Introduction
Effective counseling involves integration of many aspects in a specific way so as to solve a problem raised by the client. Different approaches are used in various situations as counseling involves diversification of ideas. Rapport must be established for counseling to be effective.
Rapport increases degree of efficiency by ensuring that the counseling plan is inclusive and simple. The client is expected to make an informed decision after education phase. The informed decisions will facilitate the treatment process as the client will adopt adaptive strategies.
Dissemination of new information to the client should be the main focus of any counseling session. Brief conceptualizations and treatment plans of two patients will be well discussed in the essay. Discussion will entail outline of psychology theories as well as the overall condition of the patient so as to ensure complete treatment.
Brief Conceptualization for Debbie
Debbie is a 36 year old woman. She is a stressed patient and analysis of psychological aspects will be considered in the treatment approach. According to Debbie, peer groups can influence behavior of an individual. Debbie is worried that her daughter could be influenced to use drugs by her boyfriend.
In Debbie’s case, the aspect of attribution fundamental error is well outlined. Fundamental error is the psychological internal explanation for certain behavior. For example, Debbie attributes her internal behavior of worrying to an external factor which is genetic composition.
Consequently, attribution theory is well outlined. External explanation is given by Debbie when she assesses the possibility of use of drugs by her daughter. If Debbie’s daughter was to start using drugs, Debbie would blame her boyfriend.
The prosocial activities have been replaced by antisocial ones. Debbie’s irritability can be attributed to the accident, since she was friendly before its occurrence. For example, she is irritable and finds her husband’s jokes not amusing.
Cognitive dissonance can be used to aid comprehension of Debbie’s situation. Debbie is willing to change her behaviors since they are harming her. Psychological counseling will be essential, since Debbie will be willing to take any advice and make informed decision.
Debbie is in denial as she finds the advice to stay at home uncomfortable. Counseling should emphasize on the essence of rest because the patient has internal injuries. Treatment plan should also consider management of stress as the patient manifests its symptoms.
The counselor should educate the client on how severe stress could lead to increased rate of breathing and pulse. One of the symptoms of stress is evidenced by the thought of having breast cancer recurrence. Debbie’s fear of possible use of drugs by her daughter should be discouraged.
In the education phase, the counselor should tell the patient that magnitude of stress is dependent on scare and tension. Loss of energy involved in intense thoughts could lead to fatigue and dizziness. Consequently, one is likely to have low appetite due to worry thereby affect energy intake.
Proper management of stress should be among the issues addressed in the treatment plan. Focus should be towards reducing symptoms associated with stress so as to ensure that the client is completely cured.
The importance of having sufficient rest should also be well presented by the counselor. The patient is willing to overcome the challenges associated with the accident, since she wants to continue with former activities
The counseling session comprises of education and implementation stages. The client should be told that stress management requires many interventions and counseling is just one of them. Counseling will ensure that there is a positive change in the individual.
The process will involve empowering the patient so as to be able to make informed decisions at the right time. The client and counselor must be open minded and ready to learn from each other. The psychologist should involve the client in conversations so as to build trust.
The psychologist should provide scientific knowledge to the client (Romano, Fitzpatrick & Janzen, 2008). The client should be able to make informed decisions after the education phase based on all the information learnt. Counseling should be two way.
Debbie should learn how to cope with environment around her. Consequently, her family should appreciate and support her. Relevant questions from the client are also allowed in this stage and later after the discussion. The next stage involves implementation of the best decisions made so as to ensure that best results are realized.
Monitoring and close follow up of the client’s progress would be in the last step of counseling session. Monitoring evaluates the impact of counseling and ensures that the implementation process takes place as agreed.
The psychological stage of Debbie is that of making versus self absorption. Since she found intimacy, she is more concerned with making sure that her children are fine as evidenced by thoughts about them. The mental ponderings that are common in the stressful situations should be reduced as much as possible (Shaffer, Vogel & Wei, 2006).
The client should be educated on her vulnerability especially in relation to conditions like hypertension. Further, it should be well expressed that excess worrying or tension is related to fatigue and dizziness that is common among stress patients. The issue of committing suicide should be discussed and followed up in other visits.
Brief Conceptualization for Mrs. Barstow
Integrity versus despair is the psychological stage of Mrs. Barstow. Since she has not achieved many things, she sees her a life as complete failure. In the trust versus mistrust, Mrs. Barstow chose mistrust as evidenced by her refusal to eat anything in her kitchen.
Mrs. Barstow has doubts that people around her might want to kill her. She feels that all people are against her. According to Mrs. Barstow, she is not being accorded justice as even the lawyers are misusing her money.
The money is inherited which shows that Mrs. Barstow did not achieve much in her life. Hormonal changes during adulthood should be factored in during counseling of the patient. Focus should be in encouraging her to fight for justice and eliminating her doubts.
Sense of success could be reinstated by reinforcement of her integrity. Psychological stability and self esteem will be boosted if the issue of inheritance is solved. The psychologist should educate the patient on the reason behind some of the experiences and how to solve them.
Such information would include complexities associated with inheritance. Efforts should be towards reducing tension and worry of being killed. The legal system should be involved in the treatment plan due to the issue of injustice that the client highlights.
The care givers and family members should also be included in the counseling sessions and taught how to support the client. The psychologist should educate the client on the changes of hormones that are expected and how to deal with them.
There are postulations that breathing reduces or stops a stressful response. The client should neither be forced to talk nor intimidated. Consequently, emotional support would be of substantial help to the client. For example, the psychologist could assure the client that she will find justice.
Monitoring the progress of the client is essential and follow up visits should be encouraged. Monitoring enables the counselor to evaluate the level of success and reduce the instances of relapse thereby ensuring permanent recovery.
The evaluation step measures the degree of success based on the cumulative progress of patient’s situation. Evaluation provides room for change of tactics or increase of efforts so as to improve the results of the counseling session.
Conclusion
The process of counseling is rather dynamic and so is required from the counselors. The brief conceptualization enlightens the scope of the psychiatric status of the individual. The treatment plan outlines the chronological steps that are involved in ensuring that absolute cure is achieved.
Reviews are essential and should be done at agreed dates so as to ensure that the trend of the patient is positive. The effect of counseling can only be felt overtime but should incorporate the decision of the client, for it to be sustainable.
Although the counselors and other personnel are the prime educators, they also need to ensure that the clients comprehend and participate in decision making. The client can only appreciate the solution given, if the communication during counseling is effective.
The empathy of the personnel will be of significant importance as the client will be able to adopt the adaptive strategies.
References
Romano, V., Fitzpatrick, M. & Janzen, J. (2008). The secure-base hypothesis: Global attachment, attachment to counselor, and session exploration in psychotherapy. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55(4), 495–504.
Shaffer, P.A., Vogel, D.L. & Wei, M. (2006). The mediating roles of anticipated risks, anticipated benefits, and attitudes on the decision of seek professional help: An attachment perspective. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 422–452.