Professional Preparedness
My Theoretical
View
Establishing
a personal theory of mental health is a necessary task to begin the integration
process of counseling theories with personal values and beliefs. My Christian
faith and view of human nature, personality development, and origins of trauma
have culminated in an assimilative integration approach that is grounded in the
person-centered methodology that incorporates psychodynamic and family systems
perspectives and methods.
The
foundation of my integrative model is Carl Roger’s person-centered approach. This
approach encompasses humanism, existentialism, and
phenomenology as primary underpinnings. The fundamental attitude of humanism
spotlights the dignity and worth of each individual and views them as rational
beings who have capacity for truth and goodness. This approach is non-directive
and process oriented, believing that clients are inherently motivated towards
growth as a fundamental human drive. Growth is achieved through a person’s
search for meaning and meaning making, which draws on the existential beliefs
that a person has free will, choice, and personal responsibility. This culminates
in phenomenology in which individuals create their own truth and constructs
their own relational reality placing the work in the present. Phenomenology
involves all the senses to focus on the present experience. It goes beyond
thoughts and talk to identifying emotions, where and how we feel them in our
body, and giving them expression in the here and now. This allows for the
incorporation of expressive arts. This places the primary importance on the
relationship and interactions between the counselor and client, rather than on
pathology, techniques, and interventions. This relational view is
the bedrock of my integration, however, while I emphasize the individuals value
and potential, I do not believe that humans are capable of full self-awareness
and that at times a counselor’s insight is needed. This is where a
psychodynamic perspective lends a hand.
The
basic theoretical underpinning of the psychodynamic approach is that
individuals are often driven by unconscious motivations and that adult
personality and relationships are the result of childhood experiences. This
approach emphasizes the psychosexual (Freud) and psychosocial (Erikson)
development across the lifespan that is helpful in providing a framework to
understand developmental issues and highlights how our past plays a critical
role on our current personality and behaviors. Psychodynamic
theory includes object relations which is concerned with how the client forms
relationships with people, things, and thoughts. It views a person’s early
relationships (or attachments) to impact
expectations for later ones. It assumes that unconscious
feelings, desires, and expectations of both the client and counselor will be
transferred onto the other in counseling, such that relational patterns that
occur in the client’s life will unfold in counseling. This transference and countertransference
are used by the counselor to gain insight into a client’s unconscious. A
counselor’s aim is to bring unconscious and deeply buried thoughts and feelings
into the conscious mind through giving interpretations and insights often by
connecting the client’s past to their present functioning. Both the person
centered, and psychodynamic approaches focus on the individual giving little
consideration to the environment and other external factors that are outside of
the client’s control. This is the purpose for including a systems approach.
The family
systems theory views an individual’s functioning to not be determined by
intrinsic factors, but rather as a person in a system. It assesses a person’s
functioning by focusing on the interactions between people in a family and
between the family and the context in which they are embedded. It
does not focus on the individual, instead it views the family as the client, as
one emotional system. One basic assumption of this theory is that a family
members problematic behavior is not a product that originated within the person
but is a result of a family’s pathological communication and interactions
within the system. Since all actions by each person within the
family and the system influences every person, change occurs when the system
acknowledges patterns of dysfunction and can identify new processes that
support the goals of the family. How family members respond to
behaviors can either change or maintain the families functioning.
A family systems view does not discount the importance of individuals within
the family but recognizes that treating an individual without also treating the
system will prevent lasting change.
My Theological
View
The reason the person-centered approach is the foundation of my
counseling paradigm is because I believe it gives the most emphasis to the
Imago Dei, the image of God within each person regardless of whether they
acknowledge God (Genesis 1: 26-28). The image of God in every person tells us
that each person is unique in personality and purpose and innately valuable and
worthy. It also means that every person has an instinctive desire for meaning
and purpose. Theology tells us that all human beings were created with an
inborn desire for God, and this is where our deep longing for love and meaning
come from. Another aspect of the Imago Dei is the freedom to choose as choice
provides dignity. We see this from the beginning of creation in Genesis when
God gave Adam and Eve the commandment not to eat of the tree of good and evil
(Genesis 3). God does not control our response, which means that we are
responsible for our choices. Rather God invites us to return the love He so
freely gives, through choice. These are foundational tenants of the
person-centered approach.
Additionally, to be created in God’s image means that we are relational
beings just as God is relational at His core as evident in the Trinity of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14; Matt. 28:19). This means that we
have a social nature and need relationships to develop and gain knowledge of
our self in relation to the world. Just as God has fellowship within the
Trinity, humankind has fellowship with our families, friends, and community, that
imparts a sense of oneness and sense of being a part of each other. As a Christian counselor we are called to participate in the restoration of the
Imago Dei in our clients by working through relationships, which
person-centered, psychodynamic, and family systems all emphasize. The primary
contradiction of person-centered approach and theology is the biblical reality
that human nature is sinful and fallen (Rom. 3:23), which means that people are
not capable of full awareness and are not always motivated towards what is good
and positive.
This is where the psychodynamic perspective is needed, and insight is
gained by unmasking the unconscious defense mechanisms and analysis of
transference/ countertransference of clients through their relational
experiences with the past and present. This supports the biblical perspective
that personal awareness and self-actualization is impossible outside of
relationships, first with God and then with others (Jer. 17:9; Prov. 2:6). I
believe that non-Christians are given common grace to achieve awareness from
God and that any awareness achieved by any person (counselor or client,
Christian or non-Christian) is gained by the spiritual means of God’s grace and
mercy (Prov. 2:6-8). The psychodynamic view of object relations recognizes that
we have an innate God given need for attachments that gives us desires for
relationships and belonging, but that our sinful nature perverts the attachment
by enslaving us to desires that take the place of God and never completely fulfill.
Therefore, it is important to not just look at the present, but also the past
to gain an understanding of how an individual makes and uses these attachments
and functions in relationship to self and others. This considers the individual
within the context in which they live.
The family systems view is biblically supported through the Bible’s
emphasis on community and the body of the church (1 Cor. 12), and it calls for
Christians to actively care for the health of families (Eph. 5:21-6:4). Due to
sin, all relationships have dysfunctional systems of communication and negative
ways of being in relationship with one another. Every family in the Bible
demonstrates this. God placed us in relationships with
one another and it is through relationships that trauma is inflicted, but also
healing occurs. Therefore, it is important to address the individual within the
family system and consider all contextual factors (cultural, economic,
religious/ spiritual, environmental) that impact the system.