Choose two counseling approaches from the ones listed below and briefly describe how well each does or do not facilitate counseling with women.
- Object Relations and Self Psychology
- Jungian Archetypal Psychology
- Person-Centered Therapy
- Gestalt Therapy
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
- Family Systems
According to Kopala and Keitel (2003), the effectiveness and weakness of the theory of Person-Centered Therapy in counseling women with emotional problems such as depression has been demonstrated in the rigorous demands placed on practitioners who affords the ability to get involved on the grounds of equality, experience, relationships, self-love, and presence in everyday life. The anthropological stance on women is a deviation from the traditional methods because it does not require the patient’s historical information and its main techniques are listening, understanding, empathizing, and responding to the patient’s counseling needs.
The patient-counselor relationship is based on the realistic self, developing a positive regard that is clearly understood through dialogue, establishing strong interconnectedness with the patient, and establish a partnership without following strictly specified stages. The therapeutic approach encourages client participation and self-reflection, and acceptance to promote change. However, the approach has been criticized as being too culture oriented that is difficulty to apply in the anthropological stance. It has been suggested that the underlying therapeutic conditions are not sufficient for the therapist to apply I seeking for the right therapy for the patient. In addition, the therapeutic approach limits the therapists’ behavior during the session such as the ability to develop and maintain the therapeutic presence.
On the other hand, the Gestalt Therapy emphasizes on personal responsibility that is defined by existential and experiential psychotherapy. The therapeutic approach is appropriate for use in a wide variety of situations that affect women in different settings such as when doing couple therapy, individual therapy, for women in business, and for women working within organizations. In addition, the approach is appropriate for individual psychotherapy, family, and for counseling couples and women in a relationship. The therapy is appropriate for people of all ages and cultures and factors the emotional, rational, spiritual, physical, and rational dimensions as a multidimensional approach to therapy. The therapist uses techniques that enable him to make explicit what is implicit by paying closer attention to superficial phenomena.
Several tenets of the theory explain that the therapist has to show a significant deal of the effects of mindedness as a way of paying attention when counseling the patient. The effect of being in the mindedness state has been established to have a string effect on enabling the patient to develop strong cooping capabilities when under stress. It is also necessary to include other strategies when the patient undergoes the counseling session such as preventing the incidents of relapsing to ensure that the depression in the patient does not recur. In such a situation, a relapse prevention plan must be included in the session. One of the recommended strategies included in the counseling sessions is to ensure that the patient that the patient is advised to take upon anew way of life and continue living it to avoid the risk of falling back.
Some of the recommended elements of therapy to consider include the assessment of the patient, the safety of the patient, the ability to activate the psychological responses of the patient towards the treatment plans, and enabling the patient to see the meaning of the therapeutic sessions and accept them. It is here that an assessment that involves non-pathologizing collaborative understanding of the world and the patient’s and trying to connect both because it becomes an important tool for the therapist to link with the patent. However, it is important to ensure that the treatment plan is followed carefully and changes introduced when deemed necessary to be able to afford success in counseling the patient. On the other hand, the attitude and feelings of person empowerment are necessary to ensure that the patient is made to feel a sense of belonging to the counseling sessions so that the mind, body, and spirit to be committed to the sessions making them develop authentic connections with counselor and other people.
It has been proposed that a patient who feels safe is able to respond more to the therapeutic environment and more especially if the safety plan is developed to address the safety concerns that arise for high risk patients. Here, an increased sense of feeling of safety leads to a more relaxed atmosphere for the patient, which makes the patient feel a sense of openness to share with the counselor more details about the condition troubling her. It has been recommended that a patient must undergo such therapeutic session to be successfully rehabilitated, but in each session, it is critical to consider the three recommended counseling phases. The phases include ensuing that the patient undergoes earlier stabilization when the sessions begin where the uniqueness of each woman is factored while providing a common goal to recovery. After some stabilization has been achieved, the next state is to counsel the patient to transform, after which the patient is made to develop a positive attitude to be able to accept the future state and be oriented towards a future life.
Kopala, M., & Keitel, M. (Eds.) (2003). Handbook of counseling women. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, (Chapter 3, p. 12).
Describe the major facets of Relations Theory and its application, that is, Relational-Cultural Therapy, and how this theory and approach is beneficial for women in therapy. Also, discuss issues around a woman developing and maintaining a healthy identity.
The relational cultural theory and therapy is defined by the relationship established between the client and the therapist, the willingness of the patient to be counseled and in allowing the therapist to work as the counselor, and the role of the therapist in encouraging the patient to cooperate in attending counseling sessions. In women, the theory effectively explains how the therapist can invoke counseling techniques such as understanding how to counsel a woman in the coping processes and adaptation outcomes.
Here, the stress a woman goes through is multivariate because it depends on the environment and the effects of the mediating tasks of appraisal and coping in different situations such as when in an abusive relationship and when experiencing domestic violence. In addition, the therapist is able to implicitly describe the coping requirements and adjustments that are necessary for a patient to be counseled successfully. In addition, the therapeutic approach enables the therapist to do the consciousness-raising among women by enabling them to understand individual and share their experiences. The equality between the therapist and the client, the need to honor women experiences based on personal experiences and intuition, and by factoring the internal as well as external factors of distress provides the foundation for good therapeutic solutions for women in problems.
The issues of developing and maintaining the healthy identity of women include body image that are defined by comments from others, ideals for one’s physical appearance, confidentiality; expectations, and expressions of image. Other issues include interpersonal dominance, power and empowerment, listening to women tells their stories, the conscious contemplation of a woman’s life, and commitment that is achieved through people moratorium.
Kopala, M., & Keitel, M. (Eds.) (2003). Handbook of counseling women. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (Chapter 9, p. 45, 46, 47, 49), (4450, Body Image Dissatisfaction)
Describe issues of power in the therapeutic relationship. Include a description of Feminist Therapy and other gender-focused approaches and how these approaches are beneficial for women in therapy. Include a description of ethical assumptions presented by feminist therapy. Also, discuss the important role of self-esteem enhancement, effective communication, and being assertive in communicating when counseling women.
Researchers view the therapeutic relationship as a treatment for the patient because the patient relies on the qualification of the therapist to guide them in solving their problems. The power of a therapist depends on skills and expertise of the therapist and that partially depends on the behavior and attitude of the practitioner especially when the first encounter happens. Here, the impact of the established between the patient and the therapist can either make or break the counseling sessions. For instance, an effective therapeutic session could require the good listening skills to enable the customer feel comfortable and wanted. The power of empathy is critical in offering the sessions because an emphatic therapist makes the client feel their problem is being shared by the therapist.
In addition, it makes the patient to feel self-aware while ensuring that the right contact is made between the client and the therapist. The cognitive behavioral activities related to counseling based on the relationship established between the patient and the therapist enables them to say and do the right things at the right time. In addition such relationship to be effective depends on the effectiveness of communication such as listening. Listening sometimes has been touted as unprofessional when it borders on the sexual boundaries. In addition, relationship can be established to create strong feelings because of the touch for comfort. Such relationship yield better feelings for the patient because of the feeling that someone else is also able to feel their pain. For instance, when one has a problem, it is possible to feel their problem has been shared when people express themselves in emotions such as crying (Lange, Jakubowski & McGovern, 1976).
The power enables a person to feel self-esteemed, develop the ability to express oneself and enthusiasm and taught, enjoys one’s creation and values others, revel personal attributes and enables one to listen to others and count on their thoughts. Power can exist in two forms, which include the power that enables one to dominate others, and personal power that entails the person developing a strong relationship with one’s personal attributes (Kohlberg, 1969).
The feminist therapy and gender based approaches are crucial factors to consider when undertaking therapeutic services because the process makes the women, who are under therapeutic treatment to be regarded and treated with equality and share their experiences. However, it is recommended that when in a relationship, it is important to develop the characteristics required such as empathy to keep the relationship going.
In this case, self-esteem make makes the relationship strong because people in the relationship have the feelings of self-worth. On the other hand, communication is important in a relationship because it create mutual understanding between the customer and the client. In addition, based on professional and skilled expertise enables effective positive emotional responses, effective listening, and positive outcomes when information is communicated skillfully and professionally. When applied in therapeutic relationships, it leads to rapport, empowerment, and collaboration. The outcomes include trust, empowerment because the therapist takes time, commitment, and skill to execute the counseling sessions. It also enables the professional to make verbal introductions, introduction of the therapist, and introduction to the unfamiliar environment. Assertive messages are communicated that are defined by characteristics such as want, being emphatic, confronting, ability to develop mixed feelings (Jakubowski & Lange, 1978).
Lange, A., & Jakubowski, P. (1978). The assertive option. Champaign, IL: Research Press (Chapter 7, p. 89, 90, 92), (Cynthia K. Chandler, Ed.D. Counseling Program University of North Texas, Verbal and Emotional Abuse).
Discuss the major tenets of healthy intimacy and healthy relationships
The tenets of primary heath intimacy include love and its attributes such as romantic love, compassion, commitment, passion, liking, and being fatuous as the elements that are defined in the triangle of love. Each of the three styles of love relationships can define as being erotic, lucid, and storgic. In the relationship, it is important to nurture love because it increases the potential of people liking one another and encouraging one another to develop a strong liking for each other. In addition, the elements that define attributes of a health relationship include devotion, honesty, sacrifice, generosity, confidence, support, responsibility, ability to be apologetic, respect, acceptance, authenticity, and the ability to nurture he relationship. It is important to develop good self-esteem, it enables the woman to develop and act with self-respect, esteem, appreciation, warmth, acknowledgement, and empathy. In addition, the person becomes creates a healthy environment of shared moments, equality, caring, attentiveness, open communication, kind words, accurate information, attentiveness, and satisfaction (Kohlberg, 1969).
Other underpinning issues that correlate with healthy relationships include the ability to develop trust between two partners. Here, intimacy can be physical or psychological and the relationship becomes stronger when both approaches of building intimacy are factored. It is also important to understand the rational effects of a rejection of one’s self and to be sure of controlling self of any psychological issues that may impede the relationship. It is important to be in control of the impulsive emotions that arise in a relationship to enable one to grow out of the disappointments that happen. Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. New York: Rand McNally em to develop the power to survive in any adversity. (Chapter 9, p. 23)
5. Discuss issues and counseling strategies for women who are victims of verbal/emotional abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence, rape, childhood incest, female genital mutilation, sex trafficking/slavery.
The victims of verbal and emotional abuse suffer from the emotional and psychological problems that happen and increase with time. sexual assault: rape and adult survivors of childhood sexual molestation are among the critical issues that affect the victims to consider when counseling them is that such abuses can be secretive, intensify with time, are practiced in many forms and disguises, and the problematic part is that they discount the partners’ perceptions of abuse. Such abuses include name-calling and leads to a personal interaction that represses the intense feelings of aggression that undermine the ability to understand and deal with interpersonal reality. On the other hand, such abuses make a person feel thrown off balance, disoriented, confused, and disconnected. Another issue is that it makes a person feel crazy and caught off-guard by making one to be unable to get off the redundantly spinning circles of thought that do not allow one to develop vague feelings that things are not alright and that such people feel befuddled so that they lack the capacity to solve problems. The feelings to get away in person must be countered when counseling victims of abuse because they feel that one’s subjective world is chaotic.
Different counseling strategies have been proposed for the victims of abuse and include identifying what is lacking in a relationship, in the victim, defining what is required and implementing the role of the counselor. It is important for the counselor to take the victim through different stages before a steady stage is reached. Examples include rape victims getting brief crisis counseling, regular counseling because Rape victims may complain of anxiety and stress after many years of the abuse. One should take the courage to heal and it is recommended that secret keeping be avoided in families.
Moles, K. (2001). The Teen Relationship Workbook: For professionals helping teens to develop healthy relationships and prevent domestic violence. London: Wellness Reproductions & Pub. (Chapter 17, p. 12, 13, 17), (5540, childhood and adolescence, 5540 Sexual Assault: Rape and Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Molestation, 5540 Domestic Violence)
Summarize why it is important to consider historical, social, political, and cultural issues when formatting a conceptualization for a woman client. Give some examples of how these issues can influence a woman’s emotional and physical health. Include in your response the role that society’s emphasis on women’s body image has played in negatively impacting women’s emotional health.
Research studies show that several issues such as those that are historical need to be considered for the woman client seeking counseling services because such issues emanate because of the different attitudes societies and those women interact with have such as sexism which results in bias gender based attitudes, sexual harassment based on unwanted sexual and other physical and verbal advances, and sexual and gender discrimination based on unfair treatment of the client. Research shows that sex trafficking where over 80% of young women were exploited for commercial sex and the thousands of victims taken to the US annually add to the historical issues that have affected women adversely. In addition, the study shows that sex trafficking is another issue to consider because it underpins the need to make communities especially of the female safer. Religious persecution also contributes to the depression or anxiety that affects women leading to a significant number of women committing suicide, suffering traumatic disorders, and depressions. Other factors such as honor killings, war crimes against women, women recovering from the effects of war such as the Bosnian war, and pregnancy discrimination contribute to the effects on the emotional needs of the women (Lange & Jakubowski, 1978).
It has been established that social, cultural, political issues impacting women’s emotional health and health issues for minority women demands that the psychologists have the background knowledge to counsel the victim on how to recover from psychological and physical trauma. For instance, when women undergo female genital mutilation, most of them undergo practical lifelong pain and medical problems that lead to intense psychological problems. However, the society has an obligation to support the body image of women, who undergo such problems because they provide opportunities to discuss their problems by supporting interpersonal interactions and in offering any necessary help (le Grange & Lock, 2005). However, when feelings of body image are negative, women develop low self- esteem leading to increased level of stress and depression (Moles, 2001).
Moles, K. (2001).The Teen Relationship Workbook: For professionals helping teens to develop healthy relationships and prevent domestic violence. London: Wellness Reproductions & Pub (Chapter 8, p. 34), (5540, Women of color, 5540, Social, Cultural, Political Issues Impacting Women’s Emotional Health and Health Issues for Minority Women).
Discuss significant issues regarding counseling women of color
Studies show that counseling women of color is a multifaceted approach to counseling because they come from different cultural backgrounds. The main issue to consider is the patient’s background, the level of access to health care facilities, the level of education of the women, and the medical services that are available. In addition, language is an important factor to consider because it has been identified to be a major barrier for access to health care services for the Latino and Hispanic women. The level of involvement in counseling services include the motivating factors to visit the counselors such as making the choice to turn to family and friends for counseling than other medical services. In addition, the working environment is important to consider because Hispanic women like working in very dangerous environments with very high risk factors mostly caused by chemical exposures (Kolander, Ballard & Chandler, 2013).
Other issues include how to work with the women of color who are victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence and child abuse. Issues such as poverty, single parent households, and the payment status of the women contribute to designing the counseling strategy because those in low pay cannot afford to medical support and that leads to unsafe living environments. In addition, the unsafe neighborhoods contribute significantly to poor living conditions that a counselor must factor when designing a counseling strategy. In most cases, the latter group of women comes from the African communities.
Counseling against the background of women and children affected by HIV/AIDS with very high mortality rates where black women contribute to 64% of those infected by the virus, and the culture of Afrocentricism.
The counseling approaches include identifying and integrating multiple cultural identities where the counselor deems appropriate. In addition, it is necessary to ensure that sensitivity of the issue is maintained to support the empowerment of women in the feminism counseling (Kolander, Ballard & Chandler, 2013).
Other issues to factor include the historical issues such as the history of the mental character and background of the person such as Asian women who prefer to be counseled despite the problem having a psychological origin. It is important to identify the presence of social networks that can help support the program. Most women especially international students suffer from extreme anxiety, adjusting to new environments.
Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. New York: Rand McNally. (Chaper 3, p. 5, 6, 7)
Discuss significant issues regarding counseling lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning (LBTQ) women
Inequality in law that has been regarded by many as legalized discrimination and is a crucial issue to consider when counseling women. Typically, it is important to consider the state laws because in some of the states, indulging in sexual practices that are contrary to the laws is counted as a felony. In most instances, such laws are not invoked but are regarded as conveying the message that such acts are punishable.
In another instance, it is important to consider the laws of different companies to decide whether they prohibit people with the sexual relationships to be hired so that they do not see such laws as being discriminatory (Kolander, Ballard & Chandler, 2013).
Some lesbians and people with different sexual orientations suffer different types of violence. When counseling people with such sexual orientations, it is important to make them to develop positive mental attitudes towards their orientations. Here, the sexual orientation, the counseling techniques, and the issue of overt discrimination must be factored. Another issue to consider is the problem of sexual orientations and being in need of treatment that needs behavioral modification and psychoanalysis. However, it is worth noting that some people such as Christians consider homosexuality to be an immoral act and a kind of sickness caused by evil spirits or demented minds.
The religious background of the person has to be factored because some people get deeply embarrassed at being identified with a different sexual orientation especially when one is associated with Christians. One is not able to reveal their sexual orientations and practice the art in great secrecy. Religious conversion has often caused destructive outcomes because some people do want to identify themselves with the sexual orientation they feel attracted towards. For instance, gay people suppress same sex feelings by marrying a person of the opposite sex have been shown to still persist in the same sex fantasies.
On the other hand, different issues affect lesbians and homosexuals that underpin the rationale of making the people live conformable lives. Here, strategies such as positive affirmation play a significant role in counseling. Other prevailing issues include identity synthesis, identity pride, acceptance, tolerance, confusion, and comparison.
Other issues include the ability to identify role models, keeping healthy relationships with the affected, creating a supportive community and environment, confronting bias, maintaining family relationships, joining non-repressive careers. Bisexual issue include being helpful, anxiety and transgender issues include physiological feelings that adversely affect the relationship in the marriage.
Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. New York: Rand McNally. (Chapter 11, p. 45), (5540 Counseling with Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Women).
Discuss significant issues regarding counseling women with disabilities
There is need to understand the society from which someone with disabilities has come and identify the impact the impact caused by the failure of the society to consider women with disabilities undergo. On the other hand, it is important to consider giving the patient a large appointment when undergoing counseling session to be able to explain their perceptions about the attitude of the society about their disabilities. Studies show that attitude has several dimensions and some of them include the ability to understand and portray human behavior, the cognitive aspect of attitude that motivates a person to behave the way they do, and the behavioral component. In this case, the affective issues are related with the emotions that happen in the mind of the person with disabilities as a target object such as the disabled person. On the other hand, the behavioral issues are related with the predisposition one develops that make them behave the way they do such as being antisocial, uncaring and rude. It is important for the counselor to shape the attitude of the woman with a disability because it enables her to minimise discomfort despite the inherent attitudinal problems that have been established by researchers.
Some issues such as the attitude of the people in society towards people with disabilities where they are considered as a threat is critical in counseling such people. In addition, using terms such as tragedy and victim are diminishing and discouraging to the person with disabilities because they feel disliked. In addition, it is important to consider hose social interactions that makes one feel nervous, how the disability makes one uncomfortable, the common stereotypes and the origin of such views, the family background, values, structures, and processes of rehabilitation, the spirituality of counseling, the value of multicultural attitudes, and the social work support for people with disabilities.
Kolander, C., Ballard, D., & Chandler, C. (2013). Contemporary women’s health: Issues for today and the future, 5th ed. St. Louis: McGraw-Hill (Chapter 14, p. 45), 5540, Understanding How to Help Victims of Sex and Labor Trafficking)
Summarize issues and concerns regarding women who work. Include attention to Vocational assessment, discrimination practices in hiring and salaries, and other carrier barriers
Typically women balancing biology & opportunity in the 21st Century find it difficult because of gender bias that exists in the places of work. The issues and concerns for women at work include anxiety because of the discrimination they suffer based on gender differences, inability to express personal feelings because they are regarded as inferior to men, job placements, discrimination such as failure to promote the women despite being qualified than their male counterparts, the emotional and behavioral distress caused by the discrimination of the female employees. Gender bias and psychosocial differences between men and women have been shown to contribute to the problems demonstrated that hiring and promotion practices, the salary and wage differences that discriminate women from men, lack of support for those seeking for services form financial institutions, sexual harassment at the place of work, and the fact that more women live in poverty than men because of low wages.
In addition, it has been noted that when women undergo vocational assessment, it is difficult for them to be rated better than men because of the gender differences. For instance, men are favored more than women when assessments are done at the place of work than men. It has been established that most women who lack or are hindered in their career advancements because the conditions do not support them to exploit such opportunities. Typically, women’s career advancements are influenced by several factors such as socioeconomic status, race, parents’ occupations, parental expectations, and the level of education of the woman. The need for career advancement is affected by the commitments of women in other issues such as family care, child bearing and rearing, and other family support activities get in the way of the women when advancing her career. Other issues such as gender equity, aspirations and assessments and other combinations contribute to the issues and concerns regarding women in the work place.
Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. New York: Rand McNally. (Chapter 10, p. 11), (5540, Gender Bias: Psychosocial), (5540 Gender Bias: Psychosocial)
Describe some significant issues to consider regarding the emotional well-being of either adolescent females or elderly women (choose one group to discuss)
In the study based on the feminist therapy of women’s emotional health, it is important to consider issues such as anxiety disorders that begin at an earlier age such as eating disorders, depression that usually occur as genetic components. In addition, the individual characteristic such as genetics, gender, and personality issues associated with the use of drugs are worth factoring. It has important to distinguish between depression and anxiety such that it becomes possible to distinguish the underlying disorders. The study on women and stress reveals that externalizing disorders are considered by the therapist as an overt deviant behavior over time. Some of the externalized disorders include aggressiveness and persistent behaviors. In addition, female adolescents may develop a lot of difficulties in siting and concentrating on listening and doing things. It has been established that increased cases of adolescent disorders have also been associated with difficult in coping, increase in life stress issues, decline in academic performance. Here, there should be standardized implementation of counseling methods.
Other issues include the need to understand the social world of the girl, the ability to teach girls about the need to learn about their health needs and avoid unhealthy ways of living. Researchers argue that the girls need to be taught on how to tolerate being in solitude states with others and explore areas of dominance for the girls when counseling them. It is important to teach girls to tolerate abuse and there is need to explore issues of anger, power, conflict and fear. It has been proposed that when counsel adolescent girls, it is important to educate them to be nonjudgmental when listening to an ally in problem solving. Other issues include setting therapeutic sessions through therapeutic outreach programs by de-stigmatizing the therapy for the girls.
Kopala, M., & Keitel, M. (Eds.) (2003). Handbook of counseling women. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (Chapter 8, p. 41), (5540 Feminist Therapy, 5540, Women and Stress)
Describe some significant counseling issues related to pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum outcomes, menopause, and abortion
Women change drastically in different ways from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. However, when undertaking therapeutic sessions, the most significant issue to consider is to establish the relationship between the client and the therapist. The reason is that most patients fear and get a lot of embarrassment in revealing their secrets to someone such as rape, they do not know or encounter for the first time. In addition, if the relationship between the client and the women is poor, the client might be hesitant to make the any revelation to the therapist and that could make the therapeutic work very difficult. It is also possible that some people or patients might come from families that do not trust stranger, which adds further to the complication of counseling the client (Bass & Davis, 2002). It is important for the therapist to follow the client in the counseling sessions and not to lead the client. In addition, it is important for the therapist to identify the hidden areas that the client does not want to reveal and discuss them openly. It is important to show respect for the client. The time available to counsel a pregnant client is important and such time should be used positively.
It has been established that the pregnancy counselor often sees the patient for only once and most often, clients visit the counselors with a specific need to find a specific answer to a pregnancy problem. It has been established that such clients suffer from different problems and a lot of thoughts go through their minds. On the other hand, the counselor must be a person of integrity and trustworthy to do the work of a therapist. It is important especially for women who are anxious and it is necessary for the counselor to be aware of the need to resist pressure to try and alleviate such level of anxiety (Moles, 2001). In addition, issues such as symptoms, the need and realization that giving birth has its challenges and caring for the child requires the woman devoting more of her time with the child than at her job is important. In addition, pre-post and post stress and depression might arise at child birth, relationship difficulties after birthing, and difficulty deciding whether to keep child arise and need to be addressed. Menopause issue arise because the women in at risk of not getting any pregnancy and such a situation needs due attention to counsel women against the depression that happens. Abortion is a problem that affects everyone and it has a religious and cultural dimension. So it is critical to ensure that the counselor to careful to balance the cultural, ethical, and spiritual perceptions of the women contemplating to do an abortion. In addition, issues such as the risks involved should be taken into account when counseling a woman in such a depression.
The component or issues of abortion counseling include exploration and discussion, of the emotions of the patient, ability to develop and build a rapport and trust environment, and the need to consider the fact that abortion counseling most often occurs only once and not many times. In addition, it is imperative that the counselor provides the right information and discuss the pros and cons of talking contraceptives to induce abortion. Instances happen where the patient begins the counseling session with a cry or starts crying when the session begins (Moles, 2001). When such an issue happens, it is imperative for the counselor to begin the session with an advice about the aftercare of the unborn child. It is import to acknowledge the emotions of the patient because it could look and sound compassionate. However, consent forms need not be signed if not all information has been divulged to the patient to enable her to make the right decision. However, counseling after abortion is necessary to stabilize the woman and enable her to lead a normal life (Moles, 2001).
Moles, K. (2001). The Teen Relationship Workbook: For professionals helping teens to develop healthy relationships and prevent domestic violence. London: Wellness Reproductions & Pub. (Chapter 10, p. 11)
Discuss issues that result in heightened stress experiences for women. Also, describe health conditions caused by stress that are more specific to women
Women and Depression is an important area to focus on when counseling them. Here, the prevailing conditions of stress in women include different persistent states of depression that are caused by the feelings of rejection especially for the elderly women, they experience discrimination in various situation such as when being hired, due to sexual harassment, among financial institutions when seeking for financial resources, wage and salary differences and that more women live in poverty more than men. Because of the underpinning problems of sexual orientation, women are reported to suffer because of their physiological differences (Bass & Davis, 2002).
The reasons why men treat women as sex objects in the media lead to an increase in stress related problems are caused by hormonal imbalance that causes depression in women. In addition women who have low or are infertile have reported more depression that is mostly caused by low motivation and discouragement among the women. In addition, some precursors of the increase in the chemicals that causes an increase in stress. It is possible to identify women when under stress by examining the symptoms or indicators. For instance, life stress factors that are related to gender differences and sexes have shown significant effects on the stress related to women. Life events have been established to cause depression in women because of the poverty levels, being vulnerable and to affected by the problems of others; women experience a lot of role based strain, the primary responsibilities such as child caring and employability of women in the work place. It is possible for women to be victims of interpersonal violence and trauma, the increase in neuro-biological changes, child victimization and trauma related depressions, and the onset of learned helplessness (Bass & Davis, 2002).
On the other hand, sex role victimization and socialization, attribution style of women and the rest of the society, the degree and ability to cope, the relational style, and the cognitive style are some of the risk factors that affect women, leading to higher levels of depression among them. The response style of women, which depends on the ability of a woman to respond to depression have also been key issues that affect the women in the depression levels that affect them. Other factors include work roles, social status, social support factors, and prior development factors contribute to the increase in stress levels on women. Other issues that affect women include adolescence and how a woman grew up as a young person, her young adulthood, and midlife issues (Bass & Davis, 2002)
Bass, E., & Davis, L. (2002). The courage to heal: A guide for women survivors of child sexual abuse. London: Random House. (Chapter 3, p. 2, 3, 4), (5540 Women and Depression).
Discuss the possible reasons why more women than men are diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety
Include considerations based on physiological, social and cultural factors. Discuss other issues related to counseling women with depression or anxiety. A study by Bass and Davis (2002) show that researchers have established that more men than women suffer from stress related problems because of the chemical responses of the body of women than men. In addition, women provide maternal care for the children, the multiple roles women undergo because of their gender, which sometimes are conflicting and the fact that such role sometimes lead to hormone imbalance and particularly estrogen. It has been established that even young women suffer from the depression because most of the young girls suffer from the potentially stressful transforming events. Among the reasons that introduce conflicts into the life of the young women include when pursuing their career in education, marriage and child bearing and rearing issues contribute to the differences. On the other hand, when a woman takes on the role of parenting the children, they are exposed to hormonal shifts that happen throughout the reproductive years of the women than men. Such experiences increase the level of stress in women than in mean because of their philological differences. ‘
On the other hand, women who go through divorce, unemployment and retirement phases in life that have a direct effect on their health because of the responsibilities most of them find themselves in such as caring and supporting families.
It has established that women have a stronger disposition than men to depression. Other diseases such as the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD syndrome) have a stronger impact on women than men (Bass & Davis, 2002).
The issues that need to be considered when counseling women include identify common stressors in women which include the high risk violence on women, discrimination and bigotry, understanding the psychological factors such as feelings of inadequacy and depression, decline is health, depression symptoms such as grief, anger, anxiety, changes in weight and eating habits, thoughts of suicide, and frequent feelings of hopelessness.
On the other hand, understanding how to help victims of sex and labor trafficking On the other hand, the issues related to counseling women with depression or anxiety demand that the counselor develops strong relationship with the client to be able to make the sessions successful. The counseling must occur in a realistic and interpersonal environment. In addition, images of the relationship between the family and culture have to be accounted for to ensure success in counseling. On the other hand, a healthy relationship must be established between the client and the counselor by being mutually empathic. Other issues to consider include mutual empowerment, listening to the historical and sociocultural background of the patient, paying attention to the hyper visibility of the woman, encouraging and cultivating the emphatic attunement that includes associational empathy, affective element, and visceral reactions to the counseling sessions. In addition, the cognitive element has to be factored and includes the identity patterns of the patient, the choice of interventions, and the state of mental inquiry the patient makes. Research demonstrates that collaboration and sexism, social cultural experiences, and other related issues contribute significantly to the sessions.
Emphatic attunement is a therapist’s stance in delivering the sessions because the results depend on the approach used and the impression created in the mind of the client. Collaboration is important because it is a significant tool for making the right decisions to support the women who attend the counseling sessions. Another important issue is the gender of the therapist (Kohlberg, 1969). A question has been asked and investigated on between a man and a woman therapist, who does better in counseling women? However, no conclusive evidence has been established on the most preferred gender. Typically, counseling with lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and
questioning women is a two-way process that depends on the behavior of the patient and the counselor. It is possible that the therapist have their own perceptions about the counseling process and it is import for them and it is important for the counselor not to be over emphatic but to take up the challenge of being attuned to the contributions made to the counseling sessions.
It is also important to note that transference is likely to occur and it is not always restricted to negative things only. The reason is that the concept can be applied to create positive feelings in the patient.
Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. New York: Rand McNally. (Chapter 31, p. 5)
Discuss issues regarding counseling women with one of the following conditions (pick only one to discuss):
- eating disorders;
- substance abuse and dependence disorders; or
- sexually transmitted diseases.
According to Jordan (1991), counseling different people from different backgrounds requires integrative therapeutic approach based on the integrative relational theory. The theory provides an explanation that shows that for such a therapeutic process to be successful, it is important to ensure effectiveness when identifying bio-psychological risk factors that affect the women, gender and cultural affairs, the relational perspective of the counselor and the patient, the developmental issues of women and their adult lives, emphasis in strength, relapse prevention, and mindedness. Such elements have a strong bearing on the outcomes of the sessions on the patients (Jordan, 1991).
In addition, it is important to consider the five important therapeutic elements such as the meaning of words and expressions, the connection between the patient and the counselor, the strategy to activate the relationship between the counselor and the patient, and the ability to conduct an assessment and evaluate the effectiveness of the outcomes. In addition, it is imperative to consider the major phases of therapy such as stabilization, transformation, and future orientation. Here, the physiological risk factors that a counselor factors that have strong implications on the outcomes of the sessions include the interactive nature of the bio-psychosocial factors that lead to the depression of women and the reflective mutual influence such environment has on the sessions. Here, the hormonal and reproductive events in the patient lead to increased levels of depression and anxiety. On the other hand, it is important to reduce the risk factors that lead to increased levels of depression and anxiety such as vulnerability to depression, relationship difficulties, current or future episodes, and the client’s long term and short term goals.
It is important that behavioral addition be identified and included in the treatment process. In addition, it is important for the therapist to be able to identify the methodological issues that can help the therapist be able to identify and evaluate the problems to be able to seek for the right solutions to the problems. Another issue is about the psychotherapeutic methods used to treat the people. In addition, the contextual issues such as mental health problems, poor coping, lack of self-esteem, lack of job skills, recurrence of substance related problems in a person, substance related legal issues, the tolerance levels of the person addicted to substance abuse, and the persistent desire for a substance. In addition, it has been established that the use of substances n large amounts as opposed to the normal use of the substance, tolerance levels and the desire for higher levels of concentration of the substance.
On the other hand, when counseling women in substance abuse, the tolerance and physical dependence have to be accounted for because the abuse of substance affects the receptor nerves in the brain. In addition, it is important to consider personality traits such as attention to child hyperactivity, attention deficit disorders, pre-alcoholic and other substance abuse tremor such as neurological disorders. Other issues include academic achievements, aggressiveness, impulsiveness, and the increase in psychopathic disorders (Jordan, 1991).
It is important to consider and emphasize on the psycho-logical forces and functions that focus on unconscious motivation, self-regulation, self-esteem and emotions to use the substances and learned cognition and behaviours. It has been established that drugs can cause or stimulate to basic learning mechanisms and such as classical conditioning (Jordan, 1991). Classical conditioning has been responsible for the increase in the addition level of drugs or substance abuse. In addition, it is important to consider issues such as taking cues because it underpins the reasons leading others to take more of the drugs.
Jordan, J. V. (Ed.). (1991). Women’s growth in connection: Writings from the Stone 1 Center. New York: Guilford Press (Chapter 9, p. 8, 10), (5540, Women and Self-Esteem)
Discuss issues regarding counseling women with one of the following conditions (pick only one to discuss):
- cancer;
- heart disease; or a
- chronic physical illness such as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, or lupus.
Many women with cancer undergo psychological distresses because of the perceptions they develop towards the genetic counseling on cancer. For instance, women who discover that they are suffering from cancer undergo a lot of psychological distress and worry about their lives who sometimes overestimate the risk of the effects of cancer, the need to cope with the changes that happen in the patient with time, fears of health concerns that arise, issues such as those of coping with the treatment and physical symptoms, the impact of the disease on her financial and employment status, and the psychological state that makes the women feel that they are in a state of shock.
It is imperative to counsel women by establishing the impact the disses has on the children and their partners and the practical issues such as the need to have children while in the state of having been diagnosed as having cancer.
It is important for the counselor to consider the support of the treatment team to the patient by accounting for her emotional feelings, feelings about her treatment, integration of social support staff to the counseling session to support the processes, establish the support network of the women being counseled, provide support to enable the women be able to talk freely about her situation and ability to support her in doing practical chores such as taking care of children.
Other issues such as social support should be factored because such support provides the patient with the motivation to live without dwelling on their medical condition that might otherwise lead to psychological problems such as depression and anxiety. In addition, advocacy issues such as policy and education and training, and financial assistance need to be considered (Kopala & Keitel, 2003).
Kopala, M., & Keitel, M. (Eds.) (2003). Handbook of counseling women. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (Chapter 27, p. 2, 4, 10).
Discuss issues to consider for women in a supervision relationship and briefly discuss issues to consider for research about women
Issues such as giving feedback, failure to bring up issues for discussion, lack of time that could be devoted to develop strong relationships because of other demands, and the inability to maintain professional relationship because of conflicting demands. It has been established that women in supervision need to develop the competence required in providing the counseling services required for their patients. Here, ethical and issues of sexuality play a significant role in determining the attitude the patients develop towards the women in the supervision relationship. In addition, issues such as sexual harassment and involvement have been deemed to be some of the issues that influence the outcome of the relationships. Sexual involvement might happen between the supervisor and those being supervised although some subtle forms of sexual harassment occur quietly.
On the other hand supervision issues that occur within the context of the supervisory relationships and the gender of the person under supervision. In addition, the amount of reinforcement, gender related differences, initiation of structures that support the counseling services, the strategic approaches of handling conflicts, satisfaction with the level of supervision, and the establishment and support of supervision practices provide ample areas of research on women. The rationale is that most women who are in the supervision relationships encounter gender related challenges such as discrimination, attitude, and being bias towards the counseling services they provide than men (Kohlberg, 1969). In addition, such a research could provide the foundation for further studies to understand the effects of gender on supervision and its effects on the relationship in counseling. Here, supervision is important because it can help the people engaged in the service to be aware of issues related to counseling.
Bass, E., & Davis, L. (2002). The courage to heal: A guide for women survivors of child sexual abuse. London: Random House. (Chapter 3, 4, 5, 6).