: 1995-01-30 Author: Prediger, Dale J. Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Student Services Greensboro NC.
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3 Personal Theory of Counseling

Danny Glassmann University of Central Arkansas Human Nature/Assumptions about People Several counseling and psychotherapy theories have an optimistic view of the human condition, most notably individual psychology, person-centered, and gestalt therapy. Alfred Adler, the founder of individual psychology, believed humaAns had an innate tendency to strive for perfection and that this striving was the most important motivator of behavior. Equally as important in psychological functioning to Adler is the interest in society, for without the support of others, humans would not survive. For person-centered theorists, they believe that the only motivation of human behavior is the tendency to grow to full potential in constructive, positive ways. Carl Rogers, the founder of person-centered therapy, saw living beings as striving to maximize the organism and avoid experience that are detrimental to it. Fritz Perls, the founder of gestalt therapy, also saw organisms having an innate tendency to grow toward fulfillment and actualization. Gestalt therapy, then, is a growth-oriented approach in which humans are motivated to meet needs but also to attain harmony with the environment. Like these three theories, I hold an optimistic view of human nature and believe people have a need for social interest and self-actualization. Most theories, other than solution-focused therapy, have well-stated views of human development. Of these, I most agree with the views of individual psychology, person-centered, behavior, and rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Individual
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psychology holds that family environment, innate creative processes, and the drive for superiority influences development. Person-centered therapy also believes that humans are influenced by family and other significant individuals. It is difficult for me to think of anyone not being developmentally influenced by their families, because my family has had such an impact on me. However, not all people are influenced in the same way in the same family, like my older brother and me, which leads me to agree that something innate must be at play in determining how a person is influenced by their family. REBT, founded by Albert Ellis, agreed with this view, stating that humans develop because of innate biological and psychological tendencies that interact with social influences. Behavior therapy takes it a step further, though, and explains how a person is influenced developmentally by their social environment. In this theory, human development is the process of learning. A person develops through learning from family and significant others. Therefore, I believe it is a combination of learned family influences, as well as other significant individuals in peoples lives, and innate qualities that influence a person developmentally. As a feminist, I also agree with feminist therapys view that people are influenced by gender and power structures. Alder and Ellis both hold a soft determinist view towards people, which means that individuals have some choice in their lives, but inherited or innate potentials also exert substantial influence. A very popular quote from Adler is: The important thing is not what one is born with, but what use one makes of that equipment. I, also, believe that it matters more what a person does, than ones genetic or biological inheritance. However, I also believe that some things in our lives are determined, such as our biological and familial makeup. It is the ways in which we interact and deal with these determinants that matters most. Epictetus, the stoic, first century Greek philosopher, put it best: Men are not disturbed by things but by the views which they take of them. This quote is used to summarize the constructivist nature of REBT, because it emphasizes the individuals creation of his or her reality and the fact that the individuals perception of reality is the deciding factor in determining behavior, not some externally validated reality. Therefore, my personal theory of counseling is one of both constructivism and soft-determinism.

Goals of Therapy In therapy, the goals I see as extremely effective and powerful are most closely aligned with REBT, solution-focused, and feminist therapy. The goals of REBT are to help clients deal with their cognitive-emotive-behavioral disturbances and to help them build a happier, more self-actualizing existence. At the simplest level, the goal of REBT is to help clients change irrational beliefs into rational beliefs through the ABCDE model. Solution-focused also helps clients change their beliefs, though through different goals:
1. Change the doing of the situation that is perceived as problematic 2. Change the viewing of the situation 31

3. Evoke resources, strengths, and solutions to bring to the situation perceived as

problematic Just as solution-focused therapy strives to find solutions to clients complaints, feminist therapy empowers clients to reach their desired life goals. I see the three theories goals as complimentary to one another and easy for me to implement together. A clients stated consequence in REBT can also be seen as the clients complaint in solution-focused therapy. In solution-focused, a therapist would immediately start working on changing this complaint, whereas in REBT the therapist would have the client look at the activating event that indirectly caused the consequence through the beliefs they hold about the event. Once looking at these, the therapist would then dispute these beliefs and the client would work on more effective beliefs. Solutionfocused and feminist therapy would then work well together to put these new beliefs into action, through helping the client focus on their strengths in order to work towards desired solutions. Using the goals from these three theories corresponds with my belief that people sometimes need new ways of seeing situations in their lives and ways in which to change those situations for the better using their strengths. Role of the Therapist As someone who values education and my role in shaping the minds of our future, I see the role of the therapist as an educator, teacher, model, and consultant. The individual psychology counselor is not only an educator, but also an encourager. The therapist empowers clients to have faith in them by having confidence in the client and listening to him or her non-judgmentally. The most critical goal of the therapist in individual psychology counseling is to understand the client through understanding his or her life style. In order to do this, therapists use active listening, empathy, and observation. Sounding much like person-centered theorists, cognitive therapists also recognize the need for warmth, genuineness, trust, and respect. All of these qualities, I believe, are essential for the therapist to employ in order to build a good working relationship with the client. Just because the therapist functions as an educator, though, does not mean they should act like an expert. Rogers, in person-centered therapy, saw therapy as an encounter between two individuals and he rejected the idea that the counselor was an expert. He argued that the therapists attitude, or philosophy, was critical to the success of the relationship. Solution-focused therapists view themselves as experts on change, but not experts about the clients particular problem. In this regard, I see the role of the therapist as one of being an expert on their given therapy method, but not on the client. Better put, the client is an expert on himself or herself and the therapist is an expert on helping the client to relate to the theory and reach their goals. Therapist-Client Relationship Many counseling and psychotherapy theories advocate a collaborative, genuine, and egalitarian relationship between the therapist and the client, which I also support. Some of these include individual psychology, gestalt, person-centered,
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solution-focused, and feminist therapy. The relationship in Adlerian counseling is egalitarian wherein the therapist must avoid any semblance of superiority. Feminist therapy also promotes an egalitarian relationship between therapist and client and avoids power differentials. Because of the therapists professional qualifications, an inherent power imbalance in therapy is assumed. As a result, the counselor must acknowledge this imbalance and discuss it with the client. The client and counselor in feminist therapy are assumed to be equally expert. The client is an expert on him or herself, and the therapist owns his or her professional knowledge and expertise. In person-centered counseling, the counselor and client are equals, with the therapist serving as a companion in the clients search for him or herself. This, again, correlates with my own view of equality that should exist in the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist. Techniques There are many therapeutic techniques that are used to help clients towards the goals of counseling. Of the many that are available, three techniques that are from different counseling theories stood out to me and I think would be useful in therapy. These techniques are individual psychologys acting as if, REBTs homework and bibliotherapy, and behavior therapys flooding and systematic desensitization. Many clients will come into therapy stating their consequences and complaints and say if only this or that was different then this or that would be better. A technique that is used in individual psychology to combat if only thinking is having the client act as if whatever it is they wish were different was true. An example of this might be a client who believes if only they were more outgoing and outspoken they would have more friends. The therapist could have the client act as if they were outgoing and outspoken for the next week. This technique helps the counselor change the clients view of him or herself and also to learn or exhibit previously unexplored behaviors. I think this technique is powerful, because it asks the client to accept that whatever they want to be they can be simply by acting as if it were true. Hopefully, from acting as if whatever they want to be is true they realize they have it within themselves to be what they want to be. Since I have an optimistic view of people, I think this technique can help clients work towards empowerment and selfactualization. In REBT, the therapist almost always gives homework and bibliotherapy. This, I think, is important because learning should not just stop once a clients session is over and assigning homework asks of the client to continue learning outside the counselors office. Tasks are devised that fit the clients problems and may include techniques such as shame attacking exercises and bibliotherapy. Bibliotherapy is when the therapist assigns readings, often books, articles, and audiotapes, for the client to read on their own. These tasks can be rewarding for clients, especially those who feel worthless and depressed, because it gives them an opportunity to accomplish something and feel good about it. In addition, these tasks and readings provide material for the therapist and client to discuss in their following sessions.
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Sometimes for a client to get past a phobia they need to be exposed for a prolonged period of time to a feared or aversive stimuli. This therapeutic technique is known as flooding, sometimes called exposure therapy. Flooding is usually done in vivoinvolving real exposure to a feared stimulus. Imaginal flooding, however, can be used if it is not possible to use an in vivo approach. If either of these techniques are too extreme, systematic desensitization can be used. In this approach, the client is taught progressive relaxation procedures and then constructs an anxiety hierarchy to be used in the procedure. Using the techniques of flooding and systematic desensitization fit well with my theory of counseling because they motivate clients to overcome their obstacles and make a change towards their desired outcome. Theory Strengths The three theories that appeal the most of me are individual psychology, solution-focused, and feminist therapy. In my ideal theory of counseling these three theories would work together. A strength that I would take from individual psychology would be its focus on growth and optimistic view of the human condition. Individual psychology is holisticmeaning a person is seen as a unity of parts, including thinking, feeling, and behavingand this is an important aspect to be included in my theory of counseling. This belief in holism is echoed in one of the guiding principles of student affairs that I am passionately devoted to, which is developing the whole student. The biggest strength I see in solution-focused therapy is the emphasis on change and action. In order to help clients change and act, therapists help the client access their resources and strengths to resolve complaints. Solution-focused therapy emphasizes the importance of focusing on what is possible and changeable rather than on what is impossible and intractable. In this form of therapy, rapid change or resolution of problems is possible for clients. In student affairs, students usually come to us with complaints and problems that need resolving now or relatively soon. Therefore, we do not have the time or resources to spend a great amount of time dealing with the students past and helping them develop new insight like some theories suggest. We can, however, help the student focus on their strengths and how to use these to overcome their difficulties. Therefore, I think solution-focus therapys emphasis on clients strengths and the potential for change really applies well to the work we do in student affairs. Most theories of counseling and psychotherapy reflect the time in which they were written, especially the older theories such as psychotherapy and individual psychology. These theories tend to have elements which are sexist and not accepting of gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) clients. Both Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, and Adler called homosexuality a perversion. Feminist therapy developed out of deep dissatisfaction with traditional approaches to psychotherapy. Feminist therapy includes an analysis of power and its relationship to the multiple ways women are oppressed. These ways can be singly or in combination through gender, race, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, and ablebodiness. Like solution-focused therapy, feminist therapys primary focus is on strengths, rather than
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deficits, and is committed to social change that supports equality. Therefore, I think feminist therapy should be applied to any counseling or psychotherapy theory in order to make them more inclusive and accepting of women, LGBT, and other minority groups. My personal theory of counseling would apply a feminist perspective to therapy. Summary Using the strengths of individual psychology, solution-focused, and feminist therapy my personal theory of counseling will focus on the strengths of clients who are seen as holistic and developmentally the result of biological, cultural, social, political, economic, and historical contexts. My theory will be eclectic and utilize elements from other theories, including person-centered, gestalt, REBT, behavior, and cognitive therapy. The theory of counseling will take an optimistic, constructivist, softdeterminist, and growth-oriented approach to human nature. Therapy will be a collaborative, egalitarian process in which the therapist and clients establish goals, direction, and pace of the therapy. The therapist will be an expert on the process and the client will be an expert on themselves. After the client presents a consequence or complaint in therapy, the therapist will ask questions to get the client to state the activating event. Upon further discussion, the therapist and client will attempt to uncover the belief that is attached to the event and influences the complaint. After discovering this, the therapist will help the client use their strengths to solve the complaint. Many techniques can be used, including acting as if, homework and bibliotherapy, and flooding and systematic desensitization, to help a client work towards their goals. danny.glassmann.org/docs/personaltheory.doc

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