Talk:Counselling psychology

The recent series of edits have overwritten the wikified version of this text, but look to contain some useful information. Please could someone with more knowledge of the subject merge the new edits into the original article? Thedatastream 07:14, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

I am a Counselling Psychologist and I think you will find that there are several inaccuracies in the entry:

"First, counseling psychologists typically focus on less severe psychopathology (e.g., depression and anxiety), while clinical psychologists deal with more seriously disturbed individuals (e.g., those with schizophrenia or personality disorders)."

This is plainly false, however it is a common misperception that members of the public generally has. Unfortunately there are also some psychologists who arent familiar with Counselling Psychology who reinforce this myth too. In practice, Counselling Psychologists see clientele with disorders of typically the same kind and severity as Clinical Psychologists, referring to GP's or psychiatrists for pharmacological support for the client's condition where necessary. This is no different to how other psychological specialists liaise with the medical profession.

The fundamental difference here in client groups however, is that Counselling Psychologists will engage not only with the state of disorder that a client is experiencing, but also help the client to build on their strengths. This means that a Counselling Psychologist will help the client with their presenting issue or even simply for personal growth if the client wishes - rather than focusing exclusively on a recognised psychological disorder.

The reason this is the case is that the core philosophy of Counselling Psychology as a field is about empowerment and equity in relationships. In the client-counsellor relationship this manifests in the Counselling Psychologist working with the client to co-construct the nature of the target issue, a treatment plan and to collaborate in working through the issue that brought the client to psychotherapy. This stance differs quite markedly from that of Clinical Psychology, which due to its focus on psychological disorders, has a client adopting the sick-role and the psychologist taking an expert status in the session, delivering interventions in a top-down manner. Counselling Psychologists simply do not see their clients as being in such a passive position with regard to making positive changes in their life.

In particular, I think it is quite problematic to imply that Counselling Psychologists do not typically engage with Personality Disorders (Axis II disorders). The reality of the situation is that typically, Counselling Psychologists focus on the person of the client, exploring personality factors in more detail in an effort to match appropriate interventions to the contributing contextual factors at play here: the client's distress, the client's personality, the client's background, etc.

"Second, counseling psychologists are more likely than clinical psychologists to assume a client-centered or humanistic theoretical approach."

This is not correct either. Generally speaking Counselling Psychologists are experienced in a broader range of psychological interventions, than the typically cognitive-behavioural therapy (or behavioural therapy) focus we see in Clinical Psychology. The reason that Counselling Psychologists train in a variety of approaches comes back yet again to the active role of the client in our core philosophy. That is, Counselling Psychologists appreciate that different people will respond better to different approaches, according to factors such as their personality style, their current state of distress, or their background with other specialists. This diversity is reflected in the APA Divison 17 Principles of Empirically Supported Interventions in Counselling Psychology (http://tcp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/2/197), as well as more recent documents.

I think it would be a pity to also leave out psychodynamic approaches. Similarly, by omitting the detail that Counselling Psychologist do use cognitive-behavioural interventions where appropriate, the article appears to imply that we dont use such interventions.

The key thing Im trying to get across here is that Counselling Psychologists tend to draw from a more diverse pool of approaches to maintain flexibility in their approach in order to help the client with the issue that brought them to psychotherapy.

Education/Training
Revision is needed in the "Training" section. The text suggests most counseling psychologists have Ph.D's. I work in a community college setting; most persons I have encountered with degrees in counseling psychology (faculty, school counselors, private practice therapists) have master's degrees, not doctorates. A master's in counseling psychology provides the education and supervised practice hours required to sit for the Marriage & Family Therapy licensure exam. WikiEditName 00:00, 11 February 2007 (UTC) WikiEditName

Twin Articles
This article seems to have a twin under Counseling psychology -- spelled with one L instead of double L. I've not compared them in depth, but they start out exactly the same. Pat 04:25, 11 May 2007 (UTC)